You thought T blondi's were big!

Chris V · Apr 2, 2004

My cousin sent this me. He has friends stationed in Iraq but I dont know if they sent this to him or he found this on the internet. He called them "Camel spiders".

scorpio · Apr 2, 2004

Thats a solfugid. They arent really that large I dont think.

cotton · Apr 2, 2004

looks like a shed is still attached to its body.

sansoucie · Apr 3, 2004

THAT is one thing I wouldn't keep as a pet.. icky looking. Never seen or heard of one. It looks BIG from the pic! I can add that to the many many reasons I am NEVER going to the middle east

Mr Ed · Apr 3, 2004

Camel spiders are really hated and feared in the military. I've never personally had any dealings with them, but have heard lots of horror stories about critters. When I got back after operation Iraqi Freedom at Ft. Bragg, there were a few soldiers there with injuries from these guys. Supposedly they will bite/anesthetize an area and then eat the anesthetized tissue. Most often its fingers, toes and other soft tissue. One guy had the tip of one of his toes eaten, whil another guy lost the tip of his nose. I've never seen any of these injuries, but have heard lots of incidences like this. Then again, it could be just an "urban" legend, who knows.

cotton · Apr 3, 2004

Urban legend to be sure, Camel spiders arent dangerous to humans unless you were to grab ahold of one, and even then they would just give you a good nip.

sansoucie · Apr 3, 2004

Don't care if it's harmless.... that is a horribly scary looking and ugly thingy and I would soil myself if I found one in my tent.

DnKslr · Apr 3, 2004

EEEWWW! Is that what those egg depositing creatures from "Alien" were modeled from?

Anansi · Apr 3, 2004

I found a smaller one (about 3 inches) under a rock in the mountains once...Those things are soooo gross...

Mr Ed · Apr 3, 2004

Oh I agree with you Cotton, I've never seen any injuries from them, I've just heard the rumors and was recalling a few. Before we went down range some of the soldiers that had gone over before really played them up as being bad. I guess just another incident of giving an arachnid a bad name.

Walter · Apr 3, 2004

Do camel spiders eat a camel's stomach until its intestines fall out?

Camel Spiders: The Official Arachnids of Gulf War II

Camel Spiders

Lopez · Apr 3, 2004

I'd love to keep solifugids as a pet. They are hyperactive, and have enormous appetites. Plus they have to be one of the coolest looking arachnids on the block.
Unfortunately they have extremely short lifespans

PS this needs moving to the "Other Arachnids" forum

Immortal_sin · Apr 3, 2004

we found quite a few at the ATS conference last year. They are really cool to watch running across the desert...and they are FAST! And they are voracious predators. We didn't pick any up to bring home though, as Lopez mentioned, their lifespans are just way too short.

JohnxII · Apr 3, 2004

Oh! I think this is where H R Giger got the idea of "Face Huggers" from...

G_Wright · Apr 3, 2004

Diane S said:
EEEWWW! Is that what those egg depositing creatures from "Alien" were modeled from?

H R gigers aliens were mainly based on Termites Well in the second film they were

Love to Foxtrot · Apr 3, 2004

Solfugids

I kept an adult Solfugid native to the U.S. for several months, and I loved him! He was so mean I used a wire coat hanger to remove/replace his water dish because he would try to run up my tweezers.

He looked just like those in the picture, just somewhat smaller. In fact, I do not think that they are ugly, I think they are one of the best looking arachnids. He ate very well for me and would dig a new burrow all night every night. They are extremely fascinating creatures to keep, and I would love to have another one.

Aubrey

K MUELLER · Apr 3, 2004

:? Looks like something from ''ALIENS'', as if our troops don't have enough enemy's to deal with!!!

krtrman · Apr 3, 2004

H R Geiger's design for the face hugger in the Alien series was actuallly based on various sexual parts of the female body. the theme of Bio-Mechanical sexual images was the reason he was hired to design the creature. if you look closely at the creature you can see what i mean.

who stole fred · Apr 3, 2004

I take it thats a fake pic?

sansoucie · Apr 3, 2004

I would like to see a better pic of them, cause to me they are hideous! I have never seen or heard of a camel spider! You say short life span... how short are we talking here?

You thought T blondi's were big!

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