I overheard a conversation (10 beers loud) between a natcon official and someone else. I was said that no tarantula, nor any frogs were ever legally imported into this country, which implies that all T's are illegal. Sounds like junk to me, but is there any reason for concern?

If they are in the country they are legal... it's the importation part that's illegal.

Thanks for posting this Sildar, this clarifies some things.

But as you put it, it seems to create more problems than it solves.

I guess we will just have to follow the rules and regulations if we want to obtain these species, even though the chances of that are slim to none at best.

Luckily for the keepers there are many fantastic T's that are available to us legally.

I would like to argue the point with the officials that if a captive species provides an eggsack in captivity and those slings are hatched in captivity, they should be available for purchase provided that proof can be supplied of in captivite mating, hatching, etc.

This eliminates the need for permits and should prevent the need to poach the local populations. We as keepers can be satisfied with owning a captive bred specimen of the species and the government is happy since the local natural populations are still protected.

That being said, law is law and there is no way around it until the officials change those laws.

I also thought the idea of being able to prove that it is captive bred should merit the legal sale of the specimens. Similar to having your breeding pair of yorkies registered and the off-spring as well.

The problem I see with this is that the cost of these registration and providing proof will be added to the price. meaning that again, it gets expensive.
You end up with the same situation where a puppy sets you back a couple K. which in my opinion is ridiculous, yes there is a market and people willing to pay that amount of money (I will pay R3K for 'n P metallica sling for example), but very few people will be able to "try it out" and perhaps fall in love with the little critters if all Ts were so expensive.

I imagine many people consider getting a bearded dragon, chameleon or some exotic fish / bird / whatever and reconsider when they see what they actually cost.

Ts are relatively cheap compared to other exotic pets, registration of specimens and legalizing the whole baboon thing will just run up the cost and add very little value to the hobbyist.

But I do understand the need to control the export of our animals and looking at many oversees forums, there is a huge market for it as well. But you end up with a situation where the "legal" people are penalized for following the correct route. Similar to software / media piracy. The legitimate DVDs / Games are littered with FBI warnings and crap that just annoy. So they are the first thing that is ripped out when they get pirated. The nuisance will be on us, the "legal" ones, not the ones exporting illegally.

That is my rant and 2c on the matter

I agree Synergy,

It will be expensive at first, no doubts.

As more and more keepers obtain the local captive bred T's it would bring the costs down over time slowly, or so I believe.

Much like the rarer species of legal T's. P metallica cost a fair amount because there aren't that many of them available. But sooner or later they will become as common as B albopilosum (if we look in a few years time) and costs will become reduced.

But I suppose we can sit and ramble on all day about this, the fact remains that the local species are illegal and nothing in legislation allows for us to keep them at present. It really sucks, I would love a few OBT's and Ceratogyrus sp.

As I stated in the "old" forum already, unfortunately you cannot put a stamp on a T' that says "captive bred" which makes any effort on tracking local T's futile and senseless. A registered dog can and will be marked for keeping lifelong track on it.

And don't even get me started on people thinking a few "k" to pay for a puppy is to much . If you actually breed and not just multiply dogs, a few "k" per puppy will only just cover the cost. There are way too many people out there who are short-sighted about the ongoing cost of maintaining pets, cutting corners everywhere possible. T's are surely among the cheapest to cater for properly