Spider 'kills' pet dog after paratrooper accidentally brings it home from Afghanistan



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



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.



Forced out: Lorraine Griffiths and her children Ellie-Rose (l), Ricky (c) and Cassie (r) have left their Essex home after spotting a camel spider roaming free

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, sandy-coloured 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.



Camel spiders can deliver a nasty bite but are not venomous enough to kill humans. However Mrs Griffiths believes it could have killed family dog Bella

She said: 'My son Ricky was in my bedroom looking for his underwear and he went into the drawer under my bed and something crawled across his hand.



'He 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.



'There was an electrician in the house and he came and looked but just ran out of the house.'



Mrs Griffiths, a care worker, got a description of the creature from the workman and her children and scoured the internet until they picked out a camel spider.



She said: 'They said it was the size of a palm, sandy coloured with a pink body and red knees.







'I think it must have hitched a lift back with my husband in June so it's been in my house for seven weeks.



'He's back out there now, I called him and he said one of his friends had been bitten by one. I'm petrified of spiders, I cannot live in that house until it's gone.'



Last week Bella, eight, was taken to the vet with a high temperature and swollen stomach. Blood tests revealed a low white cell count and she had to be put down.



Mrs Griffiths said: 'She was an active healthy dog. It seems too much of a coincidence that she died at the same time that we saw the spider.



'I wondered if she had been bitten or if it sprayed something into her face when it hissed at her.



'The vet said they wouldn't know without an autopsy but said there could have been an underlying condition which was brought on with the stress of it all.'



To catch an arachnid: Mrs Griffiths has laid traps to try and snare the spider

An Army welfare officer has scoured the house but not found any sign of the intruder. The RSPCA came and caught another spider which they have not been able to identify but which Mrs Griffiths says is a different, much smaller creature.

The family has left the army home in Colchester and is staying with Mrs Griffiths's mother Jennifer Meason until the spider is caught. Mrs Griffiths added: 'I've searched the house and can't find it, I don't know what to do.



'I just want to get back in there but I can't with that spider in there.'



Iain Newby, of the Dangerous and Wild Animals Rescue Facility in Essex, said it is common for travellers to bring back unwanted souvenirs.



'We get calls all the time from people who have unpacked their suitcase and found a gecko from Spain or a frog from Namibia,' he said.



'It's perfectly possibly this man has folded up the sand spider in his clothes and accidentally brought it home with him.



'Camel spiders are also called sun spiders. They have a huge head and massive mandibles and it gives a nasty painful bite. It is venomous but would not kill you.'



A spokesman for the RSPCA said: 'We would advise people with creatures like these to try to contain them otherwise they are difficult to catch.



'If it is the spider they believe it is then normally they don't attack humans but they could give a painful bite.'