Weta

[Ramius]

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

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

[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

[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.
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. 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.

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...