Is It Legal to Own an Ackie Monitor? State-by-State Guide

Is It Legal to Own an Ackie Monitor? State-by-State Guide

The Ackie monitor, also called the spiny-tailed or ridge-tailed monitor, is one of the most commonly recommended monitor lizards for a first-time keeper, mostly because it tops out around two feet and doesn't carry the size or bite-force reputation bigger monitors do. That reputation turns out to matter legally too. Of the 32 jurisdictions we checked, 27 place no restriction on it at all, and the two places it's genuinely unavailable, Washington DC and Hawaii, aren't reacting to this species specifically so much as to lizards or monitors in general. For the enclosure and diet side of keeping one, see our full Ackie Monitor care guide, and the Ackie Monitor encyclopedia profile for the Australian range that makes it a different animal from the African species most monitor laws are actually written around.

Where Ackie Monitors Actually Stand

Louisiana Bans Two Monitors, Not the Genus

Louisiana is the one state in this research that legislates against monitor lizards by name, and it's worth being precise about what that ban does and doesn't reach. Its prohibited nonnative-reptile list names the savannah monitor and the Nile monitor specifically, the same two species covered in our savannah monitor legal guide. Varanus acanthurus doesn't appear on that list, or on Louisiana's restricted list either. Both species Louisiana actually bans are large monitors; the Ackie is a dwarf species that tops out around two feet. Louisiana's rule was built around size, and the Ackie simply falls outside the category it targets.

Arkansas takes the more direct route of naming it as legal outright. Its unrestricted captive wildlife list clears ten monitor species by name:

Monitor Lizards (Genus Varanus: V. acanthurus, V. albigularis, V. glauerti, V. jobiensis, V. kingorum, V. macraei, V. pilbarensis, V. prasinus, V. salvator, V. timorensis)

Varanus acanthurus is the first species on that list, exempt from Arkansas's possession, breeder, and importation permit codes entirely. Massachusetts takes the same approach on a shorter list, naming the "Spiny-tailed or Ridge-tailed Monitor" as the only monitor lizard on its own no-permit exemption list.

The Two Real Dead Ends

Washington DC and Hawaii are the only places in this research where an Ackie monitor is actually unavailable to a pet keeper, and neither restriction is really about this species. DC's health code lists exactly seven categories of legal pet, running from dogs and cats through domesticated rodents, cage birds, and ferrets, down to "non-venomous snakes, fish, and turtles, traditionally kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes." Lizards don't appear in any of the seven, so every lizard in the District is barred by omission, the same finding this site's savannah monitor research already documented.

Hawaii takes the opposite approach and names Varanus acanthurus outright on its restricted animal list. But that list is headed for research and exhibition, and a university or licensed exhibitor can hold one under a permit that a pet owner can't apply for. It's the same treatment Hawaii gives the savannah and Nile monitor: a species-specific listing that simply never opens a pet-ownership door.

The Three Permit States

New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maine require a permit rather than banning the Ackie outright. Rhode Island's rule is the most direct, requiring an exotic animal possession permit for "the Gila Monster, Beaded Lizard (Heloderatidae), and all Monitors (Varanidae)," with no size exception. New Jersey doesn't name Varanus on its exempt-species list at all, so an Ackie falls to the state's general exotic-animal permit provision instead of a no-permit path. Maine's clean list names only the savannah monitor among monitors, so the Ackie falls back to Maine's general importation and possession permit requirement; whether an individual keeper is actually issued that permit for a pet Ackie wasn't confirmed in what we reviewed.

The Real Takeaway

Add it up and the Ackie monitor is about as legally uncomplicated as a monitor lizard gets in the US. Twenty-seven of the 32 jurisdictions checked place no restriction on it, Arkansas and Massachusetts clear it by name, and Louisiana's monitor ban, unusual as it is, was never aimed at a species this size. The two real dead ends are Washington DC and Hawaii, and three more states route it through a permit instead of a straightforward yes. As always, city and county ordinances can still add restrictions a state list won't show, so it's worth a local check even in a state that clears it. For the framework behind rules like this, see our exotic pet legal hub.

To see this at a glance, our interactive map of Ackie monitor laws shades every state we've checked, and clicking a state gives you the rule it comes from.

Sources & Further Reading