Where is the gerbil legal?

Meriones unguiculatus. Restricted in 2 of the 24 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for gerbilAlaska: no restriction found for gerbilArizona: no restriction found for gerbilArkansas: no restriction found for gerbilCalifornia: banned for gerbilColorado: no restriction found for gerbilConnecticut: no restriction found for gerbilDelaware: no restriction found for gerbilFlorida: no restriction found for gerbilGeorgia: no restriction found for gerbilHawaii: banned for gerbilIdaho: no restriction found for gerbilIllinois: no restriction found for gerbilIndiana: no restriction found for gerbilIowa: no restriction found for gerbilKansas: no restriction found for gerbilKentucky: no restriction found for gerbilLouisiana: no restriction found for gerbilMaine: no restriction found for gerbilMaryland: no restriction found for gerbilMassachusetts: no restriction found for gerbilMichigan: no restriction found for gerbilMinnesota: no restriction found for gerbilMississippi: no restriction found for gerbilMissouri: no restriction found for gerbilMontana: no restriction found for gerbilNebraska: no restriction found for gerbilNevada: no restriction found for gerbilNew Hampshire: no restriction found for gerbilNew Jersey: no restriction found for gerbilNew Mexico: no restriction found for gerbilNew York: no restriction found for gerbilNorth Carolina: no restriction found for gerbilNorth Dakota: no restriction found for gerbilOhio: no restriction found for gerbilOklahoma: no restriction found for gerbilOregon: no restriction found for gerbilPennsylvania: no restriction found for gerbilRhode Island: no restriction found for gerbilSouth Carolina: no restriction found for gerbilSouth Dakota: no restriction found for gerbilTennessee: no restriction found for gerbilTexas: no restriction found for gerbilUtah: no restriction found for gerbilVermont: no restriction found for gerbilVirginia: no restriction found for gerbilWashington: no restriction found for gerbilWest Virginia: no restriction found for gerbilWisconsin: no restriction found for gerbilWyoming: no restriction found for gerbilDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for gerbil

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 (2)No legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit requiredLegal, 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

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Every restriction on the gerbil

2 of the 24 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

California

Banned§ 671(c)(2)(J)(1)

Order Rodentia is restricted (D) and gerbils are not among the five exceptions, though the order's own heading names them.

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.

California Code of Regulations Title 14 § 671, via CDFW Restricted Species Laws and Regulations Manual →

Hawaii

BannedPart A
Gerbillus gerbillus / Meriones unguiculatus

How this rule works: Part A animals may be brought in by a university or a licensed exhibitor under permit and may not be kept as pets. Part B, published separately as AR-71RB, is the private and commercial use list and was checked as well: it runs to hoofed stock, giraffes, otters, seals, macropods and three named parrots, and contains none of the animals in this dataset.

Hawaii Administrative Rules § 4-71-6.5, List of Restricted Animals, Part A (research and exhibition) →

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.