caterpiller poo--found it--it's an orangestripe oakworm
 

This is it: the pic of the orangestripe oakworm larvae is exactly like
what is crawling and pooping all over my deck! Anyone ever deal w/these?

http://www.forestpests.org/southern/Insects/oakworm.htm


Heidi



Heidi wrote:

The past couple of weeks, there have been little dark brown balls
covering our deck. The balls looked like large mouse droppings.
Because of the amount of the balls, I figured it must be some sort of
pollen from a tree--I kid you not when I tell you that our deck is
covered w/ these balls. I sweep the deck clean and the next day they
are back. Well imagine my surprise when I see a caterpillar crawling
across the deck excreting these little balls!!! We have a major
caterpillar poo infestation going on!!

Can anyone help me id the culprits? The caterpillars are similar to
tent worms, but they do not have any blue markings. They are mostly
black with two thin stripes down the back.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any recommendations? I have not
seen any evidence of a nest or origin for all these pooping caterpillars!

Thanks!
Heidi
Raleigh, NC

caterpiller poo--found it--it's an orangestripe oakworm
 

Heidi wrote in
om:

This is it: the pic of the orangestripe oakworm larvae is exactly like
what is crawling and pooping all over my deck! Anyone ever deal
w/these?

http://www.forestpests.org/southern/Insects/oakworm.htm


Heidi

You could try to lay big wads of peanut butter across their paths and see
if squirrels pick them up on the other end. But if you have brazen
squirrels they might not wait for the caterpillars and just hop on the deck
and have a picnic. But then you still get a small chance of the
caterpillars getting trampled. :-)

- S

caterpiller poo--found it--it's an orangestripe oakworm
 

I remember being at my cousins wedding in Elizabeth City, NC back in 1986 or
somewhere around there. It was her wedding day and we had the reception at her
house and there were all these worm type caterpillers everywhere, dangling from
trees, falling on people. It was really gross. Not sure what they were, but
these sound like what those were. We really laugh about it now. Good luck.
Kirsten in Ohio