Where is the guinea pig legal?

Cavia porcellus. Restricted in 1 of the 52 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Interactive map

Alabama: no restriction found for guinea pigAlaska: no restriction found for guinea pigArizona: no restriction found for guinea pigArkansas: no restriction found for guinea pigCalifornia: no restriction found for guinea pigColorado: no restriction found for guinea pigConnecticut: no restriction found for guinea pigDelaware: no restriction found for guinea pigFlorida: no restriction found for guinea pigGeorgia: no restriction found for guinea pigHawaii: conditions apply for guinea pigIdaho: no restriction found for guinea pigIllinois: no restriction found for guinea pigIndiana: no restriction found for guinea pigIowa: no restriction found for guinea pigKansas: no restriction found for guinea pigKentucky: no restriction found for guinea pigLouisiana: no restriction found for guinea pigMaine: no restriction found for guinea pigMaryland: no restriction found for guinea pigMassachusetts: no restriction found for guinea pigMichigan: no restriction found for guinea pigMinnesota: no restriction found for guinea pigMississippi: no restriction found for guinea pigMissouri: no restriction found for guinea pigMontana: no restriction found for guinea pigNebraska: no restriction found for guinea pigNevada: no restriction found for guinea pigNew Hampshire: no restriction found for guinea pigNew Jersey: no restriction found for guinea pigNew Mexico: no restriction found for guinea pigNew York: no restriction found for guinea pigNorth Carolina: no restriction found for guinea pigNorth Dakota: no restriction found for guinea pigOhio: no restriction found for guinea pigOklahoma: no restriction found for guinea pigOregon: no restriction found for guinea pigPennsylvania: no restriction found for guinea pigRhode Island: no restriction found for guinea pigSouth Carolina: no restriction found for guinea pigSouth Dakota: no restriction found for guinea pigTennessee: no restriction found for guinea pigTexas: no restriction found for guinea pigUtah: no restriction found for guinea pigVermont: no restriction found for guinea pigVirginia: no restriction found for guinea pigWashington: no restriction found for guinea pigWest Virginia: no restriction found for guinea pigWisconsin: no restriction found for guinea pigWyoming: no restriction found for guinea pigDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for guinea pig

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

  • BannedNo legal way to keep one, and no permit to apply for.
  • Permit requiredLegal, but you need a permit or license before the animal arrives.
  • Conditions apply (1)Legal 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 found (51)This jurisdiction was read for this animal and nothing in it restricts one.
  • Not checked yetWe have not read this jurisdiction for this animal. It is not a clean bill of health, it is a gap.

Choose an animal (A to Z, 52 of them)

Ackie monitorAfrican grey parrotArgentine black and white teguAxolotlBall pythonBearded dragonBengal catBlue-tongue skinkBoa constrictorBox turtleBurmese pythonCalifornia kingsnakeCapybaraChinchillaCockatooCorn snakeCrested geckoDeguEmperor scorpionFennec foxFerretFlying squirrelGarter snakeGerbilGiant African millipedeGreen anoleGreen iguanaGuinea pigHamsterHedgehogHognose snakeJackson's chameleonLeopard geckoMadagascar hissing cockroachMilk snakeNile monitorPrairie dogQuaker parakeetRabbitRed-eared sliderRed-footed tortoiseRosy boaRussian tortoiseSavannah monitorServalSnapping turtleSugar gliderSulcata tortoiseTarantulaTiger salamanderTokay geckoVeiled chameleon

Every restriction on the guinea pig

1 of the 52 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find. Open a row for the wording of the rule and the citation behind it.

Hawaii

Conditions apply§ 4-71-6.5, List of Conditionally Approved Animals
Cavia cobaya (=Cavia porcellus)

Conditionally approved by binomial, with the older synonym carried alongside the current name.

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.

Hawaii Administrative Rules, List of Conditionally Approved Animals (Hawaii Department of Agriculture official PDF) →

For the full write-up, including the states that get reported wrongly, read the guinea pig legal guide.

Past the legal question? See the guinea pig profile.

Cite this page

Every entry here is quoted from the statute or regulation it comes from, with the date it was last read against the published text.

How to read this

Two of the shades mean very different things and are worth telling apart. A flat grey state was read for this animal and nothing in it restricts one. A dotted state has not been read for this animal at all. Coverage runs from two jurisdictions to fifty-one depending on the species, so on a less-researched animal most of the map is a gap in our work rather than a finding, and it should not be taken as permission.

Even a flat grey is not 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.