Hi all!
Ok so many of you will probably refer me to other threads but thats not what I'm looking for so please dont! Please wont everyone interested list their OPINIONS to the pros and cons of importing tarantulas from overseas! Please I don't want to start a fight!
Please also think this through properly!
Thanks!

Ok, so I think the question should be asked like this.

If we wore able to get imports into the country, what would be the pros and cons in doing so?


My pros would be

We get a bigger selection of Tarantulas into the hobby.
We get some new blood and some males for all the signal ladies that have molted out(after being mated) and that have eaten the males!
Also the price will drop in allot of spider that are for sale.

Cons
I can't think of any really?

cascade wrote: Ok, so I think the question should be asked like this.

If we wore able to get imports into the country, what would be the pros and cons in doing so?


Cons
I can't think of any really?

Lol.
More exotic tarantulas for people to release (or escape) into our country and cause kak with our local species.
Bigger demand for tarantulas to be exported from Europe leading to possible more wild caught tarantulas being removed.

The cons FAR out weigh the pro's.
Ask yourself, what would be a valid reason to give to Nature conservation to import exotic tarantulas? What would convince them?

This thread is going to get really interesting with narrow minded people I think.
Before anyone posts, check the first phrase in my signature.

Most other countries import, they don't really have a problem with anything... maybe people just have no trust in us South Africans

Importing will also bring down prices which is an amazing thing because one breeder wont be able to control the market anymore.
Bigger selection of tarantulas.
I know for a fact that people are still importing, and people that are against importing will still buy the Ts that have been imported. These are the guys saying that importing is terrible, one should never commit such a terrible act, at the same time still buying imported Ts.

If people only imported slings and captive bred spiders, I don't see the problem. Less and less tarantulas are being taken out of the wild because of the breeding abilities of our over seas friends

The pros are only pros, because of our selfish needs (and gains). I am one of them. I would love to pick P metallica, P subfusca, L violaceopes, L sp. borneo black etc. off the shelf.
But if you actually do take a step back and not only look at the bigger picture, but understand the snowball effect it would have in foreign and local eco-systems the cons, as my esteemmed colleague stated; FAR out weigh the pros. It needs a personal conscious effort to stay humble and make do with what we have. And we have a lot.

Tarantula keeping in SA will always be a bit hypocritical. But if imports were to stop totally, I would have no hassle with it. We have a great selection in SA already.

The problem with captive vs wild caught T's is that none of mine have ever come with tags stating which one they are.

Not sure if Brachypelma meant this as a "letter to Nat Con", but I would like to add that to this thread then.
What motivation would you give to Nature Conservation if you were to try and convince them to allow imports?