Poisonous Caterpillars?

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
The kid came home for lunch today very excited. She exclaimed that “Switzerland has poisonous caterpillars. Very harmful. They will sting. They are very harmful to kids and pets!”

While in Japan, we had such critters. Some would give a bite that felt like a shock, others gave you a rash if you touched them.

So does Switzerland have these nasties or are the kids just scaring each other? I don’t remember stinging ones in either Ireland nor North America.

2
Yes, kids get warned about these at school. Processionary Caterpillars. Problem is, if one comes along, he brings all his mates too.

3
Processionary caterpillars are indeed a thing here and can be very nasty.

Your kid is not having you on.

Here’s the first link that popped up from a quick Google of processionary caterpillars which is the name I know them by.

https://www.healthfirst.ch/watch-out...-caterpillars/

4
Yes, I was warned about these by a fellow pet-owner when I moved to Switzerland. My labrador inhales everything she sees on the ground, so the warning stuck in my mind.

5
Wow! So are they anywhere else in Europe? I'll assume neighboring countries.

We have a decent sized garden, so I'm glad that I never bumped into any!

6
Your kid/s might be interested in wild animals in Switzerland generally. If so, here's a link

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/loca...e/switzerland/

and here's one for the kind one should stay away from

https://www.srf.ch/wissen/natur-tier...d%20%C3%84sten .

and this one is for you if anyone gets bitten by something nasty

https://www.rosenfluh.ch/media/paedi...tige_Tiere.pdf

sorry, can't find English pages for the last two, but deepl will help

PS the ones you really need to watch out for are ticks.

https://zecke-tique-tick.ch/en/tickb...p-switzerland/

they can give you a seriously bad disease (lyme disease, borreliosis).

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This is great! Thanks!

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No worries, my pleasure

I've been bitten by the procrastinator bug this afternoon and

also found this

https://www.vaud-welcome.ch/Portals/...nglais-web.pdf

i haven't read it all, but there might be some interesting animal related stuff in there

and this might help if you want to do outdoorsy stuff

https://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/summer.html

but I digress

9
The kid, who just came home on a rainy Tuesday and did the "forbidden phrase of "I'm bored!" just got some new reading material sent to her. Cheers for all of this.

10
Usually they are on pine trees. Around here the local commune sends around a reminder in late winter to remind homeowners to check for the overwintering nests and have them properly removed before the procession. Further, some communes, like mine, can be more militant and actually send someone around to check and enforce such rules.

One reason the old overgrown pine trees have been removed from the property.

11
But they crawl in single file so easy to spot. We also have venomous snakes (the adder). Anyway, it's just a matter of walking for some of the really dangerous stuff.

12
They are just animals protecting themselves, Kid just need to learn not to touch them. They will not kill your kids

For exemple dogs are a lot more dangerous. I know some people will react badly to this comment but caterpillars are not so dangerous. It's just better not to touch them.

13
This is such an odd comment.

I don't think there's anything offensive about calling caterpillars, which can cause irritating and painful rashes, 'these nasties.'

Additionally, the statement 'they're just animals protecting themselves / kid needs to learn not to touch them' is not in question - that is literally the purpose of this thread. As a result, MattyRedSox, other readers, and the child are now considered better educated about not touching these caterpillars because of this very discussion.

'Dogs are a lot more dangerous.' This is a gross overgeneralization - I think what you meant to say was, 'dogs can be a lot more dangerous.' But so can lots of things - a mere peanut is potentially deadly to a certain proportion of the population. This is not a discussion about what's more dangerous.

There is no malice intended in my response, I'm just confused about the tone of your post.

14
Where we moved from, a brush or bite from certain caterpillars could lead to hospitalization. The largest cause of death from wildlife was through stings from aggressive wasps that would actually hunt people (you can Google suzumebachi yourself), and several varieties of centipedes there had bites that could lead to hospital time. Each of these critters were not only found outdoors, but frequently made their way indoors, much how ants do here.

Sorry my comment offended you, but anything that enters my home without permission and can harm me is a “nasty” in my opinion.

15
I don't want to offend anyone, and I am sorry if I did.

Personally I am shocked by the following sentence

“Switzerland has poisonous caterpillars. Very harmful. They will sting. They are very harmful to kids and pets!”

When I say dogs are more dangerous, it's not an attack against anyone, I should have say "Dogs bites are more armful".

I love insects and easily touch some I don't know but I do not ;touch caterpillars

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I am not offended, I am reading because you never know what you will learn.

Thanks, I will check the info.

17
The sentences that shocked you was from a nine year old who was very excited, as once she was eating at an outdoor cafe as a child, was bitten by a “蚋” buyo - a type of black fly, which led to her arm swelling to about twice its size and a fever for four days. She doesn’t mess around with insects that she doesn’t know, and so she was rather excited... and add that her cat had a large tick removed from its face a few days earlier.

18
Can you suggest any reading on plants that might cause uncomfortable reactions? My son came back with a rash of some kind on his lower legs and feet after being walking in an unfamiliar garden area.

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Page in English from the Swiss Centre for Allergies

https://www.aha.ch/aktuelles/our-services-in-english

Website with article about plants that can cause rashes

https://www.mein-schoener-garten.de/...anfassen-34506

Was tun bei Wiesengräserdermatitis?

Die wichtigsten phototoxischen Pflanzen

I don't know how good your German is, but copying and pasting the text of the above two headings into deepl might help you out.

20
Apparently, google run a skin condition identifier https://health.google/consumers/dermassist/ but I don't know how useful that'll be for you. It's for people over 16 years old

I was trying to find a website that would identify your son's rash if you upload a photo, but nothing terribly useful comes up. Could be I'm not using the right search terms.

Maybe upload a photo on here? There might be some experienced gardeners on EF who may be able to identify the rash.

Could he have just caught some nettles? It'd be useful if you could retrace his steps and take pictures of likely plants.

If you're worried, go and see a doctor or at least a pharmacist.

Hope your son gets better soon.