Newly hatched caterpillars. Think mom was confused when she laid her eggs.

Brush into soapy water.

Newly hatched caterpillars that might be the larva of butterflies, moths, or some other thingy. Whether brushing them into a bucket of soapy water is necessary, or desirable, depends on just what they are and that is difficult to tell just yet.

Kimmsr....why would she NOT want to dispose of the caterpillars? You may not be able to tell what these tiny insects are, but someone with experience (real life and hands on) certainly can. You need to learn from jean, rather than be so contradictory whenever you can.

These are caterpillar hatchlings, no question. Caterpillars are the larvae of moths and butterflies. Caterpillars feed on plant foliage....it's their 'job '.

If Mean doesn't get rid of these hatchlings pronto, they have a small chance of finding their way to the nearest foliage.

Moths are attracted, at night, to a porch light or even light from a window. 'Accidental ' egg laying is not at all uncommon.

One of the tenets of Integrated Pest Management is to identify the organism to determine whether it is a pest, will inflict damage that exceeds the tolerable threshold, and if control is needed, which measure(s) will be effective yet have the least negative impact on non-target organisms.

In short, I agree ID is appropriate before destruction.

Oh, for heaven's sake! These are freaking CATERPILLARS! They've hatched out on the ceiling of the porch. I'd like to know one reason why a hoard of newly hatched caterpillars should not be eliminated.

Agreed rhizo_1....they are up to no good.....they are going to eventually go looking for a plant to devour!

I don't wish to sound testy, but I already gave one reason, very clearly stated, for not arbitrarily destroying something. And the word is "horde", not "hoard" ... different meanings.

"Freaking caterpillars" turn into freaking butterflies and moths like monarchs, red-spotted purples, luna and polyphemus ... and the now-extinct beautiful blue Xerces ... as well as the less desirable pesty ones.

The egg mass with fibers does suggest moth eggs, and probably not anything endangered, but let's not fall into the "Eww a bug, squish it in the mud" mentality.

This post was edited by agardenstateof_mind on Sat, Aug 31, 13 at 11:45

Thanks, agarden, for reminding me of the reason I don't feel compelled to correct others of their accidental misspellings or grammatical errors.

You are making a good point, however, and it's worthy reminding everyone that it is important to ID a questionable animal (using animal in the broad sense of the word) before taking action to eliminate it. There's not a day that goes by without someone being gently (usually) scolded for taking action first, asking questions later.

However, common sense should come into play, as well.

Accidentally deposited insect eggs are observed fairly frequently, judging by the number of questions we have fielded regarding eggs or recent hatches on window screens, fence posts, and other inappropriate or surprising locations.

As has been said earlier, moths are the likely culprit on porch ceilings and windows, since so many are strongly attracted to the lights. The caterpillars that hatch are doomed unless there just happens to be an appropriate, easily accessible host plant growing very nearby.

Few people are equipped to raise lepidopterans, especially if unidentified. As a matter of fact, few would know how to even handle these hatchlings in order to transport them elsewhere. (And then....to where?) This is where the common sense comes in.

These will end up as lunch for a lucky predator, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if it were MY porch, I'd clean them off.