Exotic pet laws in Colorado

CPW species determinations; 2 CCR 406-7 #701

Crocodilia Alligator mississippiensis American Alligator Common alligator, gator -> W-07: Not an authorized species for private possession. CPW license required.

CPW rules on the alligator by name. Only the caimans are cleared, by Appendix A's other-species block, so an alligator is regulated wildlife with no pet license.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No bear is on the domestic or unregulated list, so the black bear is regulated wildlife with no pet license, and it is a Colorado native game animal. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Same answer as the fennec fox: on no Colorado list, so regulated, and no pet license exists. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

CPW's mammal list rules on Aonyx cinereus by name as regulated wildlife, not on the domestic or unregulated list. CITES Appendix I since 2019 bars commercial international trade separately. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

A wild felid is not Felis catus, so the domestic-cat line that clears hybrids does not reach it, and the bobcat is on no unregulated list. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW herpetofauna list; 2 CCR 406-7 § 704(B)(7)(a)

Any species of turtle native only to the tropical and subtropical region from the following families: Carettochelyidae (New Guinea softshell turtles) Dermatemydidae (Central American river turtles) Kinosternidae (mud and musk turtles) Testudinidae (tortoises) Trionychidae (soft-shelled turtles)

Emydidae, the family that holds the box turtles and most North American pond turtles, is on none of Chapter W-7's appendices, and § 701 makes possession of any herpetofauna the chapter does not allow unlawful. CPW files the common, eastern, ornate and three-toed box turtles alike against this finding, so this is not a native-versus-imported distinction: a captive-bred eastern box turtle is in the same position as Colorado's own ornate box turtle. The one route is legacy: § 704(B)(7)(a) names the ornate box turtle among the animals a keeper could retain for life if it was legally collected on or before May 1, 2026, and reported by July 30, 2026.

Existing owners: An ornate box turtle legally collected on or before May 1, 2026, may be kept and transported within Colorado for the life of the animal if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by July 30, 2026. No new wild capture is allowed.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

A wild felid on no Colorado list, so regulated. The Canada lynx is also a reintroduced Colorado native and federally threatened, which adds the native-wildlife bar in C.R.S. 33-6-109 and federal rules on top. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(19)

19. All species and hybrids of non-human primates, except as authorized by §35-80-108 C.R.S.

Colorado puts every nonhuman primate on its prohibited list. The exception points to a section of the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, C.R.S. 35-80-108, which was not read; nothing in the wildlife rules offers a keeper's route.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Not on the domestic animal list and not on the unregulated wildlife list, which leaves it regulated. CPW's mammal list records exactly that for Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris. Colorado has no pet license to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licenses, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park license that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before January 1, 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". Recorded here as banned rather than permit: a license exists on paper but not one a pet keeper can obtain.

Existing owners: Lawful non-commercial possession of exotic mammals before January 1, 1983, may continue under a non-commercial wildlife park license, covering those animals and their progeny born after January 1, 1982. Four decades on this is a historical clause rather than a live route.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

2 CCR 406-7 #701, Appendix A(A)

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Appendix A's snake families are file snakes, pipe snakes, boas, colubrids, pythons, shield-tails and sunbeam snakes; Elapidae is not among them, so a cobra is regulated wildlife with no pet license. The king cobra and the Asian Naja species are on CITES Appendix II, which governs import and export, not keeping.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(19)

19. All species and hybrids of non-human primates, except as authorized by §35-80-108 C.R.S.

Colorado puts every nonhuman primate on its prohibited list. The exception points to a section of the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, C.R.S. 35-80-108, which was not read; nothing in the wildlife rules offers a keeper's route.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No wild cat is on the domestic or unregulated list, so the mountain lion, a Colorado game animal, is regulated wildlife with no pet license. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants. Federally, the Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2022 (16 U.S.C. § 3372(e)) bars any person outside a licensed exhibitor, sanctuary or state institution from breeding or possessing a cougar unless the animal was born before December 20, 2022, and registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 180 days, so no new pet is lawful anywhere in the country whatever the state rule says. The Florida panther subspecies is also endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Absent from both lists, so regulated. CPW's mammal list names Octodon degus and files it as regulated wildlife. Colorado has no pet license to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licenses, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park license that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before January 1, 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The chinchilla, another South American caviomorph rodent kept as a pet, is named on the domestic animal list; the degu never was.

