Tropical Nephila species.

[CustomNature]

I was wondering the legality of any tropical Nephila species. I am assuming there is no regulation as an arachnid is and arachnid. The Huntsman spiders I've been seeing pop up lately are in the same boat I'd imagine. Why don't we see them more often in the hobby?? Is it legal issues, or just that their web can reach up to 8ft in diameter? :?

 

[Pulk]

I was wondering the legality of any tropical Nephila species. I am assuming there is no regulation as an arachnid is and arachnid. The Huntsman spiders I've been seeing pop up lately are in the same boat I'd imagine. Why don't we see them more often in the hobby?? Is it legal issues, or just that their web can reach up to 8ft in diameter? :?

I was able to bring a few N. clavata in as pets from China with my luggage by just filling out a few forms. Dealers do get them sometimes... I know Todd Gearhart has/had a couple species. They're not illegal or CITES/protected or anything. My guess is that it's a combination of them being difficult to ship (big and delicate) and just not enough people appreciate how friggin' awesome Nephila sp. are.

Is that your picture? Is it the one from Tanzania?

 

[CustomNature]

That's a good point Pulk, I didn't think about how poorly they ship. There has to be a method that someone could come up with to make these things more available. They are such an awesome spider, the whole genus is. I wonder if you sort of "sandwiched" the spider between two peices of paper and stappled around the edges. Leaving the spiders leg spread out and not able to move. It seems like most injuries/fatalities I have seen come from the abdomen getting injuried from getting banged around in shipping. Anyway, the picture above isn't my spider. I just found it on google.

 

[McPede]

Here's a link to the photo HoldThePickle were referring to:
http://www.dannesdjur.com/bilder/nephila_sp_2.jpg

Best wishes
Fredrik