Where is the emperor scorpion legal?
Pandinus imperator. Restricted in 2 of the 3 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.
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 (1)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
Every restriction on the emperor scorpion
2 of the 3 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.
New York City
Bannedscorpion; all venomous arthropods
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) →Rhode Island
Permit required§ 3.8(G)Nothing in this Part shall prohibit any person from possession of exotic animals or native animals of the class Insecta unless the animals of that class appear on the list of prohibited insects
Same gap as the tarantula. Scorpions are arachnids, not insects.
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 →Past the legal question? See the emperor scorpion 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.