Weta

[James Deuce]

That's twice this week I've woken up with a Weta gnawing on my leg IN BED.

Weta is not some code name for one of my children either. I mean one of these 4cm long little buggers.

[What?]

One of the hazards of sleeping in the kids tree house, I'm afraid. :2thumbsup

[avgas]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmm
leg

[750Y]

mate you seriously need to shave your legs 8-)

[Blackbird]

Pack your bottle of meths away, join the Destiny Church and go and live back indoors. Then you'll just have the pets gnawing on your leg :apint:

[XTC]

Lucky it wasn't chewing on your woody.....
Relined the kids playhouse and found heaps living in the walls.... Scary buggers aren't they.

[Sniper]

Hmmm, interesting, they have lions in Africa, Snakes in australia, Bears somewhere else, sharks in the sea and now F%^$#N Weka's in bed. Is there nowhere safe to sleep anymorw??

[Ms Piggy]

Those wetas are fiesty buggers too! They can leap! I tried (being kind) and getting one out of the bathroom, it made a raspy noise and kept leaping around. YIKES!

Is your leg ok!?? :confused:

[Pwalo]

Stop sleeping with wetas Jim, it's just not natural. Seriously though I take it you've got a lot of shrubs around the house.

We get quite a few of the beggars, but they don't usually invite themselves in for the night.

[James Deuce]

Lots of shrubs and Ivy which they love to live in and the house is brick so it's really easy for them to climb. The males are nuts at the moment, so it must be mating season. We've been sleeping with the window open because of the heat.

They can't break skin, it's just a bit of a fright to reach down to scratch where they've been gnawing and encounter a mass of prickly spines. Then they have a go at your hand.

[Jackrat]

The old Maori called them (God of ugly things)
Reckon they got that right aye!!
I always found they were a good way to get a lazy bugger out of a sleeping bag on a hunting trip.
Wake up real fast they do,,, :killingme

[ching_ching]

Get a rabies shot quick azz first chance u get before you're fucked!! :banana:

[vifferman]

The males are nuts at the moment, so it must be mating season.
Ahhh! So there ya go - he wasn't gnawing on yer leg - he was humpin' it!:yeah:

[Biff]

Shit - live and learn. Down here in the darkest south I've been told that Wetas are rare and it's very uncommon for them to come into contact with humans, let alone decide to a' la carte on our bloody legs.

What pig ugly looking critters - in a 'beautiful nature' kinda way.

[Blakamin]

gimme snakes anyday... bloody freaky lookin things

I haven't actually seen one for 17 years tho!!! (touch wood)

[Ramius]

Ahhh! So there ya go - he wasn't gnawing on yer leg - he was humpin' it!:yeah:

Oh damn, you stole my steam. Was myself gonna plug at that one...oh well... :shake:

[Hitcher]

That's twice this week I've woken up with a Weta gnawing on my leg IN BED.
They're attracted to wood, you know. So I recommend taking your leg off before going to bed...

[jrandom]

Weta crawled into my shoe a few months back. Put my foot in, and it gave my toe an almighty munch. Nearly wet myself.

For some reason, though, I can't bring myself to squash the little buggers. They just have a sort of insectoid nobility to them.

[James Deuce]

For some reason, though, I can't bring myself to squash the little buggers. They just have a sort of insectoid nobility to them.

Yes! That's it!!

I'm trying to teach my kids not to be scared of them. I pick them up and let them crawl on my hand, and all the time my hind-brain is gibberring about alien invasions, and manning the laser cannons.

[Holy Roller]

Staying my mum's once I woke to something crawing over my face, yep a weta. The spare bed is in the garage and the critter must have crawed in under the door, gave one almighty start especially in the dark.

For those new to NZ or in others places here's a pix
http://awcmee.massey.ac.nz/nzinsects/crassicruris.jpg

[Sniper]

Dangerous critter they are

[bear]

Weta's give me the shits, reckon I'd be doing a recon of the room before going to bed if I was you Jim.

