All animals

Where is the axolotl legal?

Ambystoma mexicanum. Restricted in 4 of the 6 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for axolotlAlaska: no restriction found for axolotlArizona: no restriction found for axolotlArkansas: no restriction found for axolotlCalifornia: banned for axolotlColorado: no restriction found for axolotlConnecticut: no restriction found for axolotlDelaware: no restriction found for axolotlFlorida: no restriction found for axolotlGeorgia: no restriction found for axolotlHawaii: conditions apply for axolotlIdaho: no restriction found for axolotlIllinois: no restriction found for axolotlIndiana: no restriction found for axolotlIowa: no restriction found for axolotlKansas: no restriction found for axolotlKentucky: no restriction found for axolotlLouisiana: no restriction found for axolotlMaine: no restriction found for axolotlMaryland: no restriction found for axolotlMassachusetts: no restriction found for axolotlMichigan: no restriction found for axolotlMinnesota: no restriction found for axolotlMississippi: no restriction found for axolotlMissouri: no restriction found for axolotlMontana: no restriction found for axolotlNebraska: no restriction found for axolotlNevada: no restriction found for axolotlNew Hampshire: no restriction found for axolotlNew Jersey: no restriction found for axolotlNew Mexico: no restriction found for axolotlNew York: no restriction found for axolotlNorth Carolina: no restriction found for axolotlNorth Dakota: no restriction found for axolotlOhio: no restriction found for axolotlOklahoma: no restriction found for axolotlOregon: no restriction found for axolotlPennsylvania: no restriction found for axolotlRhode Island: conditions apply for axolotlSouth Carolina: no restriction found for axolotlSouth Dakota: no restriction found for axolotlTennessee: no restriction found for axolotlTexas: no restriction found for axolotlUtah: no restriction found for axolotlVermont: no restriction found for axolotlVirginia: no restriction found for axolotlWashington: no restriction found for axolotlWest Virginia: no restriction found for axolotlWisconsin: no restriction found for axolotlWyoming: no restriction found for axolotlDistrict of Columbia: banned for axolotl

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.

What the colours mean

  • Banned (2)No legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit requiredLegal, but you need a permit or licence before the animal arrives.
  • Conditions apply (2)Legal 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 foundNothing in the body of law we read restricts this animal here.

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Every restriction on the axolotl

4 of the 6 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

California

Banned§ 671(c)(3)(C)(1)
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.

California Code of Regulations Title 14 § 671, via CDFW Restricted Species Laws and Regulations Manual →

District of Columbia

Banned§ 8-1808(j)(1)
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: Closed list. Seven permitted categories; everything else is barred as a household pet.

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

Hawaii

Conditions applyList of Conditionally Approved Animals, Family Ambystomidae
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.

Hawaii Administrative Rules, List of Conditionally Approved Animals (Hawaii Department of Agriculture official PDF) →

Rhode Island

Conditions apply§ 3.7(H)
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.

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 axolotl legal guide.

Past the legal question? See the axolotl profile.

How to read this

A state with no colour is one where nothing in the law we read restricts that animal. That is not the same as 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.