They'll Sell Anything on the Black Market. ANYTHING.

The black market is usually something associated with buying and selling illegal things that can sell quickly, like drugs or weapons. Never would we have thought that there was a black market for spiders. Yes, you read that correctly - there is a black market for spiders specifically, and no we did not mean SPDR.

We are sure you have the same question we did - Why? Apparently, the market seems to be predominately for the purpose of keeping them as pets, at least according to the listings. Spiders don't have to be taken on a walk, do not require large enclosures, and eat, well, insects (usually flying insects) which can be found for free and relatively quickly especially during the summer.

Where are the spiders coming from? Largely, the spiders are getting picked up from the wild. This would be ok, except spiders are a finite resource and it is not currently known nor monitored what sort of impact that spider catching is having on the environment. In case you were not aware, spiders are predators, with most species primarily eating flying insects they will eat most things that have the misfortune of getting stuck in their webs. For larger spiders like the huntsman spider, that can be as large as a rat, bat, or even a pygmy opossum. Although, it has been observed that some species of tarantula spider (the big furry ones) will live symbiotically with small frogs: the spider eats larger prey and protects the frog while the frog consumes anything that is small enough to sneak past the spider and invade the spider's nest.

So, what would happen if a significant number of spiders were taken? Well, it depends. If spider keeping is similar to that of other pets considered exotic, most of them die within a year of being obtained which is generally ok considering that most species of spider live 1-2 years anyway. If a significant number of spiders escape and are able to thrive in their new environment, that is where the issues can start. An imbalance in predators means that the prey becomes less available which could have all sorts of downstream effects, especially if more than just the spiders depend on the prey species.

In addition, depending on its predation activity, the new spider could wipe out the native spider populations. Something else to be taken into consideration is potential handler injury. Like reptiles, there are venomous and non-venomous spiders, but unlike reptiles there are far less antivenom options. So, if someone were to mess around and get bitten by a Sydney funnel web spider in the United States, they may be out of luck. In other words, please do not buy random spiders you find online.