Troops coming back from Afghanistan need to beware of what they bring back, deadly spiders

When Rodney Griffiths came home on leave from Afghanistan, he thought he was leaving the perils of the desert behind.
By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:48 PM on 27th August 2008

But a little bit of danger had hitched a ride back with him.

A camel spider has been seen scuttling across the floor of the paratrooper's home and is thought to have killed the family's pet dog Bella.

Now his wife Lorraine and their children Cassie, 18, Ricky, 16, and Ellie-Rose, four, have been forced to move out until the creature is found.

Mrs Griffiths, 37, thinks the hairy, sandycoloured spider is nesting in Cassie's bedroom.


She has left out traps and plates of raw mince in the bedroom. The meat has been devoured, but so far the spider has managed to escape.


The camel spider, which grows up to six inches long, belongs to a group of arachnids called solifugae.


It can run at up to 10mph and feeds on insects and small animals.


Mrs Griffiths said the spider appeared after her husband, 32, returned in June
from a four-month tour in Helmand province with the 16 Air Assault Brigade. Mr Griffiths has now returned to the desert.

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