Florida teen lands in emergency room after encounter with venomous caterpillar

LAND O' LAKES, Fla. (KABC) -- A Florida teen landed in the emergency room after an encounter with a venomous caterpillar.

Logan Pergola and his family were doing volunteer work over the weekend, landscaping in a rural area in the city of Zephyrhills when he felt something on his wrist.

The 15-year-old noticed the caterpillar but dismissed it at first glance. But then an angry rash quickly traveled up the teen's arm to his chest.

"It numbed my whole hand, pretty much the whole thing felt like fire," Pergola said.

Andrea Pergola, Logan's mother, wrote in a Facebook post that her son was "complaining of the worst pain he had ever felt" and decided to go to the emergency room.

"He came running towards me, and he was like 'Something bit me,' and he showed me and it was like all welted up," Andrea Pergola said.

The venomous caterpillar that bit Pergola is called an asp caterpillar. Each one of the caterpillar's spikes is attached to a venom gland.

Pergola and his mom put the caterpillar in a bag and showed the doctor, who knew exactly what it was and what to do.