Camel Spider
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Written by Jim on August 6th, 2007 with
312 comments.
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I caught one about 2 inches long in Glamis CA over the weekend. Just went down there to ride and watch the Sand Rails race, and one morning I came out side of the trailer and saw a small white spider digging like Hell! And I just threw a cup over it. When I looked closer I realized that I had caught a freakin Camel Spider!! So I i took it home with me and now its living in my 10 gallon terrarium filled with Glamis sand. So far I’m just feeding it small crickets, hopefully it lives and grows to its maximum length!
Corey said:
#5. February 13th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I want one as a pet. They look cuddly
ARE YOU CRAZY!?
People, there have been cases when someone has lost their leg in their sleep from camel spiders. What they have is some sort of venom or chemical that makes it so you don’t feel the bite.. then they eat.
There is also a kind of spider in Brazil that does run and scream after you and it is NOT the camel spider, but it is bigger.
We have these freaks of nature here in Utah….EVERYWERE!
Theyre my biggest fear!
The camel spider can get that big because it’s very close familiar to a scorpion. Maybe the camel spider is the evolution between a spider and scorpion.
Some soldiers i know who are rebuilding Iraq, found some of those in there pants and boots. The spiders scare them almost to death.
That is freakin “HUGE” and ugly!!!!!!
hmm, the pictures look really scary…but when i saw it digging a hole in the video it did look kinda cute…until it ate the scorpion!
Awesome! There is only one speices in South America that has venom, and nobody knows if it can inject it or not.
I have been interested in spiders for a long time and if you look closely you notice some key points to the point that it is NOT a spider, one it only has one body segment two notice the eating pattern, spiders eat by turning the insides of insects to mush and drinking it this spider actually eats it prey. also I have been trying to find a specimen for testing, do you have any tips for capturing one alive?
No, Camel Spiders (Solpugidae) are not true spiders,but are related – they are arachnids, and are therefore related to scorpions, spiders, whip scorpions (vinegaroons or grampus), mites and ticks.
They appear to have ten legs, but the front ‘legs’ are really modified mouth parts – like the claws of a scorpion.
The jaws, which they chew their food with are similar to the small jaws of scorpions – but much larger.
Quincy,
As I unfortunately don’t live where camel spiders live (UK), I don’t have experience of catching them. But, if they are really fast-moving, I would try a medium sized net – about a foot across – on a long pole.
If the soil is loose sand you could push it under it, and if the soil is hard put it over it. If they are slower moving, maybe place a flat-edged container (dark) in front of it, and it will run in to escape the light.
You could also try the pitfall trap – a plastic cup sunken into the soil, the top at soil level. Put a live insect in it as a lure. Put slats of wood on the ground radiating out from the trap to guide the spiders towards it.
Of course you may trap other predators instead, so place a number of them out. Foxes often steal the bait!
I used the dark container method for catching giant centipedes – far more aggressive creatures than camel spiders.
Peejay