Where is the hedgehog legal?

Order Insectivora-Shrews, Moles, Hedgehogs, etc. All species (D)

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.

Closed list permits 'domesticated rodents and rabbits'. Hedgehogs are Eulipotyphla, not rodents, so no category fits.

How this rule works: A closed list and one of the shortest in the country. Subsection (j)(1) bars importing, possessing, displaying, selling, trading or giving as a household pet "any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity", except seven categories: domestic dogs, domestic cats, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes and fish and turtles, ferrets, and racing pigeons. No lizard, no amphibian and no invertebrate fits any of them. Read from the D.C. Code rather than from a reproduction: the seven categories and their exact wording are what every cell in this jurisdiction turns on.

The following wild animals are subject to licensing requirements pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4. (a) Mammals ... 3. Order Carnivora (weasels, ferrets, cats, bears, wolves, etc.) - All species, except that European ferret (Mustela putorius furo) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 7. Orders Diprotodontia and Peramelemorphia (Marsupials) - All species except that Petaurus breviceps (sugar glider) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 8. Order Erinaceopmorpha (hedgehogs) - All species ... 10. Order Lagomorpha (Rabbits, hares, etc) - All species ... 16. Order Rodentia (rats, mice, etc.) - All species except Genera Cavia, Chinchilla, Gerbillus, Meriones, Mesocricetus, and species Mus musculus, Rattus rattus, and Rattus norvegicus

Georgia's licence rule works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is what catches the hedgehog. The entry is "Order Erinaceopmorpha (hedgehogs) - All species", spelling and all, so there is no room to argue about which hedgehog. DNR puts insectivores among the exotics that "may not be held as pets in Georgia". The reason a licence does not help is in the statute rather than the rule. O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1) says wild animal licences "will be issued only to persons engaged in the wholesale or retail wild animal business or persons exhibiting wild animals to the public", and permits only for scientific or educational purposes, for a capuchin monkey held by a person with a permanent disability, or to a pond owner for grass carp. There is no pet category anywhere in it, which is why the rule has to write an express pet exception where it wants one, as it does for the European ferret and the sugar glider.

How this rule works: Georgia sorts wild animals into three tiers and none of them is a pet tier. Rule .03 prohibits outright, and its only pet-relevant entry is the monk parakeet. Rule .04 is inherently dangerous animals needing a licence AND liability insurance: all Felidae, four canid genera, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, great apes, crocodilians, the venomous snake families and a short list of fish and scorpions. Rule .05 requires a licence, and it works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is why it is so wide: all Carnivora, all hedgehogs, all lagomorphs, all marsupials, all primates, and all rodents except six named genera. The thing to read before any of it is O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1), because it says who a licence is issued to: the wild animal trade and public exhibitors, plus no-cost permits for science, education, a capuchin monkey for a person with a permanent disability, and grass carp for a pond owner. No pet. So an animal on .04 or .05 is not a permit animal for a keeper, it is a no, and the rule proves it by writing express "may be held as a pet without a license" exceptions for exactly two animals, the European ferret and the sugar glider.

The introduction into Hawaii of live animals or live non-domestic animals ... is prohibited except for those animals on the lists

Not named. Barred by the default rule. The only hedgehog Hawaii names is Hemiechinus auritis, not the pet species.

How this rule works: Also carries the default rule: introduction is 'prohibited except for those animals on the lists' incorporated in § 4-71-6.5.

No person shall sell or give to another person, possess, harbor, keep, or yard wild or other animals identified in this section ... other than in: (i) a zoological park or aquarium ...; or (ii) a laboratory ...; or (iii) a veterinary hospital ...; or (iv) a temporary exhibit, performance or display that has been issued a permit by the Commissioner. ... For the purposes of this Code, a wild animal is deemed to be any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings and all such animals are hereby prohibited ... Such animals shall also include: (i) any animals specified by the Commissioner in regulations ...; (ii) any native or exotic wildlife whose possession or sale is prohibited because they are designated as protected or endangered pursuant to any federal, state or local law, regulation, or rule; and (iii) any of the following animals:

Clause (23) covers "Insectivorous mammals (Insectivora)" and lists "hedge hog" as its last example, spelled as two words. The order name is obsolete, since hedgehogs are now placed in Eulipotyphla, but the animal is named, so the taxonomy does not help. § 161.01(d) is worth knowing alongside the prohibition: a prohibited animal may be seized by any authorized city employee, the owner has three business days to request a hearing, and with the Department's written consent the animal may be removed to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited. That last provision is the closest thing to relief in the article.

