Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

[yogiyoda]

My tent is being invaded by fuzzy caterpillars. Right now there's got to be more than a hundred between the ceiling mesh and rainfly with more continuously crawling up the tent. Worse yet they seem to like the area between the zippered front mesh door and the outer door flap. This makes getting in and out an adventure. Two questions:

1.) Can they cause damage to the tent?

2.) How to get rid of them?

[Bigdog57]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

Granny would say it's a sure sign of an early and cold winter a-comin'.........

Some caterpillars eat fabric - you need to take a couple to the local ranger or County Extension Office. They can tell you.

[MacGyver]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

The woolly bears don't eat fabric - they're plant eaters. Getting rid of them requires the use of pesticides that are heavily regulated by the EPA. But as they're pretty much harmless to anything but the agriculture industry, treatment isn't recommended. It's funny - I'm a part-time exterminator and I had to call my boss to ask what to do about them. We've never had a call, asking to spray for them.

[yogiyoda]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

Thank you both. I removed them with a hand-broom for now. They seemed "suspicious" wiggling around up there ...having a party and calling all their friends . I then stood guard for a half an hour to remove the ones which keep trying to crawl back up. Now there is only a few up there. Good to know they they "come in peace". Although they still look awfully suspicious to me :^)

[actad]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

My last camping experience had stink bugs invading the tent. I'll take fuzzy caterpillars over those guys.

[yogiyoda]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

Yeah, that doesn't sound fun either

[rdemler]

Re: Attack of the Fuzzy Caterpillars

Not trying to be funny but that many of them I would say they are tent caterpillars.We have them here and they rain down from the trees.