# New federal law may make keeping scorpions and tarantulas impossible.



## BeakerTheMighty (Apr 14, 2009)

Hey all. Something pretty scary I just found out about. There is a new bill being put before congress in late april that is going to severely restrict the transportation, keeping, and breeding of non-native species in the u.s. My understanding of it is that under this bill we could no longer import any non-native species of scorps and tarantulas (not to mention most reptiles, fish, birds, and other inverts available in the hobby), could no longer captive breed any non native scorpion, or transport them between states. This will actually apply to any non-native animal that is not specified as an exception. Needless to say this could effectively kill the scorpion and tarantula keeping hobbies. I strongly encourage everyone to go read the bill and check it out for themselves. The very future of our hobby may be at stake. The bill is called H.R. 669 and you can find info on it at this site.
http://www.pijac.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=175


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## ftorres (Apr 14, 2009)

Hello,
Here is another link.

http://www.nohr669.com/


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## Gracilis (Apr 14, 2009)

thats a bunch of crap... damn them... hey Tabor what do ya say to this?


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## Kathy (Apr 14, 2009)

Hey now, I'm just starting to get interested in this whole scorpion stuff.  Geesh, I guess I won't be able to go into the bark scorpion business if this goes in effect.  :}


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## T.ass-mephisto (Apr 14, 2009)

kathy_in_arizon said:


> Hey now, I'm just starting to get interested in this whole scorpion stuff.  Geesh, I guess I won't be able to go into the bark scorpion business if this goes in effect.  :}


thats not correct kathy.
if this goes into effect the fact that you are living within the natural habitat of the bark scorpions means you would be sitting on a gold mine as importing non-native scorpions would become illegal demand for native scorpions would go up because people within the hobby would most likely want to continue the hobby with what they can get/sell/breed/trade with. so even if this goes into effect you as of now could still keep bark scorpions native to your area, however it would steal the chance for you to expand into the world of scorpions and tarantulas fully.


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## kupo969 (Apr 15, 2009)

I know this is mainly a scorpion/tarantula forum, but that applies to ALL ANIMALS. So if you keep any herps, such as: Reptiles, amphibians, mammals (not 100% sure on this one), etc., *that are not native.* Anything native will most likely pass. Go and petition it, and check on it *every day.*


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## Naga (Apr 15, 2009)

Technically, no animals other than dogs or cats would be allowed and available in the pet trade, aside from native species. That means that herp collectors will have the choice of the green anole, or a few sorts of gecko. It also means that every form of fish tank, aquarium and fish pond in the US would be void of life. I doubt they'll pass on such a standoff issue. Any animal owner in general will be effected by this, save for cats and dogs. For some reason, I can't see them voiding ALL US pet shops as businesses though... But then again, in your typical American household, you'll find cats, dogs and fish. They'll change it to allow fish


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## winter_in_tears (Apr 15, 2009)

oh man, that sucks! If the hobby will be only limited to native species, how many known *native* species of scorpion are in the USA?


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## What (Apr 15, 2009)

How about keeping this in one thread? 

Also, check page two for my posts... The bill is not as evil as people are trying to misdirect you to believe.

All the bill does is make the animals you keep currently that are non-native illegal to sell across state lines until they are placed on either the approved list or unapproved list. With the drive the exotic animal hobby has behind it, this process will probably be completed quickly as the majority of widespread herps pose almost no danger to native ecosystems.

All the animals you have at the time of the bill passing will *still be legal for you to keep*. The bill does not take away any of your animals.

Edit:
Winter, there are 100+ species, with 4(or 5 depending on who you believe) being bark scorpions and the majority of them being Vaejovids.


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## Elytra and Antenna (Apr 15, 2009)

What said:


> How about keeping this in one thread?
> The bill is not as evil as people are trying to misdirect you to believe.
> 
> All the bill does is make the animals you keep currently that are non-native illegal to sell across state lines until they are placed on either the approved list or unapproved list.


