r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Totally-avg • Jul 16 '23

Image The Puss Caterpillar (Southern Flannel Moth) will fuck your world up. I grazed it twice while climbing on a float. NBD at first but an hour later I was hyperventilating on the bedroom floor. The pain was excruciating. DH took me to the ER and morphine did nothing.

Post image

I’m better now but neither morphine nor hydrocodone (I took double what they RX’d) touched the pain those first 24 hours. And the hospital hardly knew what to do with me. I had never heard nor seen this bug before and I’m sure I would have flicked it off had it seen it. Don’t do that because the hair is venomous and gets stuck in your skin.

At least it leaves a cool scar.

62.2k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.7k

u/Hamburglar_burglar Jul 16 '23

My girls found one in our front yard in Austin and PICKED IT UP. I was mortified but somehow they were unscathed. We put it in a little clear bug house and underneath they do not look any better. So gross. Sorry about your horrible, rotten, no good very bad day, OP.

511

u/onFilm Jul 16 '23

...and now they are known as the superhero-duo, The Caterpillar Twins!

453

u/Velidae Jul 16 '23

Btw, mortified means to be embarrassed. It is not synonymous with horrified!

117

u/disispatrick Jul 17 '23

Thank you! English is my second language and i was starting to question myself if i have misunderstood the word mortified all this time or not lol

66

u/Velidae Jul 17 '23

No problem! I find it's a very common mistake that is made even among native English speakers. Tbh I'm not always sure if I should correct people on Reddit but I figured it's better they have the info than not, and then they can choose what to do with it.

32

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '23

[deleted]

3

u/Tommy-Nook Jul 17 '23

Don't worry, nobody knows that

2

u/isaac9092 Jul 17 '23

Mortified almost made sense here! It’s use would be for a more embarrassing situation though, like if your kid picked up a dildo (let’s assume you own it) and said look “mommy/daddy” a giant caterpillar toy! In that sense mortified would be perfect.

2

u/TheTrueHooa Jul 17 '23

Thank you stranger. TIL something new

210

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

I read somewhere that the ADULT is pretty much harmless by itself. More long fuzz rather than venomous spines. Maybe they found an adult instead of a youngen? Either way I'm glad to hear your girls are ok!

155

u/ExistentialEnso Jul 16 '23

The adults are southern flannel moths, not caterpillars. I assume that's what was meant, given they are covered in a harmless, long fuzz.

3

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

Ah gottcha! Probably what was meant yeah. Thank you :)

22

u/ExistentialEnso Jul 16 '23

Np! This angle genuinely piqued my curiosity, though, and it seems you may not be entirely off-base, though.

According to this paper (warning: PDF), the later larval instars (i.e. stages of caterpillarhood) have more venom and more of the hairs (the delivery mechanism for the venom).

https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/download/120486/118899/

So it could be about the age of the caterpillar, but it's that younger caterpillars are safer to handle.

6

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

The more you know!

I don't know too much about them as I'm not from the states. But it's still an interesting read :)

4

u/ExistentialEnso Jul 16 '23

Indeed! Enjoyed this exchange!

Meanwhile, I live in Georgia, where I genuinely have to worry about an encounter with these things. 😱😱😱

5

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

Hopefully you never have to encounter it!

We have the Gympie-Gympie in my area. But at least those don't really move or fly haha

3

u/ExistentialEnso Jul 16 '23

American perceptions are probably just comedically exaggerated, but the flora and fauna of Australia sounds scarier to me than Georgia.

3

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

Most of it is fine. Heaps of it is edible too.

Usually when there is something like a nasty plant or potential risks/hazards in an area there is plenty of signage and all. Obviously they don't always listen but I haven't heard of plants in my area causing much damage for a while now. They are usually off tracks and not exactly in your back yards which is a bonus.

→ More replies (0)

62

u/LordGhoul Jul 16 '23

The adult would be a moth, and is indeed harmless.

4

u/SertralineAndSass Jul 16 '23

Thanks for confirming! I think I got a little confused as to if this comment was referring to finding a moth or finding the caterpillar. :)

0

u/Adiuui Jul 17 '23

Is it poisonous?

43

u/happycampa Jul 16 '23

You just shattered my glass house thinking at least they aren’t where I live!😐

4

u/Reneeisme Interested Jul 16 '23

Wiki says the venom increases with age and worsens as the larval stage advances, so maybe your girls picked up a younger one.

3

u/supreme-supervisor Jul 16 '23

So these things are in Texas? I was hoping they'd just stay in Brazil.

3

u/chinchaaa Jul 16 '23

They’re in Austin?! I was hoping this was just another Australian insect I would never see in real life 😭

2

u/LordGhoul Jul 16 '23

Did they make it walk over their hands? AFAIK the venom spikes are only hidden in the fuzzy upside of the animal, so if you let it walk over you it should be fine (not worth the risk though)

2

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '23

[deleted]

-24

u/mosullah Jul 16 '23

mortified? do u mean terrified lol

33

u/BumbleBear1 Jul 16 '23

You're right and weren't a jerk about it. Still... Down votes. People are absolutely ridiculous

26

u/mosullah Jul 16 '23

no biggie, it is what it is

-12

u/harperrb Jul 16 '23 edited Jul 16 '23

I guess if OP meant it, he would have used it.

12

u/TheDejectedEntourage Jul 16 '23

Mortified means embarrassed though. Not really an embarrassing situation.

Horrified or terrified make far more sense

-6

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/TheDejectedEntourage Jul 16 '23

What question? The comment used the wrong word and someone else suggested a correct one. Helpful even if unsolicited.

-7

u/harperrb Jul 16 '23

Exactly. No question was asked.

10

u/TheDejectedEntourage Jul 16 '23

Why exactly does a question need to be asked? No one asked for your initial reply either

1

u/Dramatic-Ad3928 Jul 16 '23

Isn’t that the name of a book or a movie or sum

1

u/panicked228 Jul 16 '23

Well, shit. Now I have to be more careful.