Bug Smuggling: Illegally Importing Insects as Pets

Exotic pets are nothing new. Big cats, potbelly pigs, and even pythons have long been the rage with pet owners. But in recent years, insects have been gaining in popularity too. A growing number are illegally smuggled into the United States, posing serious risks to the country agriculturally, economically, and ecologically, giving cause for concern. For years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s agriculture specialists have been at the forefront of protecting America from invasive species. Yet, when it comes to smuggled insects, it’s not enough. Pet owners and those involved in the pet trade need to take an active role in helping to tackle the problem.

The dangers of introducing foreign insects into the U.S. can be devastating. Although it wasn’t imported as a pet, the Asian citrus psyllid, a sap-sucking bug that carries a bacterial disease called “citrus greening,” making fruit hard, green, and inedible, destroyed Florida’s citrus crops. The economic damage has been passed along to consumers who now pay hefty prices for oranges, orange juice and other citrus products.

“There is a straight line from the insect’s introduction to causing harm to an industry,” said CBP Supervisory Agriculture Specialist Robert Ford, who oversees agriculture enforcement at the International Mail Facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. “The disease has cost the citrus industry billions of dollars.” 

Since 2005, when citrus greening was first detected in Florida, the disease has killed countless trees, reduced citrus production by 75%, and more than doubled production costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. “Orange juice is now being imported into the U.S.,” said Ford. “Never before have we relied so heavily on imported citrus. So now, every time we buy orange juice that bug is costing us money.”

Initially, the disease was only found in Florida, but over time, it spread to other citrus producing states including Louisiana, Texas and California. “We’re years from seeing the end of this,” said Ford. “The problem is how long it takes to recover. The only way to eliminate this disease is to cut down infected trees,” said Ford. “Then you can replant. On average, it takes anywhere from two to 10 years for a citrus tree to start producing, and that’s assuming the trees aren’t reinfected during that space of time.” 

Imported pets can also inadvertently be harmful. While not an insect, giant African snails, which were illegally imported into the U.S. as pets, are highly invasive and can carry parasitic diseases such as brain-eating worms that can infect humans. The giant snails also consume at least 500 different plant species, many of agricultural significance, and do a lot of property damage. “They are voracious eaters. They may not move the fastest, but they’ll eat anything that is in front of them, including stucco off of homes and paint on hand railings,” said Ford, noting that the snails can grow quite large, up to eight inches in length. “Giant African snails were brought into the U.S. as pets, but they were never legally imported.”

The earliest documented introduction of the giant African snail in the continental U.S. was in Florida, in 1966, when a child, returning from a trip, smuggled three giant African snails into Miami. The boy’s grandmother eventually released the snails into her garden and within seven years, there were more than 18,000 of them. 

Twice USDA assisted the state of Florida with costly eradication efforts. The first infestation was eradicated in 1975 in Miami-Dade County at a cost of $1 million. In 2011, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services detected a resurgence of the snails in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. This time it took 10 years to eradicate the giant snails, costing $23 million. Since June 2022, three new introductions of the giant African snail have been confirmed in Florida, and the ongoing battle to eradicate the snails persists.

CBP Deputy Chief Agriculture Specialist Fred Skolnick, right, checks a shipment targeted for smuggled insects with CBP Agriculture Specialists Desiree Hopkinson, far left, and Mohammad Nobi at a JFK Airport express courier facility. CBP photo by Michael Nicholas

Pets with pest potential

Insects illegally imported as pets can be just as damaging. “The problem with importing insects illicitly is that you don’t know what you’re bringing in and the effect it’s going to have,” said Ford. “There’s a reason we have regulations.” Aside from injuring American agriculture and natural resources, insect pet owners could unknowingly create ecological imbalances that cause harm. “Foreign insect species could outcompete native populations, disrupting U.S. ecosystems,” said Fred Skolnick, deputy chief agriculture specialist over JFK Airport’s international mail and express courier facilities. “Many insects imported as pets have the potential to become pests. We operate on the principle that insects that are not endemic to the United States could become economic pests.” Moreover, insects are also known vectors that spread disease to livestock, plants, and humans.

A toy drum seized by CBP at the Port of Louisville, in July 2023, concealed hundreds of queen ants in a shipment from Mexico. CBP photos by Michael Semeniuk

CBP agriculture specialists have been finding live insects smuggled in goods for more than a decade. Primarily they are found in letters and packages sent through international mail or express courier services such as DHL, FedEx and UPS. But they also are discovered in passenger baggage and air cargo. The insects are concealed in everything from artificial flowers, camera lenses stereo speakers, picture frames and toys to boxes of breakfast cereal, brownie mixes, jars of nuts and candy. “There’s a lot of subterfuge,” said Skolnick. “A lot of the smuggling techniques we see are identical to smuggling drugs.”

For example, in November 2024, CBP agriculture specialists at an express courier facility at JFK Airport intercepted a shipment containing 50 live orchid mantises hidden inside a wooden toddler toy. “The shipment was manifested as a toy, but allegedly it was sent from a lighting and electrical manufacturer in Hong Kong,” said Skolnick. “If you order one or two, the insects are for your own personal use, but when you order 50, it’s for commercial distribution.”

“The smugglers are smart people. They’re watching to see which shipments get through and where,” said Ford. “The moment it stops being profitable for them, they’ll change the pathway. Instead of sending the insects through the mail, they’ll send them through an express courier. They’re looking for ways to keep their businesses running.”

Such was the case for one well-known insect smuggler, an importer from New Jersey. “He was importing praying mantises,” said Ford. “The day after we issued him a fine for smuggling insects in the mail he was caught in cargo with two shipments. He changed his shipping pathway, but it didn’t stop him from smuggling.”

The same smuggler also routinely switched his methods of sending insects and their developmental stages of growth. “In May 2023, we intercepted a box shipped to him from Kenya with over 10,000 larvae hidden in fake flowers,” said Ford. “A month later, in June, he imported 2,500 mantis nymphs from Kenya that were concealed in an ornamental gourd. Nymphs are not quite fully matured. They still have one more transformation before they become mature adults.

A close-up view of silk moth pupae that were hidden inside a parcel seized by CBP agriculture specialists in July 2026 at the JFK International Mail Facility in New York. CBP photo by Michael Nicholas

Increased insect smuggling

Since 2018, CBP has seen a sharp increase in the illegal importations of live insects as pets. Interceptions have increased by an average of 75% per year. Seventy-five percent of the interceptions are found in international postal shipments and 25% in express courier packages. Most of the shipments are sent from the United Kingdom and Europe, which are key transit points, although the insects originate from all over the world. The varieties of bugs range from mantises to beetles to ants and cockroaches. While scorpions and spiders such as tarantulas are also sometimes encountered, these are arachnids, which are different from insects and typically bred in the U.S. Often insects are shipped in the egg, larva, and the final maturing pupa stages because it is cheaper, less fragile, and there is a lower risk of the critters escaping. 

CBP’s National Agriculture Cargo Targeting Unit, based in northern Virginia, began targeting shipments with smuggled insects in 2018, after the Port of Louisville, Kentucky, one of the world’s busiest express courier hubs, which handles two million packages a day, reached out for help. In April, a shipment declared as “plastic pots” arrived from Great Britain with dozens of live insects concealed inside. “The insects were in their early stages of development and packaged in plastic condiment containers, the kind you find in restaurants,” said Michael Semeniuk, the CBP agriculture specialist at the Port of Louisville who examined the shipment. “We were finding smuggled insects once or twice a week. I realized we didn’t have the time or staff to adequately research and target this on our own. We needed help.”

Semeniuk contacted Samuel Broom, a senior agriculture operations manager at CBP’s National Agriculture Cargo Targeting Unit. “He took the little information we had and in 48 hours Sam had found more than a dozen different shipments that were coming into the country within a two-week window,” said Semeniuk. The targeted shipments yielding positive results surged. “Within three months, our agriculture specialists were finding smuggled insects at ports across the country. The insects were hidden in international postal mail, express courier parcels and in cargo—a lot of different pathways.”

CBP created the National Agriculture Cargo Targeting Unit to look at agriculture threats from a national perspective. “We share information among the ports,” said Broom, an agriculture specialist who joined the unit when it was formed in 2015. “We keep an eye out for shipments coming into the country that look suspicious, but it’s a joint effort. The ports are targeting too. We rely on the field. They’re our hands and eyes. That’s where we get information, and then we take it a step forward nationally.”

The steady increase in smuggled insects is tied to the pandemic, said Broom. “There was an uptick of people wanting insects as pets during COVID because they were looking for hobbies to do at home. Insects are easy to order online and require minimal upkeep,” he said. Technology also spurred the fascination with insects. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have the kind of connection we do today where somebody in Indonesia, for example, can go in his backyard, dig up some insects, and sell them over the internet to someone in the U.S. looking for a novel pet.”

The cost of the insects varies, but can be pricey. Depending on the seller, Chinese mantis are $10-$20, orchid mantis are $50-$100, but a spiny flower mantis can run as high as $400. Rhinoceros beetles, which are among the largest beetles, growing up to seven inches in length, are in the $150 to $200 range. “Insects are not cheap, and when you factor in shipping costs, it’s not an inexpensive hobby,” said Ford. “Insects don’t have a very long lifespan either. Maybe a year or two.”

An interesting bunch

Why would anyone want an insect as a pet? “Exotic pet owners are an interesting bunch. They very much want to have the species that the next guy doesn’t have or they need one particular species to complete their collection and they’re very determined to get it,” said Ford. Visual appeal is another reason. “Some insects are gorgeous. Orchid mantises are absolutely beautiful,” said Skolnick. “People who normally find insects repulsive would not be repulsed by these.” Another reason for the rise in popularity is insects don’t take up much space. “You don’t need a big set-up. You can keep insects in a small apartment or a dorm room,” said Veronica Basnayake, a permit scientist with an expertise in plant pathology and entomology who works for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Insect pet owners also are fascinated by behavioral patterns. “Ants have very interesting characteristics,” said Basnayake. “Their behavioral patterns are really attractive to people.”

“There’s really nothing wrong with someone wanting to have an insect as a pet,” said Ford. “It’s choosing to bring that insect into the country in the right manner, and that means having a USDA-issued permit. We need to know when insects are coming here, not find out afterwards when a problem occurs,” said Ford. “Some insects are beautiful, but they don’t belong here and if they ever get out and don’t have any natural predators, they can breed out of control. That’s what happened with the giant African snail and numerous other invasive species.”  

But far too often people don’t get permits even though legally a permit is required to import insects or move them from state to state. “Most people who import insects as pets don’t want the complication. They don’t want to fill out a form or they don’t want the government to know what they are doing,” said Julie Hong-Sakowski, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s national policy manager for smuggling, interdiction, and trade compliance. “It’s not so much that it’s difficult to apply for a permit, but the permit comes with conditions. The permit outlines how you need to keep the insect. It needs to be in containment. It needs to be subject to inspection. It needs to meet certain requirements for us to ensure that it doesn’t escape into the environment.”

Sometimes people don’t know they need a permit. “People have no idea,” said Basnayake. “They see the insect online and purchase it. They don’t know that they need a permit to bring it into the country. The vendors should let them know, but most of the time they don’t, because then it’s too much work for customers and the vendors don’t want to lose the business.”

Interestingly enough, permits for insects don’t cost anything. “For these organisms that affect plants, there is no cost. It’s free of charge,” said Basnayake. However, she notes, “Not all permits are free. It’s just permits specific to insects and plants that are free.”

Close collaboration

CBP and USDA work closely. “CBP is helping to protect our agriculture and protect our nation,” said Basnayake. “When CBP does an inspection, they verify that regulations are met with our permitting unit. We interact and coordinate with each other to make sure the movement is done legally. If it’s illegal, then no, the insect is not coming in.”

For example, in August 2025, CBP agriculture specialists at the Port of Newark, New Jersey, intercepted a shipment of silk cloth from Belgium. “CBP contacted us directly after finding dead silk moths and pupae on the fabric. We have native silk moths in the U.S., so these imported moths could have overtaken our native species,” said Basnayake. “We told CBP that the importer did not have a permit to bring in silk moths and the shipment was denied entry.”

“It’s impossible to stop every smuggled insect shipment,” said Hong-Sakowski. “It’s just never going to happen 100% of the time. That’s just the nature of the beast,” she said. “We need pet owners to be responsible and that includes understanding the requirements to import an insect as a pet and maintain it safely.”

What every insect pet owner should know 

Here are some tips that every insect pet owner should know:

• Be aware that imported insects require a permit. It’s better to take the time to obtain a permit than have your insects seized and pay a fine.
• Make sure your pet is securely contained. Insects have the ability to chew their way out of containers. If your pet gets loose and escapes into the local environment, it could be catastrophic.
• Don’t pack a pest. Don’t just bring insects into the country even if it is your pet. Go through the required legal channels.
• It might not seem like it’s a big deal, but it is. Insects not native to the U.S. can be harmful agriculturally, ecologically and economically. There are regulations in place for a reason. If you care about nature, the environment and insects, then protect the country’s resources.
• Some insects have been studied a lot, but others haven’t been. A lot of insects aren’t well studied. To be a responsible pet owner, you need to understand what your pet is and what it is capable of doing. Some insects may be endangered. Others may not have any natural predators in their new environment and could pose a threat to native species and the ecosystem.
• Insects are vectors of disease whether they are pets or not. Be aware that your pet could spread disease.
• There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with being an insect pet owner. Part of being a responsible pet owner is properly relinquishing your pet when you can no longer take care of it. That may mean euthanizing your pet rather than releasing it into the local environment. It could also mean giving the insect to a local university for research or to a zoo. Insect pets should never be released into the local environment.
• For information regarding importing or interstate movement of insects, please check the APHIS website.
• To apply for a permit to be an insect pet owner, please complete an APHIS application. If you have any questions about whether the insect you want to import requires a permit, please email USDA permits.

Taking a closer look, CBP Agriculture Specialist Michael Semeniuk examines a smuggled wasp he discovered hidden in a shipment from Asia at the Port of Louisville. CBP photo by Doug Ellis