{"id":211189,"date":"2026-03-30T01:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/211189\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T01:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:54:09","slug":"caution-urged-as-tussock-moth-caterpillars-emerge-in-central-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/211189\/","title":{"rendered":"Caution urged as tussock moth caterpillars emerge in Central Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As the native tussock moth caterpillars emerge in full force in Central Florida this season, parents and children are reminded to exercise caution due to their skin-irritating fuzzy hairs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">These harmless but potentially bothersome creatures are on a mission to create their cotton ball-like cocoons and while they don\u2019t sting, it\u2019s best to keep a safe distance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Learn how to handle encounters with these fuzzy insects and what to do if skin irritation occurs.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Tell the kids not to touch them or play with them if you see them at the playground<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hairs can get stuck in the skin causing irritation<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Remove visible hairs with tape<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wash the area with soap and water and apply ice or baking soda\/water paste to soothe the skin<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If the reaction is severe, consult a doctor<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Click here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Click here&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:click here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;click here&quot;}\" class=\"link \">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:img;itc:0;\" class=\"stretched-box\" href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"537\" height=\"108\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/beda08358d6db9816e7b0d066edd22cf.jpeg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the native tussock moth caterpillars emerge in full force in Central Florida this season, parents and children&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[147,28,30,29,96726,96724,96725,96723],"class_list":["post-211189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-central-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fuzzy-insects","tag-parents-and-children","tag-skin-irritation","tag-tussock-moth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}