Touch 'Em All: The 'EWWWW!' Factor [GIANT "camel spiders" menace our troops in Iraq]

TheWBALChannel.com ^ | April 9, 2004 | Larry Frum, Jr., Managing Editor

[Eagle Eye]

They are known to chase down women who smoke cigarettes.

Then they bum the last one.

Really, no sh!t. I have it on reliable source.

Hey, I'm laying off the convoys for a while. Hope you understand.

[texasflower]

This guy was building an addition to his house and the lumber came from Arizona. Apparently Texas scorpions are not poisonous, but Arizona scorpions are. At least that's what the insect expert at the hospital said.

He had taken off his pants and put them aside, while he did some work in his boxers. Later when he put the pants back on, he first felt the thing scurrying around and he began to panic, then he felt the bite.

His wife described him screaming, jumping around and getting all tangled up in the pants. It was hysterical.

By the time she finished the discussion, she and I were laughing so hard we were in tears.

Poor guy! At least he had a bit of a sense of humor about that part, so he didn't get mad at us laughing.

But he was in tears and felt faint. My crew was all female, but he wasn't the least bit shy about showing me his wound.

The poor thing cried until I gave him morphine. I felt so sorry for him, I wish I could have given him more.

[Allegra]

Oh, they do, do they? Messing with my cigarettes these days is almost as dangerous as trying to cut off the chocolate supply. There'll be some real sorry camel spiders if they try any stunts like that.

Yeah, I undersand about laying off the convoys. I'm glad you're doing that. In fact, we're confined to home base right now.

[Allegra]

Please be careful over there.

Thanks.

"Vigilance" is my middle name these days. :-)

[Jhensy]

But it is now thought that the only risk of injury resulting from them is caused by shock or infection following a bite.

That, and the fatal coronary I'd have finding one of them in my sleeping bag.

[Reb Raider]

Dang, I thought everything in Texas was bigger, but this camel spider showing up anywhere near me would freak me out! Those are almost as big as our roaches. Ha!

Allegra, MEG33 and I are up north of your regular hometown. I read where you are and send Texas size best wishes--please be careful!!! Do they have Dr.Pepper? I couldn't go without my morning D.P. :) Good luck to you and hope you never meet up with a camel spider unless a really good looking guy is there to squish it or whatever you do with something that big. Ha! I look forward to hearing some good stories from you in the future!! RebRaider

[DJ Frisat]

A hunting camel spider runs across the desert floor almost at lightning speed, and it is so fast that it is impossible for the human eye to follow... In the past they were considered venomous and extremely dangerous...

While I certainly wouldn't want to come within several miles of one of these things, these two statements didn't pass the smell test and the whole thing cried out for a Snopes check, or at least an evaluation for journalist responsibility. Thank goodness someone checked in with some sensible qualifications.

Good grief -- "impossible for the human eye to follow"? Difficult to see, maybe. But considering that a baseball player can follow and make intelligent decisions about the course of a small sphere approaching him at nearly 100mph from 60 feet away, it really shows you what a preposterous, irresponsible statement this is.

"considered venomous"? Well, it's either venomous, or it's not.

Sheesh...

[Allegra]

Do they have Dr.Pepper?

Oh, heck yeah. They've got it at the PX. There are too many of us Texans over here - they've got to stock the DP.

And if one of those camel spiders gets any ideas about hosing one of my DPs, he's gonna be one cold, stiff camel spider with eight creepy-crawly legs sticking straight up in the air.

(Thanks for the good wishes, y'all!)

[MosesKnows]

almost at lightning speed

Try 10 MPH, tops, which is quite fast, but a little short of lighting speed.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Sad to say, I have more compassion for these spiders and more regard for them than the Islamonazi's the guys are dealing with.

[MEG33]

Thank heavens you have the important things of life..like DP..gives strength to smack those spiders (double yuk,double Ewww!)Stay safe!

[mewzilla]

=8-0

You don't suppose we could train these critters to bite Islamists?

[cajun-jack]

some guys aren't afraid of any human, but a bug or something will really scare them.

1967, while in Basic training at Ft Polk, we got lots of guys from up north or the big cities.

One tough guy from Brooklyn was walking fire guard in the early morning hours and came upon an armadillo. He woke up the whole bivouc encampment because there was "some kind of monster" out there making strange noises.

[R. Scott]

On the testicle?
That would be unimaginable pain!

[68skylark]

Here's the link to snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp

It would seem that whoever wrote the article (above) has simply received a picture that's already in wide circulation, and which may not be genuine.

[MeekOneGOP]

All I can say is "EWWWW!"

Pretty ugly critter alright ! ...

[RonDog]

From www.snopes.com:

"...Although whatever is depicted in the photograph above appears to be far too large for camel spiders, the creatures might just look unusually large because they were held close to the camera, creating an illusion of exaggerated size..."

[RonDog]

From www.faunaimportuk.com:

Also known as Camel spider, Wind scorpions, Solifugid.
Galeodes arabs

Native to: Sinai desert.
This rarely imported species occasionally arrives in Egyptian shipments.

This weird looking arachnid is not in fact a scorpion or spider at all but belongs to its own order- solifugid.

This species can attain a leg span of 5" and a body of 2"...

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you for the headache and upchuck. There went breakfast.

Anyway, I can now understand why Saddam's hiding place was called "the spider hole." Yuck!!!!

[jude24]

Why do I have visions of The Return of the King?