- Joined
- Jun 30, 2006
- Messages
- 87
my local herp and bug store does not carry mantids. she said they were not allowed to sell them anymore or somthing? arethey illegal? are htey illegal in just california? whats the deal with mantids?
Lol, underground in name only, apparentlyWade said:Sure, you can still get them, but it is in violation of USDA regulations. You can also get phasmids, assassin bugs and all sorts of thing officially not allowed by the USDA. The trade in exotic insects is not dead, but it's now almost completely underground.
Wade
Correct, I used to get CalZoo's inventory list every week and that was what was said on the list.Wade said:The USDA recently decided to use an old regulation concerning the use of mantids as a natural pest control in order to shut down the trad in exotic mantids in the pet trade. Although it makes no sense whatsoever, exotic mantids are, indeed, not allowed under USDA policy.
Native mantids are still OK, however, unless California has a regulation against them which Iwouldn't know about.
Wade
Yeah but the ban was on AFRICAN mantids.Scorp_Lver said:what the? i had no idea i found a huge one today, they are EVERYWHERE where i live, left and right if your in the country. i used to catch em by the dozens, really fun, and easy to care for. they are actually about 5"+ here
I stand corrected, what I was getting at though was that most of the imported species are indeed from Africa as those are the most appealing to most hobbistsWade said:Actually, the ban is on ALL non-native mantids. However, there are 20 or so mantids native to the US as well a half-dozen or so introduced species. Not sure if it's legal to sell the introduced species, but I doubt there's any problem keeping the ones you catch locally.
The USDA has said it doesn't know what it's going to do about captive bred mantids. My guess is that they won't announce anything and they will remain in a legal limbo for a long time.
Wade
Yes, I hope so. I get overly worked up whenever somebody else thinks that he or she knows what is best for me or my animals.8ball said:Who know's, I dont really think they'll crack down though :? nobody really care's about invert's except for keeper's like us.