Weta!

[Photosoph]

Living in NZ, I've seen quite a few wetas. They eat rotting wood (I think), and look like mutant crickets.

Anyway, today CreatureArt (my twin sis), showed me one she'd found. He was in the bottom of a bucket, and she turned it upside down, trying to get it to fall onto her hand so she could pick it up. It stubbornly stuck to the bottom of the bucket, even though she was shaking it, so to give her a hand I whacked the end of the bucket where it was clinging on inside. Instead of falling onto her hand, however, it must've rolled over her palm because it ended up squatting our wooden deck (/veranda). I was trying to get it to stand on top of a large chicken feather I had so I could move it off the deck, but instead of staying on the feather it climbed right over it, and ended up on my hand.

I was fine with that, since I have a little bit of a soft spot for some insects (cicadas, katydids, grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies, slaters (go pillbugs!) etc), until I saw the jaws. Okay, they weren't massive pincers, but they were big enough to give me a very decent nip. Immediately alarmed, I started shaking my hand to get it off. It held on with its legs for dear life, but didn't even try to bite me (Nice thing. ). When he finally fell onto the deck, he lifted up his back legs until they were vertical to make himself look bigger. It looks really amusing when they do that.
After that CA put it back on an old woodpile.

This weta's body was about... 3 inches or 8cm, somewhere around there. There are much larger ones in other parts of the country.

"Lol, cute little wetas..." *weta crawls onto shoulder* "EEK! EEK! Get it off!"

Anyone else here like,semi-like, or hate bugs?

[Debitt]

O_O; I am severely phobic of bugs. Especially ones of the cricket/grasshopper/cicada variety.

[CreatureArt]

I liked that weta. Wetas are so awesome. I like praying mantids and cicadas, too. Spiders freak me out, though .@_@."

BTW it happily crawled into that woodpile and will probably die as a happy old, fat weta - unless it obstinately clings to a piece of wood and we don't notice it and we accidentaly put it on the fire in winter . Uhhh... should I be laughing. It probably won't happen. I check my wood pretty thoroughly.

[Jasdero]

I. hate. bugs.

Except ladybugs, butterflies, and a couple others....

DEATH TO SPIDERS AND COCKROACHES!!!!!

[Photosoph]

*Shudders* spiders... I used to like them, up until the time I was about eight. That was when my brother passed me a spider to hold, but instead of staying in my hand it ran up my arm like lightning and ended up on my shoulder.
That was when the first spasms of spider-fear coursed through my body... I don't mind jumping spiders, but those big black ones.... eurghewredregugh.... *shudders*

Yeah! Go cicadas!!!

[Ashley]

I hate bugs, and can't think of a single one I actually like. I even dislike pillbugs (rolly-pollys, doodlebugs, same thing) after one had its babies on me. O.o Ugh, gross. Spiders are the worst though!

And Shatterheart showed me a picture of a Weta--oh man, that would freak me out too. I thought Weta was just a word Peter Jackson made up

[Joshua Christopher]

I'll bet my GR DVDs that Peta protects the Wetas. T_T

[Debitt]

I summed up the courage to look up "weta" on Yahoo image search.

My reaction was not a very positive one. In fact, it was something along the lines of: "T___T WHAAAAAJGOARJGADGSJDGLASLDGEAEGJGS*clicks back button desperately* AESFAJGASSAVEME~!"

[Stephen]

My reaction? "Thats a big freaken bug"

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I hate spiders too. I've seen photos of wekas, they look pretty freaky. Praying mantises and stick insects are cool though!

[CreatureArt]

Wetas... freaky? The thought had not really occured to me. I really like wetas - the way they kick their back legs up into a defensive position and hop around a little.

The bugs that really freak me out are the huhu bugs we have here. I'm pretty sure they're related to the huhu grub which apparently tastes like peanut butter (I don't know: I've never tried one). They're pretty big when they fly and I've had a couple of episodes where they flew pretty close to my face (and I value my personal space) so I'm not to happy where they're concerned. I like the fact they're furry - hate it that they can fly so flippin' freakily. @_@. Mind you, I hate flies more.

