Where is the axolotl legal?

Any species of bird, mammal, fish, crustacea, mollusk, reptile, or amphibian listed as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;

This is what an incorporation by reference does when the federal list moves. Alabama bans possessing any amphibian the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act, and the salamander rule effective January 2025 put genus Ambystoma on that list. Nothing in Alabama changed and the answer did. The distinction that saves the axolotl in most states, that an injurious listing restricts importation and interstate shipment rather than possession, does not help here, because Alabama has adopted the federal list as its own possession bar. The state's own native protection at 220-2-.92 would not have reached this animal, since Ambystoma mexicanum is Mexican and that clause covers native salamanders.

How this rule works: Alabama's prohibited list, not a permitted one, so absence from it means an animal is unrestricted. The official code site is a React app that serves nothing to a fetcher, but /api/rule/<number> returns the current rule as a PDF; use it, because Cornell LII's copy is the 2020 version and the current one differs. Two clauses do most of the work: everything the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a block of mammals is banned when it comes from outside Alabama.

Genus Ambystoma (nonnative tiger salamander group)-(D)

Ambystoma mexicanum sits in the listed genus. The parenthetical describes the group the restriction was aimed at rather than narrowing it, and none of the permit types in § 671.1 covers pet keeping, so there is no route.

How this rule works: § 671(b) defines (D) detrimental and (W) welfare. § 671.1(a) lists permit types; none covers pet keeping. The only possession permit, Animal Care, requires lawful possession in California before January 1992.

a person shall not import into the District, possess, display, offer for sale, trade, barter, exchange, or adoption, or give as a household pet, any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity, except the following

The seven permitted categories are dogs, cats, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes, fish and turtles, ferrets and racing pigeons. No amphibian fits any of them, so the axolotl is barred by omission.

How this rule works: A closed list and one of the shortest in the country. Subsection (j)(1) bars importing, possessing, displaying, selling, trading or giving as a household pet "any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity", except seven categories: domestic dogs, domestic cats, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes and fish and turtles, ferrets, and racing pigeons. No lizard, no amphibian and no invertebrate fits any of them. Read from the D.C. Code rather than from a reproduction: the seven categories and their exact wording are what every cell in this jurisdiction turns on.

Due to the difficulties in determining morphological differences among several species, the following may not be kept as pets or for hobby purposes, nor may they be sold in New Jersey: grey tree frogs (all species), larval salamanders, water dogs, dino dogs, mud puppies, axolotls.

The axolotl is named outright in the Division's restricted species notice, in the sentence that bans grey tree frogs, larval salamanders, water dogs, dino dogs, mud puppies and axolotls from being kept, held for hobby purposes or sold. The reason given is enforcement rather than the animal: a neotenic salamander cannot reliably be told from the larva of a protected native one by looking at it, and New Jersey has two listed Ambystoma of its own. There is a second and independent route to the same answer, since the notice treats an IUCN Red List entry as an endangered listing and Ambystoma mexicanum is Critically Endangered there, which 4.10(a) turns into a bar on issuing a permit. Note that the express ban lives in the notice and not in the rule text, which is the sort of thing that gets missed by reading the code alone.

How this rule works: The Division's restricted species notice. It reproduces the 4.8(a) table and then adds things that are nowhere in the rule text: that it treats an IUCN Red List entry as an endangered listing, that only nine named corn snake morphs may be kept, and that axolotls and larval salamanders may not be kept at all.

Any species of live non-domesticated animal not currently on the species importation list will be designated group IV until such time as another determination is made by the director.

Fifteen Ambystoma appear on the list and the axolotl is not among them, so the default clause designates it group IV. That is a harsh result for a laboratory animal that has effectively no wild population, and it sits oddly beside the tiger salamander two rows away at group II. Group IV importation is prohibited for the general public and allowed only for scientific study, department approved restoration, zoological display, temporary events, use as a service animal, or by a qualified expert. One caveat on all of this: 19.35.7 NMAC is an importation rule, its stated scope being persons who desire to bring wildlife species into New Mexico, so it governs getting the animal here rather than keeping one already in the state.

How this rule works: The roughly 1,300 row table that 19.35.7 NMAC points at and that earlier research could not obtain. Every row gives a family, a scientific name, a common name and a roman numeral group. Group I is semi-domesticated and needs no importation permit. Group II is not known to be invasive or dangerous and needs a permit. Group III presents minimal or manageable concerns and needs a permit with specific provisions attached. Group IV is prohibited to the general public. The list is reached from the download page rather than a direct file URL, and the site needs a User-Agent header.

An importation/possession permit shall not be issued for importation or possession of the live cold-blooded wildlife in this section... (a) Injurious wildlife listed in 50 CFR § 16.

