Where is the degu legal?

The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet

The clean list clears the guinea pig, the cavy, the chinchilla and two gerbils. The degu is not among them.

How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.

Order Rodentia-Hamsters, Field Mice, Voles, Muskrats, Gerbils, Squirrels, Chipmunks, Woodchucks, and Prairie Dogs. All species (D), except: ... b. Domesticated races of golden hamsters ... and dwarf hamsters of the Genus Phodopus ... d. Domesticated races of guinea pigs of the species Cavia porcellus ... e. Domesticated races of chinchillas of the species Chinchilla laniger

California restricts the whole order and then names five exceptions. Octodon degus is not one of them, which is why the degu is barred here while the chinchilla, a close relative and also a South American caviomorph, is expressly cleared. Section 671.1 permits exist but are not issued for pet keeping.

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.

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Absent from both lists, so regulated. CPW's mammal list names Octodon degus and files it as regulated wildlife. Colorado has no pet licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The chinchilla, another South American caviomorph rodent kept as a pet, is named on the domestic animal list; the degu never was.

Existing owners: The pre-1983 non-commercial wildlife park licence in § 1104(B)(2) is the only possession route the chapter leaves open for a regulated mammal.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated 1 May 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

A member within the order Rodentia, except for guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), rat (Rattus norvegicus), mouse (Mus musculus), hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), dwarf hamster (genera Phodopus and Cricetulus), Patagonia mara (Dolichotis patagonum) and American beaver (Castor canadensis)

Connecticut regulates rodents the opposite way round from most states: rather than naming the ones it bars, it puts the whole order Rodentia in Category Two and then excepts nine, the guinea pig, gerbil, chinchilla, rat, mouse, hamster, dwarf hamsters, Patagonian mara and American beaver. The degu is not among them. The exception list names every small rodent that is commonly sold, including both hamster groups, which makes the degu's absence hard to read as accidental. Subsection (b)(3) allows possession of a Category Two animal only by a vet treating it, a municipal park, zoo, marine mammal park, aquarium, nature centre, museum, exhibitor, laboratory or research facility. There is no private permit.

How this rule works: Connecticut's official eRegulations text, served as a PDF. This is the operative rule for every animal on this map, and it sorts wild animals into four categories. Category One (four mammal families) and Category Two (a long specific list) may be possessed only by institutions; Category Three, which is Connecticut's own native species, bars import and export but not possession; Category Four, the state endangered, threatened and special concern species, needs a permit. An animal in none of the four is not restricted by this section. The definitions in subsection (a) do more work than the lists: 'wild animal' reaches invertebrates, and 'domestic animal' is defined in a way that takes the pet rabbit and the ferret out of the scheme entirely.

Domesticated rodents and rabbits

The rodent category is limited to domesticated ones. A degu is a wild species bred in captivity rather than a domesticated one, which puts it in the same position as the capybara and outside the category.

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.

The following wild animals are subject to licensing requirements pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4. (a) Mammals ... 3. Order Carnivora (weasels, ferrets, cats, bears, wolves, etc.) - All species, except that European ferret (Mustela putorius furo) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 7. Orders Diprotodontia and Peramelemorphia (Marsupials) - All species except that Petaurus breviceps (sugar glider) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 8. Order Erinaceopmorpha (hedgehogs) - All species ... 10. Order Lagomorpha (Rabbits, hares, etc) - All species ... 16. Order Rodentia (rats, mice, etc.) - All species except Genera Cavia, Chinchilla, Gerbillus, Meriones, Mesocricetus, and species Mus musculus, Rattus rattus, and Rattus norvegicus

Georgia's licence rule works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is what catches the degu. Octodon is not among the six excepted genera and DNR names the degu specifically. The excepted list is what makes the point: the guinea pig, chinchilla, gerbil and hamster are all legal because someone wrote their genera down, and the degu is not because nobody did. The reason a licence does not help is in the statute rather than the rule. O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1) says wild animal licences "will be issued only to persons engaged in the wholesale or retail wild animal business or persons exhibiting wild animals to the public", and permits only for scientific or educational purposes, for a capuchin monkey held by a person with a permanent disability, or to a pond owner for grass carp. There is no pet category anywhere in it, which is why the rule has to write an express pet exception where it wants one, as it does for the European ferret and the sugar glider.

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 licence 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 licence, 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 licence 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.

Any animal that is not on the lists of conditionally approved, restricted, or prohibited animals shall be prohibited until the board's review and determination for placement on one of these lists

Octodon is on no Hawaii list. The contrast with the chinchilla and the guinea pig, both conditionally approved, is a good illustration that Hawaii's lists work species by species rather than by how domesticated an animal looks.

How this rule works: The statute behind the lists. Subsection (c) is the default rule: anything not on the conditionally approved, restricted or prohibited list is prohibited until the board reviews it.

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.

The degu appears nowhere on the Director's list, and New Mexico's default clause is the operative rule: an unlisted live non-domesticated animal is designated group IV until the director decides otherwise. 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.

The following species are exempt from Codes 09.02 (Possession Of Non-Native Wildlife In Captivity Restricted), 09.07 (Wildlife Breeder/Dealer Permit Required), and 09.10 (Wildlife Importation Permit Required)

Octodon degus is absent while the chinchilla, guinea pig and hamsters are all named, so the omission looks deliberate rather than accidental.

