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Online pet magazine.
Almost everything you need to know about pet care.
Camel Spiders
Camel Spiders (solifugae): Camel spider types are found in desert areas around the world. Here are a few: USA Sun Spider, USA Wind Spider, Kuwait Camel Spider, Iraq Camel Spider, UAE Camel Spider, Giant Camel Spider and Black Camel Spider North American Camel Spiders seldom grow over about 5cm, whereas the Asian varieties can reach more than 12cm. A big spider!
The Camel spider is not generally harmful to humans, and will only bite by accident. The speed a Camel spider can move has instilled more fear in us than they deserve. These creatures are nocturnal, spending days in a small burrow that it has dug for itself. The species has no venom and relies on speed and strength. It is a carnivorous cannibal and lives on a diet of insects, other spiders, scorpions and even small lizards.
Camel spiders are very territorial and will fight fiercely with any interlopers, whether they are other Camel spiders, scorpions or centipedes. It is voracious consumer and will feed until it is too heavy to move easily. Captured prey is held between the forceps of the chelicerae and chewed with such vigour that when eating a beetle it can be heard eating over a distance of a few metres. Mating habits are different from those of other spiders. The male is dominant and courts the female by stroking her with his pedipalpi and forelegs. This reduces her to a trance like state, as if she were drugged. Once in this condition the male Camel spider lays her on her side. He raises his body well off the surface, and then he ejects spermatozoa onto the ground which he picks it up with his chelicerae and packs into the females vent. He closes the vent and waits a few moments to ensure the vent has sealed. He hurriedly departs before the female comes round, grabs and eats him. When a wild Camel Spider rushes towards you in the desert it is not attacking you! It is just trying to get into the shade as quickly as possible! Camel spiders are fairly hard to keep as a varied live food source has to be maintained.
Any digital photos, pictures and further suggestions on keeping Camel spiders and studying them in captivity would be welcomed. We need a Camel Spider pic! Camel Spider Bite pic or Camel Spider video.
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