Don't touch it!!!

If ever you come across one of these beautiful soft little caterpillars, leave it alone! We had never seen one before yesterday, but it became quite the object of research in a short amount of time!

Allison was helping unload firewood with Johnny yesterday afternoon, and came in to tell me something had stung her....and we saw a large round welt, with several little elevated spots inside it. (sorry, no picture! Photos weren't the first thing on our minds at that point.) Normally Allison is very tough about this sort of thing, so the fact that she was near tears was alarming. She said the "bug" was something white, about an inch long, sort of round, and had a hairy, spiky look to it. That didn't fit the description of a spider or bug, or beetle. At first we used Eden Salve, (Eden Salve is produced by Shoshanna Pearl Easling and contains many properties that are great for cuts, burns, rashes, insect bites, etc.) and that gave a very slight amount of relief. Then she started saying that the pain was not just on her arm, but now in her armpit! That meant lymph nodes to us, so we were extremely concerned as she was obviously in extreme pain. We had her take an epsom salt bath to pull out toxins, which she said REALLY FELT GOOD, but we still weren't coming up with anything conclusive as to what had stung her. The closest thing we could find to what she described was the egg sac of a BROWN widow spider, which didn't make much sense.....especially since there were no bite marks.

By this time Allison was pacing around, and it had been about an hour and a half. The pain in her arm and armpit were extreme! We gave her some Tylenol, but it only helped a little. Then with God's guidance, Johnny found pictures and info about the Puss Caterpillar online, and she identified it as "YES, THAT's IT!" Her symptoms were exactly as described online, so we did what others had found helpful.

We used tape, and a potato! And before you start thinking we should have rushed off to the ER instead of caring for this at home, I will tell you....it worked beautifully!

This is how the caterpillar is designed, and then you will see how the remedies worked.....
The most common stinging caterpillar or venomous moth larva is the 1” long, hairy puss moth caterpillar which is the larval stage of the Southern flannel-moth. Because the puss caterpillar larvae belong to the so-called “flannel moths”, several species of which also produce similar stinging caterpillars, the puss caterpillar has often been incorrectly termed an “asp”. In late spring and early summer the moth emerges from a protected cocoon in which it overwintered to deposit its eggs on various trees, shrubs or bushes. The eggs hatch in a few days into tiny, fuzzy or fluffy (somewhat pear or tear shaped), whitish larvae which resemble small tufts of cotton. They develop gradually over a period of a few weeks, molting and shedding their skins at periodic intervals to allow for their continual growth. They are about 1” long when mature; their color changes gradually as they mature from white to tan to gray with darker markings. Interspersed among their long, soft, whitish, yellow, reddish-brown or mouse-colored silken body hairs are numerous short spines which discharge venom upon contact. When viewed from above, the puss caterpillar’s head, true legs and abdominal prolegs are totally obscured beneath the body. The puss caterpillar produces the severest sting of all U. S. Caterpillars. It feeds on the foliage of many trees including almond, apple, orange, pecan, persimmon, hackberry, elm, plum, sycamore, and oak and blackberry and rose bushes. A person’s first symptom following contact with a puss caterpillar is an intense, local burning at the site of the contact. The pain may soon radiate a considerable distance as localized swelling begins to occur. The area of contact may become greatly reddened with minute papules, and the inflammation may spread several inches around the sting. In sensitive persons, lymph nodes under the arms or in the groin may become enlarged and painful and a severe headache may also develop. (She never had a headache, thankfully!) The victim may become weak and nauseated, and even shock-like symptoms may occur. All of these conditions usually occur within 2 hours after initial contact. Even when such systemic reactions do not occur, the sting site may remain inflamed, sore and irritated for several days. The severity of the symptoms appears to be related to the individual’s sensitivity, maturity of the larvae, number of spines contacted, degree of pressure against the caterpillar and site of the sting.

Other folks who had been stung had gently pressed fresh, clean adhesive tape against the lesion, then lifted it off the skin. This was repeated, again with fresh, clean tape, several times. The kind of tape varied, but included SCOTCH brand magic mending tape, ordinary duct tape, and medical bandaging tape.

We did that......and after about 10 pieces of Scotch packaging tape she said it was somewhat better. The tape is lifting the tiny (almost invisible) spines out of the skin.
Then we read that a poultice of ginger root and potato helped. Not having any ginger root on hand, we went for the potato, which I'd heard of using in other instances where you need to draw poison out. This is pretty basic, I know, but I literally sliced a potato in half, put more eden salve on the sting and placed the cut side of the potato against her arm where she'd been stung. Then we wrapped it loosely in gauze to keep it in place. She started having relief of pain and swelling in about 10 minutes, and by bedtime was saying she had no pain at all in either location! This morning, the telltale mark of a Puss Caterpillar sting has formed. The sting leaves a "blood splatter" look around the infected area. You can see more examples with a simple Google search.PRAISE THE LORD!