[Penny]

They get these great ideas like sticking a weta on my desk to see how I react...

I was wondering why they were all hanging around my desk!

Egg heads.

[edshuck]

What is a weta?

[Penny]

0h yeah you guys wont know what weta are heres a couple of websites...I don't mind them if they are not within climing onto me distance. They stick when they climb on you, and you can't shake them off or anything, you have to let them crawl off. I had one in my bed once I didn't realise until I crawled in and it was crawling on me.

I would never kill one though, unless accidently, they are endnagered and special to NZ.

Theres some good pictures in the last link.

http://www.kcc.org.nz/animals/weta.asp
http://weta.boarsnest.net/
http://members.tripod.com/NZPhoto/animal/weta.htm

[Sparklechick]

Wetas are awful.

They bite too. My mum got bitten by a weta. I don't like to squish them but I'm not overly keen on confronting them. Oh, and they JUMP too.

[trogg]

Ed, imagine a grass hopper that (when full grown) has a body about 4 inches long (100mm in non imperial measurements) and has a set of jaws / pincers that are about 1/4 of an inch long (6mm).
And they bite.

The tree/ground weta is probably New Zealand's second most nasty NATIVE (not introduced like stoats and ferrets etc) creature after a single poisonous spider (related to the Australian 'Red Back').

Nasty nasty nasty vermin that (even thought they are a protected species) I have a lot of problems controlling tools around.... what ever I am using, be it a pair of hedge clippers, shovel or 1.5 tonne excavator the weta always seems to get in the way.