Where is the Nile monitor legal?

Varanus niloticus. Restricted in 5 of the 17 jurisdictions checked. Every entry quotes the rule it comes from.

Alabama: no restriction found for Nile monitorAlaska: no restriction found for Nile monitorArizona: no restriction found for Nile monitorArkansas: no restriction found for Nile monitorCalifornia: no restriction found for Nile monitorColorado: no restriction found for Nile monitorConnecticut: no restriction found for Nile monitorDelaware: no restriction found for Nile monitorFlorida: banned for Nile monitorGeorgia: no restriction found for Nile monitorHawaii: no restriction found for Nile monitorIdaho: unclear for Nile monitorIllinois: no restriction found for Nile monitorIndiana: no restriction found for Nile monitorIowa: unclear for Nile monitorKansas: no restriction found for Nile monitorKentucky: no restriction found for Nile monitorLouisiana: banned for Nile monitorMaine: no restriction found for Nile monitorMaryland: no restriction found for Nile monitorMassachusetts: no restriction found for Nile monitorMichigan: no restriction found for Nile monitorMinnesota: no restriction found for Nile monitorMississippi: no restriction found for Nile monitorMissouri: no restriction found for Nile monitorMontana: no restriction found for Nile monitorNebraska: no restriction found for Nile monitorNevada: no restriction found for Nile monitorNew Hampshire: no restriction found for Nile monitorNew Jersey: no restriction found for Nile monitorNew Mexico: no restriction found for Nile monitorNew York: no restriction found for Nile monitorNorth Carolina: no restriction found for Nile monitorNorth Dakota: no restriction found for Nile monitorOhio: no restriction found for Nile monitorOklahoma: no restriction found for Nile monitorOregon: no restriction found for Nile monitorPennsylvania: no restriction found for Nile monitorRhode Island: permit required for Nile monitorSouth Carolina: no restriction found for Nile monitorSouth Dakota: no restriction found for Nile monitorTennessee: no restriction found for Nile monitorTexas: no restriction found for Nile monitorUtah: no restriction found for Nile monitorVermont: no restriction found for Nile monitorVirginia: no restriction found for Nile monitorWashington: no restriction found for Nile monitorWest Virginia: no restriction found for Nile monitorWisconsin: no restriction found for Nile monitorWyoming: no restriction found for Nile monitorDistrict of Columbia: no restriction found for Nile monitor

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 required (1)Legal, 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.
  • Unclear (2)The 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

ServalFennec foxPrairie dogCapybaraBurmese pythonHedgehogFerretSugar gliderQuaker parakeetBengal catSnapping turtleBoa constrictorDeguArgentine black and white teguNile monitorTiger salamanderBall pythonChinchillaGreen iguanaSavannah monitorTarantulaVeiled chameleonEmperor scorpionGerbilRussian tortoiseHamsterGuinea pigTokay gecko

Every restriction on the Nile monitor

5 of the 17 jurisdictions checked restrict this animal in some way. The rest had no rule we could find.

Florida

Banned
Varanus niloticus

Grandfathered for holders of a valid reptile of concern licence.

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.iii
iii. Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus);

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 →

Rhode Island

Permit required§ 3.17(A)(4)(c)(1)
Possession of the Gila Monster, Beaded Lizard (Heloderatidae), and all Monitors (Varanidae) requires an exotic animal possession permit.

How this rule works: One of the most species-specific schemes in the country. § 3.6 defines domestic animals, § 3.7 sets general prohibitions, § 3.9 governs permits, and § 3.17 is the long exempt list of animals that need no exotic animal possession permit. Anything not domestic, not native and not on the § 3.17 list needs a permit.

250-RICR-40-05-3, Rules and Regulations Governing the Importation and Possession of Wild Animals →

Idaho

Unclear§ 010.06
non-venomous or non-dangerous reptiles and amphibians

Same undefined non-dangerous qualifier. A two metre monitor with a serious bite sits on the line.

How this rule works: Section 010.06 defines conventional pets, which sit outside the wildlife permit regime. Unusually explicit: it names ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders in the rule text.

IDAPA 13.01.10, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Rules Governing Importation, Possession, Release, Sale, or Salvage of Wildlife →

Iowa

Unclear§ 717F.1(5)(a)(9)(a)
A member of the family varanidae, which are limited to water monitors and crocodile monitors.

Water monitor usually means Varanus salvator, but Varanus niloticus is commonly called the African water monitor and the statute gives no binomial. Do not read this as permission.

How this rule works: § 717F.3 bars owning, possessing, breeding or importing a dangerous wild animal. § 717F.1(5) defines the class by family and order rather than by species name, so the boundaries are read off the taxonomy. § 717F.4 grandfathers animals already owned on 1 July 2007.

Iowa Code Chapter 717F, Dangerous Wild Animals →

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.