Where is the green iguana legal?

Iguana iguana. Restricted in 3 of the 21 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for green iguanaAlaska: no restriction found for green iguanaArizona: no restriction found for green iguanaArkansas: no restriction found for green iguanaCalifornia: no restriction found for green iguanaColorado: no restriction found for green iguanaConnecticut: no restriction found for green iguanaDelaware: no restriction found for green iguanaFlorida: banned for green iguanaGeorgia: no restriction found for green iguanaHawaii: no restriction found for green iguanaIdaho: no restriction found for green iguanaIllinois: no restriction found for green iguanaIndiana: no restriction found for green iguanaIowa: no restriction found for green iguanaKansas: no restriction found for green iguanaKentucky: no restriction found for green iguanaLouisiana: banned for green iguanaMaine: no restriction found for green iguanaMaryland: no restriction found for green iguanaMassachusetts: no restriction found for green iguanaMichigan: no restriction found for green iguanaMinnesota: no restriction found for green iguanaMississippi: no restriction found for green iguanaMissouri: no restriction found for green iguanaMontana: no restriction found for green iguanaNebraska: no restriction found for green iguanaNevada: no restriction found for green iguanaNew Hampshire: no restriction found for green iguanaNew Jersey: no restriction found for green iguanaNew Mexico: no restriction found for green iguanaNew York: no restriction found for green iguanaNorth Carolina: no restriction found for green iguanaNorth Dakota: no restriction found for green iguanaOhio: no restriction found for green iguanaOklahoma: no restriction found for green iguanaOregon: no restriction found for green iguanaPennsylvania: no restriction found for green iguanaRhode Island: no restriction found for green iguanaSouth Carolina: no restriction found for green iguanaSouth Dakota: no restriction found for green iguanaTennessee: no restriction found for green iguanaTexas: no restriction found for green iguanaUtah: no restriction found for green iguanaVermont: no restriction found for green iguanaVirginia: no restriction found for green iguanaWashington: no restriction found for green iguanaWest Virginia: no restriction found for green iguanaWisconsin: no restriction found for green iguanaWyoming: no restriction found for green iguanaDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for green iguana

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 (3)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 green iguana

3 of the 21 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

Florida

Banned
Iguana iguana

Same grandfather permit route as the tegu.

Existing owners: Same grandfathered personal permit route as the tegu.

How this rule works: 16 high-risk reptiles added 25 Feb 2021, effective 29 April 2021. Prohibited species may be possessed only by permit for educational exhibition, research or eradication. Tegu and green iguana owners who held one before 29 April 2021 and applied by October 2021 keep a no-cost, non-transferable personal permit for that animal's life.

Florida FWC Prohibited Nonnative Species List (Ch. 68-5, F.A.C.) →

Louisiana

Banned§ 101.K.2.a.v
v. Green Iguana (Iguana iguana);

Existing owners: Registration within 365 days of the rule taking effect, no breeding, no further acquisition.

How this rule works: Rewritten in January 2025 and now one of the strictest reptile rules in the country. Three tiers: prohibited nonnative species, restricted nonnative species needing a permit, and a general rule that any constrictor over eight feet needs a restricted snake permit.

LAC 76:XV.101, Reptiles and Amphibians, Recreational and Commercial Harvests; Prohibitions →

New York City

Banned
any member of the family Iguanidae, including the green or common iguana

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) →

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.