[Blackbird]

Our cats bring 'em home to play with. Nothing like an angry Weta in the lounge to upset the female members of the household.

I'm with jrandom though, just couldn't bring myself to harm them.

There are cave wetas at that tourist gold mine at the north end of Thames. They have a leg span of around 200mm, but don't actually look as scary because they aren't barbed. Mind you, if one dropped on me, I'd hate to think what my reaction would be :spudwhat:

[Motu]

You gotta love em for the scare value - I've been talking with emails to some Pom who wants to come here and live,he's been asking questions...his wife is shit scared of spiders,so I put him right on that one - then I mentioned weta's and he did a web search...I don't think he's coming now!

When I worked in Glen Eden I'd get a lot in my workshop - lying under a car hauling out a gearbox and I'd turn my head to find one right in front of my nose - the resulting ''get out of here!'' spasim could get interesting.One day after launching our dingy which was stored upside down in the bush,we were getting the oars into the rolocks when we found a weta - the bastard was so aggresive we jumped out! Then I flipped the dingy and got him out,but the bugger was walking on water still going for us! Must of looked intersting from the shore.

Now days I catch and release,they are important critters.

[Holy Roller]

There are cave wetas at that tourist gold mine at the north end of Thames. They have a leg span of around 200mm, but don't actually look as scary because they aren't barbed. Mind you, if one dropped on me, I'd hate to think what my reaction would be :spudwhat:

They are also in the Dundas Rd old mines at the base of Parahaki ( or has it had a name change yet) in Whangarei by the Town Basin

[vifferman]

Now days I catch and release,they are important critters.
Important and harmless critters, who get a very hard time from the rats and mice we've infested their home with.

That reminds me - I thought we had a mouse coming in the boys' bathroom at night. There was a strong smell in the room, and mouse-sized droppings. Turned out it was a weta prowling around. It climbed in the window via the tree ferns growing just outside, then hid inside the aluminium window frame.

My youngest son is really scared of bugs - won't open his windows for ventilation, even when it's very hot. Can't blame him - he's very allergic to insect bites and stings, and got stung by a wasp that was in his bed when he climbed in one night. :eek:
A couple ofweeks ago, he complained that there was "a very large cockroach" on the back of his curtain. Turned out to be a lost weta scratching around - he hadn't got a good look at it as he freaked out when he saw "the bug". I carefully collected the weta and deposited it outside.

[PuppetMaster]

We have 2 very large Weta's living in our hedge at home. They sing and dance at night, just to remind me to stay away.

I used to live in Avondale (Auck). Visits from montrous Avondale Spiders was a common occurence. They are freakin scary, the big ones anyway, big as your hand. :eek5: Look at the size of this bugger -

[jrandom]

he... got stung by a wasp that was in his bed when he climbed in one night. :eek:

Luxury.

*I* had a bee take refuge in my armpit on a bus, a few years back. It was presumably quite happy there, for a while, until I brought my arm down on top of it. Then it let rip.

Fortunately the bus was quite empty when I jumped up and did the "bee sting in the armpit" striptease. Poor wee thing was curled up dead in my armpit hair by the time I got to it. Dunno if that was due to having its stinger ripped out, or because I'd just been to the gym and was heading home for a shower.

The skin must be nice and soft there, because it managed to pull out again and whang me further down, where the stinger got stuck. Big lump at the first site, hardly any irritation at the second site where the stinger was. Must have blown its load first time round...

[vifferman]

One place you definitely don't want to get stung by a wasp is in the neck. Back when I was a professional SheepShagger, I got too near a wasp nest or summat, and one stung me repeatedly in the back of the neck. Phark!! Felt like I'd been whacked by a lump of 4x2!

Got stung on the nose by a bee while communting a couple of years ago. Had to scream to a halt, take my gloves off, then my sunglasses, then my helmet, before I could sort it out and get the bee out of my helmet. Luckily, either the impact with my snozz stunned it, or the part of my nose it stung (the tip, where the cartilaginous bit is) was too hard, so it squirted almost no venom in at all.

