Where is the ball python legal?

Python regius. Restricted in 4 of the 33 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for ball pythonAlaska: no restriction found for ball pythonArizona: no restriction found for ball pythonArkansas: no restriction found for ball pythonCalifornia: no restriction found for ball pythonColorado: no restriction found for ball pythonConnecticut: no restriction found for ball pythonDelaware: banned for ball pythonFlorida: no restriction found for ball pythonGeorgia: no restriction found for ball pythonHawaii: banned for ball pythonIdaho: no restriction found for ball pythonIllinois: no restriction found for ball pythonIndiana: no restriction found for ball pythonIowa: no restriction found for ball pythonKansas: no restriction found for ball pythonKentucky: no restriction found for ball pythonLouisiana: no restriction found for ball pythonMaine: no restriction found for ball pythonMaryland: no restriction found for ball pythonMassachusetts: no restriction found for ball pythonMichigan: no restriction found for ball pythonMinnesota: no restriction found for ball pythonMississippi: no restriction found for ball pythonMissouri: no restriction found for ball pythonMontana: no restriction found for ball pythonNebraska: no restriction found for ball pythonNevada: no restriction found for ball pythonNew Hampshire: no restriction found for ball pythonNew Jersey: permit required for ball pythonNew Mexico: no restriction found for ball pythonNew York: no restriction found for ball pythonNorth Carolina: no restriction found for ball pythonNorth Dakota: no restriction found for ball pythonOhio: no restriction found for ball pythonOklahoma: no restriction found for ball pythonOregon: no restriction found for ball pythonPennsylvania: no restriction found for ball pythonRhode Island: no restriction found for ball pythonSouth Carolina: no restriction found for ball pythonSouth Dakota: no restriction found for ball pythonTennessee: no restriction found for ball pythonTexas: no restriction found for ball pythonUtah: no restriction found for ball pythonVermont: no restriction found for ball pythonVirginia: no restriction found for ball pythonWashington: no restriction found for ball pythonWest Virginia: no restriction found for ball pythonWisconsin: no restriction found for ball pythonWyoming: no restriction found for ball pythonDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for ball python

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. The counts include New York City, which has rules separate from the surrounding state and so cannot be shaded on a state map. Listed in full below.

What the colours mean

  • Banned (3)No legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit required (1)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 foundNothing in the body of law we read restricts this animal here.

Choose an animal

ServalFennec foxPrairie dogCapybaraBurmese pythonHedgehogFerretSugar gliderQuaker parakeetBengal catSnapping turtleBoa constrictorDeguArgentine black and white teguNile monitorTiger salamanderBall pythonChinchillaGreen iguanaSavannah monitorTarantulaVeiled chameleonEmperor scorpionGerbilRussian tortoiseHamsterGuinea pigTokay gecko

Every restriction on the ball python

4 of the 33 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

Delaware

Banned
cobras, coral snakes, mambas, vipers, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, pythons, anacondas

The prohibited list names pythons as a group with no size or species qualifier, so it reaches the ball python. Unusual: most states that restrict pythons name only the large constrictors.

How this rule works: An exotic animal is 'ecologically foreign to Delaware, but allowed for possession, sale, and exhibition if a permit has been issued by the Department', covering live wild mammals, hybrids of wild mammals, and live reptiles not native to the state. A prohibited sublist sits on top, barred to everyone outside parks, zoos, aquariums, museums and research facilities. Administered by the State Veterinarian.

7 Del. Admin. Code 3900, Wildlife, exotic animal provisions →

Hawaii

Banned
Serpentes (all species)

All snakes prohibited.

How this rule works: Also carries the default rule: introduction is 'prohibited except for those animals on the lists' incorporated in § 4-71-6.5.

Hawaii Administrative Rules § 4-71-6, List of Prohibited Animals →

New York City

Banned
any member of the family Pythonidae, including but not limited to the African rock python, Indian or Burmese python, Amethystine or scrub python

'Any member' catches the ball python though it is not named.

How this rule works: § 161.01 is the list of animals that may not be kept in the five boroughs. It binds regardless of what New York State allows, which is why the city and the state answer differently for several species.

New York City Health Code Article 161, Animals (NYC Department of Health official PDF) →

New Jersey

Permit required

Not exempt, unlike the boa constrictor.

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 →

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

Past the legal question? See the ball python 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.