New Zealand Wetas

Our blog friends, Kinderkids in New Hampshire, read a book called One Cold Wet Night by Joy Cowley. It was about Wetas and Kinderkids had never heard of them so sent us some questions about them. We looked in books in the library and found some answers to the questions.
If you have anymore interesting facts about Wetas leave them in a comment.




What do they do? Devin
Wetas are just large brown grasshopper like insects that cannot fly. There are over 100 different kinds of weta in New Zealand. There are 5 groups - tree weta, giant weta, ground weta, tusked weta and cave weta. All weta are animals of the night. They hide during the day, some climb under rock piles, some dig their own burrows in the soil, some find holes in tree trunks, others just camp under bark or amongst the leaves.

What do they eat? Evan and Jared and Chantelle
They have very strong jaws - good for chewing. They eat mostly fresh leaves but also small insects.

Can they crawl up vents? Joshua
yes

How do they move? Tyler
They have big back legs f0r jumping. Some species can jump as high as 1.5 metres.

Do they really have long antennae? Nicole and David
Yes, their antennae are very long. As their body is covered with a very strong shell (arm0ur) the antennae is the only way they can feel anything.

Can they climb trees? Devin
Yes they climb trees and shrubs.

What color are they? Mikayla
brown, black and orange.

Do they make any noise? Madeline
They make a noise like a fingernail running over the teeth of a comb. They do this by rubbing their back legs against their body.

How long are their legs? David
Weta's legs have 5-7 pairs of big spines on their legs. lengths are all different.

Have you seen any? Sarah
Yes we have seen them when gathering firewood and also on rocks.

How big can they get up to? Trevor
The giant wetas can weigh over 70 grams and be 25-65 mm long.

Do you like them?
Yes and No