Kitties!
We are very, very worried.
Our Mommy's pawrents live in Tucson, Arizona, and there are INVADERS in their back yard!
There are three or four of them living in the Pink Trumpet vine.
Look at his vishus mouth and his horny hiney!
But that's not the worst of it...these caterpillars eat a TON of leaves, which means...
you guessed it...they POOP!
A lot.
Here's an expert drawing of the Evil Caterpillar's Poop Launching Area:
(courtesy of Mommy)
Or as they say in the Southwest, the "Ramada".
The green squiggly stuff is the pink trumpet vine where the Vishus Evil (and Hungry) Caterpillars live.
According to Mommy's Mom and Dad, the pillarpoops are shaped like tiny hand grenades.
What if they start exploding?
We are quite concerned, as you can tell.
We can't sleep...
...or relax!
Does anykitty out there know what sort of Caterpillar this is?
We'd love to find out.
We'd love to find out.
Happy Sunday Kitties!
XX The Lounge Kat GrandKitties
It is, quite logically, the Trumpet Vine Sphynx - Paratraea Plebeja! I knew it was a sphynx of some kind immediately because it is a hornworm. The adults are fascinating (hummingbird moths).
ReplyDeleteThe Big Thing
It looks similar to the tobacco hornworm Estorbo's Wooman had on her roof farm tomatoes. It looks similar to the tomato hornworms our human has had on her plants as well, which grows up to be some kind of sphynx moth, so we think Ayla and Iza are correct in their identification.
ReplyDeleteI was also going to say they look like gigantic mutant versions of ones I swore I had seen on tomato plants back when I was a kid, but I couldn't say for sure. All I know is they look g-ross!!
ReplyDeleteMy mom are not an caterpillar expert but she is a maniac searcher
ReplyDeleteShe found this caterpillar look like your one
Please see the link :
How to Identify Caterpillars
And this might help you guys
How to make a spray to kill Caterpillars
That looks like the Ickius Nastius breed. I would stay away at all costs.
ReplyDeleteNubbin wiggles,
Oskar
They remind us of the BIG caterpillars that eat tomato plants in the Midwest too. Fascinating! What a gorgeous color they are. The poop must be making a big mess. You guys do look very worried about it. (not!)
ReplyDeleteWe think Ayla and Iza are correct, too. The internets say the moths these guys turn into are important pollinators. If your Mommy's pawrents aren't too grossed out, they can always sweep up the caterpillar poop and use it as natural plant fertilizer. Glad to see you guys aren't too upset by the bright green invaders!
ReplyDeleteOMB, Buddy is lookin at dem and lickin his chops (he is crazy), dem are some big pillars! We hopes it all works out what evfur dey decide ta do wif dem.
ReplyDeleteDa Critters
p.s you guys look so pawsome all chillin on da bed
It's the hungry hungry hippopillar!!!! But that's probably not the technical name.
ReplyDeleteP.S. How comfy are those beds! When one of us is in ours, the others sit and stare at them til they move. And then the cycle continues.
Ack! Our auntie has poopin' caterpillars at her house, too! They poop all over her deck. Ack!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it's the tobacco caterpillar or horned caterpillar. Ick!
ReplyDeleteOooooh, we had some similar ones here once. They ate up our Cayenne Peppers....leaves, peppers and all! We think if you spray the poop off with water it will de-fuse the poop grenades.
ReplyDeleteWe hope you can get rid of them because y'all are OBVIOUSLY sleep deprived....*snicker*
I can tell how worried you are, maybe it will pass!!!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever noticed that lizards poop all over, too?!?
ReplyDeleteYou guys are all scaring me with the talk of those creepy, crawly things. We don't have those thingies here - maybe they don't like our winters.
ReplyDeleteIt does look exactly like a tobacco hornworm. I wonder if they eat trumpet vines too.
ReplyDeleteMe and Charlie think you should send THE BABY!!!! She'd know what to do with them!! Just ask George!! :-)
ReplyDeleteEr.... me and Charlie are hoping these caterpillars grow to be beautiful butterflies!! LOL!!! Why is there an explosion of these creatures?? Where are the birds to feast on them?!
Oh dear!! How scary and icky and yucky!!!
We are sorry that your granpawrents are under seige from these creatures! We hope that it's a one off and that the winter will kill them off or something! Your poor grandpawrents! We are sending them lotsa hugs! :-)
Take care
x
We can see why you all are so worried and losing so much sleep. They are big and icky. We only get small caterpillars which are good to whap around.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Oskar's assessment of the type of caterpillar: Ickius Nastius. Ugh. Love the diagram! Poops like tiny hand grenades. Ewww. Yes, you all are way too worried and tense over this. It's clear from the pictures!
ReplyDeleteOh yuck!!! Those caterpillars would indeed have big poops! Blah!!! But I must say, the drawing for demonstration was very funny. :)
ReplyDeleteHope you figure out how to get rid of those nasty critters. ick!
xo Catherine
Those caterpillars are so horrible - we're only too pleased we don't have them here. If we had we'd be doing exactly the same as your "non" sleepers!!
ReplyDeleteThose Vishus Horny Hiney's look dreadful!
