Beware the walking stick

[mattdavis11]

Breakfast is served!

[red-beard]

Good! I hate those caterpillars!

[stevej37]

We have lots of those around here also. (WS)
Cool insects!

[rfuerst911sc]

Queue the " jaws " theme music as the stick gets closer to the kill 😁

[red-beard]

Herbivores

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Herbivores

Yes

[masraum]

No walking sticks here that I've seen, but for the past two weeks my house has been a Hitchcock with those fargin caterpillars.

We've got far too many of those Tussock Moth Caterpillars here. We also have a few of some other that's not hairy. I was doing the live and let live thing with the caterpillars at first, but I stopped that at least a week ago. Now I go on daily or multiple daily sweeping/killing raids. There seems to be one tree that has most of them in our yard, and that's the one that's closest to the house/porch.





The good news is that the numbers seem to be decreasing. I'm hoping they are going to the next stage of development.

[Noah930]

Yikes. All those caterpillars all over the place would give me the heebie jeebies.

We have some milkweed planted in a large pot. Every few months we get a batch of caterpillars which we watch get fat. Fortunately they keep contained to the plant, as it's the only thing they eat. Some turn into chrysallis' and eventually Monarchs. It's a neat little science class all in our front yard.

[pwd72s]

Tussock moths...those are the nasty critters than decimated Eastern Oregon forests some decades back. For a kill. spray the tree with something sold in most organic gardening shops, called "BT". It bacterial...if they eat a leaf with it, they develop a fatal belly ache. Harmless to pets or humans.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by masraum

No walking sticks here that I've seen, but for the past two weeks my house has been a Hitchcock with those fargin caterpillars.

We've got far too many of those Tussock Moth Caterpillars here. We also have a few of some other that's not hairy. I was doing the live and let live thing with the caterpillars at first, but I stopped that at least a week ago. Now I go on daily or multiple daily sweeping/killing raids. There seems to be one tree that has most of them in our yard, and that's the one that's closest to the house/porch.





The good news is that the numbers seem to be decreasing. I'm hoping they are going to the next stage of development.

Don't mess with them. Touching those top two can cause an allergic reaction. Tussock Moth caterpillar.

[stevej37]

[Bill Douglas]

At first I thought it was a tread about these things. The insect ones don't worry me.

[R K T]

This was on our sidewalk.....some sort of dragonfly?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Tussock moths...those are the nasty critters than decimated Eastern Oregon forests some decades back. For a kill. spray the tree with something sold in most organic gardening shops, called "BT". It bacterial...if they eat a leaf with it, they develop a fatal belly ache. Harmless to pets or humans.

Good to know, thanks.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by R K T

This was on our sidewalk.....some sort of dragonfly?

Yep, dragon fly.
I'm guessing, common white tail, female or juvenile which have less white than the males.



http://www.eih.uh.edu/content/02-about/01-species/uhcc-odonta-scott-clark.pdf

[red-beard]

I hate these guys



Ugly ugly mole cricket

Kill them! With FIRE!!!

[Sooner or later]

I have fished with these dudes. They can be nearly 4" long.
hellgrammites larvae (water born)

They turn into this, Dobsonfly

[masraum]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I hate these guys



Ugly ugly mole cricket

Kill them! With FIRE!!!

Fortunately, you should rarely see them since they are almost always underground. I used to play with them when I found them. Their front legs are strong, presumably because those are their digging legs.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

I have fished with these dudes. They can be nearly 4" long.
hellgrammites larvae (water born)



They turn into this, Dobsonfly

Those are ugly bugs!

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by masraum

Those are ugly bugs!

They are ugly and big.

Last year my lady neighbor came over in a panic. She had a dobsonfly on the side of her house and was scared of the thing. I picked it up and chased her around the yard with it.