In my most recent post on gardening, I mentioned the importance of getting your family involved. And while I still wholeheartedly believe that, the Kins Family recently had an encounter with a hostile creature disguised as an adorably fuzzy little caterpillar.
Lizzy and I were out in our flower garden cleaning up after a nasty storm. We have some large Sumac that we’ve decided to let grow over a portion of the garden to provide some shaded areas for those plants that only need partial sunshine. Lizzy brushed up against one of the branches and felt something crawling on her neck. She’s not afraid of insects landing on her as she practically lives outside in the summer. So, as she normally does in those situations, she brushed it away. She saw it land on the ground and got back to work.
A few hours passed and she came up to me complaining of a burning sensation on her neck. She then told me the critter crawling on her neck earlier that she swatted away was a caterpillar. We then jumped on the computer and started searching for images of caterpillars in our area. When we stumbled upon the picture of the White-Marked Tussock Moth Caterpillar, she stopped me and said that was it. After a little more research, we discovered that these “not so cute” little beasts are equipped with a defense mechanism that can wreak havoc on human skin. What looks like fur is actually tiny hairs called setae. They actually can embed in skin and leave the victim with a nasty rash, complete with the swelling and even welts.
As Internet investigations usually never end with the first search, we now moved onto treatment. Turns out that the first step is not hydrocortisone or even washing. You need to apply medical tape or some other less adhesive variety and remove it to, hopefully, remove the barb-like hairs from the skin. After this measure comes the hydrocortisone. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to move onto the antihistamine creams. And if there still is no improvement, a trip to the doctor.
Cuddly? Cute? Harmless? Those terms no longer apply to caterpillars for me. From now on, Mama Bear is gonna go crazy medieval on these lil’ buggers if one of them even has the nerve to even look at one of my kids.
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