You apparently haven't read the bill. Introduced species are not considered native (all our feeders including crickets would be illegal). Anything not on the approved list is illegal and can result in a sentence of up to five years per animal (Lacey Act). There is no explanation of what paperwork you'd have to produce to prove that your animals were purchased prior to the law. Few hobbyists have adequate documentation.


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## saxman146 (Apr 15, 2009)

Well, we could just dump all of our scorps in the backyard and have them documented as native in the next ohhhhh......8 days or so. I don't know about you guys, buy I found my parabuthus villosus under a rock at my grandma's house. It would probably take me a while to find another though.


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## BeakerTheMighty (Apr 15, 2009)

What said:


> How about keeping this in one thread?
> 
> Also, check page two for my posts... The bill is not as evil as people are trying to misdirect you to believe.
> 
> ...


I hoped this could be in two threads as they are in different sections of the forum, and I want to bring peoples attention to it (I personally never saw the other thread and never would have as I don't visit that forum)

I gotta disagree with you on this one man. I work for a reptile shop and this is a serious threat to the hobby. The average person who only wants a scorpion or two shouldn't have a problem with it, but honestly, apathy is whats going to kill this. The idea of well, I can still keep my pet, it doesn't effect me. However, if you want to move out of state with a non-native species not on the approved list, you can't and most importantly, literally the vast majority of exotic pets in the trade come from outside this country. I would bet that under this law most reptile shops and invert shops would have a lot to fear. Furthermore, what about the transportation of animals under the law. A good portion of people come from areas where collecting scorpions is difficult or impossible. While you might still have your a pet and a number of people would probably still keep and breed some non native scorpions illegally, I hardly see why this is justified, and why we should just accept it because it won't effect us until we want another pet.


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## saxman146 (Apr 15, 2009)

It seems ludicrous to say 'If you already have these animals in your posession prior to April 23, 2009 it is legal for you to posess them after the bill is passed.' So apparently if you were born in the 1930s you can sell marijuana since you would not be under the same laws everyone else would be, right?The whole thing sound like BS. Maybe I interpret wrong.


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## What (Apr 15, 2009)

BeakerTheMighty said:


> I gotta disagree with you on this one man....pet.


That was my gut reaction as well, then I realized that the whole point of the bill was to protect other areas of our ecosystems from possible damage while imposing fines for releasing animals. And after reading through the bill it became quite apparent that what I had been hearing was misinformation and the bill is not at all as extreme as people are claiming.

To save myself some typing... go read my posts in the other thread, they cover most of the questions that people have...

@ Saxman: Think of this more like the Assault Weapon Ban, the guns people had when the bill passed were grandfathered because it is far less work to let the people who have the guns/animals already keep them but to restrict what else was coming in/being distributed... So basically damage control after what happened in the Everglades to ensure it does not happen elsewhere.


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## tabor (Apr 16, 2009)

while this is scary, i doubt it will pass, i doubt anyone will even vote on it. 1000's of bills are introduced to Congress (to be more specific, the house of represntatives) if they some how pass it, it still has to go through the senate.

now, if it wins in the House, that's when i would start getting concerned. 

i doubt they will put many resources into enforcing this... lets see... terrorism, border control, the economy... nope! bugs are way more important than all those! :wall:

Reactions: Agree 1


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## tabor (Apr 16, 2009)

while this is scary, i doubt it will pass, i doubt anyone will even vote on it. 1000's of bills are introduced to Congress (to be more specific, the house of representatives) if they some how pass it, it still has to go through the senate.

now, if it wins in the House, that's when i would start getting concerned. 

i doubt they will put many resources into enforcing this... lets see... terrorism, border control, the economy... nope! bugs are way more important than all those! :wall:


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## alexi (Apr 16, 2009)

haha well said.  We'll just go rogue.


