The girls found a caterpillar in the yard. They put it in a plastic container, with some twigs, leaves and water. They asked me if they could bring it to school and I said yes. When I picked them up after school, they walked toward me with the container and a funny expression on their faces. “Is it dead?” I asked. “No – it’s poisonous!”
Apparently when H walked into class with it, all her classmates ran in the opposite direction. They claim the black fuzzy caterpillar can give you a rash and fever. I pulled over to the side of the road and we dumped it.
When I got home, I did some research, this is the best answer I could find:
http://www.enature.com/expert/expert_show_question.asp?questionID=4862
“Most of the fuzzy caterpillars belong to the Tiger Moth Family (Arctiidae). Some species have the ability to cause a rash or at least a burning sensation on contact with sensitive skin. This helps to protect these insects from various predators. They will not hurt you if handled, you almost have to get the hairs into your nostrils or rub them into your neck to get a reaction.” – David Herlocker, Wildlife Expert
Lesson learned.
December 6, 2008 at 7:47 am
hi,
i’ve read a few of your posts and have really enjoyed them so i just subscribed to have them e-mailed to me. i hope you will take this as constructive criticism and not as a put down. if by vamanos you mean “let’s go”, it’s actually “vamonos”
have a nice weekend in your lovely weather-we expect rain for the next 2 days-of course that’s typical of western washington.
December 6, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hi Theresa – Thanks for the comment. I spoke no spanish at all when I started this, and used the common mispelling. I decided not to change it since it would mean changing the url that I had sent to EVERYBODY. I’m looking at it as just another quirk in our adventures!
December 6, 2008 at 11:25 am
Yes caterpillars are tricky. The boys ALWAYS want to pick them up but it is so hard to know which ones are okay and which ones are not.
Glad to hear no harm done!
December 6, 2008 at 11:26 am
strange-i didn’t realize that was common misspelling but i just googled vamanos blog and there were a whole bunch of titles with that word in it. i was beginning to wonder if that was someone’s last name.
by the way, there is no “h” in my name. it’s no big deal, a lot of people make that mistake. just thought i’d point it out because a few people have confused me with theresa in merida.
i just got confirmation that i’m on your e-mail list and look forward to reading all your posts.
take care,
teresa in lake stevens