Thursday, November 16, 2006

Is it weta season?


The boy really doesn't like bugs. If there's one flying around the living room, he can't just ignore it like I would; he won't rest until he's squashed the life out of it, usually with a current edition of the Dominion Post.

And wetas really give him the willies. Before he left on his business trip, his rubbish-taking-out task came to an abrupt halt when he discovered one of those creepy crawly things lurking next to the bathroom waste bin. I had to go in and wrestle it out the window (because I don't like to kill bugs - unless they're flies or cockroaches) before he would finish the job.

I don't know how The Little Madam would react to a weta, although I almost found out the other day. But I swiftly removed it from in front of the kitchen door before she had a chance to find it. I suspect she'd just put it in her mouth.

And then, this morning, I was unloading the washing machine and put my hand on a newly-washed weta - a monster of a thing - and squealed like a boy with the willies.

Never before have we been so inundated with these buggers. I wonder what it's all about?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yuck. I hope they aren't making a bid for world domination or something..

Unknown said...

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~yuanyuan/pics/Nature/small/Golum.jpg

Strangely similar posture...

What a creepy thing though. Being a big butch male type, I would be fine, but I bet some girls over my way would scream the house down at the sight of one of them crawling up the bath, especially if I were home alone.

I mean if they were home alone, of course.

Violet said...

happyandblue2: not sure about the world, but they might try taking over NZ while we're distracted with all the sheep.

ms mac: but at least they aren't poisonous, like so many bugs in Australia...

gary james: I couldn't locate the image you referred to in your comment, but I did find a woolly violet though!

"I mean if they were home alone, of course." A Freudian slip, eh?

mad muthas said...

just how big are they? if they were the size of - say - a wasp, i could probably cope. but if they were like crayfish! brrrrrrr

Violet said...

mad muthas: the ones in my house have been about 3 inches long - not big enough to swallow you whole, but big enough to give you a fright when you encounter one in the washing machine or in your shoe.

Lumpyheadsmom said...

Ahhh!

I didn't know what a weta was before this (other than a public radio station in the DC area), and I kinda wish I still didn't know.

[Shudder]