When I lived in New Zealand I had a weta as "pet" for some weeks. Based on the books I read, I guessed that it was a female Auckland tree weta (Hemideina thoracica). This weta is nocturnal, meaning it is awake during the night.
Read the rest of Weta from New Zealand.
Fedishi - With crickets the ovipositor shows only when they are (almost?) adult. So I guess that you have seen juvenile weta.
Ok, I was wrong. They are famales after all. Once I borrowed my dads digital camera I took a photo from the entrance of the hole one of them was hiding in and it did have an ovipostior after all. http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c176/fedishi/Bobschicksmall.jpg I could get the camera closer to the hole than I could go because there was a branch in my way. So they must all be this guys females http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c176/fedishi/Bobsmall.jpg Isn't he lucky :D
I hope you can help me. My name is Dustin Plotts and I am 14 years old. I go to Calvert High School her in the United States and I am doing research on the Tuatara. I have to create a Biome and I need to buy some plastic animals. I have found some plastic Tuatara but I can't find any plastic weta shapes. Would you have any idea where I could buy them from in your area?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Dusty
Hi Dusty,
I have no idea if you can buy weta toys in the United States. Maybe the closest you can get is buying plastic crickets and paint them to look a bit more like weta.
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Yep, that definately looks like a female. She's so cute! I don't understand how people think they're ugly either.
I just found 12 tree wetas in my back yard today, hiding in little holes in the fence. None of them looked like they had ovipositors though, which confused me. I don't know why so many males would be hanging around so close together.
It's almost midnight here, and I just decided to go take a look outside and see if they'd moved since I read they're nocturnal. Only one of them was still on the fence, and it had come out of it's hole. Then I heard a sound in the roses above me which I think had to be the other wetas doing that thing they do with their hind legs. So that was nice. And then I heard a Morepork calling, which was lovely :D ... and then I nearly walked into a spider web that had a very large spider right in the middle of it, so I figured it was about time I went back inside again. hehe.