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## Envyizm (Apr 16, 2009)

This bill is another example of our hard earned tax dollars at work :? . I agree with tab all the way. This bill isnt very likely to pass. If it does and if our tax dollars get wasted to enforce this I will be playing cards with all of you guys in jail for comensary :}.


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## tabor (Apr 16, 2009)

It will not pass on its own... no one has anything to gain from signing it besides MAYBE a Florida congressman. If it EVER passes, or any bill like it, it will be tacked on to a much larger bill, like say a tax return. This is reffered to as "pork". 

I can't remember what the main bill was, but lets just say it was Bush's bill for extra financing for the military in '06. Now, everyone is going to vote for this, and they did. But to "sweeten" the deal for other Senators and such, there were tons of minor bills attached to it, including one banning online gambling.

So, those who wouldnt vote for it (ie opposed to the war), voted for it anyways because republicans threw in pork like that so the Senator could go home and be like "See look what i did for you guys! reelect me!"

if a bill like this is ever passed it will be randomly attached to a much larger bill, and more than likely you wont even know about it until it's too late.

but like i said, even if it does pass they aren't going to allocate the funds to enforce it. Drugs, war, money... all three going on right now, no one cares about bugs.


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## Naga (Apr 16, 2009)

Yeah. That'd probably be it. There's little reason this would pass straight. Passing this straight would mean every man or woman without a cat or dog would have to catch their pets on their own. Heh


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## What (Apr 17, 2009)

tabor said:


> It will not pass on its own... no one has anything to gain from signing it besides MAYBE a Florida congressman. If it EVER passes, or any bill like it, it will be tacked on to a much larger bill, like say a tax return. This is reffered to as "pork".
> ...
> but like i said, even if it does pass they aren't going to allocate the funds to enforce it. Drugs, war, money... all three going on right now, no one cares about bugs.


States with any amount of agriculture will benefit from it, and the penalties for offenders will pay for the program, no need to allocate funds...


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## Jorpion (Apr 17, 2009)

We can start, "*The Invertebrate Underground Railway*"


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## What (Apr 17, 2009)

Yes... lets start trading in illegal invertebrates/herps so our hobby can have an even worse public image!  :wall: :wall: :wall:


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## winter_in_tears (Apr 17, 2009)

What said:


> Winter, there are 100+ species, with 4(or 5 depending on who you believe) being bark scorpions and the majority of them being Vaejovids.




That's not bad. Considering there are over 100 species here in USA that we can still pursue and try to obtain. I only have 2 species of scorp and now that I know approximately how many native species to collect still makes the hobby very interesting. Limited, but interesting.


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## signinsimple (Apr 17, 2009)

saxman146 said:


> I don't know about you guys, buy I found my parabuthus villosus under a rock at my grandma's house. It would probably take me a while to find another though.


All this arguing about whether a bill will get passed...I'm with Saxman.  All of my Scorpio Maurus, H. Longimanus, and P. cavimanus were all walkin around my building when I moved in.  They deserve a home just as much as any stray cat in the hood.  Who knew Brooklyn, NY has so many native scorpions?


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## ThomasH (Apr 17, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> That's not bad. Considering there are over 100 species here in USA that we can still pursue and try to obtain. I only have 2 species of scorp and now that I know approximately how many native species to collect still makes the hobby very interesting. Limited, but interesting.


You do realize that most vaejovids differ from each other in such intricate ways as pedipalp length, right? Not too interesting. In my opinion, once you've had a vaejovid, you've had them all.
TBH


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## ThomasH (Apr 17, 2009)

What said:


> States with any amount of agriculture will benefit from it, and the penalties for offenders will pay for the program, no need to allocate funds...


Would you like to back that up with a souce showing what species, how it came to be in the U.S and how it made a negative impact? Otherwise, just stop posting on these threads.
I highly doubt a government group could benefit enough to keep the program. It is already blowing through tax dollar money just to have it as a bill. Your accussing me of baseless assumptions compared to yourself is blatantly laughable. Do you really even own invertebrates?
TBH


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## What (Apr 17, 2009)

ThomasH said:


> Would you like to back that up with a souce showing what species, how it came to be in the U.S and how it made a negative impact?


