Where is the Burmese python 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;

Alabama does not name the species itself. It adopts the federal injurious wildlife list, which has included Python bivittatus since 2012, so the federal listing does the work.

How this rule works: Alabama's prohibited list, not a permitted one, so absence from it means an animal is unrestricted. This is read from the current rule on Alabama's official code site, not Cornell LII's copy, which is the 2020 version and differs from it. 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.

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

Listed as "Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus)", which under the rule's own opening words reaches "taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids", so the split of Python bivittatus out of P. molurus changes nothing. Florida is where this animal's reputation comes from and the rule is written accordingly. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

(c) Reptiles: 1. Order Squamata: (i) Family Pythonidae - Python molurus (Indian rock python); (ii) Family Pythonidae - Python bivittatus (Burmese python); (iii) Family Teidae - Salvator merianae (Argentine black-and-white tegu); (iv) Family Varanidae - Varanus niloticus (Nile monitor); 2. Order Testudines: (i) Family Pelomedusidae - Pelomedusa subrufa (African helmeted turtle); (ii) Family Trionychidae (softshell turtles) - Pelodiscus sinensis (Chinese softshell turtle); 3. The species listed in subparagraph (c) shall only be licensed for scientific, educational, or public exhibition purposes consistent with O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4; provided, however, that such species possessed on or before the effective date of this rule may be held as a pet without a license or permit provided that the owner tags and registers all individuals with the Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division within 12 months following the effective date of this rule;

Georgia names six reptiles in its license rule and then closes the pet route on all of them in the same subparagraph: they "shall only be licensed for scientific, educational, or public exhibition purposes". Python bivittatus is named, and so is Python molurus separately, so the split between the Indian and Burmese pythons is handled on both sides. The grandfathering is unusually generous in kind and unusually short in time: an animal held on or before the effective date may be kept as a pet with no license at all, provided the owner tagged and registered it with DNR Law Enforcement within twelve months of that date.

Existing owners: An animal possessed on or before the effective date may be held as a pet without a license if tagged and registered with Georgia DNR Law Enforcement within 12 months of that date.

How this rule works: Georgia sorts wild animals into three tiers and none of them is a pet tier. Rule .03 prohibits outright, and its only pet-relevant entry is the monk parakeet. Rule .04 is inherently dangerous animals needing a license AND liability insurance: all Felidae, four canid genera, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, great apes, crocodilians, the venomous snake families and a short list of fish and scorpions. Rule .05 requires a license, and it works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is why it is so wide: all Carnivora, all hedgehogs, all lagomorphs, all marsupials, all primates, and all rodents except six named genera. The thing to read before any of it is O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1), because it says who a license is issued to: the wild animal trade and public exhibitors, plus no-cost permits for science, education, a capuchin monkey for a person with a permanent disability, and grass carp for a pond owner. No pet. So an animal on .04 or .05 is not a permit animal for a keeper, it is a no, and the rule proves it by writing express "may be held as a pet without a license" exceptions for exactly two animals, the European ferret and the sugar glider.

Serpentes (all species in suborder, except for two male nonvenomous snakes for exhibition in a government zoo, and for four sterile male brown tree snakes, Boiga irregularis, for research or training of snake detector dogs by the department)

Hawaii bans the entire snake suborder, with two narrow carve outs that are both institutional. HRS § 150A-6(3) repeats the bar at statute level. No snake of any species or size is keepable here.

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.

vii. Burmese Python (Python bivittatus);

The Burmese python is named on Louisiana's list of prohibited nonnative species, so a new keeper has no route. Owners had 365 days from the January 2025 effective date to register; registered animals may not be bred and no more may be acquired.

Existing owners: Registration within 365 days of the rule taking effect, no breeding, no further acquisition.

How this rule works: Rewritten in January 2025 and now one of the strictest reptile rules in the country. Three tiers: prohibited nonnative species, restricted nonnative species needing a permit, and a general rule that any constrictor over eight feet needs a restricted snake permit.

Indian python (including the Burmese python) – Python molurus;

Named in the parenthesis, so there is no argument about the split of Python molurus and Python bivittatus. The reticulated python, African rock python, amethystine python and green anaconda are prohibited alongside it.

