Wormageddon!

I don't know what it's like where you live, but Spring is here early after a non-existent winter. I just read a story yesterday that said this will be the "year of the tick" and all the disease they bring. Well, I've never seen caterpillars like we've got caterpillars! They are literally encasing the house in silk and hanging from the house and trees by the thousands! I can't walk out my door without getting a face full of inchworms hanging from threads! Tent caterpillars are in all my trees, which are in the process of being defoliated! I figured the end was near but I never thought it would be like this! The insects are assuming control of governments around the world. Agggggghhhhh! They're crawling on me! I think they've developed a taste for human flesh! ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHhhhhh.......

I've already found a tick on me and two or three on my dog, and I've barely been outdoors.

I'm having a serious flea issue here. I guess this explains it well.

First thing I thought of when I read the title:

"EAT DIRT, everyone in the vicinity! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!1!" {shoots blaster wildly}

OT, we've had some mosquitoes and ticks last week, but temperatures have been hovering between 30-50degF all week, and we're getting slushy snow early tomorrow morning. Hope it keeps the parasites in check.

That's what we need, a good cold snap. Needs to drop down to like 30 degrees for a day or 2 and kill all this crap.

Thank God, here in SoFla no ticks or really any mosquitoes. I fear what will come, though. Temps have been in the 70's and 80's. Very nice, really.

with Caterpillars, comes:

What is this "Spring" of which you speak?

Yeah this was weird... we skipped from "extended fall" to "summer" this year.

Clouds of mosquitos. Clouds. My kids look like they have smallpox.

I'm disappointed this isn't about a new Worms game.

I have visions of Twister:

Grtechguy wrote: with Caterpillars, comes:

kaiju references are always a win

We had an infestation of tent caterpillars in the late 80s. Will never forget skidding on a road surface so covered with them that it was undulating. ~Shudder~

Was just gonna say: Are they tent caterpillars? If so, chill yankee! We get em every few years. Dunno if that's a life cycle thing or a "warm winter" thing.

Put some SLAYER on the headphones, crank up the lawnmower, and go to town. The final swing is not a drill, it's how many caterpillars you can kiiiiiillllllllllll!!!!

Also, gasoline + garden sprayer + grill lighter to the bottom of the nest is pretty awesome. Watching burning caterpillars get puked out of the nest is cool. If only they could scream. I realize this all sounds very sociopathic, but if you've dealt with them, you understand.

I've pulled 1 tick off me and a couple off the dogs. It's time to engage chemical warefare.

I have found, through careful experimentation, that the best way to avoid tick bites is to get a bottle of Adams Flea and Tick spray for dogs and cats, NOT the water based, the origianal formula alcohol based, and spray my socks and pant legs with that. Then get some DEET based repellant, at least the 40%, no less, and spray my pant legs, arms, hat, back of the shirt, shoes with that. That will be good for trips from the house to the shop and back. If I have to go through the woods, that is the best I can do, but I add on a total strip down tick inspection when I get back into the house. If I find one tick on me, all those clothes go in the contaminated hamper (a air tight bin sold at wally world to store pet food in) with a squirt of Adams until wash time. Because if you find one tick on you, there is very likely another one hiding in your clothes somewhere.

Also, I have found that Ivermectin in the cattle/horse dosage (which is 10x the "dog" dossage) for the dogs once a month for heart worms seems to keep the fleas and ticks down in the dog pen a lot. Did I ever tell you guys about dog heart lab in school and what happens to the heart with heart worms when the dog dies? You probably don't want to hear that one.

We have those web worms all over this year. I spray them with whatever and they just build another nest either over the now dead one or on a different branch. With the mild winter we had, it's gonna be rough this year.

you guys are making me itch

ThePhranc wrote: I'm disappointed this isn't about a new Worms game.

Well, you're in luck, because there IS a new Worms game in development!

Joystiq: Worms Revolution coming to PC and consoles

just thought I would add. A few years ago, after an early spring.. we had one of the worst tick seasons in recent history. I have crohnes disease.. so when I gotta go.. I gotta go, and I do not get much warning.

So.. for those in NJ.. I am going up 206 through deepest, darkest, south jersey and with no bathrooms for 10 miles.. I gotta go. I knew there was a dirt fireroad up ahead, so I swung the work van onto it and found a 'shady spot' to hunker down and do my thing.

As I am going.. I notice the dried pine needles on the edge of the road about 5 feet away are alive.. with ticks.. and they can sense me. It is a really creepy feeling to see hundreds of the blood suckers crawling across the sand towards you.. and you have your pants around your ankles and can't go very far or fast.

I didn't get any ticks that day.. but I did start to carry trashbags and a 5 gallon bucket in the van with me after that.

Re the worms, it's not just a single species. So far, I have noticed crazy populations of green inchworms, brown inchworms, tent caterpillars, and a sort of large irridescent green beetle (not June bugs--we get those too, but it's too early for them). The beetles I may have seen one or two per year in the past, but this year there are hundreds of them, and they are invading the screen porch.

Up north here we've been blessed (unfortunately) with a spat of cold weather before spring "really" hits. Hopefully these cold temps will knock down the early risers.

1988RedT2 wrote: Tent caterpillars are in all my trees, which are in the process of being defoliated!

My tool of choice to obliterate caterpillar tents is my Ithaca 37 20Ga loaded with #12 shot. I figure it isn't any worse for the tree than the caterpillars and it's good fun.

Better wormageddon than whamageddon.