They spend the winter in cocoons and emerge in late May or June as butterflies to lay eggs and start the cycle once more. As a general rule, June is a good time of year for finding caterpillars.

Caterpillars can usually be found on trees, grass and leaves near wooded areas. Caterpillars may also hide in piles of decaying leaves and on tree bark. Monarchs love milkweed.

Catch a caterpillar by letting it come to you. Caterpillars cling tightly to the leaves and branches they are on, so pulling on it could injure the caterpillar or even pull off its legs. Instead, place your hand, a leaf or twig in the path of the caterpillar and allow it to crawl onto it to transport them.

Caterpillars of virtually every species prefer to find their way and stay nearby. Common infestation sites include garden plants, trees, brush, stored food (especially grains), and fabrics.

Painted lady: 12 months

During winter, the females lay eggs which hatch in late February. They remain caterpillars through spring while they overindulge on oak leaves. Most years, the caterpillars are present until halfway through summer.

Some years caterpillar numbers are very high, but most years they may be noticed only by the sharpest-eyed observers. The cycles of up and down appear to be driven by a combination of environmental and natural control factors, like birds and parasitic insects. This may be one of those abundant years.

Generation 1 adults emerge from late April to early June. They mate and begin to lay eggs about four days after emerging, and continue the journey north that their parents began, laying eggs along the way. They begin to arrive in the northern US and southern Canada in late May.

Many caterpillars have hairs or spines. In contact with human skin, they can cause pain, rashes, itching, burning, swelling, and blistering. Avoiding caterpillars is best. Remove spines by applying and removing tape to strip the irritating hairs and spines out of the skin.

Is it safe to touch a caterpillar? Most caterpillars are perfectly safe to handle. Painted lady and swallowtail caterpillars are common examples. Even the monarch butterfly caterpillar, though toxic if eaten, does nothing more than tickle you when held.

You don’t need a fancy insect terrarium to raise a caterpillar. Just about any container large enough to accommodate the caterpillar and its food plant will do the job. A gallon-size jar or old fish tank will provide a luxurious, easy-to-clean home.

Touching a caterpillar can cause redness, swelling, itching, rash, welts, and small, fluid-filled sacs called vesicles. There may also be a burning or stinging sensation. See the photo below for an example of what symptoms of a rash caused by a caterpillar may look like on a human arm.

Both physicians advise that a person stung should apply an ice pack, then a paste of baking soda and water, followed by hydrocortisone cream. “I also recommend an oral antihistamine, such as Benadryl if the sting is severe, and Ibuprofen can be given orally if it is needed for pain,” says Dr. Kerut.

Caterpillars of many species can cause irritation by their hollow body hairs that envenom or detach easily, or can be poisonous if ingested; however, prior to investigations into Lonomia caterpillars, it was not known that caterpillars could produce toxins which in sufficient quantities could kill a human being.

Stinging caterpillar species include the buck moth caterpillar, spiny oak slug caterpillar, hickory tussock moth caterpillar, saddleback caterpillar and Io moth caterpillar. Perhaps the most painful caterpillar in Texas is the southern flannel moth caterpillar, also known as the asp or puss caterpillar.

PUSS CATERPILLARS

• Southern Flannel Moth Caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis), a.k.a. the Puss or the Asp.
• Southern Flannel Moth Caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis)
• Saddleback Caterpillar (Acharia stimulea)
• Big, white eyespots on the rear of a Saddleback Caterpillar (Acharia stimulea)

Many people enjoy bringing caterpillars from their gardens indoors to pupate and emerge as adult butterflies. But occasionally, these caterpillars harbor infectious parasites including bacteria, viruses or protozoa.

World’s Top 15 Poisonous Caterpillars

• Buck Moth Caterpillar (Venomous)
• Saddleback Caterpillar (Poisonous)
• Monkey Slug Caterpillar/Hag Moth Caterpillar (Poisonous)
• Hickory Tussock Caterpillar (Poisonous)
• Southern Flannel Moth Caterpillar or Puss Caterpillar (Poisonous)
• Spiny Oak Slug Moth Caterpillar (Venomous)

Caterpillars that are brightly colored, have spines or hairs are probably venomous and should not be touched. “If it is in a place where it can cause problems, clip off the leaf or use a stick to relocate it,” Ric Bessin, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, tells USA TODAY.

Lonomia obliqua

Pesticides can be used to control caterpillars. The Maine Forest Service recommends contracting with a licensed pesticide applicator to control browntail moth. Products must be labeled for the site of treatment. Pesticide treatments should be done before the end of May.

The life cycle of the moth is atypical, in that it spends approximately nine months (August to April) as larvae (caterpillars), leaving about one month each for pupae, imagos and eggs….Brown-tail moth.

Euproctis chrysorrhoea
Species:	E. chrysorrhoea
Binomial name
Euproctis chrysorrhoea (Linnaeus, 1758)

When large, the caterpillars are dark brown with orangey brown hairs, with white tufts down their sides and two characteristic orange warts on the back. The adult moth is all white with a brown tuft of hairs at the end of the abdomen, hence the name.

woolly bears

Banded Woolly Bear Caterpillar Although they look like soft furry insects, their body covering is made from bristles that can penetrate your skin. Coming into contact with a black and brown/tan woolly caterpillar can result in skin irritation. However, banded ‘woollies’ are not poisonous.

Some native species of wasps and flies inject their eggs inside live brown-tail moth caterpillars. When they hatch, the larvae eat the host caterpillar from the inside out before using the carcass to pupate.

The adult moth is all white with a brown tuft of hairs at the end of the abdomen, hence the name. Birds Many birds do not like to feed on large, hairy gypsy moth caterpillars, but other species seem to relish them! The eyespots on adults help to avoid predation. Browntail moth caterpillars are easy to identify.

Caterpillars and their eggs can be destroyed by drowning them in a solution of water and dish soap or by burning them in a metal container by igniting crumpled newspaper.

They damage hardwood trees and shrubs. Caterpillars like to feed on the leaves of oak, shadbush, cherry, apply, beach plum, and rugosa rose- damaging their young delicate leaves. Caterpillar feeding habits can cause reduced plant grown and branch dieback.

The browntail moth caterpillar has tiny poisonous hairs that cause dermatitis similar to poison ivy on sensitive individuals. Caterpillars are active from April to late June. Hairs remain toxic throughout the summer but get washed into the soil and are less of a problem over time.