Comments on: Unidentified Crawling Object

By: Expat Mom

Expat Mom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:20:29 +0000

Don't touch them. When I first moved here, I was told they were called "fever bugs" because they will give you a fever if they prick you. While the black ones aren't that bad, they will sting you still. Dante is particularly sensitive to these. Irving once touched one of the yellow haired ones by accident and ended up with his entire hand swelling up and hot to the touch. Not fun!

By: sweaty_peten

sweaty_peten — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:43:27 +0000

This is the caterpillar for the huge big brown moths that like to fly in your face and scare you into thinking they are birds in the house. They are only poisonous to the point of causing a rash if you touch them.

And after doing a quick google image search they are the leopard caterpillar for the Holomelina opella moth.

By: juan3

juan3 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:59:38 +0000

Our gardener says that they are poisonous, but then he doesn't like anything that eats his plants. I do know for a fact that they make a green slimy mess when you step on them.

By: Cristina

Cristina — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:35:54 +0000

We call them choconoyes; like caterpillars. Some of the more colorful ones will give you severe rashes. There´s one called gusano pajarito that has "hairs" resembling feathers. They´re very beatiful, but there´s at least one case where a 2 year old touched one and died.
If this was just a plain black one, it´s not harmful, but the little hairs are prickly. Anyway, if you´re gonna sit under a tree, just check there aren´t any choconoyes. It´s not the world´s most pleasant sensation to have one of those crawling on your neck.
By the way, there´s a ride in Xetulul called the Choconoy.