There are large Yellowish-Green Caterpillars the size of fingers everywhere! They resemble a tomato worms with their coloring and horned tail end, but the markings are different.
I looked them up and they are 'White Lined Sphinx Moths' and common to the desert her in Arizona. I was hoping they might be Monarch Butterfly caterpillars but no such luck. I must admit, I'm more than a little disappointed about that. We have so many moths already, you can't even go outside after dark because if there is a light on anywhere near you then you get flogged by moths. I keep a bug light in the chicken run, so at least the girls can feast on the pile of dead bugs every morning.
Here is what they will look like when they become moth's. Pretty, but so pesky.
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| Image from Wikipedia |
These caterpillars suddenly appeared just a few days ago and now they have just about taken over the outdoors. If you look at the ground it looks like it is moving because there are so many of them. They are crossing the road by the thousands! It makes me feel so bad when I drive over them, but even on my motorcycle I could not avoid them. It is really kind of gross. I tried giving some of the caterpillars to my chickens, but they wanted nothing to do with them. Darn!
Here is a video of a small section in front of my house...you can see how many there are in the 12" wide screen shot area, now imagine 2.6 acres worth!
[Watch in 720p or better to see the caterpillars best.]
When you get near these guys they rear up their heads in an effort to try and look intimidating. (You can see them do that in the video when I get close to them.) If you don't heed their warning then they will squirt a green liquid at you. Some of them did that when I got the camera too close to them.
They are not poisonous, which is good because Miss Hollywood has eaten a few of them. As you can see here by her 'green paw'...she has been pestering them today.
Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!
Did this post stir something inside of you? If so, Please leave me a comment, I would love to know what you're thinking!!!
