Where is the garter Snake legal?

Delaware's native-wildlife rules forbid keeping a Delaware-native reptile as a pet, and DNREC's own guidance is explicit that native wildlife isn't for private ownership. A narrow carve-out exists for a captive-bred, aberrantly-colored native snake held under permit, but an ordinary wild-type garter snake doesn't qualify.

How this rule works: Delaware Code Online's game and fish possession chapter administered by DNREC, paired with a separate exotic species permit chapter at Del. Code tit. 3, c. 72.

poisonous snakes

Georgia bars possession of nongame wildlife outside a short exempted list that names venomous snakes but not harmless native colubrids, so a garter snake doesn't qualify. Native-reptile permits under § 27-5-4 are issued only for scientific, educational, or exhibition purposes, not casual pet-keeping, and Georgia DNR's own guidance says this holds 'regardless of the origin or morphology' of the animal.

How this rule works: Bars possession of nongame wildlife except a short enumerated list (rats, mice, coyotes, armadillos, groundhogs, beaver, freshwater turtles, poisonous snakes, frogs, spring lizards, fiddler crabs, freshwater crayfish, freshwater mussels, nutria); an ordinary nonvenomous native colubrid like the garter snake is not on that exception list.

Serpentes (all species)

Hawaii bans the entire snake suborder outright, with no exception for harmless mainland species. There is no permit path for a pet garter snake in Hawaii.

How this rule works: The list that matters most for pet keepers and the one almost never quoted. Conditional approval means importation and possession are allowed subject to the conditions the Board of Agriculture sets, unlike the restricted list, which is research and exhibition only.

Rhode Island's exempt Colubridae list names sixteen groups of pet-trade snakes by genus, and Thamnophis is not one of them. The regulation states directly that possession of native snakes is restricted to institutions, meaning typical pet ownership of a Rhode Island garter snake isn't permitted.

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.

Arkansas's unrestricted list clears several New World colubrid genera by name (Lampropeltis, Pantherophis, Nerodia, and others), but every one of those entries excepts species native to Arkansas, and Thamnophis never appears on the list at all. As Arkansas's own native species, a garter snake isn't covered by the pet-trade clearance and instead needs the state's Permitted Captive Wildlife Species List.

How this rule works: Species that may be held in captivity without a permit, named individually with binomials. One of the cleanest primary sources of any state for this purpose.

Maine's unrestricted-species list runs through every North American colubrid genus commonly kept as a pet, kingsnakes, ratsnakes, hognose, watersnakes, and more, and Thamnophis is conspicuously absent from every entry. A Maine garter snake needs the state's separate captivity permit rather than falling under this pet-trade clearance.

How this rule works: Species needing no importation, exhibition or possession permit.

Maryland requires a permit to possess, breed, sell, or trade a species of reptile or amphibian native to the state, and the garter snake is a Maryland native.

How this rule works: Maryland's native reptile and amphibian possession permit chapter, permanently adopted December 1, 1993, and renumbered from 08.03.09 to 08.03.11 since then.

those species of mammals... and nonvenomous reptiles and amphibians native to Missouri

The garter snake is native to Missouri and nonvenomous, which places it in Class I, the tier that needs a simple possession permit rather than being unregulated.

How this rule works: Class I is native Missouri mammals, reptiles and amphibians plus birds native to the continental United States. Class II is the venomous natives, mountain lion, wolf and black bear. Class III is cervids. An animal that is none of these is outside the Wildlife Code entirely.

native snakes shall mean all life stages, including eggs, of the following species: ... common garter snake ... Open season: None.

New York's 2006 native-herp law classifies the common garter snake as protected native wildlife with no open season, and DEC's own published guidance says the law 'does not differentiate between wild-caught and captive-bred animals.' DEC issues a possession permit for keeping a limited number of common native herp species, but that permit doesn't allow buying, selling, or breeding, so even a pet-store garter snake sits in a different legal category here than almost anywhere else.

How this rule works: New York's official compilation of codes, rules and regulations (linked directly from DEC's own regulatory index page); defines native snakes by naming seventeen species by common name, each with open season 'None.'

Tennessee's Class II covers native wildlife and requires a Wildlife Possession Permit with microchip or tattoo identification within 30 days. A garter snake, being Tennessee-native, falls in Class II rather than the unregistered Class III that non-native pet reptiles occupy.

How this rule works: Three classes. Class I is 'all species inherently dangerous to humans such as wolves, bears, lions and poisonous snakes', possessable only by zoos, circuses and commercial propagators. Class II is 'native species, except those listed in other classes'. Class III is everything else and needs no wildlife permit, only whatever the Department of Agriculture requires. The catch-all sitting at Class III rather than Class II is what makes Tennessee permissive.

Milk, Pine, Corn, Rat, Garter snakes -- Colubridae -- All nonnative species except Boiga irregularis, Lampropeltis getula, L. zonata, and Pituophis catenifer

Oregon's noncontrolled clearance for this group of colubrids is written for nonnative individuals. No equivalent express clearance was located for a garter snake that is an Oregon native, which instead appears to fall under the state's general nongame-wildlife holding-permit rule once three or more are kept.

How this rule works: Oregon Secretary of State's administrative rules database entry listing wildlife species exempt from ODFW importation permits.

Wisconsin lets residents possess up to five individuals of each non-protected native species, garter snakes included, without a permit, but native reptiles generally may not be bought or sold within the state, so a Wisconsin-kept pet has to come from your own lawful collecting rather than a breeder or shop.

How this rule works: Wisconsin Legislature's codified DNR chapter on captive wildlife, sections 16.12 through 16.15 set possession and take limits for native reptiles and amphibians.

New Mexico's exotic wildlife rule sorts species into Groups I through IV by danger level; the garter snake isn't named in the regulation text located, and an unlisted species defaults to Group IV, whose actual permit requirements weren't confirmed in this research.

How this rule works: Four groups. Group I is semi-domesticated and needs no importation permit; Group IV is 'dangerous, invasive, undesirable, state or federal listed threatened, endangered, a furbearer or any other species of concern' and is barred to the general public, allowed only for scientific study, restoration, zoological display, temporary events, service animals or qualified experts. The operative default: '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 group assignments themselves live in a separate Director's Species Importation List, roughly 27 pages, which I could not obtain.

Vermont requires an Importation & Possession Permit for any wild animal not on its Unrestricted Wild Animals List. This research could not confirm whether the garter snake appears on that list.

How this rule works: Vermont Legislature's official text requiring an Importation and Possession Permit for any wild animal not on the Commissioner's Unrestricted Wild Animals List.