Existing owners: The pre-1983 non-commercial wildlife park license in § 1104(B)(2) is the only possession route the chapter leaves open for a regulated mammal.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No squirrel is on the unregulated list, and the only squirrels on the prohibited list are African tree, sun and rope squirrels, so the eastern gray squirrel is regulated wildlife with no pet license. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Not on the domestic animal list, not on the unregulated wildlife list and not on the § 008(B) prohibited list either, which leaves it in the regulated middle. Colorado has no pet license to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licenses, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park license that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before January 1, 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". CPW says the same thing in plainer words on its possession page, that species such as raccoons, skunks, foxes and monkeys are not allowed here even where another state permits them, and that the bar covers interstate transport through Colorado as well.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No Glaucomys appears on the domestic list, the unregulated list or the prohibited list, so it is regulated. Colorado has no pet license to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licenses, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park license that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before January 1, 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The squirrels § 008(B) does prohibit outright are African genera, tree or sun squirrels (Heliosciurus) and rope squirrels (Funisciurus), which is a different rule aimed at a monkeypox-era import concern rather than at this animal. Colorado also has its own native northern flying squirrel, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars live possession of native wildlife independently of any of this.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Colubridae is on Appendix A, but only for snakes native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and the common garter snake is a temperate North American animal. CPW's herpetofauna list records Thamnophis sirtalis against Appendix A, A, 4 with the finding "native range outside tropical/subtropical", and files the checkered and plains garter snakes the same way. Nothing else in Chapter W-7 reaches it: Appendix B is three snake genera and Thamnophis is not among them. What Colorado does allow is wild collection of two of its own garter snakes, the wandering and the plains, by residents holding a Resident Herpetofauna Collection and Possession License under § 704, which is a route to a Colorado animal rather than to a pet-trade one. This entry read legal until the May 1, 2026, herpetofauna rewrite moved the reptile lists out of Chapter W-11 and attached a native-range test to them.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

The anoles are on Appendix A as a family, Dactyloidae, but the listing carries the same qualifier as the rest of the lizard block, native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and CPW has read Anolis carolinensis as failing it. Its herpetofauna list records the species against Appendix A, B, 8 with the finding "native range outside tropical/subtropical", which is a determination against, not for. The green anole breeds up the southeastern United States well north of the 26 degree line Chapter W-7 § 700(G) draws, so the family listing does not carry it. That leaves it regulated wildlife with no pet license available. This is the clearest case on the map of a family appearing on an allow-list without the species being allowed.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Potos flavus appears on none of Colorado's lists, which puts it in the regulated middle by default. The raccoon is on the prohibited list by species, not by family, so the kinkajou is regulated rather than prohibited. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No wild cat is on the domestic or unregulated list, so a lion is regulated wildlife with no pet license. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants. Federally, the Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2022 (16 U.S.C. § 3372(e)) bars any person outside a licensed exhibitor, sanctuary or state institution from breeding or possessing a lion unless the animal was born before December 20, 2022, and registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 180 days, so no new pet is lawful anywhere in the country whatever the state rule says.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

§ 008(B)(18)

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) provided however that native prairie dogs may continue to be possessed pursuant to licenses or permits granted by the Division for scientific collection, relocation or rehabilitation purposes.

Prohibited at genus level, not merely unlisted, which is the stricter of the two ways Colorado can say no. The proviso is not a pet route: it preserves scientific collection, relocation and rehabilitation permits, all of which are institutional. The § 008(B) grandfather clause covers only subsections 1 through 8 and this is 18, so there is no existing-owner exemption either. Colorado has wild black-tailed prairie dogs across its eastern plains, which is the context the rule sits in.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

§ 008(B)(11)

Monk parakeet.

