A few years back I had several Jalapeno and Habanero plants in my garden which were doing very well until one day I went to pick some and the plants were almost bare. I found a GIANT caterpillar which I later found was a tomato hornworm and this single big green maggot ate all of these caustic peppers by itself. Can't imagine the digestive system on these things. This was also in Ohio which is apparently the new Australia as far as weird damaging critters are concerned.

Did ya squish it? Those things explode!

Yep, lots of disgusting goo in that thing.

I learned as a kid that unless you want to have to clean up after something that looks like a nickelodeon kid's show, don't squash caterpillars. Most are basically like tiny, delicate water ballons full of green goo.

Yep, squash them in the grass not the sidewalk. Assuming you have grass where you live. Or do it in the street.

My wife is a Master Gardener and we have flowers planted in every available spot, and in new flower beds that were in the yard before, and potted plants on the porches and just everywhere. I end up making new flower beds in the yard every year. Less to mow, more to use the string trimer on.

She has a vine planted at the edge of the driveway that is climbing along the fence. It is covered in Fritillary butterflies, and it is a real orgy out there. There are over two dozen caterpillars and eggs everywhere. Several chrysalises and the leaves and flowers of the vine and are disappearing. We have monarchs on the other plants she put out and of course the humming birds and bees and bumble bees everywhere.

We have many of the people out for a walk with the dog tells us they make a point to come by here just to see the gardens in the front of the house.

People complain about the conditions of living in the inner city in SoCal. Well, no snakes or strange wildlife here. Even the birds are gone. A few fleas but I've got a dozen or more lizards that showed up a few years ago after the coyotes ate all the outside cats. I guess the lizards eat so well that there is nothing left for the birds.

A possum ate some of my tomatoes so I electrified the cages. No more problem. I use a 12v car battery on a solar charger and a coil. Keeps the occasional racoon away too. We have squirrels as of about 4 years ago so very few rats. Just have to keep the attic vents in good shape for both.

I do have black widows but I know where they are and they only come out at night so I let them be. The lizards eat them with no effect if they can get to them.

So nothing crawls up my legs and I'm good with that.

Mosquitos are on the decline. No water, no mosquitos. The city has done a good job of warning about West Nile so only the ignorant have bird baths and other stupid things that allow breeding. Haven't seen a wasp in a year and hardly any bees.

In fact the only things in the air are 400 to 500 air operations from the local airport every day from 7am to 7 pm. Even keeps the seagulls down at the beach 8 miles away. Planes fly about 300 feet over my house every day. I know, I see the live flight data on the Internet. Most are at the min of 500' and average about 80dB (I have an expensive dB meter) so I assume that drives a lot of wildlife away. During what I call "happy hour" (lunch hour and again at 5 pm) the planes average 20 to 30 seconds between flyovers.

I wonder if that affects caterpillars. ;):D

My wife grew up in Enid, OK. Home of Vance AFB. It is a pilot training center. Monday to Friday if the weather is good, the flights are constant.

In high school in speech class she said the teacher had a stop watch. If a speech was to be a fixed length of time, she would stop the watch as a plane flew over, and the speaker stopped, and started as the noise was down. There could be four interruptions in a single short speech.

It was the sound of money as they flew overhead. Everyone just accepted it. That base kept Enid alive in the tough times of oil busts.

Yeah, there are some schools under the various flight paths that have to stop momentarily several times a day. They are more under commercial jet traffic whereas I'm under the general aviation path that serves student touch and goes. In total, LGB has over 700 operations per day. It's closed at 10 pm to commercial traffic.

But this is a thread about insects, particularly caterpillars, so I was serious about the affect of so much noise. I live a mile from the 405 freeway and can hear that at night when its more still. The city itself is so noisy I don't hear anything specific during the day unless it's a Harley or an emergency vehicle. I hear gunshots several times a week.

Gotta have an affect on living things other than humans.

Much of it is the water situation, and lack of rain. Fewer people with elaborate watered lawns, less habitat for critters. Noise and humans moving about keep the critters away as well.

There are multiple horse farms of 40+ acres within a mile of me. One farm is 80 acres, and one guy has a 120 acres estate that looks like a city park and he has his own 10 acre pond. Lots of critters around here. We have a lot of cardinals, bluebirds and recently a new family of Mississippi Kites. They have been feasting on the bunnies and mice and even the cicadas. The deer are thick in the area just south of me.

Good thing or you might have been in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE

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That was pretty enjoyable but nothing like my reaction would have been if the caterpillar was climbing north from my knees...

They are in Georgia also...............
 

They are in North Georgia also. They tend to live in tall grasses and will jump off onto your clothes as you walk thru. The ones we have here have 3 sets of "Y" shaped stingers on their backs and go by the name "Packsaddles". Each of the 6 barbs can cause a painful sting. How do I know? I got one on my jeans one day and did not notice it until I sat down and laid a bare forearm down on top of it. Fortunately I had some sting ampules in the car and was able to treat the wound area right away. Even so I wound up with a scar on that forearm! They look all cute and fuzzy but pack a powerful punch!