Daily Botanical: They’re BACK!
With all this springtime blooming and sprouting comes another season of creepy crawlies. I’m generally not squeamish about all manner of fauna and am mostly fascinated by the discoveries I make in the garden, but there is just something about the way that tent caterpillars and fly maggots squirm and writhe that makes me shudder. I mean, I wouldn’t rule out maggot therapy if a vital limb was decaying and could be saved by a few dozen maggots, but until that time comes I prefer to keep them and their creepy tent caterpillar friends at a nice, safe distance.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:31 am
HAAAAAATE
May 8th, 2008 at 10:39 am
*scoff*
You’re such a GIRL.
Heehee, just teasin. One spring I was on a desperate hunt for these guys; my mantis nymphs were getting too big to be filled up on fruit flies and I needed something slightly bigger, yet semi-soft and easily accessible. A few nests of FTC kept my ‘kids’ growing through a moult & until the bigger bugs were out.
And? Entomology be damned, if I am caught off guard by a spider or centipede, I will scream like a girl.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:32 am
We never had these on the west coast, so when I first saw the tents this spring, I was sure they were the beginnings of a new race of pod people that were going to emerge and take over the world. I just knew they were coming to get me.
And they did, but they were just much tinier, plumper and hairier than I expected, with many more feet. Now they are ALL OVER my garden. I let my kids catch them, and I tell them that while they sleep, Daddy finds them a new home. (I neglect to mention that this home is of the ethereal sort).
May 8th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Ewwwwww no!! Don’t like any kind of small creepy critters. My mom always used to say that a very large draft horse could do anything around me and not bother me but that a small one inch critter would have me running and screaming at the hills! LOL
May 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
EWWW! I don’t think I have ever seen a tent caterpillar BUT all things creepy crawly can stay far away from me. I don’t mind having them in the gardens just as long as they keep hidden when I am out there:)
May 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Glad we dont have those here - Yuk
May 9th, 2008 at 9:51 am
There’s something disconcerting about walking down the street and suddenly a tent caterpillar thing dangles down … worse, eating outdoors and plop, down comes another tent caterpillar thing.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Ok, their squeamishly fascinating but how do I get rid of them from an apple tree? My partner is brandishing a saw but there has to be something else???????? HELP>>>>>