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Sophist
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02 Jun 2005, 2:37 pm

Actually, I had a conversation about these little lovelies last week. And a friend informed me about their existence first of all, and then told me they are not actually Spiders at all (though they are in the arachnid family as are scorpions).

They are called Camel Spiders because they feed off of camels (not killing them of course, just simply like parasites or how the Vampire Bat feeds off cattle often).

I have little fear of spiders unless a Brown Recluse is in my apartment and then I must chase after it and kill it because my cats will want to use it as a cat toy (and I also just do not want to live with a Brown Recluse). But even so, I wouldn't want to have the opportunity to meet up close any Camel Spiders either. NO THANK YEW.

Image


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Fiddler
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02 Jun 2005, 3:20 pm

I share my bedroom with some harmless little spiders. One was nesting above my bed. But she died. I used to wish her good night. Maybe my wishing her good night killed her!
:lol:
Soemtimes I am afraid of spiders that move quickly. I try to calm down, and I if I really can't stand tehm being in the same room as me, I pull a sock on my hand, then I try to catch them and I put them outside. The sock is meant not to hurt the spiders, because I am afraid I would squeeze them too much with my bare hand.

Hu-ho...It feels like spiders will be my major interest for the weeks to come... Want to know how it feels to be a spider...

Spider spider spider spider spider spider... (<- Ever wanted to know what an echolalian's stream of consciousness looked like? ;) )



Sean
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02 Jun 2005, 3:38 pm

The story behind those Camel Spiders is that they were found in a sleeping bag.
I have lots of spiders around my house. Mostly Black Widows, Wolf Spiders, and Daddy Longlegs. I don't have any troube picking up the latter two, but the black widows give me the creeps. The other two interesting bugs that have been found INSIDE my house are Centipedes and Scorpions. On Thanksgiving weekend '89, my Dad found a full grown Scorpion wrapped up in a Black Widow's web in the garage. I can only guess at the size of the spider that did that.



NoMore
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02 Jun 2005, 3:41 pm

Sean wrote:
The story behind those Camel Spiders is that they were found in a sleeping bag.
I have lots of spiders around my house. Mostly Black Widows, Wolf Spiders, and Daddy Longlegs. I don't have any troube picking up the latter two, but the black widows give me the creeps. The other two interesting bugs that have been found INSIDE my house are Centipedes and Scorpions. On Thanksgiving weekend '89, my Dad found a full grown Scorpion wrapped up in a Black Widow's web in the garage. I can only guess at the size of the spider that did that.


Ewww. I think I'll stop reading this thread now...



Hotwire
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02 Jun 2005, 3:46 pm

Yo Sean, do you live in the desert? I did in my younger years, and we had plenty of scorpions, and black widows. We even found a centipede crawling out of the sink drain, and I killed a scorpion when I was a young kid home alone.



Malcolm_Scipo
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03 Jun 2005, 4:11 am

PLEASE STOP THIS! YOU ARE MAKING ME FEEL A BIT ILL WITH THE TALK OF ARACHNIDS!


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Fiddler
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03 Jun 2005, 4:14 am

:?:
Malcolm: you're not obliged to keep on reading this thread, are you?



Malcolm_Scipo
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03 Jun 2005, 4:26 am

No. But I am lonely and bored. :( :( :( :(


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Prometheus
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03 Jun 2005, 9:27 am

How big are your wolf spiders? The ones where I live are about 1.5 inches in diameter (with feet on the ground). They live in our wood piles and I like to let them go in the rock gardens.

Oh, and lots of daddy long legs around ohio. They are fun to play with! :wink:


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Malcolm_Scipo
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03 Jun 2005, 9:32 am

In South Africa there was this one huge wolf spider in the bathroom. I never used it until the spider left. That was really frightening.


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THOUGHT IT WAS THE END.
THOUGHT IT WAS THE 4TH OF JULY.
I WOKE UP AND THEN I REALISED,
I WAS NOT WHAT I HAD ALWAYS TRIED TO EMULATE.
INSTEAD A SHADOW OF FORMER GLORY.
AND THEN I CRIED.


Bec
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03 Jun 2005, 7:34 pm

First of all, I am absolutely terrified of spiders.

Camel spiders only have a legspan of 5 inches (about the size of a small child's hand...okay...so they're still big, but they're not the size of a man's leg). Then why are the ones in the picture so huge? They actually aren't. Look at the right side of the picture. It's a man's sleeve in the top right corner is his hand. He's the one holding them. The camel spiders were very, very close to the camera when the photos were taken.

These pictures have generated a lot of myths about camel spiders. Here are some truths:

--They aren't actually spiders. They are arachnids that belong to the order Solifugae, a Latin word that means 'flee from the sun'.

--They are carnivores, but they eat insects, invertebrates, and sometimes small reptiles. They DO NOT feed on prey much larger than themselves.

--They are called 'camel spiders' because they are found in especially sandy areas of the desert, just like camels. There is a rumor that they attack camels and eat their stomachs, which is false.

--They can move up to 10 mph, which is quite a bit faster than other arthropods. There is a rumor that they move at 25 mph, which is false.

--They CANNOT jump several feet into the air.

--They DO NOT have venom.

--They most commonly live in the Middle East, but they also live in arid climates all over the world. Yes, that includes the US.

Even though camel spiders might look scarier than black widows, they can't harm you. Black widows are much more dangerous to humans.

I think these are terrifying: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman



Sean
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04 Jun 2005, 12:33 am

Hotwire wrote:
Yo Sean, do you live in the desert? I did in my younger years, and we had plenty of scorpions, and black widows. We even found a centipede crawling out of the sink drain, and I killed a scorpion when I was a young kid home alone.


Prometheus wrote:
How big are your wolf spiders? The ones where I live are about 1.5 inches in diameter (with feet on the ground). They live in our wood piles and I like to let them go in the rock gardens.

Oh, and lots of daddy long legs around ohio. They are fun to play with!

I live in a semi-arid area and have all the bugs listed above. The wolf spiders here also get to be about 1.5" their bodies get really big when they are eating well too. I've come to accept being around poisonous bugs except for finding Black Widows in my bedroom or in the bathroom (usually with a web under the toilet tank).



Sophist
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04 Jun 2005, 1:00 am

I don't believe Daddy Longlegs are part of the Arachnid family. :)


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Malcolm_Scipo
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04 Jun 2005, 3:43 am

No, but they have one of the most powerful venoms known to man, but no way of injecting them.


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THOUGHT IT WAS THE END.
THOUGHT IT WAS THE 4TH OF JULY.
I WOKE UP AND THEN I REALISED,
I WAS NOT WHAT I HAD ALWAYS TRIED TO EMULATE.
INSTEAD A SHADOW OF FORMER GLORY.
AND THEN I CRIED.


Prometheus
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04 Jun 2005, 8:59 am

Quote:
No, but they have one of the most powerful venoms known to man, but no way of injecting them.


Really? I would love to see that link.


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Asparval
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04 Jun 2005, 9:34 am

Is that a cross between a camel and a spider :lol: