Home & Garden Tips
Don't let the velvety hair of a puss caterpillar fool you
By Roosevelt McWilliams County Extension Agent

If you're the curious type, you may want to pick up a puss caterpillar, but don't do it. Hidden in all the velvety hairs are hollow spines with venom. These caterpillars are pale yellow, gray or reddish brown, about an inch long and densely covered with long, velvety hair.

A sting on your hand can cause your entire arm to swell and become numb, after the intense pain goes away. Then you'll probably scratch yourself to death from the itching.

Someone called me last week and asked me what are the names of those hairy caterpillars that are eating up his bushes. After he described them, I told him not to touch them.

I told him about the poisonous spines and that the caterpillars feed on the leaves of various hardwood trees and shrubs. The caterpillars turn into moths known as southern flannel moths. "I'm going to kill everyone one of those critters, he said."

There are about 25 species of poisonous caterpillars. Luckily, their contact with people is uncommon. Some of them have very unusual shapes and colors. The poisonous spines are a defense mechanism, and the colorful patterns and unusual body shapes serve as a warning to their enemies.

The puss, saddleback and hag moth caterpillars are the most common poisonous ones. You usually don't need to control them, since you don't normally come into contact with them. But if they're eating up your bushes or if you see a number of them feeding on foliage in areas where children play, you might want to get rid of them.

But don't be tempted to touch them after they're dead. Even dead caterpillars can still cause painful stings.

There are two different types of caterpillars that make webs in trees. Eastern tent caterpillars make webs early in the year where the branches come together. Fall web worms make webs later in the year at the end of the branches.

Neither one of these are serious pests of trees. If you want to destroy the webs, get a long pole with a hook on the end and pull the webs down. Spraying the individual webs will help somewhat but you have to use enough water to penetrate the webs. This is very difficult because the webs are somewhat waterproof. You can also cut the webs off at the ends of the branches and burn them.I suggest ignoring these pests. They are hard to control and a healthy tree can survive their attack. If you try to control the caterpillars, you may do more damage to the tree than the worms would.