The Camel Spider

Ron-P
Ron-P Posts: 8,520
edited February 2024 in Clubhouse Archives
FOUND IN IRAQ !

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 our troops. Imagine waking up and seeing one of these **** in your tent!!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page440.html

YIKES!!!
If...
Ron dislikes a film = go out and buy it.
Ron loves a film = don't even rent.
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited April 2004
    Video

    Camel Spider - Action Pose
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • Ron-P
    Ron-P Posts: 8,520
    edited April 2004
    I just saw that. Now that's what I call a spider....damn!
    If...
    Ron dislikes a film = go out and buy it.
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited April 2004
    I friggin hate spiders!!!!

    Won't able able to sleep for a week now...
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  • I-SIG
    I-SIG Posts: 2,243
    edited April 2004
    ...The Straight Dope:

    SDSTAFF Doug replies:
    Doesn't this sound like the perfect topic for today, April Fool's Day? We thought you'd appreciate it.
    Urban legends about the camel spider (properly termed a solpugid or solifugid) are as old as the proverbial
    hills, but they made a huge resurgence when vectored by American troops in Kuwait during Desert Storm.
    They're not quite as big as your hand (unless you're a five-year-old), and very shy and secretive. They do
    like to hide in the shadows, and they do run very, very quickly for a critter (they can reach about 10 MPH,
    the fastest known non-flying arthropod). They make no noise whatsoever, they have no venom whatsoever,
    and they do not eat flesh--they eat small desert arthropods like crickets and pillbugs. The rumors of their
    attacking camels, or crawling onto sleeping GIs' faces, apparently stem from one of two things, both of
    which may be true to some extent: (1) they may use hair to line their burrow when they are about to lay a
    batch of eggs, said hair being clipped from dead camels or other dead mammals (and a sleeping GI is not
    much different), and/or (2) dead camels are covered with flies, and crawling over a camel corpse may make
    for a convenient way to get a good meal of flies.

    Wes
    Link: http://polkarmy.com/forums

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  • Ron-P
    Ron-P Posts: 8,520
    edited April 2004
    Snopes pretty much says the same thing. I'd just like to know if that pic is real or not.
    If...
    Ron dislikes a film = go out and buy it.
    Ron loves a film = don't even rent.
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited April 2004
    It looks real to me, and it is bigger than any hand I have shaken...but who knows :D

    Hey PM....I forgot to tell you man, I had a camel spider infestation....so the AVR may contain some eggs :eek:
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited April 2004
    I'm a desert storm veteran, those pics are most likely REAL. I saw them personally, near that size. Thier bite, though not venomous, leads to sometimes incurable skin rashes--though the latest on this is that the middle east has a cure for it, unfortunately, since camel spiders aren't a problem in the USA, there's no approval for the use of the drug here. That will probably change soon as many desert storm vets still suffer side affects of their bite, and surely hundreds of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans will need the same treatment.

    Here in Arizona we have a very similar looking spider called a "sun spider." Don't know the scientific name, but they are a cousin to the scorpion--hence the long looking body. They are not poisonous, though VERY aggressive little ****. They get as big as a tarantula, but not as big as the camel spiders pictured above.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited April 2004
    Originally posted by dorokusai
    It looks real to me, and it is bigger than any hand I have shaken...but who knows :D

    Hey PM....I forgot to tell you man, I had a camel spider infestation....so the AVR may contain some eggs :eek:
    well that's good to know...
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  • Steve@3dai
    Steve@3dai Posts: 983
    edited April 2004
    http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp
    LSi 9/C/FX
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  • spyderman
    spyderman Posts: 678
    edited April 2004
    looks like they found my muslim relatives...:D
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  • Turbota
    Turbota Posts: 255
    edited April 2004
    Like "steveinaz" .... I was too was activated for Desert Storm. I spent 6 months in the gulf flying between Iraq, Saudi, and Kuwait as a UH-60 pilot.

    All I can tell you is these damned camel spiders are the worse of the worse that God managed to put on this earth. I am convinced that if a camel spider was the size of a german shepard, they would rule the world!

    They are not poisonous, but they inflict a very terrible bite. Whether or not these insects will eat your nose off while you are sleeping, I don't have a clue. All I can tell you is these nasty creatures are extreemly aggresive (especially at night) and the last place I would ever want to have one is in my bed while sleeping.