Ambystoma mexicanum is inside the same federal genus listing, so Wyoming will not issue a permit. Section 8 is absolute: it does not offer a permit route, it forecloses one.

How this rule works: Section 10(a)(i) is the sentence that matters for reptile keepers: amphibians and reptiles not listed in Section 8 or 9 need no permit at all.

Amphibia (Amphibians) Captive Bred Origin Only ... Anura (Frogs And Toads)

Same gap as the tiger salamander: the amphibian list is frogs and toads only. The axolotl is also IUCN Critically Endangered, which the footnote would catch even if a salamander order existed.

How this rule works: The list 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-A) requires the department to maintain and 09-137 CMR ch. 7 § 7.06(1) describes: species needing no importation, exhibition, propagation, research or possession permit, which pet shops may also trade. Dated 11 August 2017 on every page, and this is the version IFW still serves. Three headings do most of the work: Reptilia, Serpentes and Testudines each carry "Captive Bred Origin Only", and an asterisk on an entry removes anything on the USFWS injurious or threatened and endangered lists, in CITES Appendix I, or on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, Critically Endangered or Extinct in the Wild.

List of Amphibians. All amphibians may be kept without a permit except species categorically non-exempt pursuant to 321 CMR 9.01(3).

The class-wide amphibian clearance is subject to 9.01(3), and Ambystoma mexicanum is assessed by the IUCN as critically endangered, which makes it categorically non-exempt. The axolotl is the sharpest case for that clause anywhere on this map: the wild population is confined to the Xochimilco canals and is genuinely near extinction, while the captive population is enormous, entirely laboratory-derived and in no sense taken from the wild. The regulation draws no distinction, and unlike the chinchilla entry it writes no captive-stock exception here. MassWildlife's own guidance is blunt about what that means in practice: permits for non-exempt wildlife "are issued only for certain scientific, educational, commercial, or other specific reasons" and "You will not be issued a permit for keeping a wild animal as a pet." The statute is less absolute, since § 23 contemplates "an individual license for an animal that is not on the special exemption list" and even sets a preference for captive-bred animals where wild depletion is an issue, so the licence exists on paper and the agency says it will not grant one for a pet.

How this rule works: Massachusetts runs a closed white list and says so in terms: a species not on it, or listed as requiring a permit, is not exempt from M.G.L. c. 131, § 23. Two structural points decide most of this state. First, 9.01(2) defines "species" as a "distinct non-domestic VERTEBRATE animal population", and § 23 itself reaches only fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, so terrestrial invertebrates are outside the scheme entirely. Second, 9.01(3) is a categorical override that most readings of this rule miss: no species may be exempted if it is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, appears in the IUCN Red Book(s), or is on the Massachusetts endangered, threatened and special concern list at 321 CMR 10.90. Nearly every group listing in 9.01 repeats the cross-reference, so it operates as a live carve-out rather than as drafting furniture, and it is what pulls the Burmese python out of Boidae, the crested gecko out of Gekkonidae and the box turtle out of the turtle allowance.

Amphibians | Caudata | Ambystomatidae | Ambystoma | all species | Mole salamanders

Salamanders and newts are unrestricted as a group, and then the entire genus Ambystoma is clawed back, which catches the axolotl even though it is a laboratory and pet animal that has not existed in the wild in any meaningful way for decades. A permit exists on paper but not for a pet: Regulation 881 says the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for keeping or possessing a wild animal in captivity except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes. So restricted here means a private keeper cannot have one, not that there is paperwork to fill in.

How this rule works: The appendix the Unrestricted list keeps pointing at. Headed: species below are exceptions to Unrestricted Wild Animal List status and require an importation and possession permit. It matters because several families are unrestricted as a whole and then clawed back species by species here, which is how Vermont ends up allowing a ball python and not a Burmese, a California kingsnake and not an eastern milk snake.

No person shall transport into or have in his possession within this state any live wildlife or viable eggs thereof from without the state, except as authorized by an importation permit issued by the director

