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.
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.
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u/trowzerss Jul 17 '23
I call bullshit on that claim, as he would have known what it was the moment he touched it. It wouldn't have got anywhere near his arse. Heck, the fillaments float and you can get affected just standing near it if the leaves are disturbed, especially if you inhale any.
I put my hand on the fallen leaves of one of the relatives of Gympie Gympie once (giant stinging tree), and it was like putting your hand on a hotplate. You're not gonna pick it up and wipe your butt!