Hickory Tussock Moth

Found one of these on my neck after going out to feed my animals. Felt something prickly on my neck and brushed it off. Within 24 hours my neck is covered in a bad rash that itches tremendously bad!!! Located in Clay City, Indiana. I'm so glad I was smart enough to pick it up with a paper towel to throw it outside!!!

As I had to find out the hard way, the Hickory Tussock caterpillar is "an extremely attractive species of caterpillar", it "is also one that is best avoided".

While my boyfriend and I were at his mom's house (in Hillsboro, GA) this past weekend, I was playing outside with his daughter and we found a very fuzzy, strange looking caterpillar on her playground. She wanted to keep it and watch it go through the butterfly stages and transformation. I got it on a stick, we found a container, put air holes in it, then put the caterpillar with the stick inside. As the day went on, we found about 5 more of these caterpillars, and put them in the container with more sticks and leaves. I thought for certain that I didn't touch any of the caterpillars, and I know my boyfriend's daughter ... read moredidn't for sure. I'm hoping she didn't try to take them out of the container after we left Well, I must have come in contact with one of them, because I have 4 or 5, what I thought were mosquito or flea bites, along my chin, jaw, neck, and on my collar bone. It's actually a reaction to a chemical that this caterpillar secretes from its hair. ("Absorbing nasty chemicals for use as defences from the plants on which it feeds, these are secreted from the hairs on its body.") I had never seen this particular type of caterpillar before, so I did some research and got my answer - on the caterpillar and the random "bites" I had. I'm sure this has to be what it's from, because the "symptoms" that occur when these caterpillars come in contact with human skin are exactly how it feels. ("On contact with human skin, severe itching usually ensues, accompanied by very painful burning sensations. Itchy rashes can persist for several days and are thoroughly unpleasant.") I knew it had to be some sort of rash because the affected area was MUCH too swollen, extremely red, and painfully itchy, to just be an insect bite. Just wanted to share this with whomever may visit this page for information about this caterpillar. Hopefully it will get passed on and others will know not to handle, or to let children handle, these harmless-looking, but toxic caterpillars. (Turns out they don't even turn into butterflies. They turn into moths...)

*The information ("2 sentences in parentheses and quotation marks") in this paragraph were found at the website listed below:*
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/nature/news-ten-creepy-...

This caterpillar is one I would advise staying away from!
My 16 month old son found this out the hard way!
Although he has sensitive skin anyway, I too, broke out in an irritating rash after he had touched me after playing with this particular caterpillar.
It has been four days, and while my rash seems to have subsided, he is still miserable with his.
Not a caterpillar to play with!