Are Savannah Monitors Legal? Louisiana Is the Surprise
Twenty-three states have nothing to say about savannah monitors. Louisiana bans this species by name while leaving most monitors alone, and Arkansas clears ten monitors without including it.
Most American states that regulate monitor lizards are worried about the big ones. Water monitors, crocodile monitors, Nile monitors: animals that reach six or seven feet, take large prey, and in Florida's case have established breeding populations in the wild.
The savannah monitor is not that animal. It tops out around three to four feet, most of which is tail, and it is the monitor people are usually steered toward first. That is why the six places that do restrict it are worth reading individually, because in four of them the savannah is caught by accident and in one it is caught deliberately.
Where It Is Restricted
| Where | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | Banned by name | The prohibited nonnative list names Varanus exanthematicus specifically |
| New York City | Banned | Health Code bans the entire family Varanidae and names this species |
| Hawaii | Banned | Named individually on the restricted list, research and exhibition only |
| District of Columbia | Banned | The permitted categories are snakes, fish and turtles. No lizard qualifies |
| Rhode Island | Permit | All monitors need an exotic animal possession permit |
| Arkansas | Permit | Ten monitors are cleared by name and the savannah is not one of them |
| 23 other states | Legal | Their monitor rules reach only the giant species, or no monitor at all |
Louisiana Names It, and That Is Unusual
Louisiana is the one state that decided about this species in particular. LAC 76:XV.101 lists prohibited nonnative reptiles, and the entry reads:
iv. Savannah Monitor (Varanus exanthematicus);
That is a deliberate act. Louisiana's list is short and mostly aimed at animals with an establishment record in the Gulf states, and the savannah sits there alongside the tegu and the green iguana. It is one of only two monitors Louisiana names.
Compare that to the way most states handle monitors. Washington restricts "Family varanidae, only water monitors and crocodile monitors," which is two species out of roughly eighty. Ohio's dangerous wild animal list contains exactly one lizard, the Komodo dragon. California does not restrict Varanidae at all. In each case the savannah is untouched, not because anyone cleared it but because the rule was aimed past it.
Arkansas Comes Within One Name
Arkansas produces the closest call in the matrix, and it is worth knowing about if you are buying there.
Arkansas publishes an unrestricted captive wildlife list. Species on it are exempt from the state's possession, breeder and importation permit codes. Its monitor entry clears ten 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 exanthematicus is not among them. But Varanus albigularis, the white-throated monitor, is, and for decades the white-throat was treated as a subspecies of the savannah monitor. They were split into separate species and Arkansas cleared one and not the other.
The practical effect is that a savannah monitor in Arkansas sits inside the permit codes while its close relative, a considerably larger animal, does not. Whether that was intentional is not something the document says.
Every species in the genus Varanus is on CITES Appendix II, and has been since 1975. That is not because monitors are individually threatened, most are not, but because they are traded heavily for skins and the family is hard to tell apart at a border. Appendix II is a permit requirement on international trade rather than a possession restriction, so it does nothing to a captive-bred animal bought domestically. It does mean the savannah monitor is one of the most heavily exported reptiles in the world by volume, with hundreds of thousands leaving West Africa over the last few decades, almost all of them wild caught.
The Ones That Catch It by Structure
Three of the six restrictions never mention the savannah monitor's biology at all.
New York City bans the whole family, and then names this species in the parenthetical for good measure: "any member of the family Varanidae, including the white throated monitor, Bosc's or African savannah monitor." Bosc's monitor is another name for the same animal, so the city has it covered twice.
The District of Columbia bans it without ever considering lizards. Its permitted list runs to seven categories, and the reptile category is "non-venomous snakes, fish, and turtles." Lizards are simply absent, so every lizard in the District is barred by omission, from a savannah monitor down to a leopard gecko.
Hawaii names it on Part A of the restricted animal list, which is headed "FOR RESEARCH AND EXHIBITION." Appearing there is not a permit route for a pet keeper, it is a ban with an institutional carve-out.
Rhode Island is the only one of the six that keeps a real door open. Its rule requires an exotic animal possession permit for "the Gila Monster, Beaded Lizard (Heloderatidae), and all Monitors (Varanidae)," which is a permit rather than a prohibition.
The Bigger Risk Is Not Legal
Twenty-three of the twenty-nine jurisdictions we have read place no restriction on this animal, so for most readers the legal answer is a straightforward yes.
That makes the savannah monitor unusual among the animals in this matrix, because the hard part of keeping one is not permission. It is that a low price and a beginner reputation attach to a carnivorous lizard that reaches three or four feet, needs a custom-built enclosure most people underestimate, and is very commonly overfed. Fatty liver disease kills more pet savannah monitors young than anything else, and it is entirely a husbandry outcome.
The legal question here is easy in a way the animal is not.
Our savannah monitor care guide covers the enclosure size and the feeding regime this species actually needs, the savannah monitor health issues guide covers the obesity problem in detail, and the savannah monitor encyclopedia profile has the natural history. For a monitor treated very differently, see the exotic pet legal hub, which explains why the Nile monitor sits on so many more prohibited lists than this one.
To see this at a glance, our interactive map of savannah monitor laws shades every state that restricts one, and clicking a state gives you the rule it comes from.
Sources & Further Reading
- LAC 76:XV.101, Louisiana reptile and amphibian regulations (Division of Administration)
- Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Unrestricted Captive Wildlife Species List (official PDF)
- New York City Health Code Article 161, Animals (NYC Department of Health official PDF)
- Hawaii Administrative Rules § 4-71-6.5, List of Restricted Animals, Part A (official PDF)
- 250-RICR-40-05-3, Rhode Island rules governing importation and possession of wild animals
Written by Mike
Mike is the founder of Beastly Facts and a lifelong reptile enthusiast. He shares his home with Dex, a bearded dragon with strong opinions about crickets and basking schedules. Mike writes in-depth care guides, animal facts, and the occasional short story about life with exotic pets.
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