How about you go and research these(just a few because really, you are wasting my time):
Xylosandrus crassiusculus, Agrilus planipennis, Tomicus piniperda, Tomicus piniperda, Sirex noctillio, Anoplophora glabripennis, any of these(pg. 5).

As for a few specific things(I doubt you will actually bother to look any of those up):
Homalodisca coagulata - carries Xylella fastidiosa - caused ~$40 million damage to grapes in california.
Channa/Parachanna - out competing native fish - brought in by the aquarium hobby/illegal shipments of live animals as food.
Bufo marinus - killing native mammals/out competing native species - introduced to attempt to control another invasive species(cane pest)
Xenopus laevis - consuming and out competing native species and have history of causing damage to plumbing systems

That is just a few that I knew off hand(first list was from google). There are many others if you spend the time looking instead of sitting around defending something because you feel your interests are more important than preserving native ecosystems.


> Your accussing me of baseless assumptions compared to yourself is blatantly laughable. Do you really even own invertebrates?
> TBH


Way to go with the personal attack. Yes, I keep invertebrates. Even if I didnt, it seems I still know more on the topic of invasives than you do...congrats on making yourself look like an ass. :clap:


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## winter_in_tears (Apr 17, 2009)

ThomasH said:


> You do realize that most vaejovids differ from each other in such intricate ways as pedipalp length, right? Not too interesting. In my opinion, once you've had a vaejovid, you've had them all.
> TBH


I didn't realize that. I thought they were all somewhat different.


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## What (Apr 17, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> I didn't realize that. I thought they were all somewhat different.


There is a pretty decent variation in US native scorpions... And not all Vajeovids look exactly the same, and nowhere near most of them have just minor differences. Feel free to take a gander at the variation in the Vaejovidae section: http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/gallery.php

(No, not all of those are US natives, but 3/4+ are.)


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## winter_in_tears (Apr 19, 2009)

^ thanks! I knew they were all different!


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## ThomasH (Apr 19, 2009)

What said:


> How about you go and research these(just a few because really, you are wasting my time):
> Xylosandrus crassiusculus, Agrilus planipennis, Tomicus piniperda, Tomicus piniperda, Sirex noctillio, Anoplophora glabripennis, any of these(pg. 5).
> 
> As for a few specific things(I doubt you will actually bother to look any of those up):
> ...


There is really no ample evidence that half of those came from the hobby. The thing that I find funny is that fish and game along with professional ecologists have actually screwed up ecosystems worse than my fellow evil hobbyists. For god sake people stop trying to defeat snakes with mongooses!
P.S. Calling a 14 year old an [/Edit/] doesn't make yourself look good either!
TBH


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## ThomasH (Apr 19, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> ^ thanks! I knew they were all different!


Well of course, that is why they are different species but the differences are much too subtle to hold many people's interests. Hence, you don't see more than 5 species of most genuses on even the largest and most diverse price lists.
TBH


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## What (Apr 19, 2009)

ThomasH said:


> There is really no ample evidence that half of those came from the hobby. The thing that I find funny is that fish and game along with professional ecologists have actually screwed up ecosystems worse than my fellow evil hobbyists. For god sake people stop trying to defeat snakes with mongooses!
> P.S. Calling a 14 year old an [/Edit/] doesn't make yourself look good either!
> TBH


I never claimed that most of the invasives were from the hobby(herp/invert/aquarium). The bill institutes penalties for shipping companies that are lax on their inspections as well, it goes after *any* vector of invasives with fines. Most likely an unintentional side effect of the bill, but a very good one at that.

Also, I never called you anything, just said that you were making yourself look like something. And dont play the age card unless you want me to play it right back at you. I remember how I was when I was 14 and I am glad I wasnt on AB then.