Here's a huhu bug: http://www.troutbum.co.nz/insects/huhubug.html .

Wetas can be cute! :http://www.wwf.org.nz/earthsaver/earthsaver_images/weta.jpg

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Good grief! I meant wetas! What's up with me today? I love to learn about fauna and I know some of the bird types you have in NZ, so I must have had wekas on the brain! That and they just *happen* to only have one letter difference.

[Jasdero]

I even dislike pillbugs (rolly-pollys, doodlebugs, same thing) after one had its babies on me. O.o Ugh, gross.

...well that's.... pleasant.... >.>]Here's a huhu bug: http://www.troutbum.co.nz/insects/huhubug.html .[/QUOTE]
o_o it's a cockroach with hair

[glitch1501]

lol, when you said weta, i thought of the company that did lord of the rings special effects.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

reminds me of the cicadas we had last summer

[jazz]

lol, when you said weta, i thought of the company that did lord of the rings special effects.

that was my first thought too...

i don't mind bugs, so long as they keep away from my personal bubble. usually i try to spare the lives of the insects i find roaming my home, but if i find one in my room, or on my bed... *shudder*.... you get the idea.

[Esoteric]

lol, when you said weta, i thought of the company that did lord of the rings special effects.

bwhahaha, so did I!

[FadedOne]

Anyone else here like,semi-like, or hate bugs?

hehe...I'll admit, I'm kinda fond of some kinds. Not sure why, but yeah...they're amusing and usually im not afraid to pick up the more friendly types. grasshoppers are cool! and ladybugs(though they're like..ladybug plague sometimes) and various other types of creatures.

spiders however are the scourge of earth. not to mention the little black crickets. b/c in the grass little black crickets and little black spiders are very hard to tell apart. and now i'm just freaking myself out here. *dies*

but yeah...I have alot of bug memories. o.o LoL

[Jman]

Bugs are awe----AHHHH GET IT OFF ME!!! SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER!!!!!!!

[Debitt]

reminds me of the cicadas we had last summer

Episode 15 of Tactics left me cicada-phobic for life. *curls in a corner and assume the fetal position*

[Ingemar]

[quote="Kokoro Daisuke"]O_O]And yet, they are the only bugs that are kosher in the Old Testament. I'm not sure about cicadas, but I think anything in the order Orthoptera is OK.

[VioletEyedCat]

The bug I hate the most is the cockroach. Yeah, I know they can't hurt you or anything- it's just they're so disgusting! Not cool like some insects. I'm pretty cool with some bugs- butterflies, moths, flies, grasshoppers, rollie pollies, ants, those hard-shelled beetles you find dead in your pool. Speaking of pools, I have (yet another) freaky story to tell.
When I swam club, we would have morning practices in the summer. For some reason, in the summer, all the insects felt like it was their duty to dive into the pool and stay their until we had to skim them out. I didn't mind that so much, except for one thing: There was this one variety of water-bug, about three inches long with HUGE pinchers, that would swim around the lane lines, hiding, waiting to attack. Those things FREAKED ME OUT. They weren't just big, either. The crows (also very large) would attack them whenever we threw them out of the pool- but these things would Fight Back. A lot of the crows were missing a leg or an eye because they tried to eat one of those water-bugs. *Shudders Violently*

[Photosoph]

SHEESH! I would hate to meet one of those water bugs!!! ...so the chlorine in the pool didn't kill them? *shudders violently* Yeah, only problem with pools is when they're not skimmed, and you have a layer of dead/half-alive bugs on the top... which means when you break the surface they end up all over your face. X_X
Yes, huhu bugs freak me out too. I think I like wetas better. Oh, and I don't mind holding cicadas... except for these big bush cicadas we have which are about... hmm... 3-4 cm long, excluding the wings. If you hold them, sometimes they use their probiscus to bite you. ...Imagine a needle being stuck into your finger. It hasn't happened to me, but after watching CA and my brother flapping their hands around after being bitten, I've developed a healthy fear of the things.

I don't think I'd try to eat any of the Orthoptera species myself... I once watched a guy put cicadas in his mouth on TV, and I felt sorry for the poor things. Cicadas might just be my favourite type of bug.