JimmyJam75 Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Last night we were visited by two 'vast' spiders... Check out the picture on my space: http://jamesneildawson.spaces.live.com/ Can anyone better this? Anyone else have horror stories to tell?! JimmyJam75 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 No way!!! I've recently moved into an old house with loads of nooks and crannies and I'm dreading September when they come a-crawlin'. If I get any like that I'm moving out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Ive had some like that - one was somewhat bigger. My parents house backs on to some woods, and by eck they breed em big in there! Or maybe it was the fact I was smaller. Ill see if I can find the picture of the one we had in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Ill see if I can find the picture of the one we had in the house. Don't trouble youself on my account..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJam75 Posted August 16, 2006 Author Share Posted August 16, 2006 if you have that pic to hand, then yeah - let's take a look ! cheers, Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Its not on my works PC, I'll have to try and remember to have a look at home. I used a five pound note to get the scale. It was pretty big I tell thee - even the cats wouldn't go near it. If I cant find the piccy, Im sure there will be another one come inthis winter to tease the cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJam75 Posted August 16, 2006 Author Share Posted August 16, 2006 Sounds like a biggen'. I was looking after my wife's rabbit whilst she disposed of our beast.. coward... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 had this one the other day. Big bugger with fangs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJam75 Posted August 16, 2006 Author Share Posted August 16, 2006 oh yuk... nicely squished though ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 aaaaaaaaaaaaaah :scare::scare: I'm scared shitless of spiders! my garage has the biggest spiders ever! HUGE every once in a while I manage to kill some, but some are just too fast we have found some i the house too! pic soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 This is a big spider , you girls... From someone stationed in Baghdad. He was recently bitten by a camel spider which was hiding in his sleeping bag. I thought you'd like to see what a camel spider looks like. It'll give you a better idea of what our troops are dealing with. Enclosed is a picture of his friend holding up two spiders. Warning: not for the squeamish! This picture is a perfect example of why you don't want to go to the desert. These are 2 of the biggest I've ever seen. With a vertical leap that would make a pro basketball player weep with envy (they have to be able to jump up on to a camels stomach after all), they latch on and inject you with a local anesthesia so you can't feel it feeding on you. They eat flesh, not just suck out your juices like a normal spider. I'm gona be having night mares after seeing this photo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 omfg, mine is just an amateur compared to these 2 buggers! in fact, lomoto, I'd like to disagree with the comments, after a little research "he photo displayed above does indeed show camel spiders encountered in Iraq, but a number of the claims about them multi-legged creatures made in accompanying text are inaccurate or exaggerated. Camel spiderClaims of camel spiders being flesh-eating anesthesia-injecting beasts are folklore, not reality, so worry not that those serving in our country's armed forces in Iraq are having to deal with man-eating creepy-crawlies the size of small cats. Camel spiders, also known as wind spiders, wind scorpions, and sun scorpions, are a type of arthropod found (among other places) in the deserts of the Middle East. They're technically not spiders but solifugae (although, like spiders, they belong to the class Arachnida). Camel spiders are the subject of a variety of legendary claims, many of them familiar to Americans because they were spread by U.S. servicemen who served in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and re-spread at the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003: * Camel spiders can grow to be as large as dinner plates. * Camel spiders can traverse desert sand at speeds up to 25 MPH, making screaming noises as they run. * Camel spiders can jump several feet in the air. * Camel spiders eat the stomachs of camels and lay their eggs there, hence the name "camel spider." (Legend includes the detail that camel spiders eat camel stomachs from either the outside in or the inside out. In the former case they supposedly jump up from the ground and grab onto camels' bellies from underneath; in the latter case exactly how spiders allegedly as large as dinner plates get into camels' stomachs intact remains unexplained.) * Camel spiders are venomous, and their venom contains a powerful anesthetic that numbs their victims (thus allowing them to gnaw away at living, immobilized animals without being noticed). U.S. soldiers were said to have been attacked by camel spiders at night but remained completely unaware of their plight until they awakened in the morning to find chunks of their flesh missing. These claims are all false. Camel spiders (so named because, like camels, they can be found in sandy desert regions, although they aren't technically spiders) grow to be moderately large (about a 5"-6" leg span), but nowhere near as large as dinner plates; they can move very quickly in comparison to other arthropods (a top speed of maybe 10 MPH), but nothing close 25 MPH; they make no noise; and they capture prey without the use of either venom or anesthetic. Camel spiders rely on speed, stealth, and the (non-venomous) bite of powerful jaws to feed on small prey such as other arthropods (e.g., scorpions, crickets, pillbugs), lizards, and possibly mice or birds. They use only three pairs of legs in running; the frontmost pair (called pedipalpa) is held aloft and used in a similar manner to the antennae of insects. Camel spiders shun the sun and generally hide during the day, coming out at night to do their hunting. Although the creatures shown in the photograph above appear to be far too big for camel spiders, they look misleadingly large because of their closeness to the camera, which creates an illusion of exaggerated size. (Note their size in comparison to the uniform sleeve which appears in upper right-hand portion of the picture.) " http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Val.. I bet you wouldnt want one dropped in your lap though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 hell no Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJam75 Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 But what I want to know is, whats the point of spiders? I mean, other than keeping the fly population in check? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Like everything else mate, they form a part of the food chain. In any case - you've said they get rid of flies - thats good enough for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Like everything else mate, they form a part of the food chain. In any case - you've said they get rid of flies - thats good enough for me Give me flies any day over spiders! Must stop reading this thread, its upsetting me......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.