I've been cleaning up 20 years accumulation from our attic, basement, and garage. I've been out in the garage working these days and was rearranging things out there and found this. Barring the purchase of new treads for our new snowblower, does anyone have any idea what I can do about this little guy. He's wedged in there pretty good and we are going to have to use that snowblower-
Who's inside? I can't tell from the picture.
I think it's Isia isabella?
Pray for a warm winter?
I took a single edged razor blade and ever so carefully attempted to get in there to get him sliced out. I found a nice chunk of oak that had really deep bark and I was sort of going to simply transfer him into a crevice in the bark of the oak. Didn't work. I was coming way too close to the little guy for my comfort so I stopped and posted here. If we can't come up with anything, I guess it's time to get a hold of Gerris2. He and his wife are both entomologists, maybe they can think of something? I just priced out new treads for that snowblower and I'm not exactly happy right about now because you have to purchase them from Honda as a package meaning you can't just buy one. Figures.
Eq, is he in a cocoon or no? Couldn't you just put him in a critter keeper or something that will keep predators out and set him on the porch...do you have a porch? Or maybe your garage?
What is that he is in?
Bummer about the treads!
That photo would be the tank treads to our snowblower. He's in a cocoon that just happens to be right down in the middle of the treads. So far the only thing I could come up with is to buy new treads and leave him be but they want darn near $200 for the treads. I can't buy just one for $100 and even that isn't sitting well with me. This is sort of sad because we will have to use that snowblower and there's no way he'd survive having snow compacted onto him when we go to use it. I really gotta figure out how to get him out without killing him because no way no how is my husband going to go for replacing the treads to allow him to overwinter where he is.
Yeah, I see what you mean. Can you stick a paintbrush or something soft under him, from the front or back, and lift him up and out?
Is it a big moth do you think? Something truly worth saving? Or something small like a gypsy moth or webworm cocoon?
If it's a nice big one - I'd say try to cut the silk away from the sides first (an exacto knife should work)...then gently slide something underneath (like a nail file or one of those straight edge blades from an exacto knife) that will allow you to cut through the bottom silk. There should be a pupa (cocoon) inside this silk concoction - on most moths so long as you don't damage the actual pupa it will be okay. These little silk concoctions wonders of nature are supposed to insulate against heat/cold/water etc. and damaging them could cause harm to the pupa. Although on certain moths opening this silk cocoon/shelter will most likely cause it not to eclose.
I got curious about the silk cocoon of an Automeris Io moth I'd had for several months outside (due to our warm weather most butterflies and moths don't overwinter). I ended up actually cutting the silk cocoon open - to make sure the pupa inside was not parasitized - it was fine so I put it back into the silk shell and brought it inside to babysit - it eclosed as a healthy male about a week later!!! Go figure!
~ Cat
This message was edited Nov 1, 2007 5:40 PM
If it's what I think it is, it would have about a 2" wingspan or there abouts. The cocoon in the tank treads looks an awful lot like the cocoons in the bark of my oaks. I watched a wooly caterpillar create a cocoon once. Took quite a while. Anyway, because the cocoons looks so similar, my guess is this is Isia isabella.
http://www.lesinsectesduquebec.com/insecta/27-lepidoptera/pyrrharctia_isabella.htm
I tried a straight edge razor blade and although I was able to get the sides of his cocoon to release from the treads, I can't quite get underneath that narrow slit between the two treads to be able to gently lift him out. I never thought of trying a metal nail file. I'll try my best to remember to pick one up tomorrow. If I forget, he's not going anywhere fast so there's always the day after to pick one up.
A huge oak tree burned on our property a few years ago. The tree was stumped out and some of the wood was set aside in piles. That wood had nice bark. I pulled a big chunk of it out of the pile and hauled it in the garage. If I can get this little guy out, I'll transfer him into the folds of the bark and set the whole kit and kaboodle on a work bench in the garage for the winter. Normally, we leave the garage door open all the time once spring arives so if he does eclose, he'll be able to get out of the garage.
Eq, how's it going? Did you get him out?
