Camel Spiders

Looks like soldiers in Iraq have to look out for more than just insurgents. [via Madville]

Comments

[welsh man]

well boyo, it's not a sheep mind, so i wouldn't be havin any o that now no thankye.

[Horst]

the picture is a fake. Only fools beleave such nonsense, about the size of this animals. The maximum size of the camel spiders is 7 cm!

Horst

[FV]

Those are not spiders.... they are Vinageroons or whip/false scorpions.

[AMANDA]

THOSE ARE REAL SPIDERS. THERE ACTUALLY CAMEL SPIDERS. THERE OVER SEAS SOMEWHERE N THEY COME OUT AT NIGHT AND ATTATCH THEMSELVES TO THE STOMACHE N SUCK OUT THE INSIDES. ALSO WHEN THEY RUN THE SCREAM. TRUE STORY GO TO ANY MILITARY OFFICE OR ASK ANYONE WHOS BEEN OVER SEAS.

[Fay Sedore]

IT IS VERY REAL! MY SON HAS BEEN TO AFGHANISTAN AND THEY ARE THERE AND ARE DEFINITELY CALLED CAMEL SPIDERS. THEY ARE THIS SIZE! He has pics of them that he took while over there and they are NOT a teenie-weenie lil' 7 cm.They are measured in feet!

[Randy McDaniel]

SON OF A BITCH!!!!

[Kevin]

CRAP THAT JOKER IS BIG!!! 8 Legged Freaks All Over Again!

[Nikki]

Yes this is very real. I am very fascinated with the different species of spiders. People would be surprised of how large certain spiders can get in different environments. My exterminator served in Iraq, and he mentioned this spider to me. They will eat on you until you kill them. Lovely!!

[cindy]

these spiders r bleeping huge !! they r real, my son is in kuwait and said that they get that big. time for the raid !!! lol

[john geogia]

GOT DAM

[big pat]

GOD-DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN! a for real thos spiders are huge now im not in iraq but waste a clip on thos ugly muthafuckas

[cory barnes]

no fool. that is incorect. that is an actual photo. they can grow to be that big. they can run 10 mph, jump 3 feet, and they are nocturnal. and they inject novacane the instant they bite, so if ur sleeping, your not gunna feel the bite, ur just gunna wake up without a leg cuz they have been chewing on it all nite. and yes they do scream when they run.

[Neil]

I had to check the internet and encyclopedia, actually, it can grow to that size. 6 inches (15 cm) is the norm and their bite is pretty bad. They don't only bite though, they chew. The wound is disgusting. It says that the largest one is 2 foot 5 inches.

[Michael]

Maybe you all should check out the link before you actually say anything about it... and do a little more research. They're average legspan is only 12 cm, and those in the picture (according to the link) are only the size of an adult hand. They are not at all venomous, except for the exception of one species in India that has no known way to inject its venom. The only reason they are thought to be big and dangerous is because it tends to be a story told to new recruits coming into the Middle East to scare them for the amusement of the veterans... wikipedia just kicked all of your asses.

[phillip]

THOSE THINGS ARE HUGE! NOT EVEN KIDDING THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO BE EXTINCT but i guess they are not.... well when me and my couzin went to afghanistan one summer, it was there. we got lost and one attacked my cousin. he cant walk because they bit through his arms and left leg... we shouldnt have fallen asleep... its my fault hes dead, how can i live with myself. im horrible i hate my life

[Andrew]

I hate all of you people except for the smart ones. A couple of facts are, FIRST that picture isnot even the real one look it you type in camel spider in a google image search and you can find the full sized picture, SECOND the common size is a leg span of 5 inches with a body length of three inches, THIRD novacane is an anesthesia derived from a plant it is found in NO arachnid toxin, FOURTH they are not spiders, but they are also not whip scorpions they are are SOLIFUGIDS they have ten legs, FIFTH they are not capable of making any type of sound, SIXTH many species of solifugids can be found in the united states, SEVETH no type of arachnid in general can bite THROUGH anything, phillip you're just an idiot. SEVENTH the solifugid pictured in that photo is a large type of it, usually the solifugids do not grow to be more than the size of a small childs hand My tarantula is larger than many species of these arachnids

[marissa]

Well Well Well Is it real or fake people??? make up ur minds i mean come on i dont thing anything certainly a spider can grow that big, i live in the desert of california and we get very small ones that look like that but we call them vinageroons?!?!?! and yea so i looked them up.....and the picture does look real AT ALL those things look like plastic...ALSO my cousin who went to paquastan or however you spell it and he never saw anything like it just rumors??? so when you get a picture that is real looking and not plastic i really would like to see it....also if these things were that big wouldnt it be on national news!?!?!? i think it would...i think that these boys are just having fun and found some fake plastic toys and desided to take a picture....oh and the name is real(camel spider) i looked it up....so what ever....i am all confused but the picture is not real....i am sure...

[marissa]

lol you know the things you use to stick your toys to the window...you know those little things you shoot from the guns that stick to the windows that little kids use???
you do well that good *sigh* i almost thought that maybe the pictures were real....but then i saw those sticky things on the bugs but.....you can see then in clear veiw... oh dont believe me ok well take a look at the photo in bigger view and look on that things but its fake!!!!!!!i told ya so...and i watched the videos on the thing from like national geographic and crap it does get that big....dur dur dur...you all are the smartest dumb people i know XD

[Daniel]

Listen up all you guys that dont believe these spiders exist. I should know. I am a royal marine based in Iraq. I have experienced these spiders a lot. The person who said they only grow to 7cm is talking shit. Iv seen bigger. Theyre technically not spiders because theyre from the scorpion family.

[Terry]

actually the photo is real but the spiders shown are really close to the camera lens to create the illusion that they are the same size as that soldiers foot; found it on snopes urband myth

[buffmuffin]

they are that large (up to 7 inches across from legtip to legtip, not 7 centimeters) and they are *not* spiders or scorpions, they are non venomous.. all spiders and scropions are venomous, but they are arachnids, they have 8 legs, whoever said they had 10 are counting the 2 pedipalps as legs.

[Linda]

They are very real...my husband was deployed to Iraq in 04 & 05 and said you could hear them come out at night and they sounded more like dogs rummaging around their tents. There are also several documented pictures of soldiers that have been bitten...not a whole leg eaten off, but definitely nasty wounds. It is fiction though about them jumping and attaching themselves to a camels stomach and suckking out their insides, but they will feed on you as long as they can and their venom does have an anesthetic effect where you dont feel it at the time. Our neighbors husband, not knowing of course, also sent one home to his wife in one of his storage lockers he mailed home before his redeployment...she just put all his gear in the spare bedroom and opened it up to air out...a few days later she came home to find it in her kitchen...needless to say the MP's and exterminators were called very quickly.

[wes]

hey i been to iraqi and afganistan both i have seen thes THINGS who know whether they are spiders scorions or whatever, but what i do know from personal experience they are real and freaking huge, the largest on anybody in our unit saw was probably about7-11 inches. nobody really got close enough to break out the ruler. Overseas you are told they are camel spiders but i wont give the militay the benefit of always being correct, but i also know the are poisonous and have a nasty bit. no they dont bit through arms but even the locals dont mess with these thing. OH last thing there pretty fast too.