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Exotic Animal Laws by State

Perhaps you've always wanted to own a pet monkey, or you're wondering whether it's legal for your neighbor to have that cougar in his backyard. Every state has exotic animal laws which allow, restrict, or prohibit the ownership of certain types of animals. The following article describes some of these state laws in more detail.

Prohibited and Restricted Exotic Animals

Danger is inherent to animal ownership. For this reason, some states prohibit the possession of wild or exotic animals altogether. Most states simply restrict possession to certain species. For example, South Carolina prohibits owning lions as pets, but owning monkeys is still allowed. In Arkansas, you can own bobcats, but no more than six at a time. South Dakota will let you keep a bear on your property, but domestic pigs are prohibited. Local restrictions can also exist in accordance with city or municipal ordinances.

Many exceptions and disclaimers apply to these exotic animal laws. Laws may exempt people and organizations that possess exotic animals for exhibition at zoos or circuses. In addition to exhibitors, there are also exemptions for scientific or educational purposes. Additionally, if you owned an exotic animal before a certain date, you may be grandfathered in if you registered or obtained a permit in time. However, even if you're allowed to own a certain type of animal, you may still be liable for any injuries or damages caused by your exotic pet.

Just like with dog bites, these injuries can be severe. Owners can suffer strict liability for harm caused by their animals. This means they can be responsible for injuries to others even if they are not negligent in supervising their animals.

Permits to Own Exotic Animals

Most states have some sort of permit, license, or registration requirement to possess certain animals, in addition to prohibitions and restrictions on exotic pet ownership. For example, in Vermont, you'll need a permit to own an anaconda but not to keep a pet alligator. Idaho requires a permit for tigers and other "deleterious exotic animals." These restrictions may be in place to protect native species in each state or locality.

While your state may allow you to keep certain animals as pets, local laws can restrict ownership. Additionally, state laws are frequently changing in response to concerns for public safety and animal well-being. You should always double-check for any new or proposed state or local legislation. Carrying liability insurance is also a good idea for owners in case such animals injure others.

Breaking Down Exotic Animal Laws by State

The table below lists examples of prohibited and permitted exotic animals in each state, as well as licensing laws and key statutes.

 

Exotic Animals That Are Legal to Own

Exotic Animals That Are Illegal to Own

Special Permits or Licenses Required to Legally Own Exotic Animals

State Statutes (Laws)

Alabama

Alabama allows you to possess any native animal that isn't prohibited

Alabama prohibits the personal possession of numerous exotic animals, including:

  • Mongooses
  • Giant African snails
  • Tegus
  • Walking catfish
  • Coyotes
  • Foxes
  • Raccoons
  • Skunks
  • Wild rodents
  • Wild turkeys
  • Venomous snakes
  • Black bears
  • Mountain lions
  • Bobcats
  • Antelope
  • Pigs
  • Any species of bird, mammal, reptile, or amphibian listed as injurious wildlife under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42)

Possession of non-native animals owned before 10/15/2020 is allowed with a permit obtained before 1/13/2021 (Alabama Administrative Code 220-2-.26)

Alaska

You can own a variety of exotic animals in Alaska, including:

  • One-humped camels
  • Domesticated reindeer
  • Domesticated elk
  • Domesticated bison
  • Crocodiles
  • Alligators
  • Lizards
  • Any nonvenomous reptiles
  • Toucans
  • Guinea pigs
  • European ferrets and rabbits
  • Gerbils
  • Hamsters
  • Chinchillas
  • Parrots and parakeets
  • Macaws
  • Cockatiels
  • Mynahs
  • Peafowls

All live game is prohibited unless specifically permitted and listed in 92.029(b)

  • You may possess a chimpanzee if you owned it before 1/31/2010 and obtained a permit before 7/1/2010. Wolves and wild cats are allowed with a permit.
  • Permits can be obtained for using certain game for the purposes of teaching and preserving historical Alaskan traditions, including deer, moose, caribou, black bear, and small game

Arizona

Many exotic animals are allowed in Arizona, including:

  • Wolfdogs
  • Savannah cats
  • Chinchillas
  • Pythons
  • Domestic water buffalo
  • Domestic American bison
  • Long-eared and pygmy hedgehogs
  • Wallabies
  • Kangaroos
  • Capybaras
  • Sugar gliders
  • African crested porcupines
  • Short-tailed possum

Arizona prohibits certain wildlife, including:

  • Golden moles
  • Tenrecs
  • Even-toed ungulates
  • Pronghorns
  • Antelopes
  • Bison
  • Buffalo
  • Cattle
  • Duikers
  • Gazelles
  • Goats
  • Oxen
  • Sheep
  • Water buffalo
  • American bison
  • Bison
  • Buffalo
  • Cervids
  • Deer
  • Elks
  • Moose
  • Red deer
  • Wapiti
  • Pecaries
  • Bears
  • Foxes
  • Ocelot
  • Raccoons
  • Servals
  • Skunks
  • Wolves
  • Weasels
  • Bats
  • American opossum
  • European hedgehogs
  • Gymnures
  • Moonrats
  • Wild hares
  • Chimpanzees
  • Gorillas
  • Macaques
  • Orangutans
  • Spider monkeys
  • Hutias
  • Beavers
  • Jumping mice
  • Coypus
  • Nutrias
  • Pocket gopher
  • Chipmunks
  • Marmots
  • Prairie dogs
  • Squirrels
  • Woodchucks
  • Desmans
  • Moles
  • Shrews
  • Shrew-moles
  • Anteaters
  • Armadillos
  • Sloths
  • Grouse
  • Pheasants
  • Partridges
  • Quails
  • Turkeys
  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • Crocodiles
  • Gavials
  • Burrowing asps
  • Brown tree snakes
  • Boomslangs
  • Keelbacks
  • Bird snakes
  • Elapids
  • Cobras
  • Coral snakes
  • Kraits
  • Mambas
  • Sea snakes
  • Gila monsters
  • Mexican beaded lizards
  • Pit and true vipers
  • Rattlesnakes
  • Snapping turtles
  • Gopher turtles
  • Desert turtles
  • Giant or marine toads
  • Bullfrogs
  • Leopard frogs
  • Clawed frogs
  • Desert tortoises can be adopted on a short-term basis from April 1 to September 30 every year, in a special program through the state
  • License required to possess game birds, but no more than 50 per owner

Arkansas

Over 100 different species can be kept in Arkansas without a permit, including:

  • Buffalo
  • Mice
  • Norway rats
  • Coturnix quails
  • Emu
  • European domestic ferrets
  • Gerbils
  • Indian and green peafowls
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Llamas
  • Muscovy ducks
  • Ringneck doves
  • Wolf hybrids
  • Sugar gliders
  • Long-tailed chinchillas
  • Four-toed and African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Bactrian and Dromedary camels
  • African sideneck, redbelly shortneck, and African mud turtles
  • Bearded dragons
  • Water dragons
  • Ball pythons
  • Blood pythons
  • Geckos
  • Veiled chameleons
  • Doves
  • Parrots
  • Macaws
  • Alligator lizards
  • Austral-Asian lizards
  • Caimans
  • Specific snakes, mostly non-native
  • Tortoises
  • Iguanas
  • Tegus
  • Monitor lizards

Households can have up to six animals of the following animals taken directly from native wildlife, so long as certain confinement conditions are met:

  • Bobcats
  • Coyotes
  • Red and gray foxes
  • Opossums
  • Rabbits
  • Raccoons
  • Squirrels
Wolves are allowed under certain conditions. Deer captured by hand prior to July 1, 2012, are allowed

Certain native and non-native animals cannot be owned as pets, including:

  • Mountain lions
  • Tigers
  • African lions
  • Bears
  • Apes
  • Baboons
  • Macaques
  • Non-native birds
  • Bats
  • Alligator snapping turtles
  • Ornate box turtles
  • Ozark hellbenders
  • Ouachita streambed salamanders
  • Collared lizards
  • Troglodytic species (cave dwellers)
  • Endangered species
  • Permit required for large carnivores (such as bears) owned before 8/12/2005 — must have received a permit within 180 days of 8/12/2005
  • Owners of apes, baboons, and macaques in 2013 who have registered and who meet certain requirements may keep them
  • Some venomous reptiles must have permits starting 07/01/2021

California

The following exotic domesticated species are allowed:

  • Wolfdogs that are not first generation
  • Savannah cats that are not first generation
  • Golden hamsters
  • Dwarf hamsters
  • Rats
  • Mice
  • Guinea pigs
  • Chinchillas
  • American bison
  • Llamas
  • Dromedary and Bactrian camels
Certain wild animals are allowed as pets, including lesser and giant pandas and river otters. Many types of birds and reptiles, including monitor lizards, nonvenomous snakes, toucans, and ostriches, are allowed

Restricted Species Laws and Regulations Manual 671 contains a lengthy list of prohibited animals, mammals, fish, and birds, including:

  • Ferrets
  • Morro Bay kangaroo rats
  • Bighorn sheep (except Nelson bighorn sheep)
  • Northern elephant seals
  • Guadalupe fur seals
  • Ring-tailed cats
  • Pacific right whales
  • Salt-marsh harvest mice
  • Southern sea otters
  • Wolverines
  • Primates
  • Falcons
  • Hawks
  • Crows
  • Marsupials
  • Sloths
  • Hedgehogs
  • Wild rodents
  • Zebras
  • Mongooses
  • Gerbils

Permits are required for the import, transport, and possession of any wild animals that are illegal to own

Colorado

Colorado allows many different types of pets, including:

  • Alpacas
  • Donkeys
  • Bison
  • Camels
  • Chinchillas
  • Hybrid and wild cats
  • Hybrid and wild dogs
  • Ducks
  • Emus
  • European ferrets
  • Geese
  • Hamsters
  • Llamas
  • Mice
  • Minks
  • Ostriches
  • Rats
  • Reindeer
  • Yaks
  • Elks
  • Fallow deer
  • Hedgehogs
  • Red kangaroos
  • Wallabies
  • Wallaroos
  • Short-tailed possums
  • Sugar gliders
  • Tropical birds
  • Fishes
  • Frogs
  • Snakes
  • Lizards
  • Turtles
  • Caimans
  • Most marine non-mammals, except anadromous and catadromous species
Note that certain animals can only be acquired at the rate of four per year, with no more than 12 at a time

Colorado prohibits some animals from being pets, including:

  • Wildebeests
  • Wild hogs
  • Raccoons
  • Skunks
  • Hedgehogs
  • Opossums
  • Squirrels
  • Porcupines
  • Monk parakeets
  • Primates
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles

Tropical and non-native venomous snakes require a license

Connecticut

The following exotic animals are allowed as pets:

  • Primates under 35 lbs. at maturity and owned before 10/1/2010
  • Ferrets
  • Hedgehogs
  • Sugar gliders
  • Degus

Many exotic animals may not be kept as pets, including:

  • Lions
  • Leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Jaguars
  • Bobcats
  • Pumas
  • Lynx
  • Ocelots
  • All wild dogs
  • Wolves
  • Coyotes
  • Bears
  • Gorillas
  • Chimpanzees
  • Orangutans
  • Hyaenas
  • Kangaroos
  • Wallabies
  • Hybrids, except for TICA, CFA, or ACFA domestic cat hybrids

Permits are required for wild animals, and in most cases, you can only own one (to prevent breeding)

Delaware

Delaware allows the following animals as pets without permits:

  • Chinchillas
  • Degus
  • Ferrets
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Hedgehogs
  • Mice
  • Norway rats
  • Possums
  • Rabbits
  • Sugar gliders
  • Anoles
  • Agamas
  • Asian water dragons
  • Basilisks
  • Bearded dragons
  • Chameleons
  • Geckos
  • Iguanas
  • Skinks (except the five-lined skink)
  • Swift lizards
  • Tegus

No specific animals are banned

Permits are generally required to possess wild and exotic animals

District of Columbia

Certain exotic pets are allowed, such as:

  • Non-venomous snakes
  • Fish
  • Turtles
  • Ferrets
  • Racing pigeons
  • Domesticated rodents
  • Domesticated rabbits

Animals that are specifically not allowed include:

  • Hybrid dogs with wolves, coyotes, or jackals
  • Hybrid cats with ocelots or margays

An annual animal hobby permit is required to keep more than six animals (exotic or not) larger than a guinea pig and over four months old

Florida

Cougars, panthers, or cheetahs acquired before August 27, 2009 are allowed

No permits are required for:

  • Button quails
  • Canaries
  • Chinchillas
  • Cockatiels
  • Doves
  • Ferrets
  • Gerbils
  • Hedgehogs
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Honey possums
  • Sugar gliders
  • Lovebirds
  • Moles
  • Shrews
  • Myna birds
  • Parrots
  • Prairie dogs
  • Rabbits
  • Rats
  • Mice
  • Shell parakeets
  • Squirrels
  • Chipmunks
  • Toucans
  • Camels
  • Llamas
  • Wild horses
  • Jungle fowl
  • Peafowls
  • Reptiles or amphibians that are not venomous or protected or endangered

The following animals are barred from personal possession:

  • Baboons
  • Bears
  • Black caimans
  • Cape buffalos
  • Cheetahs
  • Chimpanzees
  • Cougars
  • Crocodiles
  • Drills and mandrills
  • Elephants
  • Gavials
  • Gelada baboons
  • Gibbons and siamangs
  • Gorillas
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Hyenas
  • Aardwolves
  • Jaguars
  • Komodo dragons
  • Leopards
  • Lions
  • Orangutans
  • Rhinoceros
  • Snow leopards
  • Tigers
  • Venomous reptiles
  • Wild foxes
  • Skunks
  • Bats
  • Raccoons
  • Whitetail deer

Permits are required to possess certain wildlife

A Class II annual permit is required for certain animals that pose more of a threat to human safety:

