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Where is the ackie Monitor legal?

Varanus acanthurus. Restricted in 5 of the 32 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for ackie MonitorAlaska: no restriction found for ackie MonitorArizona: not checked yet for ackie MonitorArkansas: no restriction found for ackie MonitorCalifornia: no restriction found for ackie MonitorColorado: not checked yet for ackie MonitorConnecticut: not checked yet for ackie MonitorDelaware: not checked yet for ackie MonitorFlorida: not checked yet for ackie MonitorGeorgia: no restriction found for ackie MonitorHawaii: banned for ackie MonitorIdaho: not checked yet for ackie MonitorIllinois: not checked yet for ackie MonitorIndiana: no restriction found for ackie MonitorIowa: no restriction found for ackie MonitorKansas: no restriction found for ackie MonitorKentucky: no restriction found for ackie MonitorLouisiana: no restriction found for ackie MonitorMaine: permit required for ackie MonitorMaryland: not checked yet for ackie MonitorMassachusetts: no restriction found for ackie MonitorMichigan: not checked yet for ackie MonitorMinnesota: not checked yet for ackie MonitorMississippi: no restriction found for ackie MonitorMissouri: no restriction found for ackie MonitorMontana: no restriction found for ackie MonitorNebraska: not checked yet for ackie MonitorNevada: not checked yet for ackie MonitorNew Hampshire: no restriction found for ackie MonitorNew Jersey: permit required for ackie MonitorNew Mexico: not checked yet for ackie MonitorNew York: no restriction found for ackie MonitorNorth Carolina: no restriction found for ackie MonitorNorth Dakota: no restriction found for ackie MonitorOhio: no restriction found for ackie MonitorOklahoma: no restriction found for ackie MonitorOregon: not checked yet for ackie MonitorPennsylvania: not checked yet for ackie MonitorRhode Island: permit required for ackie MonitorSouth Carolina: no restriction found for ackie MonitorSouth Dakota: no restriction found for ackie MonitorTennessee: not checked yet for ackie MonitorTexas: no restriction found for ackie MonitorUtah: not checked yet for ackie MonitorVermont: not checked yet for ackie MonitorVirginia: no restriction found for ackie MonitorWashington: no restriction found for ackie MonitorWest Virginia: no restriction found for ackie MonitorWisconsin: not checked yet for ackie MonitorWyoming: no restriction found for ackie MonitorDistrict of Columbia: banned for ackie Monitor

Select a state for the rule behind its colour. Alaska, Hawaii and the District of Columbia are drawn out of position so they can be clicked. 32 of 51 states and DC have been read for this animal, so the 19 dotted ones are a gap in our research rather than a finding of no rule.

What the colours mean

  • Banned (2)No legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit required (3)Legal, but you need a permit or licence before the animal arrives.
  • Conditions applyLegal without a permit only if a stated condition is met, such as a generation, a size or an indoor-only rule.
  • UnclearThe rule genuinely does not resolve for this animal. Ask the agency before relying on it.
  • No restriction found (27)This jurisdiction was read for this animal and nothing in it restricts one.
  • Not checked yet (19)We have not read this jurisdiction for this animal. It is not a clean bill of health, it is a gap.

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Every restriction on the ackie Monitor

5 of the 32 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

District of Columbia

Banned§ 8-1808(j)(1)
Non-venomous snakes, fish, and turtles, traditionally kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes

No lizard fits any of the seven permitted categories, the same finding already documented for the savannah monitor.

How this rule works: Closed list. Seven permitted categories; everything else is barred as a household pet.

D.C. Code § 8-1808(j), Prohibited conduct →

Hawaii

Banned§ 4-71-6.5, Restricted Animal List Part A
Varanus acanthurus monitor, spiny-tailed

Confirmed directly from the HDOA restricted-animal-list (Part A) PDF. Part A is headed FOR RESEARCH AND EXHIBITION; a university or licensed exhibitor can hold one by permit, but no pet permit path exists, the same treatment as the savannah and Nile monitor.

How this rule works: Part A animals may be brought in by a university or a licensed exhibitor under permit and may not be kept as pets. Part B, published separately as AR-71RB, is the private and commercial use list and was checked as well: it runs to hoofed stock, giraffes, otters, seals, macropods and three named parrots, and contains none of the animals in this dataset.

Hawaii Administrative Rules § 4-71-6.5, List of Restricted Animals, Part A (research and exhibition) →

Maine

Permit requiredUnrestricted Species List

Maine's clean list names only Varanus exanthematicus (savannah monitor) among monitors (documented in this site's savannah-monitor research). Varanus acanthurus is absent, so it falls back to Maine's general importation/possession permit requirement rather than the no-permit list. Whether an individual permit is actually issued for a pet Ackie was not separately confirmed.

How this rule works: Species needing no importation, exhibition or possession permit.

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Unrestricted Species List →

New Jersey

Permit requiredN.J.A.C. 7:25-4.4, 4.5

No Varanus or Varanidae entry appears on the exempt-species list; falls to the § 4.5 catch-all permit provision.

How this rule works: 4.4 is a closed exempt list; 4.5 requires a permit for 'any other' exotic species not exempted.

N.J.A.C. 7:25-4.4 Exempted Species and 7:25-4.5 Additional Species →

Rhode Island

Permit required§ 3.17(A)(4)(c)(1)
Possession of the Gila Monster, Beaded Lizard (Heloderatidae), and all Monitors (Varanidae) requires an exotic animal possession permit.

How this rule works: One of the most species-specific schemes in the country. § 3.6 defines domestic animals, § 3.7 sets general prohibitions, § 3.9 governs permits, and § 3.17 is the long exempt list of animals that need no exotic animal possession permit. Anything not domestic, not native and not on the § 3.17 list needs a permit.

250-RICR-40-05-3, Rules and Regulations Governing the Importation and Possession of Wild Animals →

For the full write-up, including the states that get reported wrongly, read the ackie Monitor legal guide.

Past the legal question? See the ackie Monitor profile.

How to read this

Two of the shades mean very different things and are worth telling apart. A flat grey state was read for this animal and nothing in it restricts one. A dotted state has not been read for this animal at all. Coverage runs from two jurisdictions to fifty-one depending on the species, so on a less-researched animal most of the map is a gap in our work rather than a finding, and it should not be taken as permission.

Even a flat grey is not a guarantee. It means no restriction was found in the specific body of law checked for that state, which is recorded alongside each jurisdiction. Cities and counties regularly ban animals their state allows, and several states say so in their own rules.

Hatched grey means the rule genuinely does not resolve. Usually a definition arguably reaches the animal without naming it, and the honest answer is to ask the agency rather than to guess. Those entries are marked unclear on purpose rather than being rounded to a yes or a no.

Every entry links to the regulation it came from. None of this is legal advice, laws change without much notice, and the agency that issues the permit is always the last word. For the federal layer and how state schemes are structured, see the exotic pet legal hub.