[MacD]

We get quite a few of the beggars, but they don't usually invite themselves in for the night.

Our cat thinks it's fun to bring them inside as a present to us! She deposited one in the middle of the lounge floor two nights ago. So kind of her... :eek5:

[Biff]

Do we get them in the south island? If not - wooohooooo. If so - where's my passport? - I'm outta here.

[Motu]

Hadn't been stung by a wasp for years,but a few months ago got hit by what I think was a wasp...just saw him fly away.It felt like an electric shock as he hit me atleast 3 times,it HURT!,felt like my finger had been cut off by a samurai sword...I'm trying to act cool,like I get stung every day y'know,but I think the clenched teeth and veins popping on my neck gave me away.Some cider vinigar spilt on the bite and it was like it never happened in 5 mins.

I think I was bitten by a spider in bed a few years ago - woke up feeling like I had been on the piss all night,a real sunday morning feel.Shrugged my shoulders and carried on with life,next day my shoulder started to hurt...oh,musta strained it doing the weedeating.A few days later I was scratching my shoulder and felt a scab,then I saw the bite marks.

[Paul in NZ]

Hadn't been stung by a wasp for years,but a few months ago got hit by what I think was a wasp...just saw him fly away.It felt like an electric shock as he hit me atleast 3 times,it HURT!,felt like my finger had been cut off by a samurai sword...I'm trying to act cool,like I get stung every day y'know,but I think the clenched teeth and veins popping on my neck gave me away.Some cider vinigar spilt on the bite and it was like it never happened in 5 mins.

I think I was bitten by a spider in bed a few years ago - woke up feeling like I had been on the piss all night,a real sunday morning feel.Shrugged my shoulders and carried on with life,next day my shoulder started to hurt...oh,musta strained it doing the weedeating.A few days later I was scratching my shoulder and felt a scab,then I saw the bite marks.

Sweet jesus

Grab the wooden stakes and the pitchforks and firey brands. Motu's been infected by a vampire...

[Paul in NZ]

Jims being humped by an aggressive MALE Weta?

Must be the new bike Jim.... The Weta got the wrong idea about you... Now if you had a LeMANS there would be no doubt about your sexuality.

sanity maybe....

Paul N

[Sniper]

BB, we do get them in the South Island. And the fuckers are bigger and meaner in the south than north. Anything that can be frozen solid and then thawed out and live to attack you again deserves respect in my book.

Same as anything that can bleed for a week and still live

[Blackbird]

..... for several reasons. The first is the level of wit displayed - absolutely excellent :niceone: The second is at a more psychological level. There's a fairly high level of repulsion for something which is harmless but there appears to be a corresponding protectiveness towards them. Now let's talk about Avondale spiders or any other harmless large arachnid. How come we don't exhibit the same degree of protectiveness and instead, reach for the flyspray or a handy brick??? Is it the reptilian part of our brain at work or did we pick it up from our parents?

All a bit deep for me - any psychologists on board???

Geoff

[Blakamin]

Now let's talk about Avondale spiders or any other harmless large arachnid.
try the Huntsman (http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_spiders/Sparassidae.htm) or the orb spider http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_images/spiders4.jpg

[Blackbird]

You've almost earned demerit points for showing them, Blakamin :shake:

Now where's that brick????

[Blakamin]

You've almost earned demerit points for showing them, Blakamin :shake:

Now where's that brick????
try having the fukkas crawling around your house!!!!
I used to work at a place where one of my main jobs was disappearing orb spiders to stop them eating the attractions (http://www.australianbutterflies.com/) (non-scary link)
I found the water blaster did the job the best....

btw.. the one in the photo could put its legs on your chin and hair and not touch the rest of your face

[Waylander]

try having the fuckas crawling around your house!!!!
I used to work at a place where one of my main jobs was disappearing orb spiders to stop them eating the attractions (http://www.australianbutterflies.com/) (non-scary link)
I found the water blaster did the job the best....

btw.. the one in the photo could put its legs on your chin and hair and not touch the rest of your face
Would like to thank you in advance for the nightmares I will be having tonight. So thank you very much you arsehole!:shake:

[Blakamin]

Would like to thank you in advance for the nightmares I will be having tonight. So thank you very much you arsehole!:shake:
the last one is a non scary link of the place I worked at!!! will make you have pretty dreams!!

