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| Britain |
| Afghan spider forces Army family out of home |
| 2008-08-28 |
| The family of a British paratrooper has moved out of their home after a dangerous spider hitched a lift back from Afghanistan with him. Days after Rodney Griffiths returned home from a four-month tour of Helmand province with 16 Air Assault Brigade, the family's pet dog Bella mysteriously died. Son Ricky, 16, then spotted the giant spider, prompting the soldier's wife Lorraine to move the family out of their four-bedroom army home in Colchester, Essex. Mother-of-four Mrs Griffiths, 37, said: "Ricky saw a huge spider and screamed to his sister Cassie. They tried to put a pint-glass over it but it was too big, they poked it with a coat hanger and the spider bit it. The dog came in, jumped on the bed and barked at it. The spider hissed and Bella went running out whimpering." Days later the family took Bella to the vet with a high temperature and swollen stomach. She had to be put down. Mrs Griffiths said she thought her death "too much of a coincidence" although the vet could not say why the dog died. After scouring the internet for spider descriptions they decided the culprit was a camel spider. She said: "I think it must have hitched a lift back with my husband in June." The spider has now taken up residence in her 18-year-old daughter Cassie's bedroom. Mrs Griffiths, who admitted to being "petrified of spiders", has now taken her children to live at her mother's. A camel spider is type of arachnid known as a solpugid, that can grow up to five inches long and run at up to 10mph. Iain Newby of Essex's Dangerous and Wild Animals Rescue Facility said: "It is venomous but would not kill you." |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #11 Our family Marine has videos and pictures of "Spider Fights" they held out in Anbar and at the Kabals down in Kuwait (yes, there may have been gambling involved). No one got hurt, including the spiders (they were released at some distance from the camp at the conclusion of the 'festivities'). Ugly creatures, though. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2008-08-28 22:31 |
| #10 Camel spiders are ugly but not venomous. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-08-28 20:35 |
| #9 Or a combat boot. After seeing the size of the thing I think an M1A2 tank would be much better. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-08-28 10:04 |
| #8 http://www.thefunnypage.com/camel-spiders/spider.jpg Pair of camel spiders. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-08-28 09:29 |
| #7 When a spider hisses at you and stands its ground I have only one thing to say. "Check please!" |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-28 08:37 |
| #6 Or a combat boot. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-08-28 08:18 |
| #5 There is no spider problem you can't solve with an M16. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-08-28 08:06 |
| #4 ...I remember these charming critters from my time in Saudi Arabia. Five inches is the AVERAGE size - many of the ones I saw could stretch from side to side on a dinner plate - and they could cheerfully take on and kill scorpions. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-08-28 06:11 |
| #3 Rambler, well then... there must be surely a PETA member that would want to adopt it as pet, no? ;-) |
| Posted by: Spike Uniter 2008-08-28 02:10 |
| #2 "Where's my hammer?..." |
| Posted by: Captain Snomble6488 2008-08-28 01:28 |
| #1 And if they bring in an exterminator to kill the spider, PETA will start picketing them and calling them names |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-08-28 00:12 |