A bizarre video has emerged of a woman handling a huge pet cockroach in Melbourne, Australia.

The footage, shot last week, shows the giant burrowing cockroach called Matilda slowly walking on the woman's hand.

"These cockroaches are indigenous to Australia, and unlike the introduced winged species, these beauties are found in forested areas, in burrows sometimes metres underground," she wrote online.

This is my female Giant Burrowing cockroach, Matilda. (Macropanesthia rhinoceros) These cockroaches are indigenous to Australia, and unlike the introduced winged species, these beauties are found in forested areas, in burrows sometimes metres underground. They come up at night to eat old eucalyptus leaves and other dead forest vegetation, and play an import part in the environment.