Re Vaejovids being sold: The likely reason for the small number of species being sold is because there is little demand for them at this point in time. There are *many* very interesting species that I have kept and collected myself(+10 species). Just because they arent on pricelists doesnt mean they are not interesting.


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## burmish101 (Apr 20, 2009)

This is referring to HR669 correct? Its not just bugs thats on the table, its all exotic wildlife.


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## What (Apr 20, 2009)

burmish101 said:


> This is referring to HR669 correct? Its not just bugs thats on the table, its all exotic wildlife.


Yes... I am fairly sure everyone that bothers reading the thread realizes that. The same goes for the other two threads on the subject.


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## BeakerTheMighty (Apr 21, 2009)

Sorry I haven't been  present for most of the thread thus far, brief computer trouble... *sighs*. Anyways,  I'll agree that most of the bill will  probably not pass but they eventually will probably pass a revised less restrictive version of the bill quietly. The scary part about this bill that people don't seem to realize is that they haven't published a list of what will be banned. I'd think it would be fairly obvious that this bills purpose has nothing to do with scorpions or tarantulas, or the vast majority  of animals that we are concerned may be banned. But at the same time, do you think the people pushing the bill really care that much or will even take into account the scorpion or invert keeping hobby. However, many animals will be banned if excluded from the approved list of animals which can be imported. Do you really think they are going to take into consideration thousands of species of scorpions and tarantulas to see which ones are considered a threat to local ecosystems and add all of them to the excluded list? I certainly doubt it and through this negligence it would make it illegal for us to bring any new species or breed non native ones. Granted, we could keep the animals we have but this would  halt expansion of the hobby and it would eventually lead to the reduction of available species including many staples of the hobby. This is probably to some degree irrelevant as they vote on the bill in I believe 2 or 3 days, and I honestly doubt it will pass in it's current form but I think we should be willing to stand up for our hobby, its not that hard to write a letter or two. With the enthusiasm a lot of us have for keeping scorpions I think that some consideration  should be given to the hobby as a whole. As a community we should look at the big picture, how laws and how we as scorpion keepers represent the hobby both by responsibly keeping the animals but by at least showing some concern with these sorts of issues, not just assuming they will resolve themselves


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## jme (Apr 21, 2009)

so if all your stuff become baned do guys mind if i drive down from canada and take all of your lovely scorps of your hands hehehehe

I bet it wont even be pased it would affect to wide of a margin :?


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## tabor (Apr 23, 2009)

today is the day correct?


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## tabor (Apr 23, 2009)

the hearing was today, i cant find the out come anywhere...


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## pitbulllady (Apr 23, 2009)

tabor said:


> the hearing was today, i cant find the out come anywhere...




Great news!  I just got an email from USARK...HR669 is effectively DEAD in committee!  There were TONS of mail delivered to Congressmen imploring them to stop this thing in its tracks.  The only way it can ever pass is to be completely re-written and re-filed, but for now, it's history. None of us can rest on our laurels, though, since the big driving force behind this bill, HSUS and rest of the AR people WILL be back with more bills.  You can count on that.  I'm sure that there will be additional posts from the USARK reps here to fill everyone in, but for now, we can breathe a bit easier.  For NOW.  You can bet that if they fail to make headway at the Federal level, though, HSUS will push for the same bill on a state level.

pitbulllady


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## tabor (Apr 23, 2009)

the sponsor of the bill was the representative from Guam, i just realized this  

Glad it didn't pass, didn't think it would.

cant wait to get my law degree


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## BeakerTheMighty (Apr 24, 2009)

Dodged that bullet. Now we get to wait for the next one :-/ .


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## BrianWI (Apr 25, 2009)

It is NOT dead. It will be back, count on it. It is going to be modified.

