CAVE WETAS

Life Cycle

The life cycle for a weta is not very long. Firstly the mother lays up to six eggs. They take about
1 month to hatch. After hatching the baby a Weta takes 18 months for the cave weta to
become an adult. Then they find a partner and they mate. The life cycle is about two years.

Physical Features

Weta have large heads and long antennae their legs and bodies are all different sizes. They have
strong jaws and sharp teeth. A hard skeleton covers the outside of their bodies. Most Weta
have ears on their front legs but the cave weta does not have any ears. Adult body length is
from 15-25mm long.

Facts

A female weta can lay up to 300 eggs in her life span. Wetas are from New Zealand and were
here when dinosaur were around, they are harmless to humans. They Live in large numbers and
have good legs for jumping.

Diet

Their food supply varies on their size. The basic meal for cave wetas is plants, fruit, leaves and
dead insects. Cave wetas like both fresh food and rotting food.

Habitat

Cave weta have a different habitat. Cave weta are night time insects, Wetas especially like dark,
warm, and damp nights. At night they come out to gather and eat food. They normally live in
dark damp cool places such as caves and tunnels, also live under bark or fallen logs in bushes.
Cave weta are found a short distance inside caves and tunnels. Weta only live is these homes at
daytime.

Sounds

Cave weta have no ears and make no sounds.

Family Tree

The weta belongs to the same family as crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids.Cave weta all live
around New Zealand. They are the many types of wetas. Wetas are becoming endangered.

Their Family name is: Rhaphidophoridae

Predators

Cave wetas don’t have many predators but when a predator comes near them the cave weta
will sometimes jump at a possible threat to scare predators away.