# Wetas



## nitrotek (Oct 23, 2002)

Anyone Ever keep Wetas?


----------



## JacenBeers (Oct 28, 2002)

WHat is a Weta?


----------



## nitrotek (Oct 28, 2002)

its a kind of cricket from new zealand though I believe the are found in other crickets.If you do a search you should be able to find some pictures


----------



## Valael (Oct 28, 2002)

> _Originally posted by nitrotek _
> *its a kind of cricket from new zealand though I believe the are found in other crickets.If you do a search you should be able to find some pictures *




I think you mean found in other countries.....


----------



## Wade (Oct 29, 2002)

I think the are closely related to the Jerusalem's crickets of the western US.

Wade


----------



## Raveness (Nov 12, 2002)

In China crickets can cost in the thousand range as pets.. They use them to fight in championships and mean a lot to them LOL...I wonder what they'd think of how we use crickets..


----------



## Hamadryad (Dec 8, 2002)

*Wetas are enormous!!!*

 I just got done reading a National Geographic article on Wetas and those things are monsters...they have to be one of the largest insects in the world.They are at least as big as your hand!! unfortunately I doubt if anybody is keeping any of these privately as I was reading that they are protected in a couple of wildlife preserve areas in New Zealand.
                                                                Spider Hunter


----------



## dangerprone69 (Apr 4, 2005)

Wetas are the world's largest type of grasshopper/cricket. A gravid female weighed 71 grams and was 85mm in length, minus her ovipositor! They are so heavy that they can't jump, but they use the spines on their back legs as defense. Wetas are protected by New Zealand's government so it's probably impossible to get them in the pet trade. They used to inhabit most of New Zealand's North Island but were decimated by introduced predators such as cats and rats, and are now restricted to offshore islands and isolated populations.

I haven't found any info about their life expectancies, but I've read that it takes 10 months for the eggs to hatch. I've also read reports by field researchers observing maternal care in female Wetas!! Not bad for a giant cricket.


----------



## thedreadedone (Apr 4, 2005)

London Zoo has a colony as part of an endangered species breeding programme


----------



## Scythemantis (Apr 4, 2005)

When I saw this thread I thought "people can keep wetas!?!?" I knew it was too good to be true.

I'm surprised so many people aren't aware of them. You'd think any arthropod hobbyist would have heard of the world's largest. Yes, they are basically giant jerusalem crickets. Look at the jaws on this tree weta!

http://www.noah.co.nz/Gallery/images/reptiles_and_insects/Weta-6639-1.jpg



			
				Raveness said:
			
		

> In China crickets can cost in the thousand range as pets.. They use them to fight in championships and mean a lot to them LOL...I wonder what they'd think of how we use crickets..


O...kay? Why is that funny? Us westerners only generally use one or two common species of cricket as feeders. The crickets you're talking about in china aren't the same kind at all.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 4, 2005)

Wetas (_Deinacrida_, _Hemiandrus_, _Hemideina_ etc.) are neither true crickets nor grasshoppers. They are usually placed within the orthopteran family _Stenopelmatidae_, which also includes the Jerusalem crickets (_Stenopelmatus_), although wetas are sometimes placed in their own family, _Anostostomatidae_. Wetas are not officially the largest insects by mass as various large beetles, (_Goliathus_, _Megasoma_, _Titanus_) also compete for that title.

Alex S.


----------



## Randolph XX() (Apr 4, 2005)

Raveness said:
			
		

> In China crickets can cost in the thousand range as pets.. They use them to fight in championships and mean a lot to them LOL...I wonder what they'd think of how we use crickets..


In Taiwan, it is an official contest hold by the county government, and has already been official for over 20 yrs. A good pair would cost a lot, maybe more than our cars, but the prize of the Championship is a car as well.
Rules like no talking in the game, no touching crix, and not allowed to trick the crix by hands
http://www.swan.org.tw/nature/85_5.htm 
 plz use translation tool for traditional Chinese to the language ur use


----------



## Stardust (Apr 5, 2005)

did a search on Yahoo on Weta...lolx...at least now i noe wat it looks like


----------



## dangerprone69 (Apr 6, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> When I saw this thread I thought "people can keep wetas!?!?" I knew it was too good to be true.


It would be very cool to have one, but it would probably be damn near impossible and incredibly expensive. The only way is if there's a captive breeding program going on (obviously not the London Zoo, since they wouldn't sell their animals).