  • African golden cats
  • African hunting dogs
  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • American badgers
  • Binturongs
  • Bobcats
  • Caracals
  • Cassowary
  • Clouded leopards
  • Douc langurs
  • Dwarf crocodiles
  • European and Canadian lynx
  • Fishing cats
  • Giraffe
  • Okapi
  • Guenons
  • Guereza monkeys
  • Honey badgers
  • Howler monkeys
  • Idris
  • Indian dholes
  • Langurs
  • Macaques
  • Celebes black apes
  • Mangabeys
  • Ocelots
  • Old World badgers
  • Ostriches
  • Patas monkeys
  • Proboscis monkeys
  • Sakis
  • Servals
  • Snub-nosed langurs
  • Tapir
  • Temminck's golden cats
  • Uakaris
  • Vervet monkeys
  • Grivet monkeys
  • Green monkeys
  • Wild cattle
  • Wild antelope
  • Non-native hoof stock
  • Wolverines
  • Wolves
  • Coyotes
  • Jackals

A Class III permit is required for all other wildlife

Georgia

Permitted pets include:
  • European ferrets, if neutered by seven months and with rabies vaccine
  • Hamsters
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • American bison
  • Water buffalo
  • Llamas
  • English sparrows
  • European starlings
  • Hill mynas
  • Sugar gliders, with valid documentation from the USDA

Certain exotic animals may not be pets, including almost all marsupials, insectivores, and primates, including but not limited to:

  • Wallabies
  • Kangaroos
  • Shrews
  • Moles
  • Hedgehogs
  • Tenrecs
  • Bats
  • Monkeys
  • Apes
  • Sloths
  • Armadillos
  • Pangolins
  • Anteaters
  • Wild hares and rabbits
  • Capybaras
  • Cavies
  • Prairie dogs
  • Degus
  • Whales
  • Dolphins
  • Weasels
  • Ferrets
  • Foxes
  • Wild cats
  • Wolves
  • Wolf hybrids
  • Exotic cat hybrids, such as Savannah cats
  • Aardvarks
  • Elephants
  • Conies
  • Manatees
  • Dugongs
  • Most hoof stock
  • Rhinoceros
  • Warthogs
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Hawks
  • Eagles
  • Vultures
  • Wild turkeys
  • Cuckoos
  • Owls
  • Skylarks
  • Bulbuls
  • Thrushes
  • White eyes
  • Yellowhammers
  • Sparrows
  • Cape and baya weavers
  • Queleas
  • Blackbirds
  • Monk parakeet
  • Java sparrow
  • Starlings
  • Mynas
  • Crows
  • Ravens
  • Crocodiles
  • Gavials
  • Alligators
  • Venomous colubrid snakes
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards
  • Giant and marine toads
  • Banded tetras
  • Piranha
  • Grass, silver, and bighead carp
  • Air-breathing catfish
  • Giant walking catfish
  • Snakeheads
  • Fresh-water stingrays

Special permits are required for the ownership of a capuchin monkey by disabled persons

Hawaii

Legal exotic pets include:
  • Peafowls
  • Guinea pigs
  • Chinchillas
  • Rabbits
  • Domesticated mice and rats
  • Domesticated pigs, such as pot-bellied pigs
  • Select parakeets
  • Select doves

Many pets are illegal to own, including:

  • Dog hybrids
  • Cat hybrids
  • Any hybrid with an illegal animal
  • Hedgehogs
  • Hamsters
  • Ferrets
  • Snakes
  • Gerbils
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Cheetahs
  • Jaguars
  • Cougars
  • Leopards
  • Clouded leopards
  • Caracals
  • Ocelots
  • Margays
  • Servals
  • Bears
  • Wolves
  • Hyenas
  • Aardvarks
  • Elephants
  • Hippopotamus
  • Rhinoceros
  • Non-human primates
  • Crocodilians
  • Bloodworms
  • Hermit crabs
  • Freshwater crabs
  • Honeybees
  • Mexican jumping bean moths
  • Jellyfish
  • Freshwater clams
  • Octopuses
  • Salamanders
  • Sirens
  • Frogs
  • Cuban tree frogs
  • Snakes
  • Gila monsters
  • Nicaraguan freshwater sharks
  • Freshwater stingrays
  • Spotted carpet sharks
  • Banded carpet sharks
  • Lampreys
  • Bowfins
  • Dogfishes
  • Mudfishes
  • Eels
  • Electric eels
  • Freshwater morays
  • Silversides
  • Needlefish
  • Halfbeaks
  • Pike minnows
  • Piranhas
  • Cacchorros
  • Characins
  • Lizard fish
  • Pirarucu
  • Snakeheads
  • Pike cichlids
  • Lionfish
  • Scorpionfish
  • Catfish
  • Hummingbirds
  • Pigeons
  • Doves
  • Crow
  • Finches
  • Grouses
  • Bulbuls
  • Sparrows
  • Orioles
  • Vermillion cardinals
  • Mynas
  • Starlings
  • Parrots
  • Parakeets
  • Parrotlets
  • Caiques
  • Bats
  • Flying foxes
  • Wild hares
  • Porcupine

Permits are required for importing legal pets listed in Hawaii Administrative Rules Section 4-71-6.5. These animals are subject to quarantine rules before being lawfully distributed to their owners

Idaho

No permit is required to possess agricultural or domestic animals, domestic cervids, or conventional household pets, including but not limited to:

  • Guinea pigs
  • Chinchillas
  • Llamas
  • Alpacas
  • Minks
  • Sugar gliders
  • African hedgehogs
  • Captive-bred domestic birds
  • Unprotected wildlife
  • Predatory wildlife legally taken by hunting or trapping
  • Up to four animals per species of native reptiles and amphibians, legally taken by hunting or trapping
It is illegal to take large predatory and big-game wildlife and keep them as pets. You also may not possess as pets any nongame and endangered, threatened species, unless it is unprotected and predatory

Idaho law prohibits the possession of "deleterious exotic animals," which are defined as non-native and dangerous. They are prohibited without a possession permit and include:

  • Mute swans, unless they have been pinioned
  • All wild dogs
  • Red and sika deer
  • Caracals
  • Cheetahs
  • Geoffrey's cats
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Lions
  • Margays
  • Ocelots
  • Servals
  • Tigers
  • European hedgehogs
  • Brushed tail possums
  • All non-human primates
  • Barbary sheep
  • Mouflon sheep
  • Coatimundi
  • Kinkajous
  • African dormice
  • African rope squirrels
  • African striped mice
  • African tree squirrels
  • Brushed tail porcupines
  • Capybara
  • Gambian giant pouched rats
  • Prairie dogs
  • South American rodents
  • European or Russian wild boars
  • Peccaries
  • Pond fish

Illinois

  • Residents may take, by hand or hook-and-line, two snapping turtles per day from the wild, up to four in possession
  • Residents may take, by hand or hook-and-line, up to eight bullfrogs per day, up to 16 in possession
  • Residents may take, by hand or hook-and-line, up to four species with a total of eight, native amphibians other than snapping turtles or bullfrogs

Permitted exotic pets allowed under special handling requirements include:

  • Boas
  • Pythons
  • Anacondas
  • Captive-bred poison dart frogs

Private possession of dangerous animals is prohibited, including but not limited to:

  • Bears
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Ocelots
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Margays
  • Cougars
  • Lynx
  • Bobcats
  • Jaguarundis
  • Wolves
  • Coyotes
  • Hyenas
  • Venomous medically significant reptiles
  • Flying fox
  • Mongoose
  • Meerkats
  • European rabbits
  • Indian wild hogs
  • Multimammate rats or mice
  • Raccoon dogs
  • Rosy pastors
  • Doiches
  • Java sparrows
  • Red-whiskered bul-buls
  • Snakeheads
  • Walking catfish
  • Ruffes
  • Silver carp
  • Bighead carp
  • Black carp
  • Round and tubenose gobies
  • Rudds
  • Stone morokos
  • Zanders
  • Wels catfish
  • Yabbies
  • Zebra mussels
  • Mitten crabs
  • Rusty crayfish
  • Filler shrimp
  • Golden mussels
  • Brown tree snakes
  • Registration is required for a permitted capuchin monkey owned by a person with a severe and permanent motor disability
  • Primates owned prior to 01/01/2011 are allowed and grandfathered if owners registered the primate by 04/01/2011 and have followed up with proper notifications
  • Aquatic wildlife not on the approved species list must have a letter of authorization to be possessed

Indiana

Indiana allows domestic animals and domestic hybrid animals as pets without any permits

Indiana does not specifically forbid having any animals as pets

Wild animal possession permits are required for certain wild animals. They are divided up into three classes, with each class of permit requiring more stringent conditions to be met for the safety of all people, animals, and the environment:

Class I:

  • Eastern cottontail rabbits
  • Eastern fox squirrels
  • Eastern gray squirrels
  • Southern flying squirrels
Class II:
  • American beavers
  • Black-footed cats
  • Coyotes
  • Fishing cats
  • Geoffrey's cat
  • Gray foxes
  • Jaguarundi
  • Jungle cats
  • Least weasels
  • Leopard cats
  • Little spotted cats
  • Long-tailed weasels
  • Marbled cats
  • Margays
  • Minks
  • Muskrats
  • Pallas' cats
  • Pampas cats
  • Pantanals
  • Raccoons
  • Red foxes
  • Sand cats
  • Servals
  • Striped skunks
  • Virginia opossum
Class III:
  • Bears
  • Crocodilians 5 feet or more
  • Venomous reptiles
  • Wild cats not listed in Class II
  • Pure wolves

Iowa

Iowa allows the following animals without a permit:

  • Captive bred skunks
  • Offspring of a domestic dog and a wolf
  • Offspring of a domestic cat and a Bengal or Savannah cat that is fourth or later filial generation

Certain wild animals are considered dangerous and are, therefore, banned as pets:

  • Wild canines
  • Wild cats
  • Bears
  • Pandas
  • Hyenas
  • Aardwolves
  • Rhinoceros
  • Elephants
  • Nonhuman primates
  • Marmosets
  • Tamarins
  • Monkeys
  • Lemurs
  • Galagos
  • Bushbabies
  • Great apes
  • Gibbons
  • Lesser apes
  • Indris
  • Sifakas
  • Tarsiers
  • Crocodiles
  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • Gharials
  • Water monitors
  • Crocodile monitors
  • Mole vipers
  • Burrowing asps
  • Beaded lizards
  • Gila monsters
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Cobras
  • Mambas
  • Coral snakes
  • Kraits
  • Adders
  • Vipers
  • Rattlesnakes
  • Copperheads
  • Pit vipers keelbacks
  • Cottonmouths
  • Sea snakes
  • Anacondas
  • African rock pythons
  • Wild boars
  • Russian or European boars
  • Hybrids
  • Wild animals obtained and registered before 12/31/07 and microchipped by 09/01/07 are permitted as pets, so long as they are registered with the state and a lengthy list of requirements has not been violated
  • Dangerous animals may be possessed if they are assistive animals
  • License required for keeping falcons or raptors

Kansas

Kansas allows the possession of certain pets, including:

  • Amphibians and reptiles, limited to five per species, except you cannot possess bullfrogs, common snapping turtles, and soft-shelled turtles
  • Armadillo
  • Moles
  • Most rodents
  • Exotic doves
  • Feral pigeons
  • Invertebrates, though mussels are limited to five

It is illegal to possess dangerous regulated animals, including:

  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Mountain lions
  • Bears
  • Hybrids
  • Non-native venomous snakes
In addition, certain animals may not be possessed because they are an invasive species, including:
  • Monk parakeets
  • Asian raccoon dogs
  • Walking catfish
  • Silver carp
  • Bighead carp
  • Black carp
  • Crucian carp (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Largescale silver carp (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Wels catfish (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Eurasian minnow (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Stone morokos (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Snakeheads
  • Round goby
  • White perch
  • European perch (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Nile perch (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Roach grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Amur sleepers (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Zanders (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
  • Zebra mussels
  • Quagga mussels
  • New Zealand mudsnails
  • Diploid grass carp
  • Marbled crayfish
  • Common yabbies (grandfathered in if possessed before 01/01/2021)
Other native animals are also prohibited, including:
  • Commensal rodents (Norway rats, roof rats, house mice)
  • Gophers
  • Ground squirrels
  • Kangaroo rats
  • Porcupines
  • Prairie dogs
  • Woodchucks
  • Wood rats

Permits are required to possess:

  • Cougars
  • Wolves
  • Black bears
  • Grizzly bears
  • Falcons

Kentucky

Many exotic pets are allowed without permits in Kentucky, including:

  • Domestic raccoons
  • Alpacas
  • American bison
  • Goats derived from the wild goat or bezoar
  • Chinchillas
  • Cockatoos
  • Domesticated ducks and geese
  • Domesticated minks, if over 1.15 kg as adults
  • Domesticated rats
  • Domesticated turkeys
  • Domesticated yaks
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea fowl
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Indian Hill mynahs
  • Llamas
  • Parrots
  • Lovebirds
  • Cockatiels
  • Budgerigar
  • Parakeets, except Monk parakeets
  • Macaws
  • Peafowl
  • Domesticated pigeons
  • Ratite
  • Toucans

Animals that are considered endangered species by either the federal government or the Commonwealth of Kentucky may not be kept as pets

"Inherently dangerous wildlife" pets are prohibited unless they were owned prior to 07/13/2005, including:

  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • Crocodiles
  • Gavials
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards
  • Komodo dragons
  • African buffalo
  • Bears
  • Elephants
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Rhinoceros
  • Cheetahs
  • Clouded leopards
  • Lions
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Tigers
  • Honey badgers
  • Old World badgers
  • Wolves
  • Wolverines
  • Wolf hybrids over 25% wolf
  • Hyenas
  • Gorillas
  • Gelada baboons
  • Baboons
  • Drills
  • Mandrills
  • Sea snakes
  • Cobras
  • Coral snakes
  • Adders
  • Vipers
  • Venomous exotic snakes, except for hognose snakes
  • Copperbelly water snakes
  • Wild turkeys
  • Alligator snapping turtles
  • Hybrids of the above

