Where is the guinea pig legal?

Cavia porcellus. Nothing in any of the 24 jurisdictions we checked restricts this animal, which is why the map below is blank. That is the answer rather than a gap.

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: no restriction found 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 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 guinea pig

Nothing in the 24 jurisdictions checked restricts this animal.

Past the legal question? See the guinea pig 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.