ReplyDeleteGave mom a distinct flashback to her childhood: riding her bike along the sidewalk and getting covered (almost literally!) with little green worms....the tent caterpillars that defoliate trees and hang down on sticky strands to torture poor little unsuspecting girls and give them nightmares for the rest of their lives!!!!!
Northern Minnesota was quite infested with them for several years in the 60's/70's.
Wow! Look how big it is...I say that catepillar is at least 3 meals!!!!! That's it...it's the Happy Meal value pack catepillar!
ReplyDeleteWe had some catepillars like that on our tomato plants and they are really destructive. Our Mom hated them and tried to kill as many as she saw. They looked just like your picture. They would eat many branches on the tomato plant.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of all of you on the bed. Take care and enjoy your weekend.
Oh, no those catepillars do look scary. And they poop! Kitties, let's play that they will not explode.....
ReplyDeleteMEOWZA!!!!!!!!!!!!! We purr that you don't have an invasion of them at your house!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletexxxxxxxxxx
Just a quick comment back to you - I still worry about the weight loss, to be honest. But with the boys, when they lost their weight, blood tests immediately showed a problem. With Fuzzy, there is nothing to explain it, aside from the food change. Since my vets and I both feel we've done as many tests/checks as would be reasonable with no other symptoms, they're not worried about her and just mark it up to old age (and, of course, a diet change). I will still keep a close eye on her, as she is almost 16, but I am not AS worried as I was before. It does freak you out, though, to see them drop weight that fast!
ReplyDeleteBig caterpillars grow into big, yummy moths! I say you guys draw straws and the four winners go to Arizona and wait for those things to metamorphose... then, voila! Extra special kitty treats!
ReplyDeleteThat is a scary looking caterpillar, but we hope you all will be able to get some rest today=we certainly need it...Thanks so much for coming to our party, we had a fun time with all of you there...xoxo...Calle, Halle, Sukki
ReplyDeleteOh my cat, they are huge... I hope your grandparents can get rid of those. No idea what they are but they look alien.. Hugs GJ xx
ReplyDeleteOMC..vishus horny heinies are the worst! Mommy wishes she knew what they are and maybe she can help research. Ewwww. I might have to think twice before I dedded those!
ReplyDeleteWe just have bunches of ladybugs trying to come into the house right now. Mommy called the dedder man.
Rupert..did you see that someone said we made a cute couple? Did you also see that um...Spitty..made a comment after you did?
Your pert little Tuna
Pee Ess Rupert..I see you. You are gleaming like satin! Oh how handsome.
ReplyDeleteHi to our fav 13!! OH Gross green things...I don't like anything that has more feet than I do.
ReplyDeleteWhat in the world.
We hope you are having a good Sunday...it is nearly time for supper here.
TTFN,
Hugs Madi
Thanks for dropping past my blog! I love your play room! Very jealous!
ReplyDeleteKitties! I say it is your duty to go visit the grandpawrents and capture, kill and then eat up all those tasty caterpillars!
ReplyDeleteI laughed & laughed at the illustration. The Human and I think your mom is a Renaissance Woman for sure!
Those caterpillars look like they are a big problem. They aren't even cute so that makes putting up with them even less fun.
ReplyDeleteI asked Hugo if he would like to visit you next and as soon as he heard Las Vegas and saw photos of your place he is more than happy to head over there when done visiting here. I will get back with you on when he will be on his way. He is going to stay here with me through next weekend, that way he will be here for my Halloween party. You are all invited too and bring as many guests as you want to.
GROSS! GROSS! GROSS!
ReplyDeleteWe think those caterpillars are just plain ugly!! And we bet they would be fun to whap! So we suggest that you all teleport down to Arizona and start whapping!!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!! That is one big caterpillar :o
ReplyDeleteThey poop too and make a mess...yuck!!!!!!
We thought our giant spiders were bad. Well, Mom does,she is scared of spiders,heehee
At least they don't leave poop all over :)
Looks like you got some good answers too!!!
Smart kitties.
Purrs Mickey,Georgia & Tillie
Woweee, is that the caterpiller that will eat Arizona? We have never seen anything so big.
ReplyDeletePS, mum says they are done fixing the gates, so once we get some more rain we might get a waterfall again. Mum will have to stop and get pictures.
Yikes! Those are icky looking horny hineys! We've never seen anything like that so we can see why you can't sleep or relax because of worrying about your grandpawrents!
ReplyDeleteBut when they sprout wings, they become toys!
ReplyDeleteWe wish those caterpillars would pick a different place for pooping!
ReplyDeleteHi Katnip Lounge! Sorry its taken a few days to reply but we would LOVE to Paw It forward to you all! Just e-mail our the moms at our email address onecatsnip@gmail.com with your address information so that once we get all the things together Mom can do our bidding and mail them out! We will repost the rules once we get them in the mail! YAYYY!!!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Pepper was quite into some of the new toys coming in and when mom took him and told them they were for paw it forward he was happy yet jealous...silly young cat
Those are so scary looking. We would not like to touch him! He looks very dangerous!
ReplyDeleteWe would not like to be near the little poo grenades when they start exploding!
Purrrs, Keiko, Kenji, Pricilla & Yuji
WE don't know what kind they are but we would LOVE to play with them!
ReplyDelete--JB