I went outside this morning and the grass looked like it was alive. So I took a closer look and there are little catapillars everywhere, 1000's and 1000's of them. It is kind of freaky. I have seen lots of them before but never on this scale.
I hope you can see them in the pic's, my camera doesnt like to take close ups.

Recently I saw a big web nest in a tree with a ton of caterpillars in it. I wondered what they were also.

What can you do about them??? and will they eat your plants or do they turn into moths?

Mine are not that big up here in southeastern PA, but I have had a terrible time with little green caterpiller looking bug eating my flowers. They seem immune to any insecticide I spray on the flowers. The really love petunia flowwers. I even woke up with one of the critters on my shirt last week. I guess he fell in my hair or was on clothing when I came in.

We have these in Idaho also.

I wonder if it has to do with the heat wave we had?

Ewwww creepy!! Would hate to step on one.

Our backyard has been invaded by grasshoppers, but at least they jump away when I get near.

We have been extremely dry & I am one of the very few on my street that is watering so I think every rabbit, squirrel, deer & bug comes to my property for moisture.

I don't know. I have been wondering why the crickets are so much louder than usual. I was talking to someone on the phone and they wanted to know what the noise was. It was just the crickets. You can hear them in the house at night.

Crickets I have tons of and can handle ... the caterpillars eeewwww no thanks :shock:

Same here, but I don't hear them if I shut the windows. Just can't keep the windows open. If I do, I wake up before daylight with all the noise. I guess they are nocturnal as they make all fheir noise after dark. I always seem to get a couple in the garage every year & that I hear in the house.

Our crickets are crazy loud too along with the jar flies. We also have horse flies, I have been here 6 years and never saw a horse fly until now. We also have a lot of butterflies way more than usual maybe that's why there is so many catapillars.

Too bad I can't load a video with sound to the QB so I can show how the grass looks and what it sounds like outside 24 hours a day.

Yewwww ... are they Army worms or tent caterpillars? If they are they eat a LOT!!! And they stay around for several years!

The crickets don't bother me, I just find it interesting that they are louder than usual. And my sister has tiny little frogs in the yards which have never been there before.

I just mentioned to my DH the other day that I have not seen any tents this year, not that I miss them... I hate those things. I remember as a kid they would be all over the place...........Michele

ICKY!!!!!!! LOL, worms and snakes are the only thing I am afraid of, give me a spider over a worm anyday! I dont think they are tent caterpillars, I think they have really bright colors in them, and are fuzzy.

Are you seeing a lot of white nests in the trees? We had an epedemic of them several years ago in our area and they stripped the trees bare for miles, It looked like winter! They are awful! We had bands of duct tape with Vaseline on it so they wouldn't crawl up into the trees in the yard but the forest was eaten bare!

I have no idea what kind they are.

I haven't seen any nests in the trees. I would think the birds would be having a feeding frenzy.

I saw a pure white one the other day and thought it must be an omen of the winter to come. LOL

Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) is a product that you may find helpful. Call your local feed store to see if they have it.
It is considered organic and can really help with caterpillers.

I think these are the kind that birds will not eat! They are ucky and when you squish them they are green!

Ewww I would be spraying or dusting something on these, if they are that bad.

They creep me out. Your camera was a little too good. ha ha

IT took close ups JUST fine! OOOOwwww 8-)

These are tent caterpillars and very destructive. They can completely defoliate a branch or an entire tree. We get them in our young trees here; dh removes them ASAP to protect the trees (which took a lot of work to plant in addition to money for purchase!).

Edit: Sorry, I thought I had quoted the post I was responding to. I didn't mean the caterpillars in the original poster's pictures. Someone mentioned seeing caterpillars in white tents in the trees; those are the caterpillars I meant. Don't know what the others are, but they don't look good!!!

Ewww yukkie. I've been battling with Hobo Spiders. Very poisonous. I haven't seen any wormies yet. Maybe the spider killing stuff works for them too. If anyone has these spiders be very careful. Their breeding time is August and September.
Highly aggressive. :shock:

I have a squirrel that comes to feed every couple of days, she won't even get on the grass.

Am I the only one who looks at that & thinks "time to go fishing"?

LOL.... could be, time to Fish:)
Don't know if I'd want to see the ground moving, just a little creepy, nothin like a pop when you step, gag!!
Here have fuzzy ones that cross the roads at times of the year, can see them rolling when you pass and the wind hits them, kinda cool to watch. Went out and sprayed yellow jackets this morning, then I hustled my tail back into the house, got stung the other day. :shock: ouch!
Hopefully yours are just passin thru !! :) Good Luck

I don't even think fish will try to eat these little monsters!

Eeewwww, kinda Steven King-ish there kiddo!

Totally Yucky!

Just told hubby what you said and he thinks it is a great idea.

Carrie, send us a pic of something cute, like littleman- not caterpillars HAHAHAHA :D

We don't have them at my house but saw on the Memphis news where a woman was spraying them with diesel fuel. Her yard was actually moving too. We have the bags in the trees but they look like moths. I counted 12 in the 2 pecan tress.

Try here for identification. Found that mine are tent caterpillars. Thankfully I only have them on a couple trees. My neighbors tree is almost bare. Guess they are looking to "branch" out.


http://www.whatsthatbug.com

that is terrible, maybe you can sell them to fishermen!

YUCK