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

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

[RonDog]

"Soldiers over in Iraq are fighting off more than the bad guys. They've got to deal with these huge spiders that look more like space creatures than anything we normally see in the U.S. They are called camel spiders and, boy, are they nasty looking! There is a site that has an article about them from one of the soldiers over in Iraq. Check it out here: (http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/2988974/detail.html) Somebody get me the bug spray!!"

[FlyVet]

They eat delicious crickets and pillbugs, and sometimes scorpions.

mmmmmmm....better than corn-fed beef. Camel spiders. Where's my frying pan.

[Skooz]

This may just be an urban legend but....

I heard that these critters inject a type of pain killer/numbing agent when they feed, so the victim can't feel anything. Caravan traders would be sure to bundle up completely at night, because there was always the possibility that one of these could eat half a man's face off and he wouldn't realize it until the next morning.

I saw that on the Discovery channel or TLC.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Enter Brad's Gramma's evil mind....why can't we catch a bunch of these things and drop them onto the next load of insurrgents?

Exit Brad's Gramma's evil mind.

[onyx]

because there was always the possibility that one of these could eat half a man's face off and he wouldn't realize it until the next morning.





Ex-skooz me? LOL!
On Discovery or TLC.
Gee, thanks for the info.
Nightmares to follow.
They are really ugly.
Nature has made them exactly the right color.
Just like the sand.
EEEEEEEEEEEEW.

[Veloxherc]

I only saw a small one and that was good enough for me.

[dagoofyfoot]

We always killed them. I poured some hot coffee on them, too. :)


Did they prefer cream and sugar, or just black?


;^)

[TEXOKIE]

LOL! This is now an officially designated Prayer Warrior Field Trip destination, RonDog! This oughta get folks to praying for our troops if nothing will! I dont know if I'd ever even set foot in the country if I thought I'd run into something like that!

For those who wish to support our troops spiritually as they contend with camel spiders, scorpions, sand, cantankerous machinery, and crazy enemy insurgents please feel welcome to come to the troop prayer threads. Our lastest one can be found here:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1101474/posts?page=241

[Long Cut]

You want a BIG, HONKIN' spider, go to Central and South America.

I was in Panama once on deployment (98-99)at the former Howard Air Force Base. Went running on a paved trail they had that went through some jungle.

One of their famous "Pie-Plate spiders" (sorry...don't know the real name) was in my way. I had to JUMP OVER it, and I'm 6'3" tall. It was at least the size of a dinner plate across the legs, which were as thick as drinking straws or pencils. The body was as big asa glass. Other than the size, it looked like a light-colored Tarantula...furry bugger, kind of red and grey in color.

I swear, you could have saddled the thing and rode it.

[Charlespg]

UGG

if one those damm things came into my tent
you would hear me Screaming all the middle east I nearly got freaked by alagog{Sp? in the HP movie what a dammed country

[Charlespg]

UGG

if one those damm things came into my tent
you would hear me Screaming all over the middle east, I nearly got freaked by alagog{Sp? in the HP movie


what a dammed country

[Skooz]

The Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula

The world's largest spider.

The Bird Eating Spider's food is small mammals like scorpions, other spiders, and lizards, frogs, small snakes, beetles, insects, bats, rats and birds. It often catches little birds while they are in their nests. The Bird Eating Spider hunts by waiting, then sneaking up on its prey and pouncing on it.

[Polybius]

...they climb onto the bellies of camels and eat their stomachs from the outside, numbing the flesh by secreting a natural anesthetic. The camels don't even notice until their intestines fall out. ......None of which is true....... In reality, camel spiders aren't some mysterious Arabian creature -- we have them in the United States and in Mexico, where they are called "matavenados"

Oh, great. "Matavenados" means "deerslayers".

That explains all the deer around here with their intestines hanging out. ;-)

[Skooz]

I will resist the temptation to share the story from 24 years ago when I came home very drunk and fell forward into a large cactus next to the front door.

I pulled the thorns out of a certain area of my body for two excruciating hours.

[Long Cut]

Sure looks like the one I jumped over. What's that site say about their size and where they live?

[Long Cut]

Yep, you see some REAL garden spots in the military...

[DLfromthedesert]

My God; I'm thankful they're not in the Sonora Desert. God Bless our Troops!!!

[Skooz]

The bird eating spider is the largest known spider in the world.
The bird eating spider has about four lungs.
Some bird eating spiders have legs that are 30 cm (12 inches) across or the size of a large dinner plate.
Some bird eating spiders have black stripes on their abdomen and are coloured brown.
The average size of a Bird Eating Spider is 15 - 20 cm (6 - 8 inches).

[TEXOKIE]

bumping this thread

[gortklattu]

These critters remind me of the vinegaroon:

[TEXOKIE]

When I was a teenager my dad bought a caboose. I big red one. It was from the Ft Worth/Denver line. He moved it out to our country property outside Fort Worth. In recent years there had been some spooky stories of a local phenomenon dubbed as the "Goat Man of Greer Island." Greer Island is a small island found in Lake Worth. The details of the story escape me, but one summer weekend my family was camping out at the Caboose. It was too hot to sleep inside of it, so we had our mattresses piled up on top. We looked like a runaway refugee train!

At any rate, we heard some rustling in the bushes a few tens of feet from the Caboose. My sister and I sat up and looked at each other and whispered "What IS IT????"

One of us said...."IT'S THE GOATMAN OF GREER ISLAND!!!" We giggled, but we were also white knuckling each other's hands until in the moonlight we saw it was a cute little innocent armadillo rooting around for grubs!

He sounded like a battalion! We really WERE frightened for a little while!