My thoughts on camel spidersSketches of a shrew skull and camel spider, I noticed how the bottom inc

My thoughts on camel spidersSketches of a shrew skull and camel spider, I noticed how the bottom incisors of the shrew have “teeth” which reminded me of a camel spider’s jaws. I sketched both of these subjects under a microscope, I didn’t include all the bristles on the solfugid, so the sketch remains unfinished. But I focused on the jaws because of the superficial similarities. Both animals eat a lot and are highly active. The shrew’s teeth have iron deposits at the tips, which appears to help resist wear. The camel spider’s “teeth” on its jaws (chelicerae) have dark pigment, maybe functioning to strengthen these teeth as they chew. Once I had found a camel spider in my garage that was lethargic and chewing on anything he could get a hold of; he was starving. I kept him overnight while supplying him with waxworms. The next day I noticed he had recovered very well, because he had gotten out of his little terrarium and had gotten into my waxworm container! He was hanging out on the side of my desk. I could see he was ready to go back outside. Camel spiders will chew on bits of romaine lettuce for their water content; I would offer bits of romaine stems to solfugids I had kept temporarily before releasing them. I’ve always found camel spiders to be fascinating, and over many years I’ve observed them through catch and release. Each one behaved a little differently, some would ‘tag’ my finger with their open jaws and run away, others would simply run, or just sit still or play dead. These animals are greatly misunderstood so each one I found was special to me. They are sensitive little animals, they feel like a feather when held. -- source link

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