Two Colorado rules point in opposite directions here and the prohibited list wins. Chapter W-11 § 1103(B) clears "All Psitticine birds" on the unregulated wildlife list, but § 1103(B) is expressly subject to § 008 regarding prohibited terrestrial wildlife, and § 008(B)(11) names the monk parakeet. CPW resolves it the same way in public, restating the unregulated line as "All Psitticine birds (except Monk Parakeet/Quaker Parrot)" and saying the species is not allowed in Colorado. The grandfather clause in § 008(B) reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so it does not help an existing owner of a bird listed at 11. Reading the parrot line on its own is how this species gets recorded legal in Colorado, and it is not.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(6)

B. The following terrestrial wildlife species or viable gametes (eggs and sperm) are hereby determined to be detrimental to existing wildlife and their habitat in Colorado, and except as authorized in writing by the Division after consideration of the criteria in Commission Regulation #1102(A)(4), their possession is prohibited. Persons who have proof of possession of those species listed in subsections 1 through 8 of this section prior to September 1, 1990, may possess the following species for the life of the animal(s). ... 6. Raccoon.

Named on Colorado's prohibited list, which CPW's mammal list confirms row by row for Procyon lotor. This is a harder answer than the regulated tier: the possession itself is prohibited, and CPW's possession page uses the raccoon as its example of an animal not allowed here even where another state permits it. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild.

Existing owners: Proof of possession before September 1, 1990, allows the animal to be kept for its life, tagged and reported, but not sold, traded or moved within Colorado.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW species determinations, Crotalus atrox and C. viridis; 2 CCR 406-7 Appendices A and C

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

CPW has ruled on two rattlesnakes, the western diamondback and Colorado's own prairie rattlesnake, and gives both the same answer: "Family Viperidae not approved in regulation". Appendix A clears only listed nonvenomous families, and Appendix C, the wild-collection list for Colorado natives, names no rattlesnake, so every rattlesnake is regulated wildlife with no pet license.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Not on the domestic list, the unregulated list or the prohibited list, so the red fox is regulated wildlife, and CPW's possession page names foxes among animals not allowed as pets even where another state permits them. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

§ 708; CPW herpetofauna list

A person may possess, transport, or export, but not propagate, a red-eared slider taken from the wild in Colorado for the life of the animal.

Colorado reversed itself on this species in 2026. The red-eared slider used to be named outright on the Chapter W-11 unregulated wildlife list; Chapter W-7 § 708(A) now declares it invasive herpetofauna detrimental to Colorado wildlife and habitat, allows unlimited collection from the wild, and leaves Emydidae off every appendix. CPW's summary of the position is "No import, no sale". What survives is narrow and points the wrong way for a buyer: § 708(C)(1) permits keeping a slider taken from the wild in Colorado, for that animal's life, with no propagation and no release. So the pet-trade route is closed while the wild-take route is wide open, which is the opposite of how these rules usually run. W-7 does have a Legacy Report, due July 30, 2026, but it does not reach the slider: it covers Appendix B snakes held on May 1, 2026 (§ 703(C)), native species collected on or before that date (§ 704(B)(7)), and Gila monsters and Mexican beaded lizards (§ 707). No provision keeps a pet-store slider on the strength of a Legacy Report.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 2, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(19)

19. All species and hybrids of non-human primates, except as authorized by §35-80-108 C.R.S.

Colorado puts every nonhuman primate on its prohibited list. The exception points to a section of the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, C.R.S. 35-80-108, which was not read; nothing in the wildlife rules offers a keeper's route. Lemur catta is on CITES Appendix I, which bars commercial international trade, so a pet lemur here can only come from captive breeding inside the country, and the whole family Lemuridae is listed endangered under the Endangered Species Act (50 CFR 17.11).

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Boidae is on Appendix A, but the listing covers only snakes native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and the rosy boa is a southwestern United States and Baja animal ranging north of the 26 degree line in § 700(G). CPW's herpetofauna list records Lichanura trivirgata against Appendix A, A, 3 with the finding "native range is outside tropical/subtropical", and files the rubber boa the same way, against Boa constