TN laws relating to poisonous insects?

[RichardR]

Odd question I know but I caught a very large very beautifully marked black widow in my kitchen the other day, I was going to take her out into the woods and release her but she's kind of neat to watch so now I am curious about the legality of keeping it as a pet.

And don't worry, she cannot get out of her enclosure, even with the top off, so I am not concerned with her escaping, nor am I unfamiliar with handling black widows &/or brown recluse spiders, I've grown up around them so I am experienced in catching them, handling them & relocating them back outdoors when I see them in/around the house, haven't been bit yet *knock on wood*.

Anyway I didn't want to run afoul of any TN statutes, so if anyone knows, or could point me in the correct direction I'd appreciate it.

[xRUSTYx]

Not sure on TN statutes, but I'd love to see a picture :) 

[R_Bert]

educate us, please, on the benefits of proliferating black widows and brown recluses.

 

Wolf spiders, I may understand, but after seeing a few legs & fingers nearly rot off........

[RichardR]

*shrug* no real reason Bert, other than she is extremely interesting to watch, so far she's killed & eaten a yellow jacket hornet & a medium sized wolf spider that I fed to her.

I used to have a "pet" black widow of sorts a few years ago, she made her web on the passenger side mirror on my truck, with her lair being inside of the plastic housing, I used to sit in the cab of the truck & watch that one too, she was in there for the whole summer but unfortunately she came out from behind the mirror as I was tooling down the interstate @ 65mph and whoooooosh! I saw her go flying out of the corner of my eye LOL!

Needless to say everyone had to enter & exit the truck from the drivers side that summer but they are very cool insects.

[RichardR]

Not sure on TN statutes, but I'd love to see a picture :)

I have a cell-phone pic from when I first caught her, it shows how large she is but isn't very clear w/regards to her markings, anyway I am not sure how to upload it to here though.

[Jonnin]

widow does not cause the necropsy,  just the recluse. 

 

widow toxin is generally not fatal but you might wish you had died.   I think apart from death (again, rare) you can also get kidney failure.   Its no joke...   Lots of violent cramps at the very least.

 

One in captivity is not going to proliferate them.   The are darn common critters and nothing we do is likely to change their population a bit.  Probably every home here has a couple.

 

 

I am almost 100% sure there is a law against owning deadly lifeforms without permission......

Edited May 10, 2013 by Jonnin

[mikegideon]

Couple things... the only good Black Widow is a dead Black Widow. They have ruined a few peoples' lives. Second, (going into OhShoot mode for a second), they're not insects. :)

[Jonnin]

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_state.php?s=tn

 

• TENN. CODE ANN §70-4-401 - Prohibited acts.

 

(a ) It is unlawful for any person to possess,

 

(b ) No person shall possess Class I or Class II wildlife without having documentary evidence showing the name and address of the supplier of such wildlife and date of acquisition.

 

(1) Class I - This class includes all species inherently dangerous to humans.

 

more details on the link but it sounds like it is not legal.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Jonnin

[R_Bert]

widow does not cause the necropsy,  just the recluse. 

 

widow toxin is generally not fatal but you might wish you had died.   I think apart from death (again, rare) you can also get kidney failure.   Its no joke...   Lots of violent cramps at the very least.

 

One in captivity is not going to proliferate them.   The are darn common critters and nothing we do is likely to change their population a bit.  Probably every home here has a couple.

 

 

I am almost 100% sure there is a law against owning deadly lifeforms without permission......

 

I am thinking more of release (sans squish) on the "proliferation" thing

[TrickyNicky]

Submitted for your approval I give you Richards spider.

[R_Bert]

Submitted for your approval I give you Richards spider.

 

Bleach will clean that right up.

[RichardR]

widow does not cause the necropsy, just the recluse.

widow toxin is generally not fatal but you might wish you had died. I think apart from death (again, rare) you can also get kidney failure. Its no joke... Lots of violent cramps at the very least.

One in captivity is not going to proliferate them. The are darn common critters and nothing we do is likely to change their population a bit. Probably every home here has a couple.


I am almost 100% sure there is a law against owning deadly lifeforms without permission......

Yea they are literally everywhere, I usually see a lot more brown recluses than I do widows indoors though, I think it is because recluses are wandering hunter types while widows are web-tending types.

I wouldn't want to be bitten by either but if I didn't have a choice I think I'd much rather be bitten by a widow.

[TMF]

I'm pretty sure if my wife ever found a black widow in the home she'd burn the whole place down for good measure.

[R_Bert]

I am not sure that water bottle will go down the toliet,......

[RichardR]

http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_state.php?s=tn

• TENN. CODE ANN §70-4-401 - Prohibited acts.

(a ) It is unlawful for any person to possess,

(b ) No person shall possess Class I or Class II wildlife without having documentary evidence showing the name and address of the supplier of such wildlife and date of acquisition.

