Meet the world's heaviest insect.

Isn't that the real little dude from Pinocchio?
Or the lazy big one from the old Merry Melodies ?
It is cute, especially the face ^___^

reply to post by tarifa37


I would s...t my pants if I woke up and saw that thing on me. I'm actually looking around me right now.

That thing is awesome, biggest grasshopper I've ever seen in my life

There is only one thing powerful enough to take out that bug:

People like to put it on their face for some reason.. Google it, you'll see.

A great trick we used to play as kids when we went camping for school trips, etc. was to put a piece of bark at the bottom of someone's sleeping bag. Watching or hearing the screams of, 'OH MY GOD, WETAAAAAAA!!', following by frantic scrambling and destruction of the tent were well worth the subsequent detentions.

reply to post by hypervalentiodine


but..but there are like a million things in Australia that are a million times more horrifying than weta's. (basing this off of your location of course, I know this weta is NZ). You guys have like one of the most poisonous of everything. You have a poisonous octopus for God's sake.

That thing is HUGE, if it came at me I would run for it!

Originally posted by free_spirit_earth
I see these everyday around my garden, they are called WETAS! harmless beautiful creatures, my mum would rather kill them whereas i always grab them and say they are a conscious being like us and deserve to live and experience the planet as well so i take them to a tree whenever they room into the house or backyard. Ah well time to hit the garden now, who knows i may have one climb up my leg or jump on my back while i'm there!! HAHAHA...

edit on 1/12/11 by free_spirit_earth because: (no reason given)

Nice, the way you see them as concious beings. You were the first one to mention that and I like it.

Originally posted by hmistry
I live in New Zealand, and in my home town of Newlands, we have an endemic Weta species aptly named "The Newlands Weta"

I find them in my garage/mancave at least once every fortnight, outside every 2nd day.
They still scare me a little when I'm not expecting it to be walking across the ground towards me, but if I see one in the tree's or bush around our property, I'll go and pick it up.

They are so totally harmless usually, unless it's a Female in "season".., they just look scary..

Anyway... One night a few years back, I thought I had some sellotape in the bed, between my legs.. proceeded to grab it, and put it in front of my eyes on the pillow (In the dark...)

I still didn't realise what it was until the morning, when I awoke...

There it was on the bed side stand.... staring at me... Little bastard !

Gotta love em !

I love the way you stay normal

reply to post by tarifa37

Here in NZ wetas are common and can live for a long time .... but never seen one that big .... there is a giant variety to which this one must belong ... normal ones are pretty big anyway. No, they don't fly but hu hu bugs do which are big too. My father one morning was putting on his boots only to scream and hop about in an undignified manner with a large weta nipping his toe. Once my mother had removed it and he'd calmed down he put on the other boot only for it all to happen again! Yes, wetas get about in pairs.

reply to post by tarifa37
I caught something that looked just like this bug in my garage yesterday, only it was about the size of my small finger around and 2" long. I let it go on my patio where the lizard patrol for flies and other bugs..sat drinking my morning coffee and watched a blue belly run up on it, look and look and think and change it's mind when it started crawling it's way; think these are tough bug in N Z and anywhere. And yes, I am one of those who believes all living creatures have souls or a spirit that is incarnating and moving up the evolutionary line from small bugs to eventually humans..I am sure some people I know were bugs and rodents not too many lives ago.

Interesting photo and story, thanks

Originally posted by calnorak
If I saw that thing and it came near me, it would become friends with my shovel - I hate bugs

Heh.., and if you got caught whacking it, you'd get some time in prison and a huge fine that your great, great grand children would be pying off into their old age...lol

Thge Weta is protected and on the enangered species list in NZ..

Not too different in status than your own Bald Eagle..

Cool, I like grasshoppers. I used to catch them as a kid and keep them as pets.

Damn Nature, You scary!

Even Bear Grylls would hesitate eating that. The scaling of species is always intriguing. Cha OP.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by hypervalentiodine

 

but..but there are like a million things in Australia that are a million times more horrifying than weta's. (basing this off of your location of course, I know this weta is NZ). You guys have like one of the most poisonous of everything. You have a poisonous octopus for God's sake.

edit on 2-12-2011 by GogoVicMorrow because: (no reason given)

I consider my childhood in NZ as training

The creepy-crawlies here are a lot worse than there, that's for sure, although they mostly don't bother me since I live in suburbia and not the bush. Still, in NZ I wouldn't think twice about running head first into forests and climbing trees. Here I have to bring a torch with me to the beach at night so I don't get killed by brown snakes on the prowl. At home I kind of let the spiders be. I figure if I leave them alone, they can happily kill bugs and we can both benefit from the experience.

Originally posted by Pokoia

Originally posted by free_spirit_earth
I see these everyday around my garden, they are called WETAS! harmless beautiful creatures, my mum would rather kill them whereas i always grab them and say they are a conscious being like us and deserve to live and experience the planet as well so i take them to a tree whenever they room into the house or backyard. Ah well time to hit the garden now, who knows i may have one climb up my leg or jump on my back while i'm there!! HAHAHA...

edit on 1/12/11 by free_spirit_earth because: (no reason given)

Nice, the way you see them as concious beings. You were the first one to mention that and I like it.

I like it too. If it's alive and breathing it serves a purpose here, even if we don't know what the purpose is. It probably has a family too All living creatures are beautiful and awesome, even insects.

I would keep it, and name it Poopsie-Shnookums.

It would be a good deterrent to any robbers, imagine the look on their face when they get a load of THAT sitting on the piano.