It Might Be Cute but Don’t Handle this Venomous HV Caterpillar

I saw this little bug outside of my house and I learned the hard way not to mess with it.

This could be the weirdest bug I have ever seen. The Facebook community helped me figure out what it was and they gave me a warning that was a bit too late.

A lot of people hate bugs and other creepy crawling things. I stay far away from spiders and obviously is if I see a bee or a hornet nest I'll run the other direction but I don't mind most bugs. Some of them fascinate me. I'm especially fascinated by ones that I've never seen before. That's why I had to stop and take a peak at this caterpillar.

I was walking out of my apartment building when I saw this bright green caterpillar inching across the front porch.

It was almost impossible to miss because of the neon colors.

I didn't want him to get stepped on so I thought that I would give it a hand. It seemed innocent enough.

I went to pick him and move him to a shrub because that's where it looked like he was headed. I think I acted too quickly.

After I picked it up found out that it has these nasty needles on the outside of his body as a defense mechanism. I felt a little bit of  sting and my fingertip became slightly irritated. The caterpillar was identified as a saddleback. It's a fitting name if you notice the large brown spot on his back that resembles a saddle.

According to the Entomology & Nematology from the University of Florida, these moths are native to the east coast and have venomous spines. You may want to put on a pair of gloves before handling this bug.