They are cute. I get them on my milkweeds before the monarchs start to lay eggs. They don't eat nearly as much of my milkweed as they do yours. I still have plenty of foliage left for the monarchs. Karyn

I am so sorry this happened. You'll never forget about this chance meeting, will you? Some caterpillar stings are terribly painful and can cause severe reactions. Are you hypersensitive to other insect 'bodily fluids' such as those from ants, mosquitoes and the like? My own experience was with the Saddleback caterpillar. I thought that I had been shot when my arm brushed against the stinging hairs. The bad thing about the buckmoth caterpillar is that they are often found in numbers. So be watchful. Wear gloves. Keep some meat tenderizer with you when working outside. Make a paste of the granules to apply directly to the site right after you've been stung. It will help. Purchase some benadryl to keep on hand for such incidents, both oral and topical. I've seen people develop what looks like broken blood vessels where the spines entered the skin. Took several days for the whole thing to clear up and go away. Tell us how you are doing!

I was watering plants on my porch. A leaf touched my arm & I was on fire! I thought at first I had been stung by a wasp. Finally found the culprit, a Saddleback caterpillar. Didn't know a caterpillar sting could hurt for hours!

vamtn, I cannot offer help to you regarding control of these awful pests. The measures that I had at my call in a professional nursery are not what a homeowner has in the garage. About all I can suggest is that you wear protective clothing in the garden for the rest of the season and destroy any that you may find. They overwinter as a silk covered cocoon on stems and twigs, often on the plants upon which they are feeding. It will be important to cut and remove your peas from the garden at the end of the season. Protect yourself then, too; the caterpillar often weaves some of those stinging (urticating) spines into the cocoon. Next spring, you should procure some Bt-Kurstaki, the biological control I mentioned earlier. It's effective only on the babies, which ingest it as they feed. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki) is available as a dust or liquid, which you will mix with water according to label directions and apply with a sprayer. Know this....the Saddleback caterpillar can be found on any kind of plant. If you observe chewed up plants in your landscape, for example, don your gloves and examine the plants with care.