How this rule works: 12.6.2205 is the noncontrolled list, 12.6.2208 the controlled list, 12.6.2215 the prohibited list. The noncontrolled definition at 12.6.2201(8) expressly preserves county and city ordinances.

Rep/Amph | Snake | Pythonidae | Python molurus bivitatis | Burmese Python | IV

Named outright in Group IV, under the older taxonomy that treated the Burmese as a subspecies of Python molurus, with the species epithet misspelled bivitatis. The federal Lacey Act injurious listing bars importing one into the United States and shipping one to Hawaii or a territory, not moving one between continental states (USARK v. Zinke, D.C. Cir. 2017). 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. 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.

"Wild animal" shall not include "companion animal" as defined in section three hundred fifty of the agriculture and markets law. Wild animal includes, and is limited to, any or all of the following orders and families: (1) Nonhuman primates and prosimians, (2) Felidae and all hybrids thereof, with the exception of the species Felis catus ... and hybrids of Felis catus that are registered by the American Cat Fanciers Association or the International Cat Association provided that such cats be without any wild felid parentage for a minimum of five generations, (3) Canidae (with the exception of domesticated dogs and captive bred fennec foxes (vulpes zerda)), (4) Ursidae, (5) All reptiles that are venomous by nature, pursuant to department regulation, and the following species and orders: Burmese Python (Python m. bivittatus), Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), African Rock Python (Python sabae), Green Anaconda (Eunectes maurinus), Yellow Anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), Australian Amethystine Python (Morelia amethistina and Morelia kinghorni), Indian Python (Python molurus), Asiatic (water) Monitor (Varanus salvator), Nile Monitor (Varanus nilocitus), White Throat Monitor (Varanus albigularis), Black Throat Monitor (Varanus albigularis ionides) and Crocodile Monitor (Varanus salvadori), Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodensis) and any hybrid thereof, (6) Crocodylia.

Named twice. The statute lists "Burmese Python (Python m. bivittatus)" and separately "Indian Python (Python molurus)", covering the species on both sides of the split, and 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(16) lists Python bivittatus by its current binomial. New York is one of the few states to name the reticulated python, both African rock pythons, all four anacondas and both amethystine pythons alongside it, so the whole large-constrictor group is answered rather than just the famous one.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only license, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Reptiles (Reptilia). All Helodermatidae ...; all front-fanged venomous snakes, even if devenomized ...; all venomous, mid-or rear-fanged, Duvernoy-glanded members of the family Colubridae, even if devenomized; any member, or hybrid offspring of the family Boidae, including, but not limited to, the common or green anaconda and yellow anaconda; 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 of the family Varanidae, including the white throated monitor, Bosc's or African savannah monitor, Komodo monitor or dragon, Nile monitor, crocodile monitor, water monitor, Bornean earless monitor; any member of the family Iguanidae, including the green or common iguana; any member of the family teiidae, including, but not limited to, the golden, common, or black and white tegu; all members of the family Chelydridae, including snapping turtle and alligator snapping turtle; all turtles and tortoises with a carapace length of less than four (4) inches; and all members of the order Crocodylia ...

Named among the examples in the Pythonidae clause and caught by the family in any event. This is the one python on this row where the state and the city agree. § 161.01(d) is worth knowing alongside the prohibition: a prohibited animal may be seized by any authorized city employee, the owner has three business days to request a hearing, and with the Department's written consent the animal may be removed to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited. That last provision is the closest thing to relief in the article.

How this rule works: A city rule that is stricter than any state on this map, and it works in three layers. It opens with a standard rather than a list, deeming a wild animal to be "any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings". It then adds, at (b)(ii), any wildlife protected or endangered under federal, STATE or local law, which imports New York State's protected wildlife scheme into the city wholesale. And it closes with 24 numbered clauses that work mostly by family: all cats other than Felis catus and their hybrids, all dogs other than Canis familiaris, all Mustelidae including the ferret by name, all squirrels, all marsupials, all large rodents, all Boidae, all Pythonidae, all Varanidae, all Iguanidae, all teiidae, all Chelydridae, all venomous spiders including the tarantula by name, and all turtles under four inches. § 161.01(c) is the short answer to what is left: gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, domesticated rabbit, and small birds such as parakeet, parrot, canary and finch.

