Exotic pet laws in Alaska
Alaska bans 8 animals of the 52 checked here, the Bengal cat, capybara and degu among them. None of the rest needs a permit.
Read against the published rules, entries verified 4 August to 5 September 2026. Every entry below quotes the statute or regulation it comes from and carries the date it was last checked.
The governing body of law here: 5 AAC 92.029, the live game possession rule, which is Alaska's whole answer for mammals, birds and reptiles. Invertebrates fall outside the definition of game in AS 16.05.940 and were not researched.
What Alaska restricts
8 of 52, strictest first. Open one for the rule it comes from.
Bengal catBanned
§ 92.029(b), (c)
The following species, not including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in this subsection, may be possessed, imported, exported, bought, sold, or traded without a permit
Cat, Felis catus, is on the clean list but hybrids of a listed species and a game animal are carved straight back out, and subsection (c) then bars any pet permit for such a hybrid by name. The rule sets no filial generation cut off, so it gives no comfort to a late generation Bengal the way Iowa and New York do.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
CapybaraBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet
Not on the clean list.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
DeguBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet
The clean list clears the guinea pig, the cavy, the chinchilla and two gerbils. The degu is not among them.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
Fennec foxBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet
The only canid on the clean list is Canis familiaris.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
Flying squirrelBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal, including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in (b) of this section, for use as a pet
Alaska is a clean list and Glaucomys volans is not on it. A flying squirrel is a mammal, so it is game under AS 16.05.940(19), § 92.029(a) then bars possessing or importing live game without a permit, and § 92.029(c) forbids the department from issuing that permit for a pet at all. The clean list does carry nine exotic mammals, from the chinchilla to the African pygmy hedgehog, so a mammal can get on it; the route is § 92.029(h), which requires clear and convincing evidence to the board. Alaska has its own flying squirrel, the northern, but that changes nothing here, because the bar runs on absence from the list rather than on nativity.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.
Prairie dogBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet
Not on the clean list.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
ServalBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal, including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in (b) of this section, for use as a pet
The only cat on the clean list is Felis catus.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
Sugar gliderBanned
§ 92.029(a), (c)
The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal, including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in (b) of this section, for use as a pet
Absent from the clean list, and subsection (c) closes the permit route for anything kept as a pet. This is the trap in Alaska: it is not a list of banned animals, it is a list of allowed ones.
How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.
Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.
No restriction found in Alaska
44 of 52. Each was read against the same body of law as the entries above and nothing in it reaches them. Local ordinances and tenancy terms still apply and are not on this map.
- Ackie monitor
- African grey parrot
- Argentine black and white tegu
- Axolotl
- Ball python
- Bearded dragon
- Blue-tongue skink
- Boa constrictor
- Box turtle
- Burmese python
- California kingsnake
- Chinchilla
- Cockatoo
- Corn snake
- Crested gecko
- Emperor scorpion
- Ferret
- Garter snake
- Gerbil
- Giant African millipede
- Green anole
- Green iguana
- Guinea pig
- Hamster
- Hedgehog
- Hognose snake
- Jackson's chameleon
- Leopard gecko
- Madagascar hissing cockroach
- Milk snake
- Nile monitor
- Quaker parakeet
- Rabbit
- Red-eared slider
- Red-footed tortoise
- Rosy boa
- Russian tortoise
- Savannah monitor
- Snapping turtle
- Sulcata tortoise
- Tarantula
- Tiger salamander
- Tokay gecko
- Veiled chameleon
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.
Before you rely on this
This page covers state law only. Cities and counties routinely prohibit what Alaska allows, and a lease or HOA agreement can bar an animal that every level of government permits. Check all three, and check them in that order, because the one most likely to stop you is the one closest to your front door.