Tent caterpillars are taking over the town in Livingston
LIVINGSTON, TX (KTRK) -- Tent caterpillars are taking over the town in Livingston.
Their acrobatics may be fun to watch from a distance, but these creepy crawlers are getting up close and personal.
Amanda Fowler and her daughter Savannah want the circus act to hit the road.
"The webs go from the trees and connect to the house and they swarm the porches and you literally can't step out your front door without having six or seven of them on you," Fowler said.
Fowler said her husband sprayed their porch and roof with insecticide Wednesday, but the caterpillars are coming back for more.
"Yesterday, before he sprayed, the entire top line of the roof and the peak of it was covered," Fowler said.
Experts say the caterpillar population changes from year to year, depending on how low temperatures drop in the winter.
At Livingston Feed and Farm Supply, customers have been coming in non-stop looking for a solution.
James Qualman bought Bifen I/T, a chemical he'll mix with water to spray onto his lawncare customers' homes.
"Every customer I've got, the worms are everywhere," Qualman said, "They don't want to deal with it, so they've got me doing it for them."
The problem isn't bad enough to make Fowler want to move away.
"We're definitely gonna deal with it," Fowler said, "Hopefully next year we can get ourselves a good hard freeze to help take care of the population explosion."
It could take up to six weeks for the caterpillars to go away.
This is far from the first time residents have dealt with the creepy crawlies.
