Found this guy on my Zukes.
Does he make a butterfly or moth?
I say Moth.
How do you distinguish?
Black stinging asp. careful. kill. they are tough. Moth
Ooooooeeeee. Thanks.
Are all black fuzzy cats asps? I've picked up jillions of black cats and never had a problem. I've heard of white Asps. I've seen a lot of black cats this year and they just did there thing and I did mine. How do I tell the difference?
It looks like a black wooley cat to me they turn into Gaint Leopard moths, completely harmless. It looks like a young one, their stripes change when they molt. Those are the kind I just move.
Could be leopard moth, tons of different asps. But some dont sting for some reason. Black stinging asps have no stripe at all. And usuay you see a lot of them at once- like army worms. Tho they dont cluster together, there are just lots of them.
I think it is best not to handle a caterpillar if you are not sure what it is, although most of them are harmless, some can be very painful.
Giant Leopard Moth- instar has vivid red fading to orange red spots/ bands on under belly. Safe to hold. Tons of host plants. just an fyi
I've felt the pain of a stinging cat...
I was sitting on the porch playing "jacks," and it crawled under my skirt and bit me on the thigh.
Just reading this makes me feel that pain again. It was awful....
Uh, just a little bit safer than sorrier?
Always safer than sorry. I know it hurt!
If it's in your garden, just squish it...
I don't pick them up unless Ive seen them before or it's on a leaf and I pick up the whole thing. I've seen tons like the kind in the pic over the years, I was just wondering what made it look like an ASP. I don't squish them in my garden if there are only a couple and I can move it somewhere else.
If I had squished the cat I found on my lima beans last year, I would have never known what a beautiful thing a long tail skipper is. If I dont know, I dont squish and even if I do know, I'll probably re-locate. I know he serves some purpose, some way. I dont like to kill things.
Beautiful Marty, keep up your love of nature it is very rewarding.
My grapevines are all eaten up by tiny caterpillars, black white and yellow stripes. I thought they were tiger swallowtail butterfly larva, didn't squish, didn't spray, I now think they are baby monarchs. There are LOTS. I bought them some milkweed cuttings this year, their favorite food, but they appear to prefer grapevine. Photo when I empty the camera. (I dumped my smart phone and am going BACK to the garden while it is still cool)
That will be very interesting to see, please don't forget to show us.
google says most caterpillars on grapevines become moths. Among them are the grapevine moth and the luna moth.
I wonder why most of the plant eating bugs I have leave the weeds alone? The lizards are out in droves :) My 3 DGDs were swimming yesterday in a small pool and the lizards didn't hesitate to run out by them and grab a bug and run away. It was so cute to watch.
Photo coming. One sprinkler to set and I plug in the camera. Stay tuned!
My photos are downloading, please realize these caterpillars are currently less than half an inch long, not sure how good the pics will be, but THIS is what a monarch looks like
http://www.butterflybushes.com/monarch_metamorphosis.htm
This message was edited Jun 8, 2013 9:35 PM
Monarch Taken June 2nd 2013.
Today pic: Other side of grape fence, street edge where I want to remove grass and plant clover, fence, flowers/grapes/blackberry bushes. Empty garden area, not all enrichment done. Asparagus in white wooden raised bed. Bags are oakleaf / sand mix from the bottom of a pond. I used pondliner here for 2 years to block weeds til I could get to it.
Pots: sweet potatoes waiting to get planted. and a couple of cherry tomatoes I want near the front porch.
Weeds waiting to become clover, bags of compost, the tomato and pepper garden at the base of the pine tree, abelia to the right is behind where zucchini and yellow squash and part of the sweet potatoes are planted (only sweet potatoes are up, the slips I found there)
Path between the pine and the shrubs, leads to the tomato garden, was full of compost, uncomposted compost, and spiders...
Sorry about the hijack, meant to put these on the garden is in thread, but I am exhausted, and I am just glad I finally got them out of the camera and up...
Here is my monarch eating asclepias, butterfly weed.
same critter Steadycam. I had no milkweed but I have a lot of lantana and butterfly bush and a big vitex so the monarchs made do, I guess. The grapevine they eat isn't mustang grape, it's a black table grape vine. They also like the white table grape vine. Now I planted milkweed but they still are eating the grapes, I don't worry much, the mockingbirds get the fruit.
Gypsi -- not a monarch caterpillar, although it looks similar. If you look closely, you can see it has white "whiskers" near the head. It's a moth -- and I used to know the name of it, but can't remember off the top of my head. Monarchs can not eat Grapes.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Like these 2 look alikes? Not my pic.
Gypsi... Look up images of Grapeleaf Skeletonizer. I used to get small black, white and yellow caterpillars that chowed down on a Virginia creeper vine. They looked like early instar monarch or queen cats but these were a wee bit fuzzy haired. Looks just like your first photo.
Cat
This message was edited Jun 12, 2013 8:49 PM
not fuzzy, but I will look tomorrow. Thank you for the tipoff. Size might be the one issue, I think they are getting bigger than the skeletonizer, but I am not sure. Also the monarch cat has antennas, these don't, but I thought they were just too young..
If they aren't monarchs, I have no problem using a BT spray on the grape leaves to eradicate them... I will definitely check
This looks like a photo of your guy, gypsi.http://www.restoringthelandscape.com/2011/08/monarch-caterpillar-look-alike.html
That looks just like it Marty, http://www.restoringthelandscape.com/2011/08/monarch-caterpillar-look-alike.html
I copied the link again to see if it would be live.
ok, we have a lepidopterist on this thread. Should I spray the grapes with BT, the proper form for caterpillars (as opposed to what i use in my hives for wax moth)?
Because behind the grapes are lantana and wildflowers frequented by butterflies and bees. I don't know if I have time to handpick caterpillars, I can give it a shot. control method please? for my fake monarchs?
Sure, if you feel the need to kill them. The BT won't harm the adult lepidoptera so they'll be fine. That's much better than using a chemical pesticide.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
if they were real monarchs I would sacrifice my grapevines. They aren't. I planted for the real monarchs already. I would sacrifice the grapevines for my tiger swallowtails too. But not this moth. at the moment they seem to be in the cocoon stage of their life cycle, could not find ONE this morning. They are killing my grapes. I have thuricide, won't use til I see another caterpillar probably.
If you want to kill them, and as it seems, you aren't seeing many ....why not squish them and not take a chance on the chemicals?
@ sybram....is that maybe a Salt Marsh moth caterpillar? http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Estigmene-acrea
This message was edited Jun 23, 2013 4:22 PM
I did squish, about 35, and my grapes look much better. Starting to get some leaves.
Yes, Sheila, I think that dark cat was it.