How this rule works: A city rule that is stricter than any state on this map, and it works in three layers. It opens with a standard rather than a list, deeming a wild animal to be "any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings". It then adds, at (b)(ii), any wildlife protected or endangered under federal, STATE or local law, which imports New York State's protected wildlife scheme into the city wholesale. And it closes with 24 numbered clauses that work mostly by family: all cats other than Felis catus and their hybrids, all dogs other than Canis familiaris, all Mustelidae including the ferret by name, all squirrels, all marsupials, all large rodents, all Boidae, all Pythonidae, all Varanidae, all Iguanidae, all teiidae, all Chelydridae, all venomous spiders including the tarantula by name, and all turtles under four inches. § 161.01(c) is the short answer to what is left: gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, domesticated rabbit, and small birds such as parakeet, parrot, canary and finch.

all bears, coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, cougars, wolves and any crossbreed of these animals which have similar characteristics in appearance or features

No hedgehog appears in the definition, or anything resembling one. The ban is the Game Commission's reading of includes, but is not limited to. House co-sponsorship memo 44994, filed by Rep. David Zimmerman in January 2025 to legalise hedgehogs and sugar gliders, describes it the same way: they are banned through the Commission's regulations and their interpretation of Title 34. Versions of that bill have been introduced every session since 2017 without passing.

How this rule works: The definition names bears, coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, cougars, wolves and their crossbreeds, and none of the animals in this dataset. The entire prohibition rests on four words earlier in the sentence, includes, but is not limited to, which the Game Commission reads as reaching small exotic mammals. That is an agency interpretation of a definition rather than anything a legislature wrote about these species, which is why bills to reverse it keep being introduced.

Mammals: ... iv. European hedgehog - Erinaceus europeaus;

The 4.3 permit list names one hedgehog, the European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus. The hedgehog kept as a pet is the African pygmy, Atelerix albiventris, which is not that animal and is not named anywhere in the subchapter. It reaches the same answer by the other road: 4.4 does not exempt it, so 4.5 requires a permit for it as an "other" exotic mammal. Worth saying plainly because the species mismatch invites the wrong conclusion in both directions, that the listing does not apply so the animal is free, or that the listing applies so the pet species is covered by it.

How this rule works: The Division's handout of the 4.3 permit list. It is open-ended, 'include, but are not limited to', and works by family as often as by species, so Pythonidae, Boidae, Lampropeltis, Varanus, Scincidae and Gekkonidae each answer several pet species at once.

Erinaceomorpha | Erinaceidae | Atelerix | albiventris | African pygmy hedgehog (U.S. Captive Bred Only)

Resolved. The previous entry was left unclear because the Unrestricted list could not be obtained; it is now in hand and the African pygmy hedgehog is on it by name. The condition is the U.S. Captive Bred Only marker, which requires a statement of origin or a certificate of veterinary inspection identifying the business of origin. A wild-caught or foreign-bred hedgehog does not qualify.

How this rule works: The list the whole Vermont answer turns on, and the one earlier research could not obtain. Anything on it may be kept with no permit. Its closing line is the important part: species not found on the Restricted, Unrestricted or Domestic species lists are considered Restricted, which makes Vermont an inverted-list state like Hawaii. Several entries are marked Captive Bred Only, which is a real condition rather than a note. The site refuses automated requests without a User-Agent header.

001.08A Importation: the following wildlife may be imported: Alpaca ... Chinchilla, Chinchilla spp. ... Coatimundi ... Degu, Octodon spp. ... Fox, Vulpes spp. ... Genet ... Gerbil, Gerbillus spp. ... Guinea pig, Cavia porcellus ... Eurasian Hedgehogs, Erinaceus spp. ... Jerboa, greater ... Sugar Glider(s), Petaurus spp. ... Wallabies ... All Ratites, All Waterfowl, All Peafowl, All Game Birds, All Cage and Aviary Birds

The importation list reads "Eurasian Hedgehogs, Erinaceus spp." and the pet is the African pygmy hedgehog, Atelerix albiventris, which is neither Eurasian nor an Erinaceus under current taxonomy. Read strictly, the pet hedgehog cannot be imported into Nebraska. There is a real argument the other way, and it is a drafting-vintage argument rather than a wishful one: this species was classified as Erinaceus albiventris for decades, and Massachusetts still writes it that way in its own exemption list, as "Four-toed (African pygmy) hedgehog (Erinaceus albiventris) (= Atelerix pruneri)". So a list written when Nebraska's was may well have meant the pet. Recorded unclear because the common name in the entry, "Eurasian", cuts against the reading that would save it, and nothing published by the Commission resolves it.

How this rule works: Nebraska renumbered its Game and Parks regulations: what used to be 163 NAC ch. 4 is now Title 166, and captive wildlife has its own chapter 8 rather than a subsection. Anything on this map citing "163 NAC ch. 4, § 008" is pointing at a title that is now called ADMINISTRATION. Chapter 8 has three operative parts. § 001.01B bars retaining any WILD BIRD or WILD MAMMAL in captivity except a listed set of Nebraska natives under a Captive Wildlife Permit. § 001.07A prohibits six species outright, none of them a pet: the Asian raccoon dog, white-tailed and mule deer, red deer, wild pigs and bighorn or thinhorn sheep. And § 001.08A is a closed importation list, which is what actually answers most exotic mammals here, because they are not wild mammals and so the permit scheme never reaches them. Chapter 10 does the same job for reptiles and amphibians and is limited to species native to Nebraska.