Big 'uns *

*This is safe for work.

Oh my god, if I found that crawling up my leg i'd die of shock.

While they are big and scary looking, they're not as big as that photo makes them seem (and there seem to be two of them there). There are also a lot of inaccuracies about them floating around. Check out Snopes' information on camel spiders.

It doesn't matter how big or small they are. I hate all spiders and their big hairy thoraxes.

Reminds me of these pictures that were getting passed around a while back.

That is so funny - I was talking about camel spiders this weekend with a friend of mine and we looked at that very picture. Weird.

I am quite the arachnophobe, and those spiders absolutely terrify me.

There is a disclaimer above the picture which seems to match the information found at Snopes.

Good lord, do people eat those things I don't think I would have even taken the clock off the wall. I would have just smashed the clock into the damn thing.

That's one advantage of living where it gets below freezing every year

They also tend to seek out shade during the daytime, so it's not terribly unusual to see them charging across the desert at you -- only to come to a screeching halt when they reach your shadow.

-=Shudder=- No spider that big would EVER reach my shadow. We'd both be moving at 10 MPH for at LEAST 10 miles. (or till one of us gives up)

Reminds me of these pictures that were getting passed around a while back.

Phew! I thought it was that manky spider bite photo series that got progressively worse. IIRC Tony never looked at it and I was going to issue a warning!

Gareth

The main thing about the photo that you need to see is the sleeve and hand that are holding up the spiders. Most people see the photo for the first time and think the spiders are the size of the man's leg. But if you look a bit closer, you see the legs are a distant background.

Our local grocery store gets tarantulas in their banana bunches that are bigger than that.

Our local grocery store gets tarantulas in their banana bunches that are bigger than that.

Another reason to stick with apples for lunch at work then.

Our local grocery store gets tarantulas in their banana bunches that are bigger than that.

Another reason to stick with apples for lunch at work then.

Ha, out apples have worms bigger that that!

National Geographic was/is doing something on those things, and it frustrates my mom (as a research editor) that this photo is circulating the internet, giving people the wrong impression of their size. I think they're about 1-3 inches long. (and yes, there are two of them there)

3 inches is plenty big for me. But you're right, the photo greatly exagerates that.

I hate home some web sites are implying that this photo was "staged" or doctored. Like Tony said, if you use the soldier's sleeve as reference (most sleeves are maybe 4-5 inches tall?), you can see the spider can clearly fit inside of that. So the body of that spider is probably 3-4 inches from that photo. I doubt the soldier had a ruler lying around. He probably had no idea it would be getting around the net either.

Tony, if I were you, I'd move. That would just freak me out.