(1) Class I - This class includes all species inherently dangerous to humans.

more details on the link but it sounds like it is not legal.

Thanks Jonnin!

But I am not exactly sure how that applies to catching a bug that is already inside the "posessors" house & the "posessor" simply keeping it contained in a tall glass wine decanter ...

I'll have to keep researching it prior to making a decision whether or not to take her out to the woods to release her or to keep feeding her.

[RichardR]

Thanks again Nicky!

[RichardR]

Anyway you guys should see the size of some of the wolf spiders we get around here, seriously no exageration the leg span on them is a good 6" on average.

Thankfully my dog loves playing with them, he doesn't seem to get bitten or if he does he doesn't seem to mind it much, otherwise I have to hunt them down & toss them back outside, which sucks because they can move so fast.

[RichardR]

Hmmm I couldn't find any insects &/or arachnia listed on that site as being catagorized in the I, II, or III lists, I only saw mammals, reptiles & amphibians.

*shrug*

[tartanphantom]

I guess you can put me in the category of weird people who find spiders absolutely fascinating. I advocate "catch & release" for all species except Brown Recluse.

I put recluse spiders in the same category as cockroaches. I don't have a problem with Widows though. However, my favorites are the big, highly beneficial black/yellow garden spiders-- some of the most amazing structural engineers in nature's realm.

[xRUSTYx]

HOLY MOLY!!!! She's a big one!

 

I'm scared of spiders, and likely would have run the other way! LOLOL

[RichardR]

Phantom, agreed I am a big "wild life" enthousiast anyway, I've kept and raised all sorts of various animals, fish, reptiles, insects, etc over the years & I just enjoy watching them.

Rusty, meh I've never been squimish around critters, as a small child I lived in New Mexico & I used to catch the little scorpions that were everywhere there & would keep them in coffee cans, you just have to be careful not to get careless with them.

Spiders are generally one of those critters that most folks just seem to love to hate, not sure why but they don't bother me as much as say hornets, I freaking hate hornets, especially the ones that make their nests under the ground & then you run a mower over a big nest of them & the sumbitches come out in droves, mad as hell, stinging you all of the way back to the house & then you have to wait til dark, pour 10 gallons of gasoline on the sumbitches to kill the nest off ... yea not a big fan of hornets.

[peejman]

*shrug* no real reason Bert, other than she is extremely interesting to watch, so far she's killed & eaten a yellow jacket hornet & a medium sized wolf spider that I fed to her.

 

 

Now that I'd like to see...

 

 

I feel pretty sure a venomous spider would be considered Class I.  You might give TWRA a call. 

[RichardR]

Now that I'd like to see...


I feel pretty sure a venomous spider would be considered Class I. You might give TWRA a call.

I just read through 10 pages of the class I, II & III regulations & it doesn't appear that insects &/or arachnia (even highly venomous ones) are covered at all.

[mikegideon]

Phantom, agreed I am a big "wild life" enthousiast anyway, I've kept and raised all sorts of various animals, fish, reptiles, insects, etc over the years & I just enjoy watching them.

Rusty, meh I've never been squimish around critters, as a small child I lived in New Mexico & I used to catch the little scorpions that were everywhere there & would keep them in coffee cans, you just have to be careful not to get careless with them.

Spiders are generally one of those critters that most folks just seem to love to hate, not sure why but they don't bother me as much as say hornets, I freaking hate hornets, especially the ones that make their nests under the ground & then you run a mower over a big nest of them & the sumbitches come out in droves, mad as hell, stinging you all of the way back to the house & then you have to wait til dark, pour 10 gallons of gasoline on the sumbitches to kill the nest off ... yea not a big fan of hornets.

 

I was on a horse once when he stepped on a yellow jacket nest. Took a minute to get him stopped.

[Randall53]

I used to live in a split level and the windows to the den were on the front porch (we never used).  I noticed a big dark spot behind the curtains (we never opened) and had to investigate.  I pulled the curtain back and was looking eyeball level at a basketball sized hornets nest built right onto the center of the glass of the window.  Beat all I'd ever seen. It was a perfect half of a hornets nest, shape and all. You could actually sit and watch the buggers crawling into and out of the opening in the bottom.  You could also see them crawling all around in the tunnels of the nest.  I watched them for a week or so, then got nervous that someone might walk up on the front porch to the door that was only about 8 feet away from the nest.  I bought a couple of cans of hornet spray, waiting until about 11pm on a Friday night and sprayed the crap out of it with a complete can and went to bed.  Next day there was a pile of hornets about 6" deep. I sprayed it with a water hose until it fell to pieces and cleaned the window.  I would have thought I got them all, but every now an then for several days, we'd see a few circling the area where the nest was.  Never saw them again though.

 

Edited to say I took a bunch of pictures of the thing and I'll try to find some and post them.  Pretty interesting really....

Edited May 10, 2013 by Randall53