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.

Adopted from the federal injurious list, which has covered Python bivittatus since 2012. The reticulated python and the green anaconda arrive by the same route.

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.

All giant snakes when average adult body length of the species is larger than 5 feet: Anacondas, Pythons and Boas

The Burmese python is a non-native reptile and no snake is exempt in Delaware, so an Individual permit is required. The permit is a $25 Individual permit from the Department of Agriculture, issued where possession will be in the public interest, so this is a real route rather than a closed door. It is not banned here: pythons appear in these rules only at 7.5.2.10, which bars Sales Permit holders from breeding giant snakes over five feet, and that is a breeding restriction on a permit class rather than a prohibition on keeping one. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

How this rule works: The regulation that actually decides Delaware, and it is much narrower than the list circulating in secondary sources. § 7201 requires a permit before anyone brings in, possesses, sells or exhibits a live wild mammal, a hybrid of a wild mammal, or a live reptile not native to Delaware, and bans non-native venomous snakes outright with no permit available. Regulation 6.1 then exempts a named list of pets from the permit entirely, and 6.2 says everything else needs one. The only species the State Veterinarian may not permit at all are at 4.7: gila monsters, beaded lizards and komodo dragons. Pythons, anacondas and boas appear only at 7.5.2.10, a restriction on what Sales Permit holders may breed, not a possession ban. This was read from a full reproduction and cross-checked against the Department of Agriculture's own exotic animals page.

Serpentes (Snakes)

The snake section lists pythons individually and neither Python bivittatus nor Python molurus is among them. The asterisk footnote would exclude it in any case, since the Burmese python has been federal injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012.

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 August 11, 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.

All venomous snakes require a permit. The following snakes may be kept without a permit: 1. All species of boas and pythons (family Boidae), except those species categorically non-exempt pursuant to 321 CMR 9.01(3), and except the African Rock Python (Python sebae), Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus) and all species of Anaconda (Eunectes spp.), which require a permit.

The three pythons and anacondas named in the exemption are the African rock, the reticulated and Eunectes, and the Burmese is not among them, which makes this look like a legal state on a first read. It is not: Python bivittatus is assessed by the IUCN as vulnerable, so 9.01(3)(b) makes it categorically non-exempt and the family clearance is expressly subject to that clause. MassWildlife's summary reads the same way, clearing boas and pythons "except rare species and those listed as unlawful", which is two separate exclusions rather than one. Massachusetts is the state on this map where the Burmese python is restricted by a conservation listing rather than by an invasive-species rule. 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 license 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.

Reptiles: i. Pythons - Family Pythonidae;

The Burmese python is answered by name on the 4.3 permit list rather than by the catch-all. It is covered by the family entry "Pythons - Family Pythonidae". The list is written by family as often as by species, and 4.3 is open-ended, "include, but are not limited to", so being on it settles the permit question but not being on it settles nothing. The permit is the individual hobby permit at 4.6(a)1, subject to the general possession criteria at 4.7. New Jersey does not put the giant constrictors in a separate tier the way many states now do, so the Burmese python and the ball python are read off the same line. The federal Lacey Act injurious listing bars importing one into the United States, not moving one in from another state (USARK v. Zinke, D.C. Cir. 2017), which is a separate question from whether New Jersey will permit one already here.

How this rule works: The Division's handout of the 4.3 permit list. It is open-ended, 'include, but are not limited to', and works by family as often as by species, so Pythonidae, Boidae, Lampropeltis, Varanus, Scincidae and Gekkonidae each answer several pet species at once.

b. Category 3 species of nontraditional livestock includes the following species and their hybrids: ... (2) Big cats, including mountain lion, jaguar, leopard, lion, tiger, and cheetah. (3) Bears. (4) Wolves. (5) Venomous reptiles and nonvenomous injurious reptiles. (6) Primates.

