Tent caterpillars invade another home off Highway 11

Just 10 kilometres south of Saskatoon, a new neighbourhood off Highway 11 is infested with tent caterpillars.

Christine Roesler estimates there are millions covering her home.

“Our whole house now is kind of stained orange especially in the high-density areas,” she told 650 CKOM Saturday. “It smells awful especially in the corners where they really like to go for the shade.”

A video she posted on social media over the weekend shows just how bad it is, bugs piled on the ground, up the corners and spread across all the walls.

Roesler’s home sits on five acres surrounded by trees, which she says are now bare.

“The sad things is it destroyed all of our leaves,” she said.

According to Roesler, she and her husband have tried canola oil and more aggressive sprays, but nothing works.

“They’re just relentless, it’s like they just crawl over the dead ones and keep coming.”

On Wednesday, another woman in the same area posted a video of the tent caterpillars at her home that went viral with ten of thousands of views.

Saskatoon bug expert Jeff Boone expects the caterpillar outbreak to be over in the next week or so, then they’ll start to cocoon.

By July they will have turned into moths.