Watch out for venomous "puss moth" caterpillars, or Asps, in Texas. Just got out of the ER after a sting

Local Inspection Issues Texas/TPREIA Home Inspectors
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I brushed my finger against one that was sitting on a heat pump in the shade outside of Austin,TX. A couple minutes my finger was on fire and I had bad chest pains. Drove myself to the ER thinking I was about to have a heart attack. Luckily my reaction wasn’t as bad as it can get - it can be fatal if you’re allergic to it. 4.5 hours later and my finger still kills. Chest pains aren’t as bad anymore, but it still comes and goes and is more chest pain than id like!

Any TX inspector with allergies better have an epipen in their toolbelt. Watch out!

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Holy Moly. I guess that’s one reason I put up with the Minnesota winters. Not much that can kill you up here.

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Except the Minnesota winter, lol. It can be dangerous!

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Thanks for the heads up. Never head of them.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.

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10-4 on that!

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From NY to Florida, west to Texas. South Flannel Moth.
The most poisonous caterpillar out there.
You must be very allergic.
Usually they hurt ya baaaaad, but no shock like you experienced.

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It fully stuck to my hand when I hit it, I had to smack it off of me. It probably gave me a big dose. It’s kind of turned into joint pain in my knuckles, elbow and shoulder now. Wild stuff.

You ever see what they turn into?
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I would not call that moth a “Puss” lol. I did not know they existed and we get a lot of “stingers” in GA. I’ll keep an eye out for sure. Thanks.

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Denver, Colorado may be the best place in the union for inspectors. Few termites, few roaches, no scorpions, few brown recluses, (plenty of black widows), no poisonous snakes, not much mold, low rainfall, low humidity, snow melts quickly, pretty good city inspectors, errr, forget what I said, it sucks here and you should stay where ever you are. Good luck.

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What about those hummingbird size mosquitos in Minnesota?

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Um, what about rattlesnakes?

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That was my thought also. We have a few spieces of rattlesnakes here.

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There are plenty of termites in Colorado

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10-4 good buddy !

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Negatory on termites. We are one of the few states where FHA and VA do not require termite inspections. I’ve seen three active colonies in 22 years and remnants of seven dead colonies. I am an actual entomologist and have caught some commercial pest guys claiming dry rot as termite damage.

We have rattlesnakes on the eastern plains, but I’ve never seen one in the metro area, although I’ve heard stories about some on the edges of the city.

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Me too & we disagree.

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That right there is an immediate disqualification for best place to inspect in the so called union.

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I’ll take snow over dying from a caterpillar bite any day of the week.

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Bring on the snow

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I’ve been in white out conditions where I turned around to head home and call it a day. The tracks in the snow disappeared in 10 minutes. I lost track of where I was and where my street was to turn off. Not fun at 4:00am in the mountains.

I never get lost in the sunshine :sunny: I never saw that moth here but apparently it’s in many states.

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