Beware of Stinging Caterpillars

Clark got welcomed to the suburbs with a painful zap of poison by this furry fellow a few days ago. He and a friend were out back on the patio taking turns riding his trike when he suddenly came inside screaming. I could make out the word "bite" here and there and after he stopped hopping and took a breath he told me that he got a bug bite on his hand. I asked him a series of questions so I could figure out what kind of "bug" it was but he pointed to this furry thing and insisted that was it. He doesn't usually make stuff up but this time I couldn't believe him since caterpillars--especially furry ones like this--are harmless. I couldn't see any bite or stinger on his hand, and there was no welt or swelling, but I washed it off and gave him an ice pack. After several minutes he was still inconsolable and voluntarily went into his room because he wanted to go to bed. He looked absolutely miserable and kept crying and repeating, "my hand hurts!"

I wasn't sure what I could do to help my little guy so out of curiosity I googled "caterpillar bite" and learned how much I hate asps! They're a poisonous caterpillar that can cause a doozy of a reaction including "excruciating, relentless pain" (Clark can attest to that), sore lymph nodes, vomiting, respiratory distress, fever, and a few other things. Clark was "lucky" in that his only symptom was pain at the site of the sting for a few hours. Talk about learning the hard way! A couple of these guys were only inches away from us while we were chalking and I even picked one up with a stick to look at it closely. Now we know to keep our distance!