    I can tell you for sure ... Our whole crew had nightmares about these damned things getting in bed with us.

    I am not bullshitting you.

    BTW ... I understand they have a smaller variation of these things in the desert southwest, but I can tell you; They are [nothing] like what you may see in the arab gulf.

    Ron,
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  • Shizelbs
    Shizelbs Posts: 7,433
    edited April 2004
    Damnit. Just seeing that picture makes me feel like things are crawling up my pant legs and on my head. I'm freaking out over here.
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  • Kiminism
    Kiminism Posts: 44
    edited April 2004
    im confused (i get confused alot, the whole droppign issue) how big can they get? and if the ones in the picture are not camel spiders, then what are they?
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,086
    edited April 2004
    I saw a few of them last year in the desert but none that big though.

    I was sitting on the throne one evening and one of those **** was crawling over the top of the port-a-john and fell on me. I ran the 500 yd dash in about three seconds with my pants around my ankles.

    Scared the **** out of me. Literally.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • Ron-P
    Ron-P Posts: 8,520
    edited April 2004
    Thanks for the visual there BDT.
    If...
    Ron dislikes a film = go out and buy it.
    Ron loves a film = don't even rent.
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  • shepx2
    shepx2 Posts: 646
    edited April 2004
    They should have dropped about 50 of those things down Saddam's "hole", and let him come running out, screaming like a ****.
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,086
    edited April 2004
    Originally posted by Ron-P
    Thanks for the visual there BDT.

    De nada.....

    I'm just WAITING for one of those pics with my head superimposed on it to be posted. You know the one.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • burdette
    burdette Posts: 1,194
    edited April 2004
    Originally posted by dorokusai
    Video

    Camel Spider - Action Pose

    So what is the deal if I click on this link and I go to the page but the video doesn't load and I get a black box with one of the tiny little "Windows" looking icons in the upper-left corner of the black box?

    I checked my "Internet Options" choices, but I can't see that anything is blocked or unchecked. New computer, you know. The other one would have choked on the video.. I think this one can handle it if I can just get the settings right.

    As for having one's nose chewed off in the middle of the night while one is sleeping... don't you think you'd wake up after a bite or two?
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  • phuz
    phuz Posts: 2,372
    edited April 2004
    I haven't seen one yet. *knocks on wood* ;)

    BUT, it's just barely spring time and the critters are just starting to come out. I notice more and more each day.

    Oh yeah, HELLO FROM TIKRIT EVERYONE!

    *waves*
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  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited April 2004
    Tikrit!?! Son of a ****...That's where you snuck off to! You keep your head down and your eyes open while you're over there!
    9/11 - WE WILL NEVER FORGET!! (<---<<click)
    2005-06 Club Polk Football Pool Champion!! :D
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  • spyderman
    spyderman Posts: 678
    edited April 2004
    We're behind you guys 1000%.

    Stay safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Spyderman
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    Hope is on the way!

    ABB

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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited April 2004
    Phuz, stay loose and don't let your guard down.

    George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)
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  • Demiurge
    Demiurge Posts: 10,874
    edited April 2004
    Phuzzy! Get back to the Tool boards! :)

    Stay safe man.
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  • polkatese
    polkatese Posts: 6,767
    edited April 2004
    Phuz, please take good care of yourself, bud!
    I am sorry, I have no opinion on the matter. I am sure you do. So, don't mind me, I just want to talk audio and pie.
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  • phuz
    phuz Posts: 2,372
    edited April 2004
    Thanks everyone! :)

    I've got a little journal that you guys might like to read. A littler personal stuff, but mostly pics and experiences from Iraq and other upcoming adventures.

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/phuz/

    I'll be around.......
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  • phuz
    phuz Posts: 2,372
    edited June 2004
    Ok so a lot of what came out with that pic is false. They don't inject anything, in fact they are non-venemous. They do bite, and it hurts like hell but they won't 'gnaw' on ya. They do run fast also. Snopes has some good info on em...

    We've seen and caught several here now, along with some scorpions. Our capenters actually built a wood/plexiglass bin for one scorpion. He was a greenish-white color, so we called him mean green. We would feed small (live) camel spiders to him. Later we found a bigger black scorpion, and put him in the cage with mean green. Mean green didn't have a chance. So mean green was dinner and now the big black scorpion rules. The camel spiders here are getting bigger. I wonder if one day we'll find one that can take out the big black scorpion... ;)
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