So I was mowing today. Just minding my own business tractoring circles and listening to the last podcast on the left.
I look down to find what appears to be a newborn Wookiee on my thigh. I go to swipe it off and... ouch... baby Chewie stung me! I’ve had a little redness and a burning sensation on my forearm for the 8 hours since.
Here’s a photo of the little beast. I’ve never seen anything like it.
The internet says it’s an asp caterpillar. Luckily I’m not allergic at all so I just got some burning. It turns into a pretty crazy looking moth. And apparently this isn’t really a Maryland local. Mostly found in the South.
PSA: If you see one of these cute little guys, don’t pet it like I did.
That's bat-E36 M3 crazy looking. 
Sorry God but I don't know what you were thinking there. What causes the sting? The hair or something else?
That thing is not of this earth. Aliens.
In reply to nutherjrfan :
Yeah if you zoom in on the first photo you can see the little barbs sticking out of the hair on its back.
"Puss Caterpillar"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopyge_opercularis
The moth looks pretty crazy too!
In reply to Brokeback (Matt) :
Wow reading that Wiki page it seems I’m pretty lucky when it comes to effects. I just got some slightly annoying burning. I thought I felt some chest pain but just kept mowing.
I found this one on a rock in the middle of the road in our local wildlife management area. We've had some pretty serious rain lately and I had stopped to move the rock which had washed down. You can't unsee the bird faces on it. 
How did it get that far up your leg without you feeling it crawl? Please don't say it can leap because I'll never leave the city again. 
nutherjrfan said:
How did it get that far up your leg without you feeling it crawl? Please don't say it can leap because I'll never leave the city again.
it maybe fell on him from a tree?
In reply to nutherjrfan :
Lol, THAT was funny. Speshully since I'm a country boy
Rumor has it that you can brush it in one direction but not the other. Like a porcupine. But I’m not trying.
Ed Higginbotham said:
...listening to the last podcast on the left.
You've summoned it from another dimension- hail satan! 
Growing up in FL, every few years a horde of big green fuzzy caterpillars would descend on the poinsettias in front of the house. Touching one felt like a hornet-sting. My dad and I would sit on buckets for hours cutting them in half with garden shears. I’m sure there was a more humane way of controlling the population, but I think my Dad was the first to get stung and this was his revenge.
In reply to nutherjrfan :
I can only assume I knocked it off a tree when mowing underneath. Or maybe it crawled from the tractor seat onto my pants. I certainly would have felt it come up my leg. Thing was big.
poopshovel again said:
Growing up in FL, every few years a horde of big green fuzzy caterpillars would descend on the poinsettias in front of the house. Touching one felt like a hornet-sting. My dad and I would sit on buckets for hours cutting them in half with garden shears. I’m sure there was a more humane way of controlling the population, but I think my Dad was the first to get stung and this was his revenge.
I let this one live. Reading about the havoc they make on trees I kind of wish I hadn’t. It took some prying to get it off my shorts.
When I saw the thread title, I knew it would be bad...when I saw the pic, I was like "OHHHH E36 M3!"
https://www.wired.com/2014/09/never-touch-anything-looks-like-donald-trumps-hair/
If you're lucky you might've just got the hairs and not the actual stingers.
When do the superpowers kick in? I'm looking forward to the Higginbotham Mothman terrorizing the countryside!
In reply to Joe Gearin :
A Higginmotham, if you will.
Thread title made me think you bought this.
In reply to ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual) :
Yep, that would have been much better.
So, 24-hour update: No more burning but you can still see where it got me.
I feel so strangely powerful today...
Ed Higginbotham said:
In reply to ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual) :
Yep, that would have been much better.
So, 24-hour update: No more burning but you can still see where it got me.
I feel so strangely powerful today...
The egg-laying procedure is fairly painless to the host. Just wait a couple weeks until they hatch and the larvae start the subcutaneous burrowing stage...
Holy E36 M3 what a crazy looking caterpillar. Glad you made it out alive
In reply to Ed Higginbotham :
Keep an eye on that and make sure it doesn't develop into cellulitis, stings and bites can go that way pretty easily sometimes (BTDT).
Superpowers will only activate if it was radioactive at the time of the bite, you're in Florida so zombification is more likely.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
I think I’ve been stung by just about every kind of local bee/wasp/ant with no issues besides the initial pain, but this is the first time a caterpillar has gotten me. I’ll keep an eye on it for sure. Thanks.
And I’m in Maryland now, not Florida. Which is weird. If it happened in Florida I would have probably accepted it as just one of Florida’s many creepy crawly land mines.
T.J.
MegaDork
8/21/18 2:17 p.m.
Who knew there were even caterpillars that looked like mustaches?