What many hobbies currently under attack don't realize is that this is an epidemic of governement out of control. In my state, we gave to register such things as even a single chicken! They say its for disease control, but many of these animal things are not truly based on that. What IS the part they hate is how we operate outside of tax laws. Animal auctions, online pets sales, swaps, etc., all contain sales where th govt is not collecting its "deserved" revenue. Heck, why do you think ballast water on the Great Lakes and other TRUE sources of exotic infestation are still going on?

The govt wants to control native species (read up on WI DNR and game animal programs), too. They want to take a way guns. They have now legislated away your ability to chose natural supplements and vitamins (look up cGMP), all the while hiding the real reasons for these attacks behind a cloud of "protection citizens/ consumers. 

The short is, we are under attack by our out-of-control governemt officials who are rampantly dissolving our rights and freedoms. Don't let it happen in your hobby or to anyone else! We need more common people in politics.


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## burmish101 (Apr 26, 2009)

Ouch Guam, they should send me all their Boiga irregularis, id be one happy man.


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## 2bears (Apr 26, 2009)

*New Law*

The new bill is now defeated......at least for this time thanks to the the reptile community:clap: 
We suspect they will try again at a later date, but for now we have won the battle, but must be prepared for a new one in the future.
Twobears


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## BrianWI (Apr 26, 2009)

I would watch using the words "defeated" etc. It was not, it will be back. People may misunderstand and forget. We get way to passive about these things. Its part of their plan, hit it hard and fast, maybe sneak it in, but really just trying to wear you down so when a milder version comes up, u just fold and give in. Thats the whole idea and if you think it was defeated, you are falling for it!


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## ArachnoDrew (Nov 21, 2017)

Does anyone have any recent info on new or current laws and restrictions


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## RTTB (Nov 22, 2017)

None that I am aware of.


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## atraxrobustus (Nov 22, 2017)

I have no idea WHAT bill this thread is talking about, but its NOT H.R. 669, which is a bill concerning restricting the first use of nuclear weapons.

Reactions: Funny 2


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## ArachnoDrew (Nov 23, 2017)

atraxrobustus said:


> I have no idea WHAT bill this thread is talking about, but its NOT H.R. 669, which is a bill concerning restricting the first use of nuclear weapons.


Lolololol wow


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## pannaking22 (Nov 24, 2017)

You'd have to check state by state because I don't think there are any new federal laws in the process for inverts. One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets, but that's all the new stuff I know of (other than the usual BS certain organizations are constantly throwing up that actually worked in Alabama).


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## atraxrobustus (Nov 24, 2017)

pannaking22 said:


> You'd have to check state by state because I don't think there are any new federal laws in the process for inverts. One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets, but that's all the new stuff I know of (other than the usual BS certain organizations are constantly throwing up that actually worked in Alabama).


They do have federal laws pertaining to the import of exotics, for example it is a felony under federal law to smuggle any wild-caught specimen of _Brachypelma _into the U.S. But this is aimed in terms of "endangered species" type legislation of sorts. The reason being is that the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. constitution prohibits the states from regulating import/export, because interstate commerce is defined as a strictly "federal" power.  

As for banning on the county level, that's dangerous territory- because what might fly in one state, won't fly in another. The federal courts in Alabama tend to be pro-government. However, this sort of thing probably wouldn't fly in the 9th circuit (California), which has struck down every "pit bull" ordinance known to man. The bad thing is that SCOTUS will invariably deny cert to hear a case on our issues, because we're not a significant enough affected group. For that reason, we need to build numbers.


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## pannaking22 (Nov 24, 2017)

atraxrobustus said:


> They do have federal laws pertaining to the import of exotics, for example it is a felony under federal law to smuggle any wild-caught specimen of _Brachypelma _into the U.S. But this is aimed in terms of "endangered species" type legislation of sorts. The reason being is that the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. constitution prohibits the states from regulating import/export, because interstate commerce is defined as a strictly "federal" power.
> 
> As for banning on the county level, that's dangerous territory- because what might fly in one state, won't fly in another. The federal courts in Alabama tend to be pro-government. However, this sort of thing probably wouldn't fly in the 9th circuit (California), which has struck down every "pit bull" ordinance known to man. The bad thing is that SCOTUS will invariably deny cert to hear a case on our issues, because we're not a significant enough affected group. For that reason, we need to build numbers.


Sorry, yeah, I wasn't very specific there. Other than the current import laws and cross-state transportation laws there wasn't anything new coming up.

I couldn't believe it worked in Alabama. They were trying to ban all snakes that get over three feet long, but enough people complained about it that there was a modification to the rule (or it might have been dropped altogether). I'm trying to track that info down now.


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## Chris LXXIX (Nov 24, 2017)

pannaking22 said:


> One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets


This is a thing I will never, never, never and freaking never understand. I mean, I can understand the *whole *Alabama state banning those (even if that would suck to say the least) but not that. 

Basically is city/town/municipality A of Alabama banning inverts/whatever, while city/town/municipality B of Alabama, 10 KM far, permits the keeping of those? Insanity

Reactions: Agree 1


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## pannaking22 (Nov 24, 2017)

Found it! Not in Alabama. Originated in Arlington county, VA. More here: https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/county-board-bans-wild-and-exotic-animals-as-pets/ and the modified law here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us...tes/25/2017/09/Chapter-2-2017-PROVISIONAL.pdf

Breakdown for invert lovers:

No scorps other than Pandinus
No Scolopendra
No Latrodectus/Loxosceles/Phoneutria/Sicarius/Dipluridae/Ctenizidae/OW Theraphosidae

There are some oddities in there though. You can keep theraphosids from North and South America, and you can keep B. smithi (I'm assuming they meant B. hamorii). Presumably this is because it's a CITES species, but heavily CB, so odds of getting a WC one are slim to none.

If you owned anything in those categories, you have to register them. Though there's a line that makes it sound like if they're CB they're ok?


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## Ratmosphere (Nov 24, 2017)

pannaking22 said:


> Found it! Not in Alabama. Originated in Arlington county, VA. More here: https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/county-board-bans-wild-and-exotic-animals-as-pets/ and the modified law here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us...tes/25/2017/09/Chapter-2-2017-PROVISIONAL.pdf
> 
> Breakdown for invert lovers:
> 
> ...


These laws pertain to every state? Pretty sure I'd go to jail if that's the case lol.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## RTTB (Nov 24, 2017)

I will never live in Alabama.


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## atraxrobustus (Nov 24, 2017)

Yep, the states typically regulate venomous animals capable of inflicting serious bodily harm or death, largely because they don't want these animals being used as weapons. That said, if some of these laws were seriously and fairly challenged,  they probably wouldn't survive judicial scrutiny. The real problem is getting enough people behind us that really care enough to make it an "issue" in the larger sense. Personally, I won't vote for people that support these kinds of laws to begin with.


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## Chris LXXIX (Nov 24, 2017)

pannaking22 said:


> Breakdown for invert lovers:
> 
> No scorps other than Pandinus
> No Scolopendra
> No OW Theraphosidae


Absurd: not even when Italy banned every arachnid was that crappy.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Chris LXXIX (Nov 24, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> These laws pertain to every state?


I don't think so. I've read Arlington County, VA (Virginia?) soon probably the best place to live, for a U.S venomous inverts enthusiast. Ain't joking at all, I mean... register? Yeah. When my nation banned every arachnid, in 2003, long time owners were asked to do that.

Obviously I was the _first _to show up... with the enclosures and everything, of course (lol).


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## pannaking22 (Nov 26, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> These laws pertain to every state? Pretty sure I'd go to jail if that's the case lol.


I think a lot of us would be spending some time in jail lol. No, it's just Arlington County, Virginia. Other states probably have their own maddening rules, but this is the first county I know of to set rules like this. The standard seems to be to ban people from keeping venomous snakes, but for whatever reason the county wanted more restrictions.


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