[8] This seems to be a strategy for avoiding tuatara and the numerous lizards on the forest floor: M. isolata translocated to islands with fewer predators are more willing to emerge at night.

M. isolata is largely carnivorous, feeding on invertebrates in the leaf litter, but will also eat plant material in captivity.

Middle Island is small, just 13 ha (32 acres), and free of introduced mammals, although it has several species of predators: giant centipedes, tuatara, lizards, and morepork.

[8] M. isolata were growing increasingly scarce on Middle Island during the 1990s, with an estimated population of less than 200, so a breeding programme was set up at the DSIR's Mt Albert Research Centre.

[9] In 1993–94, and again in 1998, two female and one male wētā were captured and bred in captivity by DOC ranger Rob Chappell and other entomologists.

[8] Regular monitoring showed immature wētā, indicating breeding, and the species has continued to spread and increase on both islands.

[11] As well as the healthy populations on Moturehu and Red Mercury, there are now M. isolata on Ohinau (where they are also thriving),[12] Stanley, Korapuki, and Cuvier Islands, all cleared of mammalian predators, and the species seems safe from extinction.