# Lol Watch This!! (Camel spiders)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [September 10, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035 "2005-09-10T23:27:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hellfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellfire)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/1 "2005-09-10T23:27:00Z")
they don’t eat flesh?
ummm negative
> **[Spider cat.](https://www.wimp.com/spider-cat/)**
>
> This feline does not allow a wall to prevent it from catching its "prey".
* * *
Moderator warning: the link is pretty disgusting, unless you like to watch critters eating other critters. – CKDH
---
### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/2 "2005-09-10T23:34:32Z")
Referencing [Do camel spiders eat a camel’s stomach until its intestines fall out?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcamelspider.html)
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/3 "2005-09-11T00:38:13Z")
> [@hellfire](#):
>
> they don’t eat flesh?
> ummm negative
>
> [Spider cat.](http://www.wimp.com/spider/)
So now the question becomes: “define flesh”
---
### Author:  [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/4 "2005-09-11T17:17:41Z")
Is it not common knowledge that the larger spiders go after vertebrates? Hence the name (for some of them) Bird Eating Spider.
---
### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/5 "2005-09-12T06:42:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Moderator warning: the link is pretty disgusting, unless you like to watch critters eating other critters. – CKDH
Poor Komodo dragon.
---
### Author:  [@d1a1s1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d1a1s1)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/6 "2005-09-12T09:56:02Z")
How big is that spider? There isnt much to reference it to but from what I can tell that spider is at least the size of my hand. That link to a past post says they dont get as large as your hand but it also says they dont eat anything but insects…which we now know is obviously wrong.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/7 "2005-09-12T11:18:16Z")
I can’t be absolutely sure, due to the poor quality of the footage, but that plant on the right-hand side of the frame looks like _Ecballium elaterium_ - the squirting cucumber, common around arid parts of the Med and middle east (which overlaps the range of the camel spider) - if so, then those leaves are about an inch across and that fast-moving insect crawling across the rock is the size of a small honey bee; that makes the arachnid about the size of a man’s hand.
---
### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/8 "2005-09-13T15:16:01Z")
Yeah. The lizard/meal appears to be a leopard gecko (or something similar) so I would support **Mangetout** ’s size estimate.
( **Mangetout** : how appropriate your username is in _this_ thread.)
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/9 "2005-09-13T15:21:48Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I can’t be absolutely sure, due to the poor quality of the footage, but that plant on the right-hand side of the frame looks like _Ecballium elaterium_ - the squirting cucumber, common around arid parts of the Med and middle east (which overlaps the range of the camel spider) - if so, then those leaves are about an inch across and that fast-moving insect crawling across the rock is the size of a small honey bee; that makes the arachnid about the size of a man’s hand.
I assume you mean the body of the arachnid, legs excluded?
---
### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/10 "2005-09-13T17:48:00Z")
> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> ]( **Mangetout** : how appropriate your username is in _this_ thread.)
I haven’t seen him touting any mange in this thread. :dubious:
---
### Author:  [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/11 "2005-09-13T23:42:42Z")
Firefox is telling me I need an “unknown plugin” to view whatevers on the page. Anyone know what plugin I need, by chance?
---
### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/12 "2005-09-14T02:12:50Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#):
>
> Firefox is telling me I need an “unknown plugin” to view whatevers on the page. Anyone know what plugin I need, by chance?
If you’re not running Windows (or are running a very old version), that may be your problem. It seems to need Windows Media Player
---
### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/13 "2005-09-14T02:16:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …that makes the arachnid about the size of a man’s hand.
European man’s hand, or African man’s hand?
[sub]Well, someone had to ask it[/sub]
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/14 "2005-09-14T03:00:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> If you’re not running Windows (or are running a very old version), that may be your problem. It seems to need Windows Media Player
Specifically, it seems to need a particularly recent version of WMP, which is not yet available for Mac (nor, I would presume, any other non-Windows XP OS).
---
### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/15 "2005-09-14T04:18:06Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#):
>
> [sub]Well, someone had to ask it[/sub]
Sure was hard to swallow, though.
---
### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/16 "2005-09-14T05:17:04Z")
> [@cricetus](#):
>
> I haven’t seen him touting any mange in this thread. :dubious:
I assume you’re joking, but mange tout (pronounced monj too) is French for “eats everything”.
I asked him once 😃
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/17 "2005-09-14T07:31:00Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#):
>
> I assume you mean the body of the arachnid, legs excluded?
I think I actually mean that a rough appreciation of what it must look like to have this thing in your bathtub could be had by using your hand to simulate the beastie walking; overall leg span is probably a bit broader than the full hand, body size/length is probably approximately that of the palm and part of the wrist.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/18 "2005-09-14T07:32:52Z")
> [@Eleusis](#):
>
> I assume you’re joking, but mange tout (pronounced monj too) is French for “eats everything”.
I presume the comment is a reference to the arachnid eating the entire lizard.
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/19 "2005-09-14T11:53:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I think I actually mean that a rough appreciation of what it must look like to have this thing in your bathtub could be had by using your hand to simulate the beastie walking; overall leg span is probably a bit broader than the full hand, body size/length is probably approximately that of the palm and part of the wrist.
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035/20 "2005-09-14T18:27:42Z")
> [@Eleusis](#):
>
> I assume you’re joking, but mange tout (pronounced monj too) is French for “eats everything”.
> I asked him once 😃
I’d been wondering if it were that or “Man, get out!” Another truly trivial question answered…
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lol-watch-this-camel-spiders/321035.md?page=2)