Other animals are prohibited due to their potential injury to the environment, including:

  • Baya weavers
  • Non-native blackbirds
  • European blackbirds
  • Cape sparrows
  • Non-native cowbirds
  • Non-native cuckoos
  • Queleas
  • Fieldfares
  • Flying foxes
  • Fruit bats
  • Foxes
  • Gambian giant pouched rats
  • Giant, marine, or cane toads
  • Hawaiian rice birds or spotted munias
  • Jackrabbits
  • Java sparrows
  • Madagascar weavers
  • Mistle thrushes
  • Monk or Quaker parakeets
  • Multimammate rats
  • Mute swans
  • Nutrias
  • Prairie dogs
  • Raccoon dogs
  • San Juan rabbits
  • Skylarks
  • Song thrushes
  • Starlings, except Indian Hill mynahs
  • Suricates or slender-tailed meerkats
  • Tongueless or African clawed frogs
  • Weaver finches, except Passer
  • White eyes
  • Wild European rabbits
  • Yellowhammers
  • Wild or feral pigs
  • Eurasian boars
  • Russian boars
  • Domestic or wild hybrids
Wild ferrets are allowed by permit

Louisiana

Louisiana does not list any specific pets that are allowed by law without permits

Louisiana prohibits pet ownership of certain potentially dangerous animals, including:

  • Black, grizzly, and polar bears
  • Red and gray wolves
  • Tigers
  • Lions
  • Leopards of all types
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Cougars
  • Subspecies and hybrids of all listed cats
  • Coyotes
  • Foxes
Animals listed as threatened or endangered may not be kept as pets, including:
  • Mississippi gopher frogs
  • Green sea turtles
  • Hawksbill sea turtles
  • Kemp's ridley sea turtles
  • Leatherback sea turtles
  • Loggerhead sea turtles
  • Gopher tortoises
  • Ringed sawback turtles

Permits are required to take animals out of the wild for personal possession. You can't use commercial gear to capture them, and there are limits:

  • No more than two box turtles may be taken out of the wild per day, and you can only possess four at any given time as pets
  • No more than two razor-backed musk turtles may be taken out of the wild per day, and you can only possess four at any given time as pets
  • No more than one alligator snapping turtle may be taken out of the wild per day

A permit is required for keeping the following as pets removed from the wild:

  • Tiger salamanders
  • Red-backed salamanders
  • Webster's salamanders
  • Mud salamanders
  • Red salamanders
  • Louisiana pine snakes
  • Black pine snakes
  • Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes
Permits are required for many venomous and large constricting snakes, including:
  • Papuan pythons
  • Olive pythons
  • Carpet pythons
  • Diamonds pythons
  • Scrub pythons
  • Amethystine pythons
  • Southern African pythons
  • African rock pythons
  • Indian pythons
  • Burmese pythons
  • Reticulate pythons
  • Boa constrictors
  • Anacondas
  • Pit vipers
  • Vipers
  • Cobras
  • Mambas
  • Sea snakes
  • Mole vipers

Maine

Some wild-caught native animals may be kept as pets without permits, so long as their environment complies with regulations, including:

  • Amphibians, up to five of each species
  • Reptiles, up to two of each species
  • Invertebrates

Other animals that can be kept without a permit or license include:

  • Savannah cats F4 or higher
  • Capuchins used as physical aides from recognized institutions and not in contact with the public
  • Wildlife purchased from a dealer or pet shop
The following animals cannot be kept as pets:
  • Monk parakeets
  • Mute swans
  • Burrowing parrots
  • Laughing kookaburras
  • Austral parakeets
  • Alender-billed parakeets
  • Anatidae
  • Hornbills
  • Cassowaries
  • Emus
  • Storks
  • Pigeons
  • Doves
  • Rollers
  • Crows
  • Chachalaca
  • Guans
  • Cussarows
  • Cranes
  • Turacos
  • Pheasants
  • Flamingos
  • Trumpeters
  • Toucans
  • Penguins
  • New Zealand parrots
  • Starlings
  • Bearded barbets
  • Birds of prey
  • Shorebirds
  • Bustards
  • Pelicans
  • Owls
  • Ostriches
  • Prevost's squirrels
  • Hoffman's two-toed sloths
  • Brazilian porcupines
  • Black-tailed prairie dogs
  • Red-rumped agouti
  • Long-nosed armadillos
  • Members of the Pronghorn family
  • Mountain beavers
  • Bovids
  • Canids
  • Beavers
  • Cervids
  • Elephants
  • Quidae
  • Felids
  • Giraffes
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Hyenas
  • Aardwolves
  • Kangaroos
  • Wallabies
  • Mustelids
  • Walruses
  • Eared and true seals
  • Rhinoceros
  • Pigs
  • Tapirs
  • Viverrids
  • Crested porcupines
  • Gray short-tailed opossum
  • Cetacea
  • Bats
  • Primates
  • Sea cows
  • Aardvarks
  • Kinkajous
  • Southern tamandua
  • Asiatic linsangs
  • Deer
  • Moose
  • Wild turkeys
  • Hybrids
The following captive bread animals cannot be kept as pets:
  • Western dwarf clawed frogs
  • African clawed frogs
  • Golden mantellas
  • Bernhard's mantellas
  • Yellow mantellas
  • Green mantellas
  • Brown treesnakes
  • Puerto Rican boas
  • Grand Cayman blue iguanas
  • Eastern indigo snakes
  • Eunectes
  • Elapidae
  • Beaded lizards
  • Gila monsters
  • Viperidae
  • Gopher tortoises
  • Isla Todos Santos kingsnakes
  • Amethystine pythons
  • Scrub pythons
  • Atlantic Salt Marsh snakes
  • Crocodilians
  • Chinese softshell tortoises
  • Louisiana pine snakes
  • Indian pythons
  • Southern African rock pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Northern African rock pythons
  • Common box turtles
  • Gulf Coast box turtles
  • Three-toed box turtles
  • Pond sliders
  • Red-eared sliders
Maine also prohibits possessing the following endangered or threatened animals:
  • New England cottontails
  • Little brown bats
  • Northern long-legged bats
  • Least terns
  • Golden eagles
  • Piper plovers
  • Sedge wrens
  • Grasshopper sparrows
  • Roseate terns
  • Black terns
  • American pipets
  • Peregrine falcons
  • Black-crowned night herons
  • Least bitterns
  • Box turtles
  • Black racers
  • Blanding's turtles
  • Redfin pickerels
  • Six-whorl vertigos
  • Edward's hairstreaks
  • Hessel's hairstreaks
  • Katahdin arctics
  • Juniper hairstreaks
  • Rapids clubtails
  • Cobblestone tiger beetles
  • Frigga fritillaries
  • Northern bog lemmings
  • Easter small-footed bats
  • Razorbills
  • Harlequin ducks
  • Arctic terns
  • Upland sandpipers
  • Common gallinules
  • Great cormorants
  • Short-eared owls
  • Barrow's goldeneyes
  • Spotted turtles
  • Swamp darters
  • Tidewater muckets
  • Yellow lampmussels
  • Brook floaters
  • Whales
  • Leatherback turtles
  • Atlantic ridley turtles
  • Shortnose sturgeons
  • Loggerhead turtles
Maine allows certain captive-bred animals to be kept as pets, so long as you have a permit, including:
  • Golden poison frogs
  • Golfo Dulce poison-dart frogs
  • Cane toads
  • Axolotl
  • Rhinoceros iguanas
  • Green iguanas
  • Pernatty knob-tails
  • Rock monitors
  • Argus monitors
  • Crocodile monitors
  • Common water monitors
  • Togian water monitors
  • Rosy and rubber boas
  • Russian rat snakes
  • Brazilian smooth snakes
  • Olive pythons
  • Concho water snakes
  • Eastern fox snakes
  • African spurred tortoises
  • Yellow mud turtles
  • Alligator snapping turtles
  • Northern diamondback terrapins
  • Ornate box turtles
Maine also allows for the following animals to be kept without a permit, including:
  • Japanese white-eyes
  • Camelids
  • Genets
  • Binturongs
  • White-nosed coati
  • South American coatimundi
  • Mountain coati

Maryland

  • You may possess a prohibited animal if you owned it prior to 05/31/2006 and provided specific written notification to local animal control before 8/1/2006
  • You may also possess a prohibited animal if it is trained to help you with a severe mobility impairment

Maryland allows some animals to be kept as pets without permits, including:

  • Domestic cats
  • Dog
  • Ferrets
  • Non-native reptiles and amphibians that are not listed as forbidden
Maryland allows individuals to possess up to four of each of the following native reptiles and salamanders, and an unlimited amount of any of these reptiles or amphibians that are albino, partial albino, or other color mutation resulting from captive breeding:
  • Red-spotted newts
  • Spotted salamanders
  • Marbled salamanders
  • Northern dusky salamanders
  • Seal salamander
  • Mountain dusky salamanders
  • Northern two-lined salamanders
  • Long-tailed salamanders
  • Northern spring salamanders
  • Four-toed salamanders
  • Eastern red-backed salamanders
  • Northern slimy salamanders
  • Valley and ridge salamanders
  • Northern Red salamander
  • Eastern spadefoots
  • American toads
  • Fowler's toads
  • Northern cricket frogs
  • Cope's gray treefrogs
  • Gray treefrogs
  • Green treefrogs
  • Northern spring peepers
  • Southeastern chorus frogs
  • Pickerel frogs
  • Southern leopard frogs
  • Wood frogs
  • Green frogs
  • American bullfrogs
  • Eastern fence lizards
  • Common five-lined skinks
  • Little brown skinks
  • Eastern wormsnakes
  • Northern black racers
  • Ring-necked snakes
  • Cornsnakes
  • Black ratsnakes
  • Mole kingsnakes
  • Eastern milksnakes
  • Coastal plain milksnakes
  • Eastern kingsnakes
  • Red-bellied watersnakes
  • Northern watersnakes
  • Rough greensnakes
  • Smooth Greensnakes
  • Dekay's brownsnakes
  • Red-bellied snakes
  • Eastern gartersnakes

You may possess one of the following without a permit:

  • Broad-headed skink
  • Eastern six-lined racerunner
  • Eastern hog-nosed snake
  • Queen snake
  • Common ribbonsnake
  • Wood turtle, not taken from the wild
  • Spotted turtle, not taken from the wild
  • Eastern box turtle
  • Eastern painted turtle
  • Midland painted turtle
  • Eastern mud turtle
  • Northern red-bellied cooter
  • Stinkpot
  • Diamond-backed terrapin, not taken from the wild

Maryland forbids the possession of numerous animals as pets, including:

  • Felines and domestic hybrids over 30 pounds
  • Canines and hybrids
  • Foxes
  • Skunks
  • Raccoons
  • Non-human primates
  • Lemurs
  • Monkeys
  • Chimpanzees
  • Gorillas
  • Orangutans
  • Marmosets
  • Loris
  • Tamarins
  • Bears
  • Caimans
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles
  • Poisonous snakes in Hydrophidae, Elapidae, Viperidae, and Crotolidae families
  • Cervids
  • Eastern tiger salamanders
  • Green salamanders
  • Jefferson salamanders
  • Wehrle's salamanders
  • Eastern hellbenders
  • Mudpuppies
  • Eastern narrow-mouthed toads
  • Carpenter frogs
  • Mountain chorus frogs
  • Barking treefrogs
  • Northern map turtles
  • Leatherback sea turtles
  • Loggerhead sea turtles
  • Green sea turtles
  • Atlantic hawksbill sea turtles
  • Kemp's ridley sea turtles
  • Bog turtles
  • Spiny softshell turtles
  • Northern coal skinks
  • Rainbow snakes
  • Smooth earthsnakes
  • Northern scarletsnakes
  • Timber rattlesnakes
  • Copperheads

Turtles may be kept as pets under special permit:

  • Up to three diamondback terrapins are allowed with a permit
  • Turtles are limited to one, must have at least a 4-inch carapace, and be caught with a license

Certain counties have allowed regular hybrids of domestic and wild animals, including:

  • Carroll
  • Cecil
  • Frederick

Massachusetts

Permits are not required for:

  • Fathead minnows
  • All amphibians
  • All turtles, up to 100 each of any combination of turtles and eggs, unless the turtle species requires a permit
  • Boas
  • Most pythons
  • Shield-tailed snakes
  • Sunbeam snakes
  • Work snakes
  • Thread snakes
  • Asian ratsnakes
  • Trans-Pecos ratsnakes
  • Brown and redbelly snakes
  • Diadem snakes
  • Garter and ribbon snakes
  • Gopher and pine snakes
  • Ground snakes
  • House snakes
  • Kingsnakes
  • Milk snakes
  • North American ratsnakes
  • Mole snakes
  • Puffing snakes
  • Texas indigo snakes
  • Tropical ratsnakes
  • Water snakes
  • Western hognose snakes
  • All skinks, except for Florida sand skinks and Soloman Island ground skinks
  • Flash-club tailed lizards
  • Girdle-tailed lizards
  • Plated lizards
  • Rock lizards
  • Teiids
  • Jungle runners
  • Tegus
  • Wall lizards
  • Sand lizards
  • Asian grass lizards
  • Alligator lizards
  • Glass lizards
  • Slowworms
  • European legless lizards
  • Geckos, except Big Bend geckos
  • Basilisks
  • Collared and leopard lizards
  • Common or green iguanas
  • False of spring-tailed iguanas
  • Tree iguanas
  • New World chameleons
  • Spiny lizards
  • Tree and bush lizards
  • Diving lizards
  • Zebra-tailed lizards
  • Dragon lizards
  • Forest, garden, and bloodsucker lizards
  • Sailfin lizards
  • Bearded dragons
  • Water dragons
  • Frilled lizards
  • Uromastyx lizards
  • All night lizards except the Utah night lizard
  • All true chameleons
  • Spiny-tailed monitor lizards
  • Ridge-tailed monitor lizards
  • Blue or button quail
  • Pigeons
  • Doves
  • Waxbills
  • Finches
  • Weaver finches
  • Parrots
  • Toucans
  • Aracaris
  • Toucanets
  • Starlings
  • Mynahs
  • Emus
  • Rheas
  • Ostriches
  • African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Chinchillas
  • Deer mice
  • White-footed mice
  • Degu
  • Egyptian spiny mice
  • House mice
  • Jerboas
  • Pacas
  • Southern flying squirrels
  • Striped hamsters
  • Golden hamsters
  • Sugar gliders
  • American bison
  • Ferrets
  • Most hybrids
  • Domestic greylag geese
  • Domestic swan geese
  • Domestic Egyptian geese
  • Domestic mallard ducks
  • Domestic muscovy
  • Common coturnix
  • Domestic chickens
  • Peafowl
  • Domestic helmet guineafowl
  • Domestic turkeys
  • Blue rock pigeons
  • Domestic asses
  • Domestic horses
  • Minks propagated in captivity for at least two generations
  • Domestic swine
  • Llamas
  • Alpacas
  • Dromedaries
  • Domestic water buffalo
  • Domestic cows
  • Domestic yaks
  • Zebus
  • Domestic goats
  • Domestic sheeps
  • Domestic hamsters derived from the golden hamster
  • Mongolian gerbils
  • Lab rats
  • Lab mice
  • Guinea pig
  • Domestic rabbits, but not the wild European rabbit or the San Juan rabbit

None of the following can be kept as pets:

  • Threatened or endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
  • Those listed in the Red Book(s) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
  • Any animals on the Massachusetts lists of endangered, threatened, and special concern species

Permits are required for certain animals, including:

  • Grass carp
  • White amur
  • Piranhas
  • Rudds
  • Walking catfish
  • Argentina or Chaco tortoises
  • Gopher tortoises
  • Pancake tortoises
  • Spotted turtles
  • Red-eared sliders
  • All venomous snakes
  • African rock pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Anacondas
  • Black ratsnakes
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards
  • Florida sands skinks
  • Solomon Island ground skinks
  • Desert tegus
  • Big Bend geckos
  • Utah night lizards
  • Migratory birds
  • Birds native to the United States and Canada
  • Red-billed, black-fronted, and Sudan Dioch finches
  • Rose-colored starlings
  • Rosy pastors
  • Wild canid hybrids
  • Wild felid hybrids

Michigan

Native herp are allowed as pets in limited number, including:

  • 10 frogs, toads, and salamanders
  • Four snapping and softshell turtles, limited to two per species. Snapping turtles must be 13 inches
  • Six in total of any other turtles, snakes, and lizards, with the caveat that you are limited to four turtles

You can possess up to 12 of the following birds without a permit:

  • Pheasants
  • Bobwhite quail
  • Hungarian partridges

The following "large carnivores" are prohibited from being kept as pets:

  • Cheetahs
  • Cougars
  • Jaguars
  • All leopards
  • Lions
  • Panthers
  • Tigers
  • Hybrids of large carnivore cats
  • Bears

Other forbidden animals include:

  • Wolf-dogs
  • Wolf-dog hybrids
The following wild-caught animals are also forbidden:
  • Any game
  • Eastern massasaugas
  • Queen snakes
  • Blanding's turtles
  • Wood turtles
  • Eastern box turtles
  • Grey ratsnakes, except for common albino colors
  • Boreal chorus frogs
  • Western lesser sirens
  • Mudpuppies
  • Fowler's toads
  • Pickerel frogs
  • Butler's garter snakes
  • Smooth green snakes
  • Northern dusky salamanders
  • Northern two-lined salamanders
  • Mink frogs
  • Kirtland's snakes
  • Copper-bellied water snakes
  • Eastern fox snakes
  • Six-lined racerunners
  • Spotted turtles
  • Marbled salamanders
  • Small-mouth salamanders
  • Blanchard's cricket frogs
  • Permits are required for "large carnivores" and wolf-dogs grandfathered in with proper permits

Permits are necessary to hold certain game that was reared in captivity. Such game includes:

  • Badgers
  • Bobcats
  • Foxes
  • Raccoons
  • Coyotes
  • Beavers
  • Otters
  • Muskrats
  • Minks
  • Squirrels
  • Skunks
  • Woodchucks
  • Possum
  • Pheasants
  • Bobwhite quail
  • Hungarian partridges
  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Wild turkeys
  • Ducks
  • Pheasant
Registration is required to possess non-native fishTaking and possessing non-prohibited wild reptiles and amphibians requires a fishing license

Minnesota

You can possess numerous domesticated animals, including:

  • Rabbits
  • Degus
  • House rats
  • House mice
  • Sugar gliders
  • Hamsters
  • Gerbils
  • Ferrets
  • Hedgehogs
  • Chinchillas
  • Guinea pigs

Minnesota bans "regulated animals" from being kept as pets, including:

  • Felines, except domestic cats and breeds recognized by national or international multi-cat registries
  • Bears
  • Nonhuman primates
  • Hybrids

Other animals prohibited as pets, including:

  • Deer
  • Wolves
  • Mourning doves
  • Bats
  • Snakes
  • Salamanders
  • Lizards
  • White-tailed and mule deer
  • Moose
  • Elks
  • Black bears
  • Antelopes
  • Caribou
  • Game birds
  • Gray squirrels
  • Fox squirrels
  • Cottontail rabbits
  • Snowshoe hares
  • Jackrabbits
  • Raccoons
  • Lynx
  • Bobcats
  • Short-tailed weasels
  • Long-tailed weasels
  • Red foxes, lynx, and gray foxes
  • Fishers
  • Pine martens
  • Opossum
  • Badgers
  • Cougars
  • Wolverines
  • Muskrats
  • Minks
  • Otters
  • Beavers
  • Lake and shovelnose sturgeons
  • American eels
  • Black and white crappies
  • Largemouth, rock, smallmouth, white and yellow bass
  • Sunfish and hybrids
  • Muskellunge
  • Northern pikes
  • Burbots
  • Blue, channel, and flathead catfish
  • Saugers
  • Walleyes
  • Yellow perch
  • Paddlefish
  • Atlantic, chinook, coho, kokanee, and pink salmon
  • Brook, brown, lake, and rainbow trout
  • Ciscos
  • Lake whitefish
  • Carp
  • Buffalo fish
  • Suckerfish
  • Sheepsheads
  • Bowfins
  • Gars
  • Goldeyes
  • Bullheads
  • Minnows
  • Leeches
  • Alewives
  • Chubs
  • Lake whitefish
  • Coregoninae
  • Rainbow smelt
  • Frogs
  • Turtles
  • Clams
  • Mussels
  • You may have a pet "regulated animal" if, before 03/02/2005, you qualified and registered the animal or were the animal's parent
  • Permits are required to have pet native frogs. Bullfrogs and Northern leopard frogs are required to be over 6 inches

Mississippi

Laws generally limit the import and export of animals. Possession is generally allowed unless it is specifically not allowed You cannot have a pet alligator in Mississippi. You will need a permit for any other "inherently dangerous" animals

Permits are required for having "inherently dangerous" animals as pets, including:

  • Gibbons
  • Orangutans
  • Chimpanzees
  • Siamangs
  • Gorillas
  • Macaques
  • Mandrills
  • Drills
  • Baboons
  • Gelada baboons
  • Wolves
  • Jackals
  • Dingos
  • Hybrid canis
  • Maned wolves
  • Red dogs
  • African hunting dogs
  • Bears
  • Wolverines
  • Hyenas
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Cougars
  • Elephants
  • Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamuses
  • African buffalo

Missouri

The following out-of-state animals may be possessed without any documentation:

  • Bison
  • Herp
  • Mammals
  • Asian clams

You can possess birds that are not native to the continental U.S., except for ring-necked pheasants and gray partridges, so long as they are not on the U.S. endangered, prohibited, or Species II list

You may possess a "dangerous wild animal" so long as you register it with local law enforcement. "Dangerous wild animals" include:

  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Ocelots
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Margays
  • Mountain lions
  • Canada lynx
  • Bobcats
  • Jaguarundis
  • Hyenas
  • Wolves
  • Coyotes
  • Bears
  • Nonhuman primates
  • Coyotes
  • Any deadly, dangerous, or poisonous reptiles
  • Any deadly or dangerous reptiles over 8 feet long

Some native wildlife may not be kept as pets, including:

  • Skunks
  • Hoofed animals
  • Cooperheads
  • Cottonmouths
  • Timber and pygmy rattlesnakes
  • Massasaugas
  • Wolves and hybrids
  • Black bears

You will need a permit to possess the following "large carnivores," including:

  • Tigers
  • Lions
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Clouded leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Large cat hybrids
  • Non-native bears

You may keep the following native wildlife as pets so long as you have a Wildlife Hobby Permit:

  • Badgers
  • Beavers
  • Bobcats
  • Coyotes
  • Gray and red foxes
  • Groundhogs
  • Minks
  • Muskrats
  • Virginia opossum
  • River otters
  • Ring-necked pheasants
  • Bobwhite quails
  • Eastern cottontail and swamp rabbits
  • Raccoons
  • Eastern gray and fox squirrels
  • Least and long-tailed weasels
Montana

Domestic animals kept as pets do not require a permit, and include:

  • Cattle
  • Horses
  • Mules
  • Asses
  • Sheep
  • Alpacas
  • Bison
  • Swine
  • Ostriches
  • Rheas
  • Emus
  • Goats
  • Dogs
  • Cats
  • Rodents
  • Eurasian ferrets
  • Poultry

The following exotic animals may be kept as pets without a permit:

  • African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Degus
  • Jungle cats
  • Serval cats
  • Sugar gliders
  • Two-toed sloths
  • Bennets and Tammar wallabies
  • Cameroon volcano frogs
  • Eritrea clawed frogs
  • African reed frogs
  • Leptodactylidae frogs
  • Emperor scorpions
  • Tanzanian red claw scorpions
  • Terrestrial hermit crabs
  • Mynahs
  • Toucans
  • Toucanettes
  • Siskins
  • Finches
  • Cardinals
  • Weavers
  • Sesias
  • Tanagers
  • Zosterops
  • Parrots
  • Lories
  • Cockatoos
  • Most non-native Phaisianae except chukar partridges, gray partridges, ring-necked pheasants, and turkeys
  • All tropical fish, subtropical fish, marine fish, common goldfish, and koi
  • Boas
  • Round Island boas
  • Dwarf boas
  • Pythons
  • Modern snakes
  • File and elephant trunk snakes
  • Sunbeam snakes
  • Pipe snakes
  • Shield-tailed snakes
  • Blind snakes
  • Chisel-teeth lizards
  • Worm lizards
  • Limbless lizards
  • Glass and alligator lizards
  • Legless lizards
  • Chameleons
  • Girdle-tailed lizards
  • Casquehead lizards
  • Collared and leopard lizards
  • Eyelid geckos
  • African snake skinks
  • Geckos
  • Beaded lizards and Gila monsters
  • Iguanas
  • Wall lizards
  • Earless monitors
  • Earless, spiny, and horned lizards
  • Anoles
  • Snake lizards
  • Skinks
  • Whiptails
  • Neotropical ground lizards
  • Monitor lizards
  • Night lizards
  • Knob-scaled lizards
  • Harlequin frogs
  • True toads
  • Glass frogs
  • Poison dart frogs
  • Tree frogs
  • Rain frogs
  • Narrow-mouthed toads
  • Spadefoot toads
  • Old-world tree frogs
  • Mexican burrowing frogs
  • Caecilians
  • Mole salamanders
  • Amphiumas
  • Hellbenders
  • Giant salamanders
  • Asian salamanders
  • Woodland salamanders
  • Waterdogs
  • Newts except for rough-skinned newts and Taricha granulosa
  • Sirens
All nonnative tropical and subtropical turtles can be kept as pets without a permit, so long as their shell length is more than 4 inches and they aren't a controlled or prohibited speciesAllowed turtles include:
  • New Guinea softshell turtles
  • Snake-necked turtles
  • Snapping turtles
  • Central American river turtles
  • Pond turtles
  • Mud turtles and musk turtles
  • Hidden-necked turtles
  • Big-headed turtles
  • Tortoises
  • Soft-shelled turtles
  • Wild-caught species of large cats and bears are forbidden as pets

Some wildlife is banned under the rabies control laws, including:

  • Skunk
  • Foxs
  • Bats
  • Raccoons

Other exotic wildlife banned as pets include:

  • African clawed frogs
  • North American bullfrogs
  • Rusty crayfish
  • Bighead, black, grass, and silver carp
  • Eurasian ruffes
  • Round gobies
  • Snakeheads
  • Walking catfish
  • White perch
  • Zanders
  • African natal rats
  • Multimammate mice
  • Argali sheep
  • Brush-tailed possum
  • Short-tailed possum
  • Hyenas
  • Aardwolves
  • Nutrias
  • Small spotted genets
  • Southern flying squirrels
  • Virginia opossum
  • Transcapian urial sheep
  • All monkeys and apes
  • New Zealand mudsnails
  • Quagga mussels
  • Zebra mussels
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles
  • Caimans
  • Red-eared sliders
  • African rock pythons
  • Amethystine pythons
  • Burmese pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Boomslangs
  • Green anacondas
  • Coral snakes
  • Cobras
  • Kraits
  • Mambas
  • Nonnative Viperidae
  • California quail
  • Gambrel's quail
A "wild animal menagerie" permit is required to possess up to 10 captive-born bears or large cats. Permits are required for some controlled exotic wildlife, including:
  • Barbary falcons
  • Taita falcons
  • Brolga falcons
  • Buff-banded and giant wood rails
  • White-breasted waterhens
  • Exotic ducks
  • Geese
  • Swans
  • Cranes: black-crowned, black-necked, common, demoiselle, blue, grey-crowned, hooded, red-crowned, Sarus, Siberian, wattled, white-naped
  • Pacific white shrimp
  • Coho salmon
  • Goldfish
  • Koi
  • Wallaroos

