Giant Caterpillar attacks ZenLefty's house. (f/k/a What is this thing?)

[ZenLefty]

It's about as thick as my thumb, and STRONG. It squeezed my fingers through a leather glove and it felt like a clamp. I think it's a caterpillar, and I think it's looking for a place to cocoon. But I've never seen a caterpillar that big before.

:o

Yes, I'm a city boy.

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EDIT: changed thread title to something more sensational so people would click on it.

[nini]

1. looks like a churro... :-)

wierd.. I've never seen anything like that before either. I'm curious to see what the others say.

[ret5hd]

2. i dunno...

why don't you take your gloves off and tell us what it feels like? Or are you a chicken?

[ZenLefty]

4. It feels like a slug without slime. Its feet are barbed and sharp.

I think its bite could break my skin. :scared:

[Worst Username Ever]

3. OMFG

Holy shit! Yes I would say that is a gigantic catipillar, or a hot dog.

[supernova]

5. Can you move it

with a stick? Sometimes they'll crawl on the stick and you can move them... to a tree far away from the house.

:scared:

[The empressof all]

6. I have no idea

I would capture it however and have it identified. It sounds weird and too creepy to re-release until you know that it will do no harm.

Perhaps it thinks your house is the mother ship

[supernova]

17. It might be a type of moth

I've never seen a caterpiller that big.

[ZenLefty]

7. When we found it, it was on the patio

We moved it over to a rhubarb plant that I really wish would just die (or get eaten by a giant caterpillar, same to me), but half an hour later it was on the house, about 15 feet away from where we put him.

INVASION OF THE GIANT CATERPILLARS!!

I think he's looking for a nice corner to cocoon in. That's going to be one giant mo-fo butterfly.

[blindpig]

8. I saw some very similar to this

in the desert west of Tuscon last year. Maybe not quite as large but close. Tough hombres, those suckers were crossing asphalt & gravel parking lots in midday!

[Bertha Venation]

9. looks like a bread loaf at Subway

Do you have deli meats at hand? ;)

[ZenLefty]

10. No, but I have a pidgeon nesting with two eggs under the eaves.

If that caterpillar gets on my bad side, I'll have a very happy mother pidgeon. :9

[samplegirl]

11. Its a giant anchovie!!!!

Where is that guy that posted he loved anchovies and i told him
yuck they reminded me of hairy centipedes on a pizza.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. I saw the weirdest thing on the wall of my local 7-11 last week

It was like a moth, but two-three inches long. Freakish.

[ZenLefty]

14. The moths in rural Kansas can pick up small children.

Yeah, they're freaky when they're that big. Fascinating, though.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Yeah. It was really fascinating.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

13. I'm horrible

but I'd get it on a stick, put it on the ground, then SMUSH it until it died.

I really am a kind, peaceful person, but I have this weakness when it comes to killing bugs and bug-like things. Sorry. My scientist friends and my daughter are really trying to help me with that.

[XNASA]

16. Tobacco Hornworm?

"The tobacco hornworm, also known as the Carolina Sphinx Moth larva, has seven diagonal white stripes on each side of the body and a curved red horn at the rear. The tomato hornworm, also known as the Five Spotted Hawk Moth larva, has eight curved white stripes on each side of the body and a straight black horn at the rear. Both caterpillars are green, occasionally with a brown or black tinge, and will reach a length of four inches. Food plants of both larvae include tobacco, tomato, eggplant, pepper, potato and related weeds. The larval period ranges from 28 to 36 days, after which the larva burrows down into the soil three to four inches deep to pupate and overwinter."

[ZenLefty]

22. Yeah, I think it's a hornworm.

Not sure which type. I wish it was a rhubarb hornworm.

[havocmom]

18. It's Oscar poop

and it's heading for the attic.

[yellowcanine]

19. It's some kind of Sphinx moth caterpillar - yes there are some that

big. Can't tell from the picture if it has a horn on its butt. Many do.

[frylock]

20. looks like a screamapillar..

they are endangered, and sexually attracted to fire.

[ret5hd]

21. and you will be prosecuted if you allow any harm to it.

[oneighty]

23. Please send that to my wife

in lieu of the centipedes Mr. Zenlefty.

How you been doing?

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