I saw some caterpillars today and it reminded me of the time one attacked…
Five years ago, I was geocaching with a friend while taking my dog for a walk. We’d found the cache and my friend removed the camouflage. I signed the log, replaced the cache and put the camouflage back.
BUT I held the camouflage (a large piece of bark) differently to my friend. When replacing the camouflage I was injured. Looking more closely at the camouflage I discovered the cocoon of a white-stemmed gum moth (Chelepteryx collesi) which was covered in thousands of spine-like hairs – hundreds of which ended up in my fingers!
I’d seen one of these caterpillars before (I’ll post about that tomorrow). They are huge at about 12cm / 4.7inches long. The cocoon was at least that long, if not longer. So the spines covered 2 of my fingers.
According to CSIRO: The short spines [of the caterpillar] are not only sharp and brittle, meaning they will break off and lodge in your skin; they also carry a toxin that causes pain and, in rare cases, anaphylactic shock. Even the cocoon is nasty, since the caterpillar inside sheds the spines and forces them out through the tough silken walls, resulting in a well protected pincushion.
We dug out the first aid kit and attacked the spines with bandaids (using the sticky part to try and pull the spines out) as well as tweezers. Not much luck unfortunately. Those spines burnt!
The next morning, after trying all sorts of methods to get rid of the spines – stronger tape, different tweezers, sandpaper (ground them to skin level but didn’t stop the burning), drawing ointment – I realised there was only one thing for it. I dug those suckers out with a needle.
My fingers looked a mess, but with the spines gone so did the burning.
When has nature attacked you?
August 18, 2020 at 9:19 pm
Oh my gosh that sounds horrible, AJ! I’ve stepped on a thorny weed here. I have no idea what it is called but it’s the same idea: looks just like a regular weed sprouting in the grass except that it’s covered in spines and when I stepped on it, I had TONS stuck in my foot. Thankfully I was a little so I had the help of my adult haha. Aka my mom who had to have me lay on my stomach on her bed, crying and being overly dramatic like littles do, and she had to take out all the spines. Not. Fun.
August 19, 2020 at 8:49 am
Yeah, it was not a pleasant experience. And thorns in the foot aren’t fun!
August 19, 2020 at 3:00 am
You have some seriously scary animals in Australia.
August 19, 2020 at 8:50 am
Haha, I think the reason ours seem pretty scary is because they are all small and not easily seen. We don’t have big and scary like you do (oh, except for the crocodiles and sharks I guess, lol).
August 19, 2020 at 12:45 pm
Ouch, that sounds painful. Never heard of such a critter before.
August 20, 2020 at 7:48 am
I hadn’t realised we had a caterpillar that did that until I was a victim. I learnt about them pretty quickly then!
August 20, 2020 at 5:27 am
Yikes, that sounds seriously unpleasant! I’ve been stung by wasps and bees, and bitten by ants, but no caterpillar attacks!