Ahhhh Wetas...the scariest make the beast with two backsing cricket bug on the planet.

I have a Kiwi friend who regales me with stories about how her cat brings dead ones to her all the time as gifts.

I also warned a buddy of mine who has a bug phobia that is going to NZ for Christmas that these things exist. He was reconsidering the trip after a few pics...

 

wetas are actually pretty harmless

they eat mice and bugs and vegetables

not harmful to humans at all

they are a protected species in NZ

one of the professors I knew in college studied them and had a license to have several.  i've actually held one, it made my skin crawl, but they are pretty slow and dopey.

apparently they can be put into a deep freeze and they go into some kind of hibernation.  Take them out for a slow thaw and they come right back to life.

Quote from: ducatiz on December 01, 2011, 08:35:39 PM
apparently they can be put into a deep freeze and they go into some kind of hibernation.  Take them out for a slow thaw and they come right back to life.

make the beast with two backsin' great.

Giant zombie crickets. 

Quote from: Buckethead on December 01, 2011, 08:54:33 PM
make the beast with two backsin' great.

Giant zombie crickets. 

nah, they are very harmless.  truly.  i mean, look at that big fat dumb looking cricket eatin' a carrot.. zombie?  maybe, but they eat bugs and plants.

I know, I know. I just hate them right now cause the little normal-sized grasshoppers ate my whole garden this summer.

I can't imagine the foliage havoc a horde of those things could wreak.

Hm. I'd be okay with one or two inhabiting my basement or garage. They look like gigantic cave crickets, and I'm generally fine with those critters.

Quote from: Buckethead on December 01, 2011, 09:06:50 PM
I know, I know. I just hate them right now cause the little normal-sized grasshoppers ate my whole garden this summer.

I can't imagine the foliage havoc a horde of those things could wreak.

yeah, they would come in and eat the trees too lol

Quote from: zarn02 on December 01, 2011, 09:24:21 PM
Hm. I'd be okay with one or two inhabiting my basement or garage. They look like gigantic cave crickets, and I'm generally fine with those critters.

that's RIGHT!  they do look like cave crickets.

not all of them do, some look like giant ants, some are giant centipedes.

the centipedes were the ones that made my skin crawl.  i held on, it was about 7 inches long.  my professor didn't thin it was funny when i held it up to my face and said "Would you rub some of this powder on my lips?"

can they eat rats?

Quote from: RAT900 on December 01, 2011, 09:49:30 PM
can they eat rats?

no, in fact it was the european rat invasion that has made them endangered.  rats came over on the ships and found the wetas very tasty.

Quote from: ducatiz on December 01, 2011, 09:59:08 PM
no, in fact it was the european rat invasion that has made them endangered.  rats came over on the ships and found the wetas very tasty.

not sure if that is a bad thing or a good thing

Quote from: RAT900 on December 01, 2011, 10:13:08 PM
not sure if that is a bad thing or a good thing

Rats=  invasive species, carries lice and bubonic plague

wetas = essentially harmless omnivores, good pets, no diseases non poisonous.

Yeah, I think one of the articles said that after the rat invasion there were 4 left in the world?


And did you say they eat mice??  How do they catch them??

question is...if you encountered it....what caliber of weapon would you find most appropriate to use?!?!?

Quote from: Rameses on December 01, 2011, 10:36:03 PM
And did you say they eat mice??  How do they catch them??

I don't know that for a fact, I've only been told that by Kiwis.   I'm not a weta-specialist, just a big kid who found out about them when I was about 9 or so and always wanted one as a pet, so I did the next best thing and tried to learn all I could.  It was my crazy luck that a biology prof at my school was a bona fide specialist else I'd never have seen one in person.