Category 3 now reaches "nonvenomous injurious reptiles". The rule does not define injurious, but the Burmese python is federal injurious wildlife and a giant constrictor on any plain reading of the word, so it needs a license. The owner must hold a nontraditional livestock license from the Board of Animal Health before acquiring one, and the board must inspect and approve the premises first, under 48.1-09-01-03(1) and (2)(b). The annual fee is fifteen dollars under NDCC 36-01-08.1. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

How this rule works: The nontraditional livestock category system is alive and sits here, not in the repealed title 48. 48.1-09-01-02 sorts every nondomestic species held in confinement into three categories, category 1 needing no license and categories 2 and 3 needing one before the animal is acquired. Subsection 4 exempts arachnids and invertebrates from even the importation permit, along with a short list of small pets named one by one: gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats and sugar gliders. The Board of Animal Health's own page (https://www.ndda.nd.gov/divisions/animal-health/non-traditional-livestock) files that list under Exempt Animals and calls them exempt from non-traditional livestock requirements and importation requirements. Last amended April 1, 2026.

except those which are biologically capable of establishing self-sustaining populations in the wild of Oklahoma and which may be potentially injurious or detrimental to Oklahoma's wildlife, agriculture or public safety in accordance with existing USDI or APHIS regulations

The exemption turns on the federal injurious wildlife listing, which covers Python bivittatus. Losing the exemption means permits and a breeder's license apply, not that the animal is banned.

How this rule works: One of the most permissive exemption lists in the country, naming the fennec fox, the sugar glider, the coatimundi, the wallaby and primates individually. Note what the exemptions are from: import and export permits and commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder licenses, not a ban. Subsection (c) exempts non-indigenous reptiles and amphibians as a class, with a two-limb carve-out for species that could establish here and are injurious under federal rules. Oklahoma's own rules site, rules.ok.gov, blocks automated access, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

The commission by rule shall establish permits that allow permit holders to possess or transport in this state a live nonindigenous snake, including a hybrid of any kind, that is: (1) venomous; or (2) a constrictor that is one of the following: (A) African rock python, Python sebae; (B) Asiatic rock python, Python molurus; (C) Burmese python, Python bivittatus; (D) green anaconda, Eunectes murinus; (E) reticulated python, Python reticulatus; or (F) southern African python, Python natalensis.

Python bivittatus is named in the statute and again in the rule, so a Texas keeper needs a recreational controlled exotic snake permit, renewed annually and running September 1st to August 31st. It is a permit rather than a ban, which separates Texas from the states that prohibit the species outright. Two practical details: 31 TAC § 55.653(c) makes the sales receipt a temporary permit for 21 days from the date of sale, so a buyer is not immediately in violation, and Parks & Wild. Code § 43.856(b) makes releasing one a Class A misdemeanor rather than the Class C that covers permit offenses. The species was added by name in 2021 by H.B. 2326; before that it had to be read into "Asiatic rock python, Python molurus", which is the parent species it was split from.

How this rule works: Texas regulates six constrictors by name and every nonvenomous snake beyond them not at all. The list is in the statute at § 43.851(a)(2) and repeated in the rule at 31 TAC § 55.651(2): African rock python, Asiatic rock python, Burmese python, green anaconda, reticulated python, southern African python, plus any hybrid, plus all venomous snakes not indigenous to Texas. H.B. 2326 in 2021 added Python bivittatus by name, after the Burmese was split off from Python molurus and the older wording left it arguable. A recreational permit is available to private keepers under 31 TAC § 55.652(a)(1), which is what separates this from a ban, and § 55.653(c) makes the sales receipt a temporary permit for 21 days from purchase.

Squamata | Serpentes | Boidae | Python | molurus | Indian/Burmese python

Named on the Restricted list, which uses the older taxonomy: the Burmese python was Python molurus bivittatus before being raised to Python bivittatus, and the list's common name column says Indian/Burmese outright, so the species is covered. Restricted means a permit, and Regulation 881 § 5.2 leaves one open to a private keeper: for purposes other than research and education, the Commissioner shall not issue a permit "unless it has been determined that the wild animal or wildlife proposed to be brought into or possessed in the state does not conflict with the purpose of this regulation". That purpose is protecting wild and domestic animals, agriculture and livestock, and human health and safety, and the determination is the Commissioner's, case by case, with no published standard, so an application can be refused. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

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. A Burmese python is a reptile and a Southeast Asian species, 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 April 5, 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: No person may transport into or possess within the state any live wildlife or viable eggs from without the state except as authorized by an importation permit issued by the director.

