They're back! I haven't seen any here yet. The only caterpillar I've ever felt an urge to pat.

Claire

I've seen several of these guys. And I definitely don't get the urge to pat, lol - they give me the heebie-jeebies!

:)
Dee

What are those? I've seen several too, even rescued one that was out in the middle of the road.

They are kinda fuzzy and cute, but I'm not that crazy about the feeling of wriggling caterpillars. Even the Monarch caterpillars I raised this summer, pretty much using sprigs of Milkweed to move them around.

AKA Wooly Bear Caterpillar. It's the larva of the Isabella Tiger Moth, and has a reputation (highly contested) for forecasting the winter conditions.

They even have their own festivals:

"Woolly bears are a big deal in Vermilion, Ohio (a rural area west of Cleveland). The city dedicates an entire day of celebration to woolly bears at their annual Woolly Bear Festival. The small, one-stoplight town of Banner Elk, North Carolina also hosts a Woolly Worm Festival. They have a woolly worm race with over 1,400 racing caterpillars. The winner of the race is the banded woolly bear that will predict the severity of weather of the coming winter. Other woolly bear festivals include Beattyville, Kentucky every October and the Camargo, Illinois festival, complete with woolly worm races and reports from local meteorologists."

terrene: Apparently you can raise these too, if you want tiger moths.

Claire