Pet Weta - What is a Weta?

What is an exotic pet where some of the species can be as large as your hand, sings, and hides their ears near their knees? It’s a weta of course! One species of weta can be three times as big as a mouse, the giant wetas.

A weta image can be found at the end of the article.

The weta is from the family Anostostomatidae and is found primarily in New Zealand though can be found in other areas in the southern hemisphere. They are much like cricket, katydid, or grasshopper.

The weta is an ancient breed of insect, a kind old enough to have seen the dinosaurs. The weta is also known as a weta cricket.

The giant weta is among most massive insects on earth. Only the African goliath beetle competes in size and weight. Weta is flightless. They are nocturnal. Most weta is entirely passive though they can inflict injury biting with their mandibles. They can also leave a scratch with the spikes on their lower legs.

People keep weta crickets as pets. Though it is uncommon to find pet weta in the United States. They are more likely perceived as pets in China or even the United Kingdom.

The female weta has a tube on her rear end; it looks like a stinger but is, in fact, an ovipositor. It is a tube that the female uses to lay eggs.

The weta is an omnivore eating vegetation and other insects.

There are many different species of weta, Tree weta, Cave weta, and Giant weta, Ground weta, and Tusked weta.

Each species has different care requirements and needs. You should keep your weta in an environment as close to their natural habitat as possible.

Wetas can be kept in reptile housing or aquariums. The shelter should have plenty of ventilation. Make sure they are not held in the sunlight. Use a metallic mesh instead of a plastic mesh otherwise, the weta can chew through and escape. Make sure the lid is secure.

Excessive temperature or humidity can kill the weta. 15C or 59.0 F to 20C or 68.0 F is an optimum temperature. Below the minimum they become inactive; a higher heat is intolerable to many species of weta.

The optimum humidity levels for tree wetas is in the range of 60-70%. The giant weta and ground weta need lower humidity levels, around 40-50%. You can achieve the desired humidity levels by misting the enclosure every two to five days. Use a humidity gauge to accurately make the desired levels.

They are nocturnal and should have places to feel safe and hide during the day. Dry bark shelters are ideal places for the weta to hide.

Make sure you remove food before it spoils or any material that may turn moldy. Feed the weta fruit, vegetables, and small insects. Make sure their food is free from all chemicals.

Make sure the weta has fresh water. Use shallow containers an example would be jar lids.

Keep their enclosures clean. Remove old waste material. Fresh fecal pellets should be left in place. These new pellets are chemical markers that assist the weta in navigating their enclosure.

Provide your weta with chemical-free branches, twigs, and other climbing material.

The sounds of the weta are similar to the cricket and can be heard through the night. They flick their hind legs against their abdomen. They make other noises using their bellies. The sound is a saw-like rasping sound.

Enjoy your exotic pet weta, but please learn everything there is to know about your pet before you obtain one as a pet. No animals are throw away pets and should be treated with the utmost respect and the best of care.

Giant Weta

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Fat Pets – Obesity

Share how you keep your pet's active. What methods have you used to help your pet's lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight?

According to a news report, our pets are fat. So what else is new? We’re fat, our kids are overweight, and it just stands to reason our pets would suffer from obesity too. We are creating an obese society causing severe health and mental issues.

Sixteen to thirty percent of kids are obese, around thirty percent of adults, and around fifty percent of our pets? What is going on? I think examining the reason for obesity is the key though I suppose that is kind of a no-brainer.

Our physical activity levels directly associate with our obesity levels, if were inactive we tend to go for easy when it comes to food. If we're idle, we feel mentally defunct and find a cure in eating. We are inactive, and our pets are lethargic. Someone has to walk and or play with the pets. The obesity situation in pets isn’t just dogs or cats it is exotic pets as well.

Animals weren’t born to be in cages or stuck in a house or in a fenced yard for that matter. They searched or hunted for their food. They were active.

The less we want to move the more weight we gain. Our joints start hurting causing us to want to move even less. It is no different for our pets. They begin to experience pain too. We already know the obesity causes all kinds of health problems from diabetes to heart disease. But let’s stick with just obvious discomfort for now. The more sedentary we become, the less we want to more. We become depressed our mental facilities slow. When we grab the pets and kids and get moving the rush of adrenal and oxygen is terrific.

During my younger years, I’d turn up the stereo, not enough to hurt anyone’s ears, grab the kids and animals and we’d all dance to the music. Even the birds would tag along bobbing their heads as they brought up the rear. Everyone’s eyes would shine you could feel the euphoria in the air. It was catchy the more you danced, the more you wanted to. The happier you became, the more weight loss. This is just one example of the multitude of things you can do with your entire family, kids, adults, exotic pets and pets, to keep you moving without having to plan a ballgame. Though, a ballgame would be fun.

Does our diet affect our physical activity or is it the other way around. Do we grow so sluggish that we don’t want to take the time and energy to make healthy meals? Are we to lethargic to learn what a healthy meal is? We just grab what is quick and easy from a fast food hamburger full of fat, sugar, and salt or the fastest food we can find in the kitchen. When we get into this vicious circle, we grow lazy when it comes to our pets. Do we just put out a bowl of food so that the pet can free range whenever it wants to eat?

Take the time to learn what a healthy diet is for your exotic pet. Learn how much and how often your pet ought to eat. Put what you have learned into action. Then get active!

Our lack of physical activity directly relates to our pet’s obesity. Get up, grab the kids and pets, move around, and get reacquainted with that feeling of exhilaration. Weight loss becomes much easier.

Share how you keep your pet's active. What methods have you used to help your pet's lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight?

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Carnivorous Plants - Plants That Eat Animals

Carnivorous plants have become popular exotic pets found in many households. So popular they are being poached by the thousands. You'll see the fascinating plants in action in a YouTube video. Carnivorous plant photos. This is a interesting article you will enjoy reading. Check it out. Plants That Eat Animals - Carnivorous Plants

Rats or Ratties the Best Exotic Pets!

Here is a friend that will love you unconditionally. Perhaps the perfect friend for a lonely mature child, teenager or adult. Find out why they are exceptional exotic pets. I know you will be glad you did. Learn about rats or ratties here. Rats – Ratties Perhaps the Perfect Exotic Pets

Pet Opossum - Possum

The Opossum is a marsupial of the family Didelphidae. The name possum is also used. They are nocturnal. Many people have enjoyed possums as exotic pets. Before considering acquiring one as a pet learn all you can about their care.

Of course, there was Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum from Germany that was a great possum ambassador. Sadly, she passed last year. But she was cuter than a bug's ear! I will provide a link to Heidi, the cross-eyed opossum at the bottom of the article.

Other marsupials include the kangaroo, wallaby, and sugar glider. A marsupial nourishes their young in a pouch after birth, while placental mammals feed their unborn young in utero.

They are highly resistant to disease and are able to slow their heart rate and breathing so that it is barely detectable.

My very first introduction to a possum was when I was very young and lived on a ranch. My father had purchased several of the rectangular bales of hay that were held together with baling wire. We cut the three wires on top of the bundle of hay so that it fell apart in segments. Inside this bale of hay was an opossum. He appeared to be dead; his body had obviously been through a hay baler. When we went to take him out, he began to growl. I’d be an unhappy camper too. I have no idea how long he had survived in this bale of hay, but he was so severely mangled the only humane thing to do was to put him down. I had immense guilt and nightmares because of this incident.

The term playing possum was coined from their ability to go into a coma-like state. It is almost impossible to tell if the opossum is alive or not. This is why their predators will leave them alone, breaking off the attack, once the opossum plays possum. They also secrete an odor similar to death while in their calm state.

I have had many joyful experiences with opossums. They appear to be fearsome animals with their mouth full of fifty teeth and their fearsome growl. In reality, they are quite a gentle creature and do make good pets for the right person. If a person willing to learn all they can about this exotic pet marsupial and follow up using the information they have learned to properly care for the animal the opossum does make a good pet.

Possums are not a dog or cat and do not act like dogs or cats. If you want an animal that acts like a dog or cat, please get a dog or cat.

Opossum Facts

Opossums are omnivores, very opportunist eaters. They will eat most anything. However, as pets, you have the responsibility to make sure they have a nutritious diet. They should have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as a diet staple. Provide a healthy protein source. In the wild, they eat insects, snails, snakes, eggs and other animal proteins. They will also need plenty of clean, fresh, and filtered water.

Pet possums live for approximately ten years which is entirely different from their counterparts that live in the wild. The possum has many predators including the automobile. They rarely live beyond a few years.

Opossum Pictures

Opossums can carry parasites that affect horses and birds. So it isn’t a good idea to have a possum if you have parrots. Keep the possum away from horses.

The opossum is also an excellent climber; please keep this in mind when considering an opossum as a pet. They are also quite dexterous. They have what one would recognize as a thumb like a toe on their back feet that works very much like an opposable thumb. They also use their tail, using it to grasp, which, increases their nimbleness.

When we lived in the South, we had an opossum that would visit us nightly. We had a four-season porch where I had several animals and also stored most of the pet food. This possum was nimble enough to open the latch on the door. One evening we were leaving the house to go out for the evening. We walked through the porch area. An opossum was sitting on the porch looking very ill. Later we found out why. He had opened the ferret food container and had eaten most of the contents. He was so full he couldn’t move.

This same opossum would sit right outside our bedroom window. The possum climbed up some jasmine bushes and would just sit there watching us. At the time we had several raccoons and skunks maybe he just wanted to join in the fun.

While they are able to grasp and steady themselves with their tail, you will not see the little guy hang upside down. There is a reason why we never witnessed this feat because they don’t hang upside down.

The opossum gives birth to several very tiny babies. The babies immediately crawl up into the pouch where they will stay for up to a few months. The mother will continue to care for her young carrying them on her back for an additional six weeks or so.

It is interesting to note a baby opossum or baby possum has no given name such as a kit, pup, joey, nothing. If anyone has heard a term for a baby, please let me know!

Before obtaining this exotic pet, please make sure to check to see if owning an opossum is legal. State laws can differ from what is allowed in a county or city. If an opossum is legal make sure you have the required permit. While owning a wild animal may be legal where you live it may be illegal to transport a wild animal. Check all aspects of the law.

A sweet pet like Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum, is more the demeanor of a possum than a ferocious, growling, hissing wild animal. Enjoy your pet possum!

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Clone Your Own Exotic Pets

Clone your own, exotic pets – it is indeed possible. However, what reasons would we have to clone an exotic pet? I can think of a few good ideas.

Grief is a strong emotion. I can imagine that someone who has lost a much-loved pet would consider having one cloned. Another reason would be the number of exotic animals that are near extinction or animals that are extinct...gone forever. The third reason would be to save human lives.

I am sure many people have powerful feelings about cloning. It is a moral dilemma. What are your thoughts? For the time being, I want to discuss cloning.

Cloning is producing an identical life form using nonsexual means. Many people have cloned without realizing it. I personally am not above taking a clipping of a plant, preparing the cutting, and planting it, and waiting until it takes root. Once the root is formed, you have a plant. This example is a simple form of cloning (asexually propagating plants). Cloning can also be seen naturally – identical twins. Identical twins are genetically different from their folks, but they are clones of each other.

Scientist‘s have been conducting experiments in cloning for many years. It didn’t become a household topic until the sheep Dolly was born in 1997 becoming the first cloned mammal.

The first clone of an endangered species died only two days after birth. It was a baby guar named Noah. A Pyrenean ibex declared extinct in the year 2000 was cloned from frozen tissue. The ibex was another cloned animal that died shortly after birth.

An endangered species the African wildcat was successfully cloned. The cloning was a success. The two cloned African wildcats have bred and have had two litters of kittens.

Humanity has done a disastrous job of saving the tiger. The tiger is very close to extinction. With frozen DNA, the species may survive after humankind finally comes of age.

The domestic ferret was successfully cloned in 2004, the result Libby and Lilly. Successfully cloning the ferret could be significant in two ways. Saving an endangered species the Black-Footed Ferret, but also to study respiratory problems, humans and ferrets share a similarity in respiratory disease. Creating genetically defined ferrets with this inheritance of respiratory infections can perhaps save human lives.

Endangered Species Black-Footed Ferret (captive) Creator Hagerty, Ryan

Cloning is truly interesting. But should an animal be produced, allowed to suffer just to save human lives? Should an animal be cloned to protect an endangered or extinct species of animals? Should you be able to clone your beloved dead pet because you miss him or her?

This subject is open for discussion, your thoughts, cloning morally right or wrong, and why?

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Animals that Save Lives

Last week and again this week we honor animals. Last week we discussed animals that served people or specifically exotic animals, which made life easier for people with disabilities. This week we will acknowledge the many animals that have saved lives. Throughout human history, there have been so many animals that have served and rescued I doubt if there is a number to describe the many.

One of my favorite exotic pet stories is about Lulu, the pot-bellied pig that saved a victim of a heart attack, Joann Altsman. Lulu belonged to Altman's daughter. Joann crumpled to the ground stricken by a heart attack. Lulu was determined to find help for Altsman, running from the house, out to the street and then tried to block traffic. After numerous attempts and several trips back to the house to check on Altsman, the pig finally found someone that understood if an animal is trying to get your attention there is always a good reason for it; even if you don’t fully understand the logic. The passerby followed the pot-bellied pig inside the house. The little pot-bellied pig not only realized the situation, but the animal was also able to reason, to think through what needed to be done. Altsman was taken to the hospital. Her life was saved by a pot-bellied pig.

Willie, the parrot, saved the life of a two-year-old baby. The two-year-old child was named Hannah. She was under the care of a babysitter. While the babysitter was in the bathroom, Hannah began to choke. The little parrot screeched “mama baby” repeatedly. When the babysitter saw the child, she had already turned blue. If the bird hadn’t alerted the babysitter the baby would have died. Willie is another example of an animal quite capable of reasoning, of thinking a situation through; thus saving a life.

Another story that intrigues me is a Silverback gorilla named Jambo. A little boy fractured his skull after falling into a zoo’s gorilla environment. Jambo kept the other gorilla’s away and also patted the boy’s back giving the boy reassurance and comfort. During the rescue, Jambo kept the other gorilla’s at bay allowing the rescuers access to the boy.

There are numerous accounts of dogs and cats saving lives. There are also reports of a goat, a Watusi calf, a dolphin, a horse, and an elephant that has saved lives. An elephant rushed eight-year-old named Amber Mason to higher ground then stood next to the child to take the impact of a massive wave during the Thai tsunami in 2004.

I personally can relate a story of a black wolf that found a stranded traveler and laid on top of the man to keep him from freezing. His car stalled, he should never have left his car to take off on foot during a white-out condition blizzard, but he did. Thanks to this wild wolf he lived to talk about the incident. When the man was found the wolf bolted. At first, the rescuers thought the wolf was after the man until they realized by the noted evidence and his warmed middle body, the wolf, in fact, was keeping him alive. The man could hazily remember the smell, the golden eyes looking at him, vaguely aware of the snow but yet feeling the warmth. A wolf saved a life.

I am intrigued by the stories of wolves raising lost infants and children. I wonder how much truth is in these stories.

Animals are intelligent and are capable of reason, animals should be respected, never exploited, abused, or tortured. These exotic animals are capable of using logic and using their common sense to save lives. In many respects humans consider animals to be less important or less intelligent. I beg to differ. Often animals are more humane than the human species.

What other ways, other than what we discussed in the articles, do animals serve and save? There are many different ways. What have you personally experienced?

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