Questions about selling wild caught spiders.

[Loni]

I have been trying to find out what the laws are regarding collecting and selling spiders but have not had much luck. I am hoping that someone can give me a link to a site or post here about the laws for this. Thanks

 

[Aviara]

Regardless of laws, it's never a good idea to collect animals from your own backyad and sell them, and it is generally frowned upon by people in the hobby. Catching native species, breeding them and then selling the captive-bred offspring is a different story. However, selling species you collect in nature is exploiting and damaging the environment. How many do you plan to round up and sell? Are you aware of which species are common, and which are endangered? Furthermore, how will you replenish the spider population once you remove some from an area?

 

[Loni]

I guess I should have said that I don't plan on selling spiders that I collect.

 

[Aviara]

The best way to find out local or state laws, if they are not already readily available to you in print or online, is to call a reliable agency in your area. For instance, I live in Texas, so when I have a question about laws on local wildlife, I contact the Texas Parks & Wildlife Services office. Generally, it is very difficult if not impossible to get a proper answer without consulting directly with such an organization. I'm interested - why are you asking this question?

 

[Loni]

Thanks, I am interested because there is a small pet store near me that has some spiders that were collected from the area.

 

[cacoseraph]

CA has almost no state level laws about catching or selling terrestrial inverts, so you really just need to be concerned with more local laws. state level laws are almost all species specific and have to do with endangered animals (and are mostly beetle and butterfly species, iirc). all the state level animal laws don't apply because fish & wildlife kindly defined animal to exclude land living bugs. also, catch and sell whatever you can... unless you are using gas flooding or something like that you aren't going to ding any local species. if you have access to critters people are interested in and collect at all responsibly, more power to you. that being said, if you are flipping or digging or using other invasive catch techniques it is pretty important to restore habitat as close to cherry as you can.

think of it like this... the most devoted wild catcher can do hundreds or thousands of specimens of most spiders over their life time. one square mile of land, in range, getting developed will result in many times that number eventually dying. so really, responsible wild catching is more in tune with conservation than never doing anything

 

[pitbulllady]

CA has almost no state level laws about catching or selling terrestrial inverts, so you really just need to be concerned with more local laws. state level laws are almost all species specific and have to do with endangered animals (and are mostly beetle and butterfly species, iirc). all the state level animal laws don't apply because fish & wildlife kindly defined animal to exclude land living bugs. also, catch and sell whatever you can... unless you are using gas flooding or something like that you aren't going to ding any local species. if you have access to critters people are interested in and collect at all responsibly, more power to you. that being said, if you are flipping or digging or using other invasive catch techniques it is pretty important to restore habitat as close to cherry as you can.

think of it like this... the most devoted wild catcher can do hundreds or thousands of specimens of most spiders over their life time. one square mile of land, in range, getting developed will result in many times that number eventually dying. so really, responsible wild catching is more in tune with conservation than never doing anything

Thank you, excellent point. It reminds me of the laws against international trade in tarantulas of the genus Brachypelma, intended to protect those species and conserve them. However, those laws do NOT address the biggest threat to the T's, which is destruction of and loss of habitat. I've collected and sold K. hibernalis from the colonies on our property, and their environment was left very much as-is, since it's also MY environment. If someone wants a mature female, I either have to catch one, or that person is going to have to wait many years for a 'sling to reach maturity, and honestly, for a female, I have no idea how many years that would be. I just had a male mature out that was six years old, and he probably matured quicker than a wild one, and I've got females that old that still aren't much bigger than my thumbnail, compared to an adult that will cover the palm of my hand. If someone, for whatever reasons, wanted a Neoscona or Argiope aurantica, I've got plenty of those, and the environment would be able to sustain that collection with no impact at all. The demand for true spiders simply isn't that great that collecting of most species for the limited market is going to make a dent, and unless it's a burrowing species and you have to go digging it up, there is no damage to the environment.

pitbulllady