I've got the sides of him totally released with a straight edge razor blade and a special exacto knife type deal that I had laying around in craft materials. I've got about a half inch of the bottom in front of him and behind him released because I had my husband take off the tread and I basically spread it out to get better access to those areas. The treads are too thick to "fan" out to allow me to get underneath him without damaging him. Now all I've got to do is try to somehow release that 1" middle section on the very bottom that's still attached to the tread. I am not in a good mood. I don't see well enough for this crap and I can't get at that area and I did buy a metal nail file which helped me get to as much as I was able to separate from the tread. The metal nail file is really good combined with a tweezers for gently lifting the portions up so you can get the exacto blade in farther and if you get help, someone can hold it up with tweezers so you can get in a little farther. It's that middle section I can't reach even with the tank tread off the snow blower. I've got my neighbor holding a huge magnifying glass while I work on it.
I have a girlfriend who is an anesthesiologist. I dropped off a photo of the problem in her mailbox yesterday then called her and left a message. She called me back and when she goes to work next week, she's going to ask some of the people she works with if they have any suggestions of what might work best to get underneath the mid section of the cocoon. She said she'd bring me some instruments that might work. I'm not doing anything more until she gets back to me. She owes me for the turtle she brought over in a bed pan that nobody at the hospital wanted to take home that she dropped in one of my ponds anyway.
Get's better, I found another cocoon in the tread to a smaller snowblower we have. That didn't exactly make my day. I've got the sides to him released too. The treads to that one are even smaller than the big snow blower treads. I have no idea how he squeezed in between the treads on that one but he did it. When we are done using the snow blowers after this coming winter, I am going to put them inside of those 50 gallon leaf bags and seal them off with duct tape. I am not going to do this again.
What about if you put something like a nylon stocking over a vac hose (to catch him) and tried to vac him out, or would that damage him?
I dunno? Maybe I better wait to see what kind of gadgets my girlfriend comes up with. After that, I'll be ready to try just about anything.
Eq, you're such a sweetie trying to save him :)
The bad thing, for him, is that the Wooly Bears spend the winter as a cat and don't pupate until spring. So, I don't think he's in a cocoon yet. It looks like his hairs sticking in there.
Sounds like you're making progress and thank goodness for friends that owe us favors!
When you mentioned your anesthesiologist friend, I, at first, thought you were going to anesthesize him and wondered how would she know how much to give him LOL
Yes, I made some progress. Now to sit and wait to see what she comes up with. Should be interesting.
Anesthetize a caterpillar... that would probably be a first. I think she's just going to ask around for anything that might be able to be slipped in under to get to that mid section. They probably pass instruments around and share the same way we pass around and share gardening tools. Scalpel please!
Can you just imagine this poor creature's fate if the majority of people had this problem? It wouldn't even BE a problem to most people. That's what I love about these forums, no one makes you feel stupid, and everyone appreciates your kindheartedness and understands your interests. Good luck Eq!!
Hopefully, I'll be able to get both of them out and transferred to the nice safe crevices of some bark I've set aside.
For what it's worth, I don't think I associate with anyone who wouldn't have at least tried to gently lift these little buggers out. Doubtful anyone would have bought new tank treads though... not even me although I must admit I would have tried to save myself time and aggravation by buying replacements if I could have picked them up for only $25.
I'm still stuck on the image of the little guy with a hospital mask on and an IV in his...what thorax, or proleg?
She's a great anesthesiologist but I don't think even she could find a vein on one of these little guys. I will ask her though just for giggles.
Get the power washer out and crank up that bad boy. Then blast the moth out of the tire tread. If he gets wet throw him in the clothes drier on high for 5 minutes. He should be done by then.
YOU! Har de har har har har!
No chance my friend. I know you personally and you are a great big push over and you'd be out there trying to extract it yourself.
BUSTED
***NEWSFLASH***
Don't believe a word he says above.
He's got a major soft spot for little things to include those that go bump in the night and children.
Come on you came looking for help and I'm here to help. Why don't you ride that snowblower around the neighborhood a few times and I bet the moth free itself since you've already loosened him or her up.
Ummm, not quite ready to trade in my broom yet or black pointy hat yet.
Cackle cackle cackle
*poof*
gone to bed!
Ya'll are hilarious. Don't you have any field mice that want to make a crunchy treat out of that cocoon? That would surely solve your dilema.