Nebraska

Domestic pets are allowed as pets without a permit, including:

  • Guinea pigs
  • Ferrets
  • Chinchillas

Some animals are banned as pets if acquired after March 1, 1986, including:

  • Wolves
  • Skunks
  • Felines, except domestic cats
  • Bears
  • Hawks
  • Owls
  • Eagles
  • Jackrabbits, including blacktail and whitetail
  • Short-horned lizards
  • Asian raccoon dogs
  • White-tailed deer
  • Mule deer
  • Red deer
  • Wild pigs
  • Bighorn and thinhorn sheep, in certain counties
  • Any wild bird or mammal in need of conservation
  • Any wild bird or mammal listed as an endangered or threatened species

A Captive Wildlife Permit is required to keep certain captive wild birds, mammals, or wildlife, including:

  • Badgers
  • Beavers
  • Gray and red foxes
  • Minks
  • Muskrats
  • Opossum
  • Raccoons
  • River otters
  • Long-tailed weasels
  • Flying squirrels
  • Fox squirrels
  • Gray squirrels
  • Cottontail rabbits
  • Hungarian and Chukar partridges
  • Ringneck or Common pheasants
  • Bobwhite quails
  • Trumpeter swans
  • Crows
  • Sharptail and prairie chick grouse
  • Wild turkeys
  • Bighorn sheep, though restricted in some counties

Nevada

Nevada has a long list of animals that can be kept without permits, including:

  • Canaries
  • Toucans
  • Lovebirds
  • Nonindigenous house finches
  • Parakeets
  • Cockatiels
  • Mynah birds
  • Parrots
  • Hamsters
  • Domesticated races of rats and mice
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • Monkeys and other primates
  • Aquarium fish
  • Marsupials
  • Elephants
  • Felines, except mountain lions and bobcats
  • Wolves lawfully acquired and bred in captivity
  • Camels
  • European ferrets
  • Llamas
  • American bison
  • Marine mammals
  • Ostriches
  • Emus
  • Rheas
  • Nonvenomous, nonindigenous reptile species and subspecies
  • Albino forms of indigenous reptile species
  • Alpacas
  • Guinea fowl
  • Old World species of pheasants, partridges, quails, francolins, peafowl, and jungle fowl, except Chukar partridges, Hungarian partridges, snow cocks; and ring-necked and white, winged pheasants
  • Domesticated turkeys
  • Domesticated races of ducks and geese
  • Domesticated races of chinchillas
  • Domesticated races of minks
  • Yaks
  • Cassowaries
  • Coturnix quail
  • Zebras
  • Saltwater fish, crustaceans, and mollusks
  • Nonindigenous species of amphibians, except bullfrogs
  • African pygmy hedgehogs
  • California kingsnakes that do not have between their head and vent a continuous pattern of bands or rings regardless of whether the bands or rings are opened or closed

Some animals are not allowed as pets in Nevada, including:

  • Wild pigs and hogs
  • Axis deer
  • Red deer elk and wapiti
  • Rusa, Sambar, Sika, Roe, and white-tailed deer
  • Moose
  • Reedbucks
  • Oryxes and gemsboks
  • Addaxes
  • Blesboks, topi, and bonteboks
  • Wild dogs or dhole
  • Raccoon dogs
  • Mongooses
  • Meerkats
  • Wild European rabbits
  • Multimammate rats or mice
  • Bats
  • Nutrias
  • Coyotes
  • Foxes
  • Raccoons
  • Skunks
  • Hartebeests
  • Wildebeest and gnus
  • Chamois
  • Tahrs
  • Ibex, wild goats, turs, and markhors
  • Barbary sheep
  • Mouflon sheep, urials, bighorn, and argali
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles
  • Gharials
  • Bird snakes
  • Boomslangs
  • Keelbacks
  • Burrowing asps
  • Coral snakes, cobras, kraits, mambas, Australian elapids
  • Pit vipers and true vipers, except indigenous species
  • Snapping turtles
  • Giant or marine toads
  • Clawed frogs
  • Pink starlings
  • Rosy pastors
  • Red-billed dioches
  • Red-whiskered bul-buls
  • Lampreys
  • Freshwater stingrays
  • Freshwater sharks
  • Bowfins
  • Gars
  • Herrings and shads, except threadfins and gizzards
  • European whitefish
  • Mexican banded tetras
  • Piranhas
  • South American parasitic catfish
  • White perch
  • Freshwater drums
  • Grass carp, except certified triploids with a permit
  • Pike topminnows
  • Snakeheads
  • Walking catfish
  • Tigerfish
  • Sticklebacks
  • Tilapia
  • Nile perch
  • Goldeyes
  • Carp (various species)
  • Rudds
  • Northern pikes
  • Asian swamp eels
  • New Zealand mudsnails
  • African giant snails
  • Zebra and quagga mussels
  • Crayfish
  • Asiatic mitten crabs

If you were issued a permit or license by the Nevada Department of Wildlife to keep an animal prior to February 28, 1994, you are allowed to keep that animal and its progeny under certain conditions

New Hampshire

New Hampshire does not require a permit to possess "non-controlled" wildlife, including:

  • Ornamental aquarium fish
  • Exotic amphibians
  • Up to five indigenous amphibians
  • Exotic reptiles, except alligators, crocodiles, and venomous reptiles other than Western Hognose snakes
  • Cockatiels
  • Canaries
  • Parrots
  • Parakeets
  • Mynah birds
  • Finches
  • Pekin robins
  • Weavers
  • Toucans
  • Button quail
  • Pigeons, exotic and feral
  • Doves
  • Emus
  • Ostriches
  • Rhea
  • Exotic migratory waterfowl, except mute swans
  • Mallard waterfowl
  • Some gallinaceous birds
  • Chinchillas
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Mice
  • Ferrets
  • Llamas
  • Alpacas
  • Potbelly pigs
  • Rabbits
  • African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Sugar gliders
  • Tenrecs
  • Yaks
  • Camels
  • Asian water buffalo
  • Degus
  • Guanacos
  • Bison
  • Most local marine species

Some animals are prohibited as pets, including:

  • Armadillos
  • Anteaters
  • Badgers
  • Barbary sheep
  • Bears
  • Beavers
  • Wild boars
  • Bobcats
  • Chipmunks
  • Deer
  • Elephants
  • Kangaroos
  • Kinkajous
  • Lemmings
  • Leopards
  • Lions
  • Lynx
  • Mongooses
  • Mouse
  • Muskrat
  • Virginia opossum
  • Prairie dogs
  • Porcupines
  • Primates
  • Raccoons
  • African pouched rats
  • Shrews
  • Skunks
  • Squirrels
  • Flying squirrels
  • Tigers
  • Voles
  • Wallabies
  • Water buffalo
  • Weasels
  • Wolverines
  • Wolves
  • Zebras
  • Zebra mussels
  • Spiny waterfleas
  • Fishhook waterfleas
  • Non-indigenous catfish
  • Asiatic clams
  • Walking catfish
  • White amurs
  • Grass carp
  • Black carp
  • European rudds
  • Round gobies
  • Tubenose gobies
  • Ruffes
  • Snakeheads
  • Bighead carp
  • Silver carp

Permits are required for certain animals, including:

  • American toads
  • Gray treefrogs
  • Spring peepers
  • American bullfrogs
  • Green frogs
  • Pickerel frogs
  • Mink frogs
  • Wood frogs
  • Spotted salamanders
  • Northern two-lined salamanders
  • Northern dusk salamanders
  • Eastern red-backed salamanders
  • Red-spotted newts
  • Musk turtles
  • Painted turtles
  • Snapping turtles
  • Ring-necked snakes
  • Northern watersnakes
  • Brown snakes
  • Red-bellied snakes
  • Garter snakes
  • Ring-necked pheasants
  • Chukar partridges
  • Grey partridges

New Jersey

Some animals may be kept as pets without any permits, including:

  • Budgerigars
  • Cockatiels
  • Peafowl
  • Rock doves
  • Canaries
  • House sparrows
  • European starlings
  • Zebra finches
  • Society finches
  • Ostriches
  • Greater rheas
  • Lesser rheas
  • Emus
  • Hamsters
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • Pigmy goats
  • Mice
  • Rats
  • Chipmunks
  • Red squirrels
  • Flying squirrels
  • Alpacas
  • Guanacos
  • Llamas
  • Bison
  • American anoles
  • Common iguanas
  • Boa constrictors
  • Eastern painted turtles
  • Snapping turtles
  • Fence lizards
  • Garter snakes
  • Tokay geckos
  • Ribbon snakes
  • Leopard frogs
  • Green frogs
  • American toads
  • Fowlers toads
  • Bullfrogs
  • Red newts
  • Dusky salamanders

Prohibited pets include:

  • Any African species
  • Elephants
  • Rhinoceros
  • Tigers
  • Lions
  • Leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Pangolins
  • Marine turtles
  • Rays
  • Monkeys
  • Baboons
  • Apes
  • Non-domestic dogs
  • Bears
  • Non-domestic cats
  • Gila monsters
  • Coral snakes
  • Cobras
  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • Crocodiles
  • Gavials
  • Ring-necked parakeets
  • Monk parakeets
  • Patagonia conures
  • Prairie dogs
  • Ground squirrels

Permits are required for certain animals, including but not limited to:

  • Red-fronted parrots
  • Turquoise-fronted parrots
  • Yellow-cheeked parrots
  • Half-moon conures
  • Jenday parrots
  • African gray parrots
  • Macaws
  • Ferrets
  • Kinkajous
  • Coatimundi
  • European hedgehogs
  • Llamas
  • Exotic sheep
  • Exotic goats
  • Pythons
  • Rat snakes
  • Members of the Bosas family, except boa constrictors
  • King snakes
  • Racers
  • Ringneck snakes
  • Green snakes
  • Collared lizards
  • Monitors
  • Skinks
  • Ameivas
  • Chuckwallas
  • Alligator lizards
  • Geckos other than Tokay Geckos
  • Armadillo lizards

New Mexico

New Mexico does not specifically list any exotic animals that can be kept as pets

Though many New Mexico cities have much more stringent exotic pet laws than at the state level, some animals are forbidden as pets in the state of New Mexico, including:

  • Felines
  • Crocodiles
  • Wolves
  • Alligators
  • Primates

The health department has reserved the authority to place regulations on the following animals as pets:

  • Subhuman primates
  • Captive-born skunks
  • Raccoons
  • Foxes
  • Sylvatic carnivores

New York

New York allows feline hybrids F4 or later as pets without any license or permit.

You can't have the following pets in the state of New York:

  • Any wild animals
  • Nonhuman primates and prosimians
  • All cats and hybrids except domesticated and feral cats
  • All dogs except domesticated dogs and captive bred fennec foxes
  • Bears
  • All venomous snakes
  • Burmese pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • African rock pythons
  • Green anacondas
  • Yellow anacondas
  • Australian amethystine pythons
  • Indian pythons
  • Asiatic monitors
  • Nile monitors
  • Whitethroat monitors
  • Black throat monitors
  • Crocodile monitors
  • Komodo dragons
  • Crocodiles
  • Lions
  • Raccoon dogs
  • Wolfdogs
  • Animals indistinguishable from wolves or coyotes

Animals that are grandfathered in under a Dangerous Wildlife License may be kept as pets

North Carolina

North Carolina does not list any specific animals that can definitively be kept as pets

Possession of dangerous animals is regulated by cities and counties

 

North Dakota

The following animals can be kept as pets in North Dakota without a permit:

  • Arachnids
  • Amphibians
  • Invertebrates
  • Nonvenomous noninjurious reptiles
  • Tropical freshwater fish
  • Gerbils
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Mice
  • Rats
  • Sugar gliders
  • Turkeys, geese, and ducks morphologically distinguishable from wild turkeys, geese, and ducks
  • Pigeons
  • Rabbits
  • Ratites
  • Chinchillas
  • Guinea fowl
  • Ranch foxes
  • Ranch mink
  • Peafowl
  • All pheasants
  • Quail
  • Chukar
  • Hedgehog
  • Degus

North Dakota forbids some animals from being pets, including:

  • Skunks
  • Raccoons
  • Venomous reptiles

License and import permit is required for certain animals, including:

  • Wild pigs
  • Mountain lions
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Cheetahs
  • Bears
  • Wolves
  • Nonvenomous injurious reptiles
  • Primates
  • Non-domestic sheep and goats
  • Deer
  • Pronghorns
  • Zebras
  • Non-domestic cats
  • Waterfowl
  • Shorebirds
  • Some upland game birds
  • Crows
  • Wolverines
  • Bats
  • Otters
  • Martens
  • Fishers
  • Kit or swift foxes
  • Badgers
  • Coyotes
  • Mink
  • Red and gray foxes
  • Muskrats
  • Beavers
  • Weasels
  • Opossums
  • Prairie dogs
  • Ground squirrels
  • Black sheep
  • Hawaiian sheep
  • Corsican sheep
  • Painted desert sheep
  • Multi-horned hair sheep
  • New Mexico dall sheep
  • Texas dall sheep
  • Desert sand sheep

Ohio

Ohio residents cannot have more than four of each species of collectible reptiles or collectible wild, native amphibians. Service spider monkeys are allowed

"Dangerous wild animals" may not be kept as pets, including:

  • Hyenas
  • Pure grey wolves
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Clouded leopards
  • Sundra leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Lynx
  • Cougars
  • Caracals
  • Servals
  • Domestic cat hybrids, except for Savannah cats
  • Bears
  • Elephants
  • Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Cape buffalo
  • African wild dogs
  • Komodo dragons
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles
  • Caimans, except for dwarfs
  • Gharials
  • Nonhuman primates except lemurs
  • Golden lions
  • Black-faced lions
  • Golden-rumped lions
  • Cotton-top tamarins
  • Emperor tamarins
  • Saddlebacked tamarins
  • black-mantled tamarins
  • Geoffrey's tamarins
  • Southern and northern night monkeys
  • Dusky titi and masked titi monkeys
  • Muriquis
  • Goeldi's monkeys
  • White-faced, black-bearded, white-nose bearded, and monk sakis
  • Bald and black uakaris
  • Black-handed, white-bellied, brown-headed, and black spider monkeys
  • Common woolly monkeys
  • Red, black, and mantled howler monkeys
Some invasive species are also prohibited as pets, including:
  • Walking catfish
  • Diploid white amur
  • Diploid grass carp
  • Silver carp
  • Black carp
  • Ruffes
  • Round gobies
  • Snakeheads
  • White perch
  • Three spin sticklebacks
  • Sea lampreys
  • Eastern banded killfish or hybrids
  • Raccoon dogs
  • Marrons
  • Yabbies
  • Zebra mussels
  • Quagga mussels
  • Rudds

Dangerous wild animals were grandfathered in

Lemurs, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, and capuchins require registration

Permits are required for restricted snakes that are 12 feet or longer, including:

  • Yellow anacondas
  • Green anacondas
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Indian pythons
  • Burmese pythons North and South African rock pythons
  • Amethystines

Permits are required for the following restricted snakes of any length:

  • All Atractaspididae
  • All Elapidae
  • All Viperidae
  • Boomslangs
  • Twig snakes

Non-native raccoons may be kept as pets with proper certification of veterinary inspection and proof of legal ownership

Non-domestic animals require an entry permit and a certification of veterinary inspection within 30 days of entry into the state

If you wish to keep and propagate certain animals, even with no intention of selling them, you will need to obtain a "noncommercial propagating license" for the following animals:

  • Game birds
  • Game quadrupeds, except captive white-tailed deer, reptiles, amphibians, and fur-bearing animals

Possessing wild reptiles and amphibians requires detailed records and written permission from the chief of the division of wildlife

Oklahoma

The following animals do not need a license to be kept as pets:

  • Alpacas
  • Guanacos
  • Vicunas
  • Bison
  • Camels
  • Cats, except native cats
  • Cattle
  • Chickens
  • Chinchillas
  • Dogs, except native foxes and coyotes
  • Exotic tropical fish
  • Ferrets, except black-footed, Mustela nigripes
  • Gerbils
  • Goats
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Hedgehogs
  • Horse
  • Donkeys
  • Mules
  • Llamas
  • Domestic mice
  • Native invertebrates, except for crayfish and all freshwater mussels, including Zebra and Asian clams
  • Peafowl
  • Pigeons
  • Migratory waterfowl
  • Pigs, except for javelinas
  • Rabbits, except cottontails, jackrabbits, swamp rabbits, and other native wild rabbits
  • Domesticated rats
  • Saltwater crustaceans and mollusks
  • Sheep, except dall and bighorn sheep
  • Turkeys, except Rio Grande, Eastern, Merriam, and Osceola
  • Zebras
  • Gerboasies
  • Sugar gliders
  • Civets
  • Wallabies
  • Kangaroos
  • Fennec foxes
  • Coatamundi
  • Primates
  • Most monotypic species or reptiles and amphibians not indigenous to Oklahoma

Some imported birds must have legal import documentation, which then excludes them from requiring a license, including:

  • Cockatoos
  • Cockatiels
  • Canaries
  • Macaws
  • Finches
  • Parrots
  • Parakeets
  • Budgerigars
  • Ostriches
  • Rheas
  • Emus

Oklahoma bans certain pets:

  • Native bears over 50 pounds, including black bears
  • Native cats over 50 pounds, including cougars

A Noncommercial Wildlife Breeders License is required to own any wildlife not specifically allowed as pets, including:

  • All venomous reptiles in the Elapidae family, including cobras and coral snakes
  • All venomous reptiles in the Hydrophidae family, including sea snakes
  • All venomous reptiles in the Viperidae family, including vipers
  • All venomous reptiles in the Crotalidae family, including rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths
  • Boomslangs
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards

Oregon

Some exotic animals are not considered to be wild and, thus, can be pets with no permit required, including:

  • Alpacas
  • Guanacos
  • Llamas
  • Asses
  • Burros
  • Donkeys
  • Bison
  • Camels
  • Domestic cats
  • Cattle
  • Yaks
  • Chinchillas
  • Domestic dogs
  • European rabbits
  • Ferrets
  • Gerbils
  • Goats
  • Guinea pigs
  • Common hamsters
  • Horses
  • House mice
  • Mules
  • Mute swans, so long as males are neutered and all are surgically pinioned
  • Hinnies
  • Rats
  • Sheep
  • Swine
  • Vicunas
  • Cassowaries
  • Chickens
  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Emus
  • Guinea fowl
  • Ostriches
  • Parrots
  • Parakeets
  • Lories
  • Cockatoos
  • Peafowl
  • Pigeons
  • Rock doves
  • Rheas
  • Turkeys

Oregon lists some wildlife as "noncontrolled," and, thus, these pets do not require a permit:

  • Antelope
  • Buffalo
  • Giraffes
  • Okapi
  • Pygmy hippopotamuses
  • Hippopotamuses
  • Peccaries
  • Chevrotains
  • Aardwolves
  • Seals
  • Sea lions
  • Red/lesser pandas
  • Olingos
  • Coatimundis
  • Kinkajous
  • Binturongs
  • Whales
  • Dolphins
  • Old World fruit bats
  • Numbats
  • Flying lemurs
  • Short-tailed opossum
  • Feathertail gliders
  • Kangaroos
  • Wallabies
  • Striped possum
  • Sugar gliders
  • Cuscuses
  • Four-toed hedgehogs
  • Dry county bandicoots
  • Rainforest bandicoots
  • Zebras
  • Asses
  • Rhinoceros
  • Tapirs
  • Pangolins
  • Tree-toed sloths
  • Two-toed tree sloths
  • Anteaters
  • Elephants
  • Scaly-tailed squirrels
  • Maras
  • Hutias
  • Dwarf hamsters
  • Pacas
  • Agoutis
  • Acouchis
  • Pacaranas
  • Prehistoric-tailed porcupines
  • Spiny mice
  • Bushy-tailed cloud rats
  • African giant pouched rats
  • African white-tailed rats
  • Slender tailed rats
  • Degus
  • South African springhares
  • Prevost's squirrels
  • African palm squirrels
  • Pygmy flying squirrels
  • Old palm squirrels
  • Giant squirrels
  • Manatees
  • Aardvarks
  • Senegal thick-knees
  • Water thick-knees
  • Mousebirds
  • Collies
  • Blue-winged kookaburras
  • Woodland kingfishers
  • African pygmy kingfishers
  • Hornbills
  • Rollers
  • Bee-eaters
  • Motmots
  • White-browed coucals
  • Pheasant coucals
  • Senegal coucals
  • Greater coucals
  • Turacos
  • Plaintain eaters
  • Go-away birds
  • Curassows
  • Guans
  • Chachalacas
  • Megapodes
  • Trumpeters
  • Buttonquails
  • Hemipodes
  • Orange-breasted bunting
  • Cotingas
  • Red-crested finches
  • Pileated finch
  • Yellow-breasted buntings
  • Golden-breasted buntings
  • Yellow cardinals
  • Black-crested finches
  • Crested buntings
  • Yellow-billed cardinals
  • Red-crested cardinals
  • Black-capped warbling finches
  • Saffron finches
  • Double-collared seedeaters
  • Rusty-collared seedeaters
  • Parrot-billed seedeaters
  • Slate-colored seedeaters
  • Swallow tanagers
  • Cuban grassquits
  • Blue-black grassquits
  • Waxbills
  • Mannikins
  • Munlans
  • Broadbills
  • Black siskins
  • Linnets
  • European goldfinches
  • Red siskins
  • Hooded siskins
  • Yellow-breasted greenfinches
  • European siskins
  • Yellow-rumped siskins
  • Yellow-bellied siskins
  • Yellow-billed grosbeaks
  • Oriole finches
  • Brown bullfinches
  • Eurasian bullfinches
  • Black-throated island canaries
  • Island canaries
  • Yellow-crowned canaries
  • White-rumped seedeaters
  • Yellow-fronted canaries
  • European serins
  • Long-tailed rosefinches
  • Troupials
  • Allies
  • Leafbirds
  • Fairy bluebirds
  • Honeyeaters
  • Old World flycatchers
  • Sudan sparrows
  • Red-headed weavers
  • Yellow-crowned widowbirds
  • Red-collared widowbirds
  • Black-winged bishops
  • Jackson's widowbirds
  • Yellow-shouldered widowbirds
  • Red bishops
  • Long-tailed widowbirds
  • Red fodies
  • Orange weavers
  • Village weavers
  • Lesser masked weavers
  • Little weavers
  • Baya weavers
  • Vitelline-masked weavers
  • Speckle-fronted weavers
  • Scaly weavers
  • Sugarbirds
  • Golden-crested mynas
  • Violet-backed starlings
  • Emerald starlings
  • Golden-breasted starlings
  • Common hill mynas
  • Long-tailed glossy-starlings
  • Bronze-tailed glossy-starlings
  • Greater blue-eared glossy-starlings
  • Lesser blue-eared glossy-starlings
  • Hildebrandt's starlings
  • Chestnut-bellied starling
  • Purple-headed glossy-starlings
  • Purple glossy-starlings
  • Rueppell's glossy-starlings
  • Splendid glossy-starlings
  • Superb starlings
  • Bali mynas
  • Golden mynas
  • Yellow-faced mynas
  • Tanagers
  • Allies
  • Babblers
  • White-eyes
  • Barbets
  • Toucans
  • Penguins
  • Tinamous
  • Trogons
  • Allophrynid tree frogs
  • Hairy frogs
  • Cane toads
  • African tree toads
  • Live-bearing toads
  • Glass frogs
  • Poison arrow frogs
  • Ghost frogs
  • Shovel-nosed frogs
  • Leaf frogs
  • Casque-headed frogs
  • Water-holding frogs
  • Marsupial frogs
  • Marbled tree frogs
  • Australian giant tree frogs
  • Slender-legged tree frogs
  • Cuban tree frogs
  • White's tree frogs
  • Golden-eyed tree frogs
  • Monkey frogs
  • Burrowing frogs
  • Casque-headed tree frogs
  • Shovel-headed tree frogs
  • Banana frogs
  • Reed frogs
  • Running frogs
  • Forest tree frogs
  • New Zealand frogs
  • Common horned frogs
  • Rain or robber frogs
  • Paraguay horned toads
  • Asian horned toads
  • Tomato frogs
  • Narrow-mouthed frogs
  • Sheep frogs
  • Malaysian narrow-mouthed frogs
  • Tusked frogs
  • Pouched frogs
  • Giant burrowing frogs
  • Cannibal frogs
  • Turtle frogs
  • Australian spadefoot toads
  • Browned toadlets
  • Gastric brooding frogs
  • Torrent frogs
  • Australian toadlets
  • Parsley frogs
  • Dwarf clawed frogs
  • Surinam frogs
  • Mantella frogs
  • Foam nest tree frogs
  • Gliding or flying frogs
  • Tonkin bug-eyed frogs
  • Mexican burrowing frogs
  • Seychelles frogs
  • Axoloti
  • Gold-striped salamanders
  • Black-spotted and striped newts
  • Spectacled salamanders
  • Caecilians
  • Worm lizards
  • Pricklenapes
  • Rainbow iguanas
  • Frilled dragons
  • Humphead forest dragons
  • Sailfin lizards
  • Anglehead forest dragons
  • Splendid japalures
  • Water dragons
  • Bearded dragons
  • Mastigures
  • Strange agamas
  • Chameleons
  • Geckos
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards
  • Iguana lizards
  • Asian grass lizards
  • Skinks
  • Ameivas
  • Tegus
  • Monitor lizards
  • Night lizards
  • American knob-scaled lizards
  • File snakes
  • All nonnative pythons and boas
  • Milk, pine, corn rat, garter snakes
  • Kingsnakes
  • Gopher snakes
  • Egyptian cobras
  • Black and white cobras
  • Red spitting cobras
  • King cobras
  • Bush vipers
  • Gaboon vipers
  • Rhinoceros vipers
  • Horned vipers
  • Rattlesnakes
  • Saw-scaled vipers
  • Bushmasters
  • False horned vipers
  • Pygmy rattlesnakes
  • Pignoise turtles
  • Austro-American side-necked turtles
  • Marine turtles
  • River turtles
  • Leatherback turtles
  • Sand and box turtles
  • American mud and musk turtles
  • Bighead turtles
  • Tortoises
  • Softshell tortoises

Oregon prohibits "exotic animal" pets unless the owner obtained a valid Oregon exotic animal permit prior to 2010. No new permits are being issued. Exotic animals include:

  • Non-human primates
  • Bears, except the American black bear
  • Non-indigenous canines that are not domestic or domestic hybrids
  • Non-indigenous felines that are not domestic or domestic hybrids
  • Skunks
  • Crocodilians

Oregon will honor USDA permits obtained on "exotic animals" as well as permits issued prior to 2010

Oregon allows disabled people to own service monkeys as pets

Falcons and hawks are only allowed with a falconry permit

Oregon allows some native nongame wildlife to be held as pets, but you must have a valid Wildlife Holding Permit and are limited to three per household. Native nongame wildlife includes:

  • Northwestern salamanders
  • Long-toed salamanders
  • Pacific giant salamanders
  • Ensatinas
  • Western red-backed salamanders
  • Rough-skinned newts
  • Pacific treefrog or Pacific chorus frogs
  • Northern alligator lizards
  • Southern alligator lizards
  • Western skinks
  • Northern sagebrush lizards
  • Western fence lizards
  • Common side-blotched lizards
  • Western rattlesnakes, excluding those in Willamette Valley
  • Pacific gopher snakes
  • Western terrestrial garter snakes
  • Northwestern garter snakes
  • Common garter snakes
  • North American porcupines
  • Long-tailed voles
  • Montane voles
  • Creeping voles
  • Ermines
  • Long-tailed weasels
  • bushy-tailed woodrats
  • Dusky-footed woodrats
  • Deer mice
  • Great basin pocket mice
  • Coast moles
  • Northern pocket gophers
  • California ground squirrels
  • Belding's ground squirrels
  • Brush rabbits
  • Douglas's squirrels

The following animals are considered "prohibited" and cannot be kept as pets without a Prohibited Species Permit:

  • Chamois
  • Tahrs
  • Wildebeests
  • Central Asian gazelles
  • Wild boars
  • Foxes
  • Wild dogs
  • Mongooses
  • North American otters
  • Asian small-clawed otters
  • Civets
  • Genets
  • Bats
  • Nine-banded armadillos
  • Broad-footed marsupial mice
  • Brush-tailed marsupial mice
  • Dunnants
  • Virginia opossum
  • Common brushtails
  • Common ringtails
  • Eurasian hedgehogs
  • Hares
  • Jackrabbits
  • Cottontails
  • Argentine Plains visachas
  • Chinese jumping mice
  • Desert jerboas
  • Kangaroo rats
  • Pale kangaroo mice
  • Pocket mice
  • Capybaras
  • Old World porcupines
  • Mouselike hamsters
  • Ratlike hamsters
  • Bushy-tailed jirds
  • Nutrias
  • Fat dormice
  • Antelope ground squirrels
  • Tricolored squirrels
  • Prairie dogs
  • Southern flying squirrels
  • Marmots
  • Giant flying squirrels
  • Eastern gray squirrels
  • Eastern fox squirrels
  • Eurasian red squirrels
  • Ground squirrels
  • Chipmunks
  • African ground squirrels
  • Egyptian geese
  • Spotted thick-knees
  • Kingfishers
  • Laughing kookaburras
  • Yellowhammers
  • European greenfinches
  • Chaffinches
  • Tiger salamanders
  • Amphiumas
  • Giant salamanders
  • Hellbenders
  • American giant salamanders
  • Asian salamanders
  • Shovel-nosed salamanders
  • Waterdogs
  • Firebelly newts
  • European Mountain or Brook salamanders
  • Caucasus or spine-tailed salamanders
  • Red-spotted or Eastern newts
  • Chinese newts
  • Warty newts
  • Ribbed newts
  • Fire salamanders
  • Roughskin newts
  • Alpine newts
  • Crocodile newts
  • Sirens
  • Fire-bellied toads
  • True toads
  • Midwife toads
  • Painted frogs
  • Cricket frogs
  • European tree frogs
  • Cope's gray tree frogs
  • Green tree frogs
  • Mediterranean tree frogs
  • Gray tree frogs
  • Chorus frogs
  • Australian froglets
  • Australian swamp frogs
  • Barred frogs
  • Spadefoot toads
  • Asians clawed frogs
  • African bullfrogs
  • Siberian frogs
  • Khabarovsk frogs
  • Crawfish frogs
  • Swedish swamp frogs
  • Asian frog
  • Rio Grande leopard frog
  • Plains leopard frogs
  • Caucasus frogs
  • Inkiapo frogs
  • Toudaohe frogs
  • Green frogs
  • Spring frogs
  • Dybowski's frogs
  • River frogs
  • Stream frogs
  • Pig frogs
  • Turkish frogs
  • Iberian frogs
  • Agile frogs
  • Italian agile frogs
  • Kokorit or Taipa frogs
  • Brusa frogs
  • Nikko frogs
  • Pickerel frogs
  • Mink frogs
  • Wood frogs
  • Tago frogs
  • European common frogs
  • Tasushia frogs
  • Carpenter frogs
  • Snapping turtles
  • Chinese pond turtles
  • Pond turtles
  • Painted turtles
  • European pond turtles
  • Blanding's turtles
  • Map turtles
  • Asian pond turtles
  • Pond sliders
  • Common musk turtles
  • Common mud turtles
  • North American soft shells
  • Slow worm
  • Armored glass lizards
  • Sand lizards
  • Jeweled lizards
  • Iberian Mountain lizards
  • Meadow lizards
  • Iberian emerald lizards
  • Balkan emerald lizards
  • Emerald lizards
  • Viviparous lizards
  • Erhard's wall lizards
  • Iberian wall lizards
  • Crocodile lizards
  • Brown tree snakes
  • Cape cobras
  • Copperheads
  • Cottonmouths
  • Puff adders
  • Lanceheads
  • Palm pit vipers
  • Rattlesnakes
  • Mid-east vipers
  • Pygmy rattlesnakes
  • Asian pit vipers
  • Wagler's palm vipers
  • Sand vipers
  • Bowfins
  • Piranhas
  • Caribes
  • Walking catfish
  • Oriental weatherfish
  • Ides
  • Rudds
  • Asian carp
  • Black carp
  • Snakeheads
  • Round goby
  • Ruffes
  • Sanders
  • Pike-perch
  • Pikes
  • Pickerels
  • Muskellunges
  • Asian clams
  • Zebra mussels
  • Quagga mussels
  • Japanese oyster drills
  • Chinese mystery snails
  • Japanese mystery snails
  • Chinese mitten crabs
  • Blue crabs

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania does not specifically list any exotic pets which are legal to own without a permit

Pennsylvania does not specifically list exotic pets that are illegal to own

You must have an Exotic Wildlife Possession permit to have an exotic pet, which includes:

  • Bears
  • Coyotes
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Cougars
  • Wolves
  • Hybrids

Timber rattlesnakes and Eastern copperheads may be kept as pets only if legally collected from the wild and require a Venomous Snake Permit. Pet owners are limited to one Timber Rattlesnake

Rhode Island

The following animals may be kept without a permit, including:

  • Alpacas
  • Common coturnix
  • Domestic camels
  • Domestic cats
  • Domestic cattle
  • Domestic chickens
  • Domestic dogs
  • Domestic mallard ducks
  • Domestic equines
  • Domestic goats
  • Domestic guinea fowl
  • Domestic hamsters
  • Domestic rabbits, except European and San Juan rabbits
  • Domestic sheep
  • Domestic swine
  • Domestic turkeys
  • Domestic water buffalo
  • Domestic yaks
  • Guinea pigs
  • Lab mice
  • Lab rats
  • Llamas
  • Mongolian gerbils
  • Peafowl
  • African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Captive-bred chinchillas
  • Deer mice
  • White-footed mice
  • Degus
  • Egyptian spiny mice
  • House mice
  • Jerboas
  • Norway rats
  • Pacas
  • Common captive-bred hamsters
  • Sugar gliders
  • Non-native, exotic amphibians, if kept securely indoors
  • Most exotic turtles that aren't specifically prohibited
  • Red-eared slider turtles, if kept securely indoors
  • Most invertebrates, unless specifically prohibited
  • Aquarium trade fish that aren't specifically prohibited
  • Exotic boas and pythons that don't specifically require a permit
  • Shield-tale snakes
  • Sunbeam snakes
  • Worm snakes
  • Thread snakes
  • Asian rat snakes
  • Bird snakes or puffing snakes
  • Brown and redbelly snakes
  • Glossy snakes
  • Gopher and pine snakes
  • Green snakes
  • House snakes
  • Kingsnakes
  • Milk snakes
  • Mole snakes
  • North American rat snakes
  • Texas indigo snakes
  • Tropical rat snakes
  • Water snakes
  • Western hognose snakes
  • Skinks
  • False club-tailed lizards
  • Girdle-tailed lizard
  • Plated lizards
  • Rock lizards
  • Most teiids that don't specifically require a permit
  • Acanthodactyls, Galliotia, Podarcis, and Psammodromus lacertid lizards
  • Alligator lizards
  • Glass lizards
  • Slowworms
  • All geckos except Big Bend geckos
  • Basilisks lizards
  • Collard and leopard lizards
  • Common or green iguanas
  • False or spring-tailed iguanas
  • New World chameleons
  • Spiny lizards
  • Tree and bush lizards
  • Zebra-tailed lizards
  • Water dragon lizards
  • All night lizards except Utah night lizards
  • Old World chameleons
  • Blue or button quails
  • Pigeons
  • Doves
  • Waxbills and allies
  • Finches and allies
  • Most weaver finches, unless they specifically require a permit
  • Parrots and allies
  • Toucans
  • Anacaris
  • Toucanets
  • Most starlings, unless they specifically require a permit
  • Mynahs

Rhode Island specifically prohibits some animals from being pets, including:

  • Wild carnivores and hybrids for which there is no USDA licenses rabies vaccine
  • Non-human primates
  • Mute swans
  • Mudpuppies
  • American bullfrogs
  • Zebra mussels
  • Spiny waterfleas
  • Fishhook waterfleas
  • Non-indigenous crayfish
  • Asiatic clams
  • Grass carp or white amurs
  • Rudds
  • Walking catfish
  • Snakeheads
  • Black carp
  • Round gobies
  • Tubenose gobies
  • Ruffes
  • Eastern American toads
  • Eastern red-backed salamanders
  • Eastern spadefoots
  • Four-toed salamanders
  • Fowler's toads
  • Gray treefrogs
  • Marbled salamanders
  • Northern dusky salamanders
  • Northern green frogs
  • Northern leopard frogs
  • Northern spring salamanders
  • Northern two-lined salamanders
  • Pickerel frogs
  • Red-spotted newts
  • Spotted salamanders
  • Spring peepers
  • Wood frogs
  • Eastern box turtles
  • Eastern musk turtles
  • Eastern painted turtles
  • Eastern snapping turtles
  • Northern diamond-backed terrapins
  • Spotted turtles
  • Wood turtles
  • Common ribbonsnakes
  • Common watersnakes
  • Eastern gartersnakes
  • Eastern hog-nosed snakes
  • Eastern milksnakes
  • Eastern ratsnakes
  • Northern black racers
  • Northern brownsnakes
  • Northern red-bellied snakes
  • Northern ring-necked snakes
  • Smooth greensnakes
  • Timber rattlesnakes
  • American beavers
  • American minks
  • Big brown bats
  • Black bears
  • Bobcats
  • Common muskrats
  • Eastern chipmunks
  • Eastern cottontails
  • Eastern coyotes
  • Eastern gray squirrels
  • Eastern moles
  • Eastern red bats
  • Fisher bats
  • Gray foxes
  • Hairy-tailed moles
  • Hoary bats
  • Little brown bats
  • Long-tailed weasels
  • Masked shrews
  • Meadow voles
  • Moose
  • New England cottontails
  • Northern long-eared bats
  • Northern short-tailed shrews
  • Porcupines
  • Raccoons
  • Red foxes
  • Red squirrels
  • River otters
  • Short-tailed weasels
  • Silver-haired bats
  • Small-footed bats
  • Smoky shrews
  • Snowshoe hares
  • Southern bog lemmings
  • Southern flying squirrels
  • Southern red-backed voles
  • Star-nosed moles
  • Striped skunks
  • Tri-colored bats
  • Virginia opossum
  • Water shrews
  • White-footed mice
  • White-tailed deer
  • Woodchucks
  • Woodland jumping mice
  • Woodland voles

Ferrets may be kept as pets, so long as a permit is acquired within two weeks of acquiring the animal

Certain exotic animal species require an Exotic Animal Possess Permit, including:

  • Argentina or Chaco tortoises
  • Gopher tortoises
  • Pancake tortoises
  • All venomous snakes
  • Emerald tree boas
  • Green tree pythons
  • African rock pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Anacondas
  • Gila monsters
  • Beaded lizards
  • Monitors
  • Brown waters teiid
  • Earless teiids
  • Rough teiids
  • Snake teiids
  • Spectacled teiids
  • Worm teiids
  • Big Bend geckos
  • Red-billed finches
  • Black-fronted finches
  • Sudan dioch finches
  • Monk parakeets
  • Pink starlings
  • Rosy pastors
  • Native and exotic cervids
South Carolina

Ferrets may be owned as pets

Certain exotic animals cannot be kept as pets, including:

  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Snow leopards
  • Non-native bears
  • Chimpanzees
  • Gorillas
  • Orangutans

Prohibited animals may be grandfathered in if they were registered with Animal Control by 01/01/2018

South Dakota

Some domestic mammals that can breed with free-roaming wild elk, sheep, and goats may only be kept east of the Missouri River. These include:

  • Red deer
  • Sika deer
  • Sambar
  • Pere David's deer
  • Axis deer
  • Mouflons
  • Argali
  • Urials
  • Blue sheep
  • Auodads
  • Barbary sheep
  • Hybrids of any of the above

Raccoon dogs and free-roaming wildlife may not be kept as pets

A Possession Permit is required for non-domestic animals, including:

  • Felidae family
  • Canidae family
  • Ursidae family
  • Mustelidae family
  • Hyanidae family
  • Tapiridae family
  • Rhinocerotidae family
  • All artiodactyla
  • African elephants
  • Asian elephants
  • Primates
Tennessee

Class III animals do not require any special permits or paperwork to be kept as pets, including:

  • Nonpoisonous reptiles and amphibians, except caimans and gavials
  • Gerbils
  • Hamsters
  • Guinea pigs
  • Rats
  • Mice
  • Squirrels
  • Chipmunks
  • Rabbits
  • Hares
  • Moles
  • Shrews
  • Ferrets
  • Chinchillas
  • Llamas
  • Alpacas
  • Guanacos, vicunas
  • Camels
  • Giraffes
  • Bison
  • Avian species not otherwise listed, excluding North American game birds, ostriches, and cassowary
  • Semi-domestic hogs
  • Sheep
  • Goats
  • All aquarium fish
  • Bovidae not otherwise listed
  • Marsupials
  • Common domestic farm animals
  • Equidae
  • Primates not otherwise listed
  • Bobcat and domestic cat hybrids
  • Captive-bred elk not within the eastern grand division of the state
  • Cervidae, except for white-tailed deer and wild elk
  • Hybrids resulting from a cross between a Class II and a domestic animal or Class III species

Class IV animals may not be kept as pets, including:

  • Black bears
  • White-tailed deer
  • Wild turkeys
  • Hybrids of a Class IV species, other than a bobcat

Tennessee separates animals into classes. To have a Class I pet, you will need to provide information to the state and obtain a permit. Class I animals include:

  • Wolves
  • Bears
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Cougars
  • Elephants
  • Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamuses
  • African buffalo
  • Crocodiles
  • Alligators
  • All poisonous snakes
Tennessee considers all native animals not listed in any other class to be Class II animals. Pet owners must have papers providing the wildlife supplier and the date of acquisition
Texas

If an animal isn't banned or required to have a permit, it can be held as a pet. However, no person can possess more than six of any kind of animal, and no more than 25 nongame wildlife animals at any given time. Captive-bred coatimundi may be kept as pets, but proof of legal acquisition is required. Permits are not required in any county west of the Pecos River with a population under 25,000

Some pets are banned in Texas, including:

  • Wolves
  • Bats
  • Diamondback terrapins
  • Indigenous birds
Endangered species cannot be kept as petsInvasive species of fish and shellfish are banned

Owners must have a Certificate of Registration (CPR) to own "dangerous wild animals," including:

  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Ocelots
  • Cougars
  • Leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Jaguars
  • Bobcats
  • Lynx
  • Bears
  • Coyotes
  • Jackals
  • Baboons
  • Chimpanzees
  • Orangutans
  • Gorillas
  • Hybrids

Pet owners must have a Residential Controlled Exotic Snake Permit for the following snakes:

  • Exotic venomous snakes
  • African rock pythons
  • Asiatic rock pythons
  • Green anacondas
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Southern African pythons

Keeping a pet alligator requires a special permit from the Department of Parks and Wildlife

Utah

Some domestic species of animals may be kept without any permits, though there may be limits on the number of pets kept, including:

  • Alligators
  • Aquarium fish purchased from a legal source
  • Brine shrimp, within certain rules
  • Alpacas
  • Asses or donkeys
  • American bison
  • Camels
  • Cassowaries
  • Domestic cat breeds recognized by The International Cat Association as Preliminary New, Advanced New, Non-championship, and Championship breeds
  • Cattle
  • Chicken
  • Chinchillas
  • Domestic dogs, including hybrids between wild and domestic species and subspecies
  • Domesticated ducks morphologically distinguishable
  • Domesticated elk
  • Emus
  • Ferrets or polecats
  • Fowl
  • Foxes that are privately owned, domestically bred, and raised
  • Domesticated geese
  • Gerbils
  • Goats
  • Hamsters
  • Hedgehogs
  • Horses
  • Llamas
  • American minks
  • House mice
  • Mules and hinnies
  • Ostriches
  • Peafowl
  • Guinea pigs
  • Pigeons
  • European rabbits
  • Norway and black rats
  • Rheas
  • Sheep
  • Sugar gliders
  • Domesticated swine
  • Tenrecs
  • Privately owned, pen-raised domestic turkeys
  • Water buffalo
  • Yaks, zebus, or brahmas

Certain animals cannot be kept as pets, including:

  • Tigers
  • Lions
  • Cougars
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Cheetahs
  • Ocelots
  • Lynx
  • Servals
  • Bison
  • Bighorn sheep
  • Elks
  • Mule deer
  • Moose
  • Pronghorn antelopes
  • Rocky mountain goats
  • Albert's squirrels
  • Prairie dogs
  • Merriam kangaroo rats
  • Desert rats
  • Ringtails
  • Cottontail and snowshoe rabbits
  • Weasels
  • Skunks
  • Martens
  • Minks
  • Black-footed ferrets
  • Banded Gila monsters
  • Desert iguanas
  • Glen Canyon and Western chuckwallas
  • Desert glossy snakes
  • Mojave Desert sidewinders
  • Mojave rattlesnakes
  • Sonoran lyre snakes
  • Speckled rattlesnakes
  • Utah milk snakes
  • Utah mountain kingsnakes
  • Desert tortoises
  • Coyotes
  • Wolves
  • Dingos
  • Foxes
  • Jackals
  • African wild dogs
  • Bears
  • Bats
  • River otters
  • Badgers
  • Primates
  • Venomous fish
  • Piranhas

A Certificate of Registration is required for certain "prohibited" or "controlled" species, including:

  • Desert night lizards
  • Mojave zebra-tailed lizards
  • Utah banded geckos
  • Utah night lizards
  • California kingsnakes
  • Great Plains rat snakes
  • Mojave patch-nosed snakes
  • Utah blind snakes
  • Western rattlesnakes
Vermont

Vermont keeps an Unrestricted Wild Animals List containing animals that can be kept as pets without permits, including:

  • Sugar gliders
  • Agoutis
  • Domestic cat hybrids F4 or later
  • Hamsters
  • Gerbils
  • Domesticated mice and rats
  • Captive-bred African pygmy hedgehogs
  • Pigeons
  • Alligator lizards
  • Collared lizards
  • Tegus
  • Monitors
  • Geckos
  • Many kinds of boas and pythons

Some pets are prohibited, including:

  • Feral swine
  • Wild boars
  • Wild hogs
  • Wild swine
  • Feral pigs
  • Feral hogs
  • Old world swine
  • Razorbacks
  • Eurasian wild boars
  • Russian wild boars

Permits are required to keep wild birds and certain animals, including:

  • Mole salamanders
  • Hellbenders
  • American giant salamanders
  • Northern dusky salamanders
  • Eastern newts
  • Canary Island lizards
  • Water pythons
  • Anacondas
  • Russell's sand boas
  • Burmese pythons
  • Reticulated pythons
  • Brown tree snakes
  • False vipers
  • False water cobras
  • Eastern milk snakes
  • Crayfish
  • Hobo spiders
  • Recluse spiders
  • Bark scorpions
  • Five-keeled gold scorpions
  • Yellow-legged creeping scorpions
Virginia

Domesticated animals may be kept as pets without permits, including:

  • Dogs, including wolf hybrids
  • Cats, including hybrids with wild felines
  • Horses, including hybrids
  • Asses
  • Burros
  • Donkeys
  • Cattle
  • Sheep, including hybrids with wild sheep
  • Goats
  • Swine, including pot-bellied pigs and excluding any wild swine
  • Llamas
  • Alpacas
  • Camels
  • Hamsters
  • Minks, where adults are heavier than 1.15 kilograms or their coat color can be distinguished from wild mink
  • Guinea pigs
  • Gerbils
  • Chinchillas
  • Rats
  • Mice
  • European rabbits
  • Chickens
  • Turkeys
  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Pigeons
  • Guinea fowl
  • Peafowl
  • Native or naturalized albino amphibians or albino reptiles

Virginia does not specifically prohibit any animals from being pets. However, permits may be difficult to obtain

A permit is required for certain exotic animals, including:

  • Pigs
  • Hogs
  • Wild dogs
  • Wolves
  • Coyotes
  • Jackals
  • Foxes
  • Bears
  • Raccoons
  • Weasels
  • Badgers
  • Skunks
  • Otters
  • Ferrets
  • Mongooses
  • Hyenas
  • Aardwolves
  • Bats
  • Prairie dogs
  • Alligators
  • Crocodiles
  • Caimans
  • Gavials
  • Brown tree snakes
  • Cane toads
  • African dwarf frogs
  • African clawed frogs
  • Mole salamanders
  • Monk parakeets
  • Mute swans
  • Modoc suckers
  • Warner suckers
  • Darters
  • Round goby
  • Piranhas
  • Walking catfish
  • Swamp eels
Washington

Washington does not specifically list any allowed exotic pets but does list pets that are prohibited

Washington prohibits certain animals as pets for different reasons. Washington considers certain animals too dangerous to keep as pets, including:

  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Captive-bred cougars
  • Bobcats
  • Jaguars
  • Cheetahs
  • Leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Clouded leopards
  • Wolves
  • Bears
  • Hyenas
  • Rhinoceros
  • Non-human primates
  • Elephants
  • Elks
  • Atractaspidae
  • Dispholidus
  • Cobras
  • Mambas
  • Kraits
  • Coral snakes
  • Australian tiger snakes
  • Sea snakes
  • Water monitors
  • Crocodile monitors
  • Rattlesnakes
  • Cottonmouths
  • Bushmasters
  • Puff adders
  • Gaboon vipers
  • Crocodiles
  • Alligators
  • Caimans
  • Gavials

Some animals are banned as pets because they are deleterious to the environment, including:

  • Mute swans
  • Mongooses
  • Wild boars
  • Javelinas
  • Chamois
  • Wild goats
  • Wild sheep
  • Wildebeests
  • Reindeer
  • Fallow deer

Due to rabies, the following animals cannot be kept as pets:

  • Bats
  • Skunks
  • Foxes
  • Raccoons
  • Coyotes

Washington does not have possession permits for pets

West Virginia

Unless an animal is specifically banned in West Virginia, it can be kept without a permit, so long as it isn't considered a wild animal or wild bird

Dangerous animals may not be pets unless grandfathered in. These animals include:

  • Hyenas
  • Gray wolves
  • Lions
  • Tigers
  • Jaguars
  • Leopards
  • Clouded leopards
  • Sunda clouded leopards
  • Snow leopards
  • Cheetahs and domestic hybrids
  • Lynxes and domestic hybrids
  • Cougars and domestic hybrids
  • Caracals and domestic hybrids
  • Bears, except black bears
  • Elephants
  • Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamus
  • Cape buffalo
  • African wild dogs
  • Komodo dragons
  • Nonhuman primates except:
    • Lemurs
    • Tamarins
    • Night monkeys
    • Titi monkeys
    • Muriquis
    • Goeldi's monkeys
    • Sakis
    • Uakaris
    • Spider monkeys
    • Common wooly monkeys
    • Howler monkeys
    • Raccoon
    • Fox skunk

Permits may be obtained for dangerous non-native wild animals owned prior to 06/01/2015. Pet Permits are needed to keep wild animals or birds acquired from a commercial dealer

Wisconsin

No permit is required to have some wild animal pets, including:

  • Arthropods
  • Chipmunks
  • Pocket gophers
  • Mice
  • Moles
  • Mollusks
  • Opossums
  • Pigeons
  • Porcupine
  • Rats
  • Shrews
  • English sparrows
  • Starlings
  • Ground squirrels
  • Red squirrels
  • Voles
  • Weasels

Some animals are prohibited as pets, including:

  • Cougars
  • Bears
  • Wild swine
  • Mute swans
  • Wolves and hybrids
  • Nonnative wild ducks, geese, and swans
  • Wild or native amphibians
  • Wild or native reptiles
Wisconsin does not have exotic pet permits
Wyoming

Some domesticated animals may be kept as pets without permits, including:

  • Cage and aviary birds
  • Chickens
  • Emus
  • Greylag geese
  • Guinea fowl
  • Mallard ducks
  • Muscovy ducks
  • Ostriches
  • Peafowl
  • Pigeons
  • Rheas
  • Swan geese
  • Turkeys
  • Predacious birds
  • Alpacas
  • Asses
  • Burros
  • Donkeys
  • Bison
  • Camels
  • Cats
  • Cattle
  • Chinchillas
  • Dogs
  • Ferrets
  • Gerbils
  • Goats
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Horses
  • Ponies
  • Llamas
  • Mice
  • Mules
  • Hinnies
  • European rabbits
  • Rats
  • Sheep
  • Swine
  • Vicunas
  • Yaks
  • Coyotes
  • Jackrabbits
  • Porcupines
  • Skunks
  • Raccoons
  • Red foxes

Some animals may be taken from the wild without permits and held as pets so long as they are securely confined, including:

  • Columbia spotted frogs
  • Wood frogs
  • Western toads
  • Wyoming toads
  • Northern trees lizards
  • Great Basin gopher snakes
  • Midget faded rattlesnakes
  • Black Hills red-bellied snakes
  • Northern rubber boas
  • Pale milksnakes
  • Smooth greensnakes
  • Plains box turtles
  • Rock pigeons
  • Eurasian collared doves
  • European starlings
  • Mute swans
  • American crows taken during open hunting season
  • Mollusks
  • Crustaceans
  • Least chipmunks
  • North American deermice
  • House mice
  • Northern grasshopper mice
  • Western harvest mice
  • Virginia opossum
  • Pocket gophers
  • Bushy-tailed woodrats
  • Norway rats
  • Meadow voles

Wyoming prohibits possessing certain animals as pets, including:

  • Wolves and wolf hybrids
  • Big or trophy game
  • Black bears
  • Grizzly bears
  • Mountain lions
  • Gray wolves

Permits are required to keep any living wildlife as pets that aren't specifically listed as allowed without permits

Don't Get Bitten by Your State's Exotic Animal Laws

In addition to federal laws governing animal ownership and treatment, every state has certain prohibitions or restrictions on which exotic animals can be owned as pets. Whether you already own an exotic animal, are thinking about purchasing one, or have been harmed by someone else's pet, contact a personal injury attorney to get a better handle on your state's exotic animal laws.

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