my son found this caterpllar at the edge of our outdoor step it seemed floppy we assumed dead or cold. we brought inside in a small cage and it's since nibbled a leaf near it an showed some head movement and when touched it reacts too but is not crawlinf freely and was found on its side earlier . is it dying and does anhone know which kids of caterpillar it is x

I know the second one as the Puss caterpillar, Megalopyge opercularis. I've heard that their sting is more painful than that from a Saddleback, which I am personally familiar with. Yikes! For insect cuteness, look at the Puss moth.....talk about cute and cuddly.

https://owlcation.com/stem/stinging-caterpillar-identification

I saw very few monarchs early in the season this year, but there have been plenty around for the last couple weeks. I witnessed a female laying eggs on swamp and poke milkweeds in my backyard just the other day. A couple photos from the backyard today (8/3/25): Giant ST's have been relatively plentiful lately also. This photo today: Red Admiral numbers have definitely been down this year compared to last year, and I haven't found a single RA caterpillar on the nettles in the backyard (last year there were quite a few). I haven't seen any Buckeyes yet this year either, and last year they were common (especially later in the season). I'm guessing these two species were negatively impacted by the colder than average winter we had.