----------



## thedreadedone (Apr 6, 2005)

having thought about it, im pretty sure that i've seen them for sale in the UK, a few years ago - but probably a different species to those in the breeding programme


----------



## Scythemantis (Apr 6, 2005)

Yeah, if anyone has had them as pets it was probably very illegal.


----------



## thedreadedone (Apr 6, 2005)

im sure they were for sale on a website


----------



## Steven (Apr 6, 2005)

A Friend of mine just got these in last weekend:
guess he doesn't mind that i use his pictures   

_hemideina crasidens_


----------



## JonDaAzn (Apr 6, 2005)

niceee, any idea where he got it from?


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 6, 2005)

_Deinacrida_, the true giant wetas, are not offered in the legal pet trade, which, at the moment, is a good thing considering they are endangered.

Alex S.


----------



## Scorpiove (Apr 6, 2005)

Apparently they are blamed for killing many types of mammals.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/misc/weta.html


----------



## Steven (Apr 7, 2005)

Alex S. said:
			
		

> _Deinacrida_, the true giant wetas, are not offered in the legal pet trade, which, at the moment, is a good thing considering they are endangered.
> 
> Alex S.


fully agree !!!


the ones sometimes offered are the (correct me if i'm wrong) 
"Wellington Tree weta's",.... not the true Giants,... but intresting nevertheless


----------



## Scythemantis (Apr 7, 2005)

It seems there's two species bred in captivity for hobbyists, Hemideina thoracica and the H. crassidens...they look fairly large to me, how big DO they get?


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 9, 2005)

Yes, I believe _Hemideina crassidens_ is commonly known as the Wellington tree weta and _H. thoracica_ as the Auckland tree weta. They are not giants like _Deinacrida_, but awesome orthopterans nonetheless.

Alex S.


----------



## dangerprone69 (Apr 10, 2005)

Scorpiove said:
			
		

> Apparently they are blamed for killing many types of mammals.
> 
> http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/misc/weta.html


Interesting. I had read elsewhere that the introduction of non-native species such as cats and rats led to the rapid disappearance of wetas in the wild and their subsequent protection by the Kiwi government.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 10, 2005)

Almost that antire article is completely false and ignorant. Wetas are not venomous nor do they pose any threat to mammals of any size. They are herbivorous insects that will occasionally prey on other small insects. The endangerment of wetas is due to the introduction of predacious mammals to their native islands.

Alex S.


----------



## Scythemantis (Apr 10, 2005)

Alex S. said:
			
		

> Almost that antire article is completely false and ignorant. Wetas are not venomous nor do they pose any threat to mammals of any size. They are herbivorous insects that will occasionally prey on other small insects. The endangerment of wetas is due to the introduction of predacious mammals to their native islands.
> 
> Alex S.


The article is describing what others have believed in the past, it doesn't say they are venomous or dangerous.


----------



## Wade (Apr 11, 2005)

I'm pretty sure that article is humerously intended, or else just a hoax. The author notes that he's pretty sure they don't actually kill sheep and "probably couldn't take down anything bigger than a small rabbit". That's a funny bit, IMO, but not something to take seriously. 

Check out the simmilar site about our own weta relative, the Jerusalem cricket (aka "potato bug"). Really funny : www.potatobugs.com

Wade


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

I wasn’t taking the article seriously, simply stating that it was false and very misleading. 

Alex S.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

I wasn’t taking the article seriously, simply stating that it was false and very misleading. 

Alex S.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

I wasn’t taking the article seriously, simply stating that it was false and very misleading. 

Alex S.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

I wasn’t taking the article seriously, simply stating that it was false and very misleading. 

Alex S.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

I wasn’t taking the article seriously, simply stating that it was false and very misleading. 

Alex S.


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

Scythemantis said:
			
		

> The article is describing what others have believed in the past, it doesn't say they are venomous or dangerous.


Here is a quote from the article:

"The only real danger is presented by the females during the mating season, who are venomous over a period of a few months, with the venom causing partial paralysis of the affected limb which usually wears off in a few days."


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 11, 2005)

Sorry about all the extra posts. Im not sure why that happened. Please delete them. Thank you.


----------



## Tony (Apr 22, 2005)

Would this be a weta, or just something similar. 
Pic taken by me in Peru, that is Dr Sherberger's head btw. He sexes molts for the ATS
Tony


----------



## Alex S. (Apr 22, 2005)

Hi Tony,

I believe that is actually _Panoploscelis specularis_, commonly known as the spiny lobster katydid (_Orthoptera_: _Tettigoniidae_), which reaches great size in it’s own right and is native to the neotropics. Awesome katydid.

Alex S.


----------

