Where is the degu legal?

Octodon degus. Restricted in 6 of the 22 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: unclear for deguAlaska: banned for deguArizona: no restriction found for deguArkansas: no restriction found for deguCalifornia: no restriction found for deguColorado: permit required for deguConnecticut: no restriction found for deguDelaware: no restriction found for deguFlorida: no restriction found for deguGeorgia: no restriction found for deguHawaii: no restriction found for deguIdaho: permit required for deguIllinois: no restriction found for deguIndiana: no restriction found for deguIowa: no restriction found for deguKansas: no restriction found for deguKentucky: no restriction found for deguLouisiana: no restriction found for deguMaine: no restriction found for deguMaryland: no restriction found for deguMassachusetts: no restriction found for deguMichigan: no restriction found for deguMinnesota: no restriction found for deguMississippi: no restriction found for deguMissouri: no restriction found for deguMontana: no restriction found for deguNebraska: no restriction found for deguNevada: no restriction found for deguNew Hampshire: no restriction found for deguNew Jersey: no restriction found for deguNew Mexico: no restriction found for deguNew York: no restriction found for deguNorth Carolina: no restriction found for deguNorth Dakota: no restriction found for deguOhio: no restriction found for deguOklahoma: permit required for deguOregon: no restriction found for deguPennsylvania: no restriction found for deguRhode Island: no restriction found for deguSouth Carolina: no restriction found for deguSouth Dakota: no restriction found for deguTennessee: no restriction found for deguTexas: no restriction found for deguUtah: no restriction found for deguVermont: no restriction found for deguVirginia: no restriction found for deguWashington: no restriction found for deguWest Virginia: no restriction found for deguWisconsin: no restriction found for deguWyoming: permit required for deguDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for degu

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 (1)No legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit required (4)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.
  • Unclear (1)The 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 degu

6 of the 22 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

Alaska

Banned§ 92.029(a), (c)
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.

5 AAC 92.029, Permit for possessing live game →

Colorado

Permit required

Absent from the unregulated list.

How this rule works: 'No license is required for the private possession or purchase of animals, which are included on the unregulated wildlife list or the domestic animal list.' Unregulated does not mean unmonitored: importation rules and local ordinances still apply.

Colorado 2 CCR 406-11, Chapter W-11, Wildlife Parks and Unregulated Wildlife, § 1103(B) →

Idaho

Permit required§ 410.08
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.

IDAPA 02.04.27, Idaho Department of Agriculture, Rules Governing Deleterious Exotic Animals →

Oklahoma

Permit required§ 800:25-25-3(a)
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: Navigate to Title 800, Chapter 25, Subchapter 25, Section 800:25-25-3. One of the most permissive exemption lists in the country, and one of the very few that names the fennec fox individually. Note what the exemptions are from: permits and breeder licences, not a ban. An unexempt animal is licensable, not prohibited.

OAC 800:25-25-3, Exemptions →

Wyoming

Permit required§ 13(d)
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.

Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Regulation Chapter 10, Importation and Possession of Live Warm-Blooded Wildlife →

Alabama

Unclear§ (1)
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: A prohibited list rather than a permitted one, last amended October 2024. Two clauses do most of the work for pet keepers: everything the federal government lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a group of species is banned specifically when it comes from outside Alabama.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 220-2-.26, Restrictions On Possession, Sale, Importation And/Or Release Of Certain Animals And Fish →

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.