[Waylander]

the last one is a non scary link of the place I worked at!!! will make you have pretty dreams!!
Was talking about the spider that could stand on my head a scratch my neck.:niceone: Thanks again......

[Jackrat]

I've always thought Avondale spiders are Ozy huntsman spiders.
Imported here during WWII.
Never actualy seen one here but I saw plenty in OZ.
Bloody freaky great things that can get as big as your hand.
Used to scare the crap out of me when I first got there but after a while I'd just ignore them.
The worse incident I had with a spider was after I picked up a Valiant that had been parked up for a while.I was cruising down the Hume when this Wolf spider walked up the door pilar beside my head.I parked it in the ditch an jumped out the passenger side before the car even stopped rolling.after I got home I chucked a bug bomb in there an nuked her real good.
My brother who was behind me thought it was a huge joke.
NOT BLOODY FUNNY MATE!!!!

[Blakamin]

I parked it in the ditch an jumped out the passenger side before the car even stopped rolling.after I got home I chucked a bug bomb in there an nuked her real good.
My brother who was behind me thought it was a huge joke.
NOT BLOODY FUNNY MATE!!!!
lol... had the same thing happen in a tipper I used to drive.... came out from on top of the sun visor, dropped on to my arm, ran up it to the steering wheel and across the dash... missed 3 gears, bailed outta the truck (going uphill) and sat on the side of the road until I was sure the shithead was gone somewhere else (about 20 minutes)
Apparently quite a few car accidents happen every year coz of huntsmans...

[Timber020]

I find wetas every day, my record was finding about 15 full size adults in one spot, man some of them were big! Always getting them climbing on me, biting me, hate it when they are inside my helmet-can feel them wandering around

[riffer]

We used to get heaps of wetas and spiders in Johnsonville - living with a gully at the back of the house they all used to check us out at night - fun stuff.

The worst experience with our native fauna would have to have been back in 1990. My ex's father had just moved to Pipiriki to run the Bridge to Nowhere Jetboats and had a bit of a shack type thing set up. Wasn't too bad but it had a gap between the roof and the walls.

As there were no amenities as such (he's a bit of a Barry Crump fan so you can imagine what this place was like) the possums used to like to get in through the space between the wall and roof and rummage around for food.

Anyway, it was a bit of a shitty cold winters night and my ex and I were sleeping on a mattress on the floor with a couple of sleeping bags on top of us.

I wak up in the middle of the night and she's going "No no you silly cat you have to sleep at the bottom of the bed" and she's pushing the "cat" away from her and on top of me, and the little bugger's sinking its claws into my back...

and then we realised my father in law didn't have a cat.

I swear I've never seen my ex move so fast .... :whistle:

[Blakamin]

hahahahahah :killingme :killingme :killingme :killingme

[Kickaha]

One place you definitely don't want to get stung by a wasp is in the neck. Back when I was a professional SheepShagger, I got too near a wasp nest or summat, and one stung me repeatedly in the back of the neck. Phark!! Felt like I'd been whacked by a lump of 4x2!

.

At approx 160kmh I start braking for the hairpin and a second later feel a sudden stabbing pain in my neck,thinking something had flicked up off the front wheel and nailed me I carried on.a lap later it still hurt like hell so I pulled into the pits and got someone to look at it,a minute later someone was extracting a bee from my neck

Being slightly allergic I made sure they knew what to do if I collapsed but all they were interested in was who got to race my Kart if I did

[Sniper]

:killingme: Thats amusing