Hello to one and all,

I am coming South Africa in September for my third trip. I would like to know if there are any places/zoos/farms where there are a lot of tarantulas on display. I do have my own extensive collection but it's always nice to see others. I will mainly be in Cape Town.

On another note, could some one please clear this up for me. I have heard that you are not allowed to keep any of the baboon species in South Africa. Is this true? What are the laws governing this and for what reasons. If it is for conservation then surely you should be allowed captive bred species? We have no such laws here and are free to keep any species. It's a shame because one of the most interesting genus to watch, in my opinion, is Ceratogyrus.

Theraphosids are illegal in the Western Cape, so doubt you will see any big collections in the Cape Town area. The only place I could think of is possibly Butterfly World (Never been there, but heard they take in confiscated tarantulas).

Yes, the law states that you are not allowed to keep spiders from the Genera found in SA (Augacephalus, Ceratogyrus, Pterinochilus, etc).
This is to protect them from the dodgy European market, that gets people to collect them in SA and export them.
There are currently plans in the pipeline to get people to breed certain species in Gauteng (One of the provinces in SA) and distribute them to people in Gauteng.
I would think that you don't have laws like that from where you are (England I presume) because you don't have wild species there that would be in demand in the market (If any tarantulas for that matter)

MrFerretman wrote: I am coming South Africa in September for my third trip. I would like to know if there are any places/zoos/farms where there are a lot of tarantulas on display.

Welcome buddy. The best zoo to go to will be in Nelspruit. The owner is Hendrik (Hendrijs on the site) if he allows you to view his collection it will be better then any zoo you can go to :thumbsup:

You can also try Ceratogyrus who responded to your post as he also has the biggest collection of local species he is based in Johannesburg. Other than those two people i doubt any zoo will have anything good to display :tongue:

Enjoy your stay in South Africa

Thanks for both of your replies, very informative. It's such a shame, It's always other countries that ruin it for the locals. I know of a few people who regular collect from South American countries such as Guyana and the spiders regularly come up for sale as wild caught specimens. I have not really seen any African species for sale as 'wild caught' but I guess you can't trust every seller!! I always try to buy captive bred and have my own projects on the go at the moment. I currently have a pair of P. fasciata in co-hab and a pair of P. formosa in a breeding tank.

And yes I am from England, and no we have no tarantulas native to our country. Even escapees die because of the horrible cold winter. We do, however, have over 600 species of spider, some of which are quite interesting but grow to no real size.

Thanks again for clearing that up for me.

MrFerretman wrote: And yes I am from England, and no we have no tarantulas native to our country. Even escapees die because of the horrible cold winter. We do, however, have over 600 species of spider, some of which are quite interesting but grow to no real size.

Thanks again for clearing that up for me.

The same on this side. All of our "true" spiders are allowed to be kept without permits in South Africa.

Hi Richard

You are welcome to pop in and have a look see at my collection, you will be pleasantly supprised.
Butterfly World has a fair size display and well worth a visit.
I have send you a P.M
Mark