A few years ago, I saw a picture posted on a Dutch forum. It was a picture of a pair of tree wetas the person had in his collection. I was maybe 12 years old at the time, and truly fascinated by the animals I saw on that picture. The male's giant mandibles, the spiky legs and the beautiful striped abdomen. But I couldn't find anything about wetas in captivity. They are a very rare species in the hobby, so I thought I would never be able to get my hands on a species like that, and didn't really think too much of it.
Fast forward a few years, in November 2018, I came across a Polish website, exo-factory.pl, where they supposedly sold Hemideina thoracica, the Auckland tree weta. I was so extremely exited to see wetas for sale, that I just wanted to buy them immediately, which I pretty much did. That was a dumb decision. I never got any wetas from him. Exo-factory is a scammer. I want to get more in detail about my experience with exo-factory in another post. It's a pretty long and frustrating story.
But then, May 2019, I got an email from theSpiderShop.co.uk with their stocklist (if you make an account on their website, you're automatically signed up for their newsletter) and what did I see in their stock list? Hemideina crassidens, the Wellington tree weta. Of course, I ordered a pair as soon as I could, because I knew the spider shop is actually a good company, always heard good things about them. The next week, they were shipped, two days later, they arrived at my house. A beautiful pair of Wellington tree wetas, both alive and well. I was so extremely exited to have these amazing animals!
They aren't adult yet, which is actually quite nice because that means they won't suddenly pass away from old age. Wellington tree wetas reach an avarage size of around 5 cm as adults, right now they are about 3 cm, which is still bigger than the biggest cricket species we use as feeders. Right now, they're still quite similar in appearance, except for the female's small ovipositor, wich will grow as she matures. But the male will change even more as he matures, his head and mandibles will grow to a huge size wich will look very intimidating. I have them in my bedroom right now, because at this time of the year it always stays between 15 and 20 C, which is perfect for them, they don't do well if the temperature stays above 20C for prolonged periods at a time. For in the summer I want to get a mini air cooler to get it to the right temperature. The wetas are together in a small glass terrarium at the moment, but I want to separate them until they are adults, just to be sure they don't cannibalize or hurt each other. For the time being, they seem to do very well in my care. I hope it stays that way.
That was all I wanted to share, bye!