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".

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C. ... Hybrids resulting from the cross between wildlife and domestic animal, which are substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal shall be regulated as wildlife at the higher and more restricted class of the wild parent.

Class III in Florida is a residual category, "all other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required", and the degu lands in it by not being anywhere else. That means a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing, runs two years, and requires the applicant to be 16. The thing to notice is what it is not on: 68A-6.003(14) exempts 22 categories from any permit at all, and this animal is not among them. This is the sharpest illustration of how the exemption list works, because the chinchilla is on it at (l) and the degu is not. Two South American caviomorph rodents of similar size and similar husbandry, and one needs a permit because a list written years ago named the other.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

South American Rodents. All South American rodents except guinea pigs and chinchillas.

Octodon degus is a Chilean rodent and is not one of the two exceptions, so it is a deleterious exotic animal needing a possession permit.

How this rule works: Section 100.01 bars possession of a deleterious exotic animal without a possession permit from the Administrator. Sections 401 to 412 are the list itself, by taxon.

it is unlawful, except by the written consent and approval of the Department, for any person at any time to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into this State, or remove from one stream or body of water in this State to any other...any aquatic life or wildlife

The degu is on neither Nevada list. That is not the same as being unregulated, which is the point earlier research could not settle: NRS 503.597 makes it unlawful to bring any wildlife into the state without the written consent and approval of the Department, and NAC 503.140 is the Commission's list of exemptions from exactly that. An animal off both lists therefore needs Department approval. Nevada leaves county and city ordinances untouched, and Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson are all stricter than the state, so check the municipality before the state.

How this rule works: The default nobody had pinned down. NRS 503.597 makes it unlawful without the written consent and approval of the Department for any person to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into the state any aquatic life or wildlife, so an animal that is neither prohibited by NAC 503.110 nor cleared by NAC 503.140 needs Department approval rather than being unregulated. NRS 501.097 defines wildlife as any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, which leaves insects and arachnids outside the Department's authority entirely.

A permit shall be required for any other exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians, or nongame species not specifically exempted by N.J.A.C. 7:25-4.4.

New Jersey is a closed-list state in the strict sense. 7:25-4.2(a) bars possession of any exotic or nongame species without a permit, 4.4 then names the handful that may be kept without one, and 4.5 sweeps everything else back in. The degu appears on none of the Division's three lists, so it is not exempt under 4.4, not one of the families singled out in 4.3, and not potentially dangerous under 4.8. That leaves 4.5, and the permit it points to is the individual hobby permit at 4.6(a)1, which 4.7 conditions on diet, caging that prevents escape, lawful acquisition, veterinary care and freedom from disease. The Division's own handout tells readers to phone the permits office for anything the lists do not name, which is a fair signal that the catch-all is where these end up rather than an oversight.

How this rule works: NJDEP's own courtesy copy of the whole of N.J.A.C. 7:25. Subchapter 4 starts at 7:25-4.1 and carries the definitions, the permit requirement at 4.2, the three species lists at 4.3, 4.4 and 4.8, the pet bar at 4.9(a)3 and 4.15(b), and the state endangered list at 4.13. The three list PDFs the Division hands out are extracts of this.

The following wildlife species are exempt from import and export permits, commercial wildlife breeders licenses, noncommercial wildlife breeders licenses and commercial hunting area license requirements

The list clears chinchillas, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice and rats but not the degu, so it stays inside the permit and breeder licence regime rather than being 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 licences, 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, returns 403 to this container, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

A permit may be authorized upon approval for other warm-blooded wildlife unless otherwise specified in this regulation.

The domesticated list clears the chinchilla, the guinea pig, the gerbil, the hamster, the mouse and the rat, but not the degu.

How this rule works: Two closed lists do the work. Domestic animals and domesticated animals are both defined by enumeration, with the phrase for the purpose of this regulation, only the following animals are considered domestic. Anything on neither list is wildlife, and Section 13(d) leaves it to a permit that may be authorised upon approval.

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Any of the following from any area outside the state of Alabama; ...species of skunk, wild rodent, or strain of wild turkey

Wild rodent is not defined anywhere in the rule. A pet degu is captive bred, but Octodon degus is a wild species with no domesticated lineage behind it, unlike the hamster or the guinea pig. Ask the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries before buying.

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.

Game or wild held captive . Game or wildlife held in captivity or captive bred in another state or nation.

The degu is named nowhere in Pennsylvania law. What arguably reaches it is this catch-all, which bars possessing wildlife captive bred in another state, read together with 34 Pa.C.S. § 102, where wild animals means every mammal except horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. That is the same reading the Game Commission uses to ban hedgehogs and sugar gliders, and it is an agency interpretation of a definition rather than a rule anyone wrote about this species. Recorded unclear rather than banned because no text names the animal.

How this rule works: The Game Commission's actual prohibited list, and the document most Pennsylvania exotic pet questions turn on rather than the § 2961 definition. Eleven categories, of which three matter most here: all Felidae except house cats, the monk parakeet by name, and a catch-all barring possession of any wildlife held in captivity or captive bred in another state or nation.