ElmerFudd Report This Comment Date: April 14, 2004 05:36AM
They run 10 mph, jump three feet, are a nocturnal spider, so only come out at
night unless they are in shade. When they bite you, you are injected with
Novocain so you go numb instantly. You don't even know you are bitten when you
are sleeping, so you wake up with part of your leg or arm missing
because it has been gnawing on it all night long. If you are walking around and
you bump something that is casting a shadow over it, and the sun makes contact
with it, you better run. It will instantly run for your shadow, and scream the
whole time it is chasing you.
PS. The one on the bottom is eating the one on the top. These are Spiders found
daily in IRAQ by troops. Imagine waking up and seeing one of these in your
tent!!
mike Report This Comment Date: April 14, 2004 11:06AM
Is this for real?!
Bobo Report This Comment Date: April 14, 2004 03:02PM
Bullshit.
[
www.snopes.com]
tia Report This Comment Date: April 15, 2004 09:43AM
Absolutely ming! Can someone tell me if they are real?
claire Report This Comment Date: April 15, 2004 02:59PM
They are a load of fucking shit
Peter Report This Comment Date: April 16, 2004 03:33AM
That's just what the americans want you to think.. in reality they are real and
the US wants to use them as a bio weapon...
Turner Report This Comment Date: April 18, 2004 12:09PM
Dude the spiders are real but the stories are a load of shit. Their real name
is "matevenados" more comanly known as "camel spider". They
produce no Novocain, can't scream like child, and eat only crickets, pillbugs,
and sometimes scorpions. They are also present in the US and Mexico.
Brendan Report This Comment Date: April 21, 2004 03:01AM
I am afraid to say that you are all wrong, no offence though.
The story is American therefore just a story
Look on the top right of the photo - you will see the palm of the soldier
holding these two arachnids and thus give you an idea of scale.
Their max. size (body only not legs) is no more than half a cigarette in
length.
As I have studied and bread these arachnids I know exactly what they are. And
one thing they are deffinitely not, is dangerous.
They are Solfugae or Solfugids (Eremobatidae)Solfugid means, roughly fugitive
from the sun (true, they don't like the sun). They come out at night but really
only after rain. Also
commenly know as 'rain spider'(inaccurate name) or Wind Scorpion.
They are actually not spiders at all more closely related to scorpions but
niether scorpion nor spider.
They are NON venomous but use speed and an articulate 4 jaw system to eat yes
crickets pill bugs and sometimes very small baby mice.
They also do squeak like mice when they are hurt. The soldiers were deffinitely
aggrevating them and hurting them otherwise they would not know that they
squeaked. This is sad really as they they are very sensitive creatures and
harmless
You will also notice the golf tee like stuctures on the underside of the bottom
Solfugid, these are hypersensitive sense organs that can detect vibrations
hundreds of meters away.
Solfugids also have the ability to climb almost all surfaces (a bit hair raising
as my British lady friend found to her horror on her visit to my home in South
Africa) - even glass as inside their two front feelers (not legs)or pedipulps
are sticky blobs much like the tongue of a chameleon that they use to grab prey
and climb smooth surfaces.
They are wonderful creatures when you get to know them and they are harmless but
can give a bit of a nip with those powerful jaws - not enough to draw blood
though.
My message to the soldiers is:- stop pissing about scaring people and giving
Solfugids a bad name.
gehn Report This Comment Date: April 22, 2004 12:22PM
how were the other people wrong is u said alot of what they others said?
zing
EY Report This Comment Date: April 24, 2004 12:43AM
Brendan is partially wrong, no offense though, he stated that the story is
American and therefore just a story. people all over the world acknowledge the
"camel spider" so therefore Brendan is partially wrong. oh, but no
offense Brendan.
EY Report This Comment Date: April 24, 2004 12:46AM
Brendan is partially wrong, no offense though, he stated that the story is
American and therefore just a story. people all over the world acknowledge the
"camel spider" so therefore Brendan is partially wrong. oh, but no
offense Brendan.
