a crinkle cut french fry with huge friggin fangs glistening with venom. So I did the first thing that came to mind which was SCREAM LIKE A LITTLE GIRL. Really! Hands a flappin and everything. What the hell is that! It's an alien. I know bugs and that thing was made in a lab somewhere cuz I have never ever seen anything like it.
Slash looks over at me like this is just why he hates me and I say " Oh yeah you come f)&*%ing take a look. He does and without so much as raising an eyebrow goes over picks up one of those aluminum shower heads old ladies use on their plants and sqaushes it right where it sits. Oh yeah it never moved a muscle other than opening those huge jaws like it was gonna eat my belt first.
That was two years ago and this entire time I thought this must have been some Sumatran nightmare that go smuggled in a teak garden bench box. Until tonight! I am following my usual ritual of smoking a stogie outfront while reading my emails and I spot this little spider looking thing that is so small I can barely make him out but he is moving pretty fast. I dawns on me this thing looks kinda like my crinkle cut monster so I go through the ten minutes of work it takes to get him out of the crack in my patio and kill him. No problem. We haven't had any issues with bugs since that time in our last house that I was convinced the wife was a mexican goddess of scorpions and they felt it was necessary to follow her home. I killed two or three a night and my neighbors claimed to have never seen one. I found one in the friggin loofa!! We moved. It was that bad.
So I go on the internet and come across your site and all is revealed. Holy crap these things are normal? Why the hell don't more people know about them? I can certainly rest assured that my mother won't be coming to live with us now:) She's your problem now brothers. And I could probably lower the heck out of my property values pretty quick by showing one to pretty much anyone east of Chicago.
I decide to go in and grab another stogie. I come out and just as I am about to sit back down in my favorite Tar-get' patio chair I see that little bastards momma run out from under it! She is bigger than a french fry and faster than my lazy butt. Strangely enough I have one of those rechargeable 3 million watt flashlights you see everywhere now sitting right opposite of me so I blast her with it and she runs and hides under a big piece of MY KIDS SIDEWALK CHALK!!! It's not helping cuz she is bigger than it is. Even though I am crawling out of my skin I decide it's her or me and go inside to arm myself. Why didn't I buy that shotgun? I knew this would happen. I come back with a six foot broom handle, my cave crawler headlight on and a pair of boots. Luckily she is still frozen solid behind that chalk. Well I move everything off the patio and get that handle right up to her and SMOOSH! She just friggin explodes guts all over and most amazingly, even though I have popped her like a balloon she has bitten on to the end of that handle and wont let go. I actually dragged her out like that, trailing guts all the way. I threw her into one of those clay chimineas we all have out here but never use and she was still biting up to a minute ago, gutless and all. I have got the friggin heebie jeebies like you read about now. It was no help to read one of your stories that said they travel in two's and three's. Well here we go again. Just like the friggin scorpions! Think twice before marrying a mexican. She might not be telling you everything about herself. I'm sure the neighbors will say they have no idea what I'm talking about:) T. Boyle

a blower/vacuum cleaner.  What I’ve seen in Afghanistan: Small CS jump about 8in high, and sometimes nearly a foot in distance.  They do bite humans. Although they don’t have venom, they have some kind of bacteria (or something) that causes the bite area to swell profusely and in some cases causes the skin to turn a blackish color.
They definitely get larger than 6in.  One I killed just the body was 6 inches and the size of a mini maglight.  Others were between 6 to 8 inches counting the legs.
They almost always come out at night, and are as said, extremely aggressive.
They’ve been known to eat birds, lizards, and scorpions.
They’re called camel spiders because their mandibles are can chew through a camel’s hide…which is thought to be very tough leather by the indigenous personnel.
They must have some kind of numbing agent in their bite, because nearly everyone that I’ve seen or heard of was bitten at night and was asleep at the time—and did not awake from the bite.  I don’t know about you, but if something took a 1/4’’ bite out of me, I’d wake up.  I’ve had one run across my face when I was sleeping, and I jumped up screamingThe ones I’ve seen look different from the Iraq/Saudi version, but the Afghani version look similar enough to know they’re from the same gene pool.
If you’re ever in a tent out in the desert and it’s Friday Fight Night between a scorpion and a camel spider…always bet on the camel spider.
Laters, C. Knapp

kitten and i just about *#@^%&* myself. I noticed how it made the dry sand spit up behind it as it ran, leaving a dust trail hanging in the air and I immediately ran to my left. As I started to run, I figured I'd run a semicircle to get as far away from this thing as possible as I went to my tent. I was horrified of this thing whatever it was. I realized as I was running that if it was really after me it would have got me by now, due to the speed it had exhibited. The sand kicking up from my flip-flops felt like THE THING fast at my heels. I made it back okay and shared my experience with my SGT., who began to recount the stories of the camel spiders he encountered on his first tour there. All I can say is now that I'm back in the states, and out of the service, is that my arachniphobia that I had before I went to Kuwait and Iraq is nonexistent. Now, when I see a spider, real spider that is, I just smash it with my hand. During my tours of the Middle-East and Southwest Asia, I eventually came to accept them as part of daily routine. I do believe however that if I ever see another camel-spider in person, I'll have a nervous breakdown or something. These things alone are enough to give someone P.T.S.D. The Iraqi's I talked to said that they believed the camel spider was "Allah Mujad" or "fighters of God". Their word for camel spider is pronounced, as best as I can in type anyway, "ainkabout",like INKABOOT. I spoke with one boy who said that INKABOOT ran across his face while he was in bed and he considered it a blessing. The Iraqis think INKABOOT fights for them against the American forces. Well, that's my story and I still have nightmares sometimes about those things. Dave Holmes, Formerly Spc. Holmes, United States Army.

one we all have seen there, I would say it matched your three inch size, give or take a couple centimeters.
Well I slowly stood up and reached for the first thing I could get my hands on to kill it, (by the way these things are hard to kill) As I stood up he just sat there watching me then I hit it square and hard with a stick that I always kept in arms reach for that purpose. The Spider hit the floor and just disappeared in thin air.
My boys started laughing and said “Yeah he is going to go get his homeboys and come back here to kick your butt.” I walked back to my room to get my four cell Mag Light then I walked out on my front porch when I shut the door I heard a thud….I flicked on my light and there he was. This spider had jumped off the roof onto a MRE box that was on the porch, he just sat there and looked at me. Once again I swung at him, but he was to fast and got away, after a few minutes of scanning the area I went back inside to finish the card game.
The war started about ten minutes after the first encounter….and sure enough my boys was right. He got his home boys and can back for a fight. To make a long story short I killed eight of those things that night there had to have been 12-15 of them that came back to get me. This is just one of many encounters I’ve had have fun and be safe.

waved it's front four legs in a threat posture. At this point I realised it had 10 legs and that it was a variety of camel spider. This creature would not back down no matter what we threw at it and eventually we vacated the area leaving it to it's own devices. Over the months we saw many more of similar size and just avoided them and made sure none were in the rooms when we went to bed (mindful of the myths). Then one night while sitting outside shooting the breeze we saw a particulary large one walking across the desert about 30 yards distant (remember it was night and the only illumination was a few lights from the camp). A wild dog puppy decided to investigate and began sniffing the aforementioned "monster", the scene that followed has only been matched in Alien. The camel spider sunk its jaws into the pups nose and wrapped its legs around it's snout. The noise the dog made was horrific and we could hear its screams for minutes as it ran off into the night complete with living muzzle. Anybody who says these things are harmless are probably the same sort of people who think pandas are cuddly. Regards
Mick

I've ever seen. Like from a bad monster movie, a camel spider came creeping out of the darkness. One of the guys who first noticed it let out a yell like we were under attack. Though not as big as the ones in the "famous Iraq" picture, this thing was monstrous to a New Jerseyain such as me. It just sat there at the edge of the light cast by the light-all unit, and I swear it was sizing us up. None of us had ever seen, or heard of a camel spider, so we did what came natural, we threw rocks at it. This definitely did not have the expected or desired result. Instead of running off, it was clearly agitated by the rocks impacting nearby. The closest guy was at least 15 feet away, but this mutant seemed to be searching for the source of the rocks, rotating left and right, scanning its horizon, seeking a target.
When a rock finally found its mark and beaned it in the head (head, or whatever), this thing freaked out and blasted off towards the nearest guy at an unbelievable speed. At this point all bravado was lost, and the command post across the desert must have thought a group of Girl Scouts were being attacked as everyone ran in different directions screaming hysterically knocking over cots, tent poles, etc. The monster attacked the guy it was after (long since forgot his name, but not his face that night) by somehow attaching itself to his leg. A bloodcurdling scream pierced the night air “AAAAAAAAAHHH GETITOFFMEEE!!!!!!” In the mayhem and thrashing about, the spider hit the dirt, only to get up and regroup. Another guy ran over and ambushed it, and stomped it into the ground. There was a second of relief until he picked up his foot. The spider had sank into the soft sand relatively unharmed, and emerged from its grave exceptionally pissed and went after its new enemy number one. After some more chaos, screaming, and foot stomping (sort of a crazy-looking frenzied line dance) this armor-plated arachnid finally succumbed to the US issued desert boots. Not to sound too gruesome, but any avid monster movie watcher knows never to leave the dead monster intact, because it will come back to life and get you, so using an e-tool (folding shovel) the spider was chopped up and its parts spread out into the desert where hopefully they wouldn’t find each other and regenerate.
After that night no one cared about insurgents or terrorists, but rather all were on extra vigilance for more of these abominations, and we all prayed it didn’t have a bigger brother. I just wish I had a camera, because those that haven’t been there have no idea.
Sorry for my long-winded story, but to all those who didn’t believe me…HA!
And to take a line from one of my favorite movies that applies directly to Camel Spiders:
“My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are, aren't there?
Why do they tell little kids that? “
“We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly. “
AJ fron NJ

living daylights out of you in the process. They will however stop and stay in your shadow when you stop.
The reason why they are called Hair Shaving Spiders is creepy. They will neatly chew of a piece of your hair with their scissor-like jaws while you are asleep. They then use it to line their nests. They bite the hair off very close to the skin. therefore it appears like a rough shave. If they bite it is very painful, but they have no venom and it heals quickly.
A. Meyer
Pretoria
South Africa

both agreed that we part our separate ways. I turned to Noble Way pest control and spoke to the owner. He was pretty confident that he could take care of it. You see, the layer of pesticide they lay down only sickens the vermin for about a day then they are up and running again. We have seen ones 3 inches long and down to only a half a centimeter (baby). It has been over a year and again they have bombed our home twice, multiple visits and such. Anyway, I am not seeing them as much (was 3 a day down to 1 a week). I have witnessed them attack prey outside and then sit and eat them. I put several in a jar and watch them attack each other. They area smart and can follow you as you move. In a jar they will Lunge at your fingers. They are vicious. I have had several friends come over just to see them. The funny thing is that no other house is affected and the pest control persons have never seen them. I have sent live specimens in jars with Noble way and the other pest guys for testing. In a nutshell I am actually proud to say I have them. I have grown accustom to lifting my feet as one runs by. My kids do the same. The biggest one we have ever seen was 3 inches long and we believe was a female ready to deliver. We watched in awe as she disappeared under a base board. I think that was our undoing. Here is a current picture of what we call a ‘Small’ one. It has been dead for a couple weeks so it has dried and shrunk. It is a wimpy example. Anyway, if you have any questions let me know