HUGE Insect found in Iraqi Desert.

i didn't bother watching the video of someone eating one(although, food is food. they eat us, eh?)
from those stories, it seems most people tend to want to just chase them off, rather than get up close and personal with them.

i, personally, would remorselessly kill something that i know will eat a hole 1/4 inch deep by 5 inches wide into my body while i slept. they might have been in the desert first, but if i had to be there, i would only consider my own welfare over that of a bug.

i wouldn't torture it, though. just whack it with a shovel or something. real quick and painlessish-like.

but, on the other hand, if i was keeping a pet scorpion(which i wouldn't do), it's gotta eat something, so i would have no remorse feeding it these things.

overall, though, i give the whole thing a big 'EWWWWW!'.

did you read the letter that the iraqi name for them translates to 'god's warriors'? and that (some) iraqis believe they are there to fight off the americans!?

Actually the myth that they eat human flesh is false. These insects (at least the ones that our troops are encountering) will only bite if they feel that they have been threatened (as almost every other supposed man-eating insect would).

It's not really fair to give the bugs a bad rap sheet just because they look bad, even though I don't like them I don't kill them. I just move them far away from me. Maybe they'll get the idea and not attack something that's 6 feet towering over them.

Shattered OUT...

www.camelspiders.net...

www.camelspiders.net...

damn myths.

Heh Camel Spider, looks like 2 of them attached together (mating?) (mealtime?), but definitely camel spider(s).

Here's a link:
www.camelspiders.net...

Oh no, the way you made it sound like was as if they took a entire limbs off. Sorry it's just the way I read your wording. I knew that they left those kinds of bites, but I had just finished reading about how there are myths out there about how they feast on human flesh and stuff. But that's just a bite from for whatever reason.

Shattered OUT...

nasty, nasty bites. leaving scars. yuck. i'd call that a feast, from a bug's eye view.

i mean, i've been swarmed by bees, yellow jacket hornets, and paper hornets(just a lucky kid), and that is LITERALLY BLINDING pain(while they're attacking), and i've been bitten by horse flies so bad i couldn't move my hand from the swelling afterwards, but no 'bug', or army of bugs ever left a SCAR and a huge hole like that. that guys arm looks like he's been shot or stabbed or something.

those things are NASTY, and i would try and kill one as soon as i saw it, after reading the accounts of people and their encounters, and seeing the damage they can do.

on the bright side, they are HUGE, like sharks. not like blackflies. those things are flying piranhas, LOL!

ICK! YUCK, EWW! KILL IT!!!!

[edit on 6-4-2007 by billybob]

All the answers to your questions lie here....

www.snopes.com...

But camel spiders really do exist.

However, they do not inject you with an anesthesia and eat your skin, and those suckers were added on after the photo was taken.


TheRanchMan

So this little monster, known as "Camel Spider" or "Wind Scorpion" is neither Spider nor Scorpion? Thats just funny I think I'd just call them WTF's.

I also agree with the author of this post and everyone else that stood up for him. You can't ask the internet to identify a picture. If he knew they were called Camel Spiders then that would be different. Kudos to everyone that is standing up to these pains on here that are making things so difficult for new members.

The Camel Spider picture FYI:


external image

Oh wait wrong image link,


external image

Yuck!

Correct! however im not a new member

Billybob, i think you have read a lot of the myths, they do bite but they dont eat people a lot of spiders can bite if the feel threatened. Its just the size of the thing that makes the bite quite nasty. You making me start to think along the lines of.. maybe i would wollop it with the sole of my army boots! No i wouldnt really.

I saw a video on YouTube before where soldiers burned a camel spider.

Umm-How would the OP search on ATS for the identity of something that is unknown to the original poster?! Besides not knowing what search terms to use to perform the search, the ATS search could produce LOTS of results, similar to google results, not all that pertinent.

I agree an OP should perform a good faith search before posting but there is a limit as to how many search results one should have to wade through before deciding their new thread is valid.

[edit on 7-4-2007 by greatlakes]

Ditto to the above! There are so many new users, anon users, lurker 'users' and the like. Posting some new information, even if it has been hashed out before, is not a bad thing. In fact I would go as far to say "it's a good thing". If done in a natural way of course, not artificially bringing new-old topics to the forefront that is.

Let's say a new thread is started on a UFO pic that was discussed previously, and no conclusions were made in regards to...Then, some new user or someone that missed it last time around may see the redundant thread and have some valuable insight into the UFO pic. In fact the UFO may be proven a natural phenom or a known milt. aircraft etc.

This is akin to The Unsolved Mysteries TV program. With the 'please search ats before posting' thread police here, that entire series would have been scrapped.

[edit on 7-4-2007 by greatlakes]

I've had these as pets. It is a solfugid known as a Camel Spider. Everything I have seen come into contact with them 100% of the time gets attacked. Whether it is a feeder cricket or a jar to coax them getting into while changing substrate. They're right up there with centipedes.

[camel spider vs. mouse(very gross with foul language commentary) (youtube)

camel spider eating lizard (you tube)

eating a scorpion(youtube)

another lizard being eaten(youtube, foul language, here too)

a huge cricket (youtube)

seems like they eat any kinda meat they can get their GIANT fangs into. the mouse footage shows the awesome aggresiveness of these things.
the guy who posted the cricket getting eaten video said this...

that's how the locals feel about them, and they grew up around them.

he also said that 'lord humongous' could bite through a leather glove.

[edit on 7-4-2007 by billybob]

That one picture isn't one camel spider, it's two mating. If you look to the right of the picture you can also see the person's sleeve who is holding it very close to the camera, making it appear larger than it actually is, and creating an optical illusion with the other soldier's pants behind them.

it's kind of a menage a trois, then, n'est pas?

and, yet, there is the voyeur dimension, as well.. i.e. us., which puts a few more individuals in the enjoyment seat.

it's a media feeding orgy of the black market kind. (this requires thought, and may relate to the way you view life, the universe, and everything.)

the android meme makes sulfugids look like paintywaist twigboys at a friday the thirteenth biker convention.



[edit on 8-4-2007 by billybob]

I fed mine Skittles out of the MREs. He would sit and chew on them. Kind of wierd for an arachnid. Never had any luck feeding Skittles to Scorpions.
I have a Tanzanian Baboon Spider now and he doens't like Skittles either.

Thats is GROSS!!!!! Im scared of bugs so that'll bring me nightmares.