West Virginia’s importation section is the rule the rest of this column was written without, and it changes the answer for every exotic reptile and amphibian in it. W. Va. Code § 20-1-2 builds wildlife out of wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-bearing animals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish bait. The reptile and amphibian clause carries no nativity qualifier and no captive-bred carve-out, so a pet reptile or amphibian bought from an out-of-state breeder is live wildlife from without the state. An axolotl is an amphibian and a Mexican species with no West Virginia population, so it is wildlife from without the state on any route into West Virginia. § 20-2-13 then bars both bringing that animal in and having it in possession within the state except under an importation permit from the director, and the permit is discretionary: the director may issue it, fix its terms and revoke it at his pleasure. How firm this is, both ways. § 20-2-4(a) independently makes it unlawful to take, obtain, purchase, possess or maintain in captivity any live wildlife except as the chapter or a rule provides, and § 20-2-4(b) says wildlife lawfully taken outside of this state is subject to the same laws and rules as wildlife taken within it, which closes the argument that an out-of-state origin puts the animal outside the chapter before it is made. Against that, the section is headed importation and certification and the body of it is disease control, fish pathologist certificates and inspection of imported shipments, with the only penalty clause written for coyotes. Nothing in Title 58 implements § 20-2-13 for anything but aquaculture, and WVDNR publishes no application for an importation permit. So this is a statutory permit requirement that is real on paper with its machinery not visibly in place, which is the same shape as the Minnesota breeder condition and is recorded the same way. Neither of West Virginia’s two species lists bars this animal. W. Va. C.S.R. § 74-1-3, the dangerous wild animal list adopted 5 April 2022, is a mammal list plus the Komodo dragon. W. Va. C.S.R. § 58-73 reaches native West Virginia reptiles and amphibians only.

How this rule works: West Virginia splits its animals by two definitions in one section. Wildlife takes in reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans with no nativity limit and no terrestrial arthropod at all. Wild animals means all mammals native to the State of West Virginia, which is the phrase that decides every mammal here. § 20-2-4 bars possessing either except as the chapter or a rule provides, and § 20-2-51 is the only pet route, a two dollar permit from the director.

Ambystoma mexicanum

Named individually on the conditionally approved list, so importation and possession are allowed subject to Department of Agriculture conditions. A rare yes from a state that bans most exotics by default.

How this rule works: The list that matters most for pet keepers and the one almost never quoted. Conditional approval means importation and possession are allowed subject to the conditions the Board of Agriculture sets, unlike the restricted list, which is research and exhibition only.

The commissioner must prescribe conditions and may issue permits to breed, propagate, and sell snakes, lizards, and salamanders. A snake, lizard, or salamander that is obtained from a permitted breeder or that was possessed before August 1, 2021, may be possessed as a pet.

Minnesota gets here in three steps, and the surprise is that none of them turns on the species being native. Section 97A.015, subd. 55 defines wild animals as creatures wild by nature and includes reptiles, with no geographic limit. Subd. 39 makes snakes, lizards and salamanders protected wild animals as whole categories. Section 97A.501, subd. 1 then bars possessing a protected wild animal unless the game and fish laws allow it, and this subdivision is the allowance. The axolotl is a salamander, so the same condition applies. Nothing else in Minnesota reaches it: it is not on either invasive species list, and the DNR's frog importation permit list at Minn. R. 6256.0300 is frogs and toads only. Two things to know about how firm this is. The statute says the commissioner "must" prescribe conditions, but there is no snake, lizard or salamander breeder permit on the DNR's permits page, Minnesota Rules chapter 6256 covers only frogs and turtles, and no rule chapter implements the subdivision. And the DNR's own pet-trade page describes the change as reaching "wild collected Minnesota snakes, lizards, and/or salamanders", which is narrower than the statute's words and does not mention the breeder permit at all. So the condition is real on paper and its machinery is not visibly in place.

How this rule works: Subd. 8, added in 2021, is the pet reptile rule: the commissioner must prescribe conditions and may issue breeder permits, and a snake, lizard or salamander is possessable as a pet if it came from a permitted breeder or was held before 1 August 2021. Subd. 3 is the older, broader route, allowing special permits without a fee to possess wild animals as pets.

All persons other than a bona fide researcher, or a licensed pet shop and their transportation agents are prohibited from possessing any species of exotic amphibians unless they are kept indoors as pets in a manner that will prevent their escape or liberation into the wild.

Treated as an exotic amphibian: indoors only, and importation limited to pet shops and researchers.

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.

Additionally, persons may possess and hold captive fish, bullfrogs, mussels, aquatic turtles, alligators and other aquatic wildlife...

No amphibian section exists on the unrestricted list, so a non-native salamander is neither exempted nor addressed. Note separately that federal law at 50 CFR 16.14 bars bringing any Ambystoma across a state line.

How this rule works: Species exempt from Codes 09.02 (possession of non-native wildlife restricted), 09.07 (breeder/dealer permit) and 09.10 (importation permit), named individually with binomials. Read it out of the codebook rather than the compiled PDF AGFC posted at agfc.com in 2022, which is the version that circulates as "the Arkansas list" and is two revisions behind: it lacks the rosy boa and the whole Anoline Lizards entry with its Arkansas-native exception. The compiled PDF says so itself, that the codebook lists "take precedence".