I salute you - you have gone above and beyond the scope of saving a wooly bear. :o)
~ Cat
How about using the nut picker to grab him?
Never thought of a nut picker but an assortment of narrow blade scalpels are on the way. Should have them by the end of the week. I was told I should be able to get to the underside of his middle with one of the scalpels being passed to me.
Nope, no field mice. I find their nests out in the garage every once in a while and I leave them be. I did find a nice big ground spider earlier this year that people were going to stomp on. I scooped him up on money and tried to whisk him off to safety. Y'all would be so proud of me. This one was big and he started crawling up the money toward my arm. I must admit, I was not all that happy. This is why-
Big money=Big spider!
You are a trooper, I think I would have tried to get it onto the dustmop and then outside. Cool pic.
Hey...that spider isn't a fool! I'd be crawling up on a $100 bill too :o) ROLF!!!
~ Cat
Don't get overly impressed by anything but the size of the spider. I was on vacation with the kids without my husband. He makes me take big money with just in case. Just in case of what is beyond me because everyone, myself included, is perfectly fine with charge cards. I clean out my purse of everything when I travel and am down to absolute necessities like my passport and other identification, sunglasses, magnifying glass, plane tickets, and you get the idea. I ditch jewelry and checkbooks and just about everything so all I had was big money as you call it so that's what I used. At home when I find goodies like this, I use the brush and dustpan from the fireplace or a sheet of notebook paper and send their happy rears outside.
I was pretty confident he wasn't poisonous but I am allergic to some insect stings and spider bites and didn't particularly want to provoke this thing while moving him. That's all I'd need would be for my arm to swell up to the size of a wrestler's arm while out of town.
I've not seen any ground spiders this big around where we live. Not that it particularly bothers me but it does bother me that people would stomp on it to kill it just because it exists.
I always figure if it's not "bugging" me I'll just let it be. At any given time I have tiny spiders that live in my bathroom. Mostly, they stay in the crevice where the walls meet each other. Sometimes, when I turn on the light I see one scurry on the wall or through my dirty laundry. I hardly ever see them move and they're smaller than a dime so I gave up trying to stop them. I like spiders although I do have a rule about if they're bigger than a quarter and in my house - they're toast. When I was a kid we had this huge, hairy spider get in my room. My brother missed hitting it and so I spent that night in bed with all the covers over me. Dad got it the next morning on the kitchen ceiling. I was just glad my parents saw it so they knew I wasn't exaggerating - I've never seen one that big in all my life. It had to be at least five inches across. It really scared me but I try not to hate all spiders because of it. : )
One of the best things I remember from Girl Scouts was going spider-hunting at night. You can shine a flashlight in the bushes and the spiders' eyes glow like jewels. We were having so much fun trying to find different-colored ones. Purple was the best, though!
You know, I know exactly what you mean by their eyes glowing when you hit them with a flashlight. Neat memory.
Yeah, who needs TV?
Yes, I don't watch tv for all practical purposes either. Maybe an hour a month, possibly two. TVs are brain drains.
Love this thread!! Congrats for all your hard work to save this guy. Guess I'm not the only one . . .
I get my tools this Saturday! Remember playing that game Operation where you had to use those tweezers and not touch the sides or you'd set off the buzzer? Extracting these little guys from between those tank treads is a lot like playing the game of Operation only now I get to use real scalpels. Oh boy!
LOL. Exactly like Operation. Let's hope you're better at it than I am.
Fingers crossed, good luck!
Ya'll used to go spotting for spiders at night...and out here in south Texas we used to go blacklighting for scorpions...just to scare ourselves silly. Guess when you grow up in the country you find your own amusement :o)
I long since moved from the country to the city but I still go back on weekends to visit the folks.
I get a kick out of shining a flashlight out on my backyard in the city though...I get to see a myriad of little eyes out there. Those spider eyes really do shine!!! :o)
I don't do that to often when I'm back out in the country...there are way too many eyes out there! Makes you afraid to walking out at night....eeeeek!!!
~ Cat
I think our spiders keep their eyes closed . . . When I shine my flashlight and get eyes, it's got to be raccoons or possums . . .