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. A Burmese python is a snake and takes the same breeder-source condition. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states. 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 August 1, 2021. Subd. 3 is the older, broader route, allowing special permits without a fee to possess wild animals as pets.

any deadly, dangerous, or poisonous reptile, or any deadly or dangerous reptile over eight feet long, in any place other than a properly maintained zoological park, circus, scientific, or educational institution, research laboratory, veterinary hospital, or animal refuge, unless he or she has registered such animals with the local law enforcement agency in the county in which the animal is kept

Not banned, but an adult Burmese python comfortably passes eight feet, at which point it must be registered with the county law enforcement agency. There is no state permit and no fee, just the registration.

How this rule works: Missouri does not ban these animals. It requires that they be registered with the local law enforcement agency in the county where they are kept. Failure to register is the offense.

(a) As used in this Article, large constricting snakes shall mean: Reticulated Python, Python reticulatus; Burmese Python, Python molurus; African Rock Python, Python sebae; Amethystine Python, Morelia amethistina; and Green Anaconda, Eunectes murinus; or any of their subspecies or hybrids. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to own, possess, use, transport, or traffic in any of the large constricting snakes that are not housed in a sturdy and secure enclosure.

North Carolina names the Burmese python among its large constricting snakes, under the older name Python molurus, and "any of their subspecies" reaches it whichever taxonomy is used. Keeping one is unlawful unless it is housed to the statute. The enclosure must be escape-proof and locked and labeled with the species, number and owner, a written safety protocol and escape recovery plan must be posted and travel with the snake, and an escape must be reported at once. Counties may go further under § 153A-131. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

How this rule works: North Carolina's entire statewide exotic animal statute, and it reaches venomous reptiles only. It does not ban them either: it requires an escape-proof, bite-proof, lockable enclosure, a label reading Venomous Reptile Inside naming the species and the right antivenin, a written bite protocol kept in sight, and immediate notice to law enforcement on an escape. Nothing else in the General Statutes restricts keeping an exotic animal.

"Restricted snake" means any of the following: (1) All of the following constricting snakes that are twelve feet or longer: ... (e) Burmese pythons

Ohio is one of the few states to draw the line by length rather than by species. A Burmese python under twelve feet is not a restricted snake and needs nothing; at twelve feet it becomes one, and the keeper needs a restricted snake permit, liability insurance and caging that meets the rules. Since a healthy Burmese passes twelve feet in a few years, this is a deadline rather than an exemption.

How this rule works: Two enumerated lists. Dangerous wild animals need an Ohio Department of Agriculture wildlife shelter permit; anything on neither list needs no state permit. Restricted snakes are constrictors of 12 feet or more plus venomous families.

The Commission will not issue permits for breeding, sale, or importation of the following species other than in accordance with the exceptions listed in Codes 09.07, 09.10, 09.11, and Addenda F1.03, F1.04 (possession of some species may be allowed in accordance with Codes 09.02, 09.05, 09.08, and 09.14): ... 4. Reptiles ... Large Asian and African Pythons: Reticulated, Burmese, and Rock Pythons (Malayopython reticulatus, Python bivittatus, P. molurus, P. natalensis, P. sebae) **

The Burmese python is on the prohibited list by name, so no new breeding, sale or importation permit will issue for it. The list's own opening leaves possession open under Code 09.02, which allows a non-native animal acquired from a permitted breeder/dealer or imported on a permit. For the large pythons the ** note keeps those permits for permittees who held them before May 21, 2020, so a pet can come only from such a holder. Federally, the Burmese python has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2012 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

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".

non-venomous or non-dangerous reptiles and amphibians

Non-dangerous is not defined anywhere in the rule. A Burmese python is non-venomous, which on the literal wording is enough, but a giant constrictor is exactly the animal the qualifier appears aimed at. Ask Idaho Fish and Game before relying on this.

How this rule works: Section 010.06 defines conventional pets, which sit outside the wildlife permit regime. Unusually explicit: it names ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders in the rule text.