Found in by the cat!

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
flossiepip
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Found in by the cat!

Postby flossiepip » Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:05 pm

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The cat found this in her cat litter tray, which kind of put her off! It was very active, taking huge leaps. Managed to load it on to a stick, as some how never like handling them, take a few shots, waited till dark and put him outside. Not un common here. Northland Tusked Weta, male.
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David Riddell
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Re: Found in by the cat!

Postby David Riddell » Thu Aug 12, 2021 12:31 pm

Very nice. They seem to be very common on Motukawanui in the Cavallis - you can hear lots of this rather insipid weta rasping noise as you walk around at night, which I eventually tracked down to a hole in a manuka trunk. Managed to winkle one of these out unharmed. Think the holes in the manuka are probably made by a beetle larva of some kind. The only other one I ever saw was years ago, a dead one at Tapotupotu Bay, up by Cape Reinga.
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Found in by the cat!

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Tue Sep 07, 2021 11:41 am

Very cool. Good to know they are not too uncommon. One day I might see one.
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Steps
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Re: Found in by the cat!

Postby Steps » Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:27 am

Managed to load it on to a stick, as some how never like handling them,

Bit off subject, an incident many yrs ago came to mind.
Its L4 lockdown, teaming with rain, so bit of fill in time before smoking up the wifes home cured pastrami and the marinated chicken.

We where in the garden, many yrs/ decades ago (once upon a time.. ;) and a very large weta came out and crawling up the trunk of the tree.. Children there , never seen one that big before.. One of them wanted to poke with a stick.. A no. So with a very big breath of bair , and lot self control I put my finger out for him (or her) to climb on my hand... With lot of interest from the children looking at him, they getting closer...as in going to touch him.. He jumped, right up to the base of my neck and down inside my shirt collar..
OK this scared the be ... out of me..
Not forgetting the objective of the excersice.. not let our fears pass onto the children..
So with some of the most self control.. ever, I did not react.. on the outside.. carefully opened the collar of my shirt , undid a few buttons , and one of the children about (6yr old) put their finger our to lift the weta off my chest , the casually put it back on the tree.
That lad went on to become the 'weta monitor ' and protector of weta in the school gardens and trees...

An other was.
I dont mind spiders, 1 son (different the one above) had a big black pet spider under the steps, he was about 2yrs old. He fed it played with it, and if ran out of hands would put it in his mouth to hold safely..this went on for a couple yrs...
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Raewyn
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Re: Found in by the cat!

Postby Raewyn » Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:33 am

I love it!

Getting further off topic, but hopefully a worthy story that you have reminded me of...

A number of years ago I was at Wellington Zoo. They had a New Zealand display where the kids can have supervised interaction with various critters. Going through the zoo there was an English family that I saw several times - mother and two kids about 6-10ish. Anyway, at the encounter where they were allowed to handle a weta, the kids were terrified and wouldn't go near it. Yet, later, I saw them at the lion enclosure where there's an underground glass window to view the feeding. At this point, their mother was at the lookout above, but the kids were seated at the window to see the lions. One of the lions saw them through the glass and lunged at them. The glass is very thick and it was safe, so after the first fright, the kids thought this was great and went back to the glass to get the lion to do it again. So the two kids were too chicken to handle a weta, but happy to goad a lion into trying to attack them. Their mother had no idea.

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