EY Report This Comment Date: April 24, 2004 12:53AM
Brendan is partially wrong, no offense though, he stated that the story is
American and therefore just a story. people all over the world acknowledge the
"camel spider" so therefore Brendan is partially wrong. oh, but no
offense Brendan.
pulse Report This Comment Date: May 01, 2004 04:48AM
Either way, I don't want one crawling into my bed at night, dangerous or not..
just the sight would probably give me a heart attack
pulse Report This Comment Date: May 01, 2004 04:50AM
Btw, most useful/interesting information Brendan, good stuff
Tanith Tyrr Report This Comment Date: May 02, 2004 07:24PM
Solfugids are quite real and quite harmless. Like many arachnid hobbyists I
have kept them as pets. I would very much like to have some specimens as nice
as the ones in the photo! They are not venomous, nor do they attack humans. I
imagine they could give a pinching bite in self defense if you were not gentle
with them, but I have handled them quite freely and never been bitten. I have
never heard them make any noise. They readily take crickets in captivity.
Solfugids make excellent and harmless pets for folks who enjoy keeping
arachnids.
dhh Report This Comment Date: May 21, 2004 04:49PM
Kept them as pets?! Hate spiders.
mike Report This Comment Date: June 04, 2004 11:08PM
i live in california and i have one. its not nearly as big as those but they do
live here to i caught it in my house. but they do look scary.
anonymous Report This Comment Date: July 03, 2004 12:36AM
Thanks Brendan for the information. This is more than likely a picture illusion
making the spiders look much bigger than they are, or possible photoshop which I
coul have easily done. After doing a little research, Brendan is exactly
correct, they feed on more insects and other arachnids than he mentioned, but
more or less he is right. If you see one of these, there isnt need to be
frightened, stories are made up, if they were truly flesh eating overgrown
spiders, it would probably be all over the news.
Egg Report This Comment Date: July 08, 2004 05:54AM
A friend of mine stationed in Iraq keeps a hockey stick next to her bunk
especially to deal with these things. I believe her exact words were, "Ew!
EW! EWEWEWEWEWEW!!!"
Brett Report This Comment Date: July 08, 2004 06:12AM
Peter ,thats a retarded statement.Oh hell american people have spiders.(please)
plew Report This Comment Date: July 27, 2004 05:04PM
spiders...
ORZ Report This Comment Date: October 13, 2004 12:28PM
Just be happy these soldiers aren't holing up a ZERGLING (you know, starcraft
from way back when). Then we would all be in trouble.
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: November 14, 2004 06:01PM
you guys are a bunch of idiots. Trying to use this picture illusion to try and
scare people. Which ive seen picture of bites so i dont know what to think. But
i do know that making these spiders sound like a man eating tiger is
bullshit.
And theyre not really that big.
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: November 14, 2004 06:03PM
You all are trying to fool everybody into thinking these spiders are more than
they really are. And when everybody finds out the truth you are the one thats
going to be fooled.
anthony Report This Comment Date: January 26, 2005 09:34PM
they rock and yes they are real...a friend of mine from the 2nd INF division
tried to sneak one into the country but the climate change killed it in a week.
pat0650hotmailcom Report This Comment Date: February 16, 2005 09:10PM
My question to all concerns the agressiveness of these "camel
spiders" as they are known to the veterans of South West Asia. I had one
of these things chase me all over a parking lot one night in Saudia Arabia until
I jumped up on a Deuce and a half to escape it. BTW, the screaming like a child
that Elmer Fudd mentioned is exactly the sound I was making the whole time.
They do not move like a traditional spider, herky jerky; these things track like
a RC car, smooth and non-stop. My screaming like a girl on the school
playground brought out a couple of the guys who weren't arachnophobic and one
caught it with his gloved hands as it ran right up to him! He dumped water on
it....and no kidding....it died instantly! The scale is about correct in that
photo: body 2-3" legs are longest at the front up to twice the body length.
When we would move the shipping containers around out in the storage areas we
have seen MUCH larger.
dave_wroe Report This Comment Date: March 19, 2005 12:28PM
poo nob cock penis
I_was_there Report This Comment Date: April 13, 2005 09:05PM
I can't bel;ieve this photo made it onbto the web. I was actually there when it
was taken and I can tell you that these 2 Camel spiders were actually about 4
inches long. If you look at the plier portion of the leatherman which is holding
them you can get an idea as tyo just how big they were. After all, if they were
small and insignifigant, would we have photographed them?
Jonathan_Miller Report This Comment Date: March 31, 2006 02:18AM
Hell i wouldn't dout that the United States would use these Camel Spiders as a
bio weapon, hell they use everything else as a weapon don't you think?
Educator Report This Comment Date: October 24, 2007 02:09AM
Educate yourselves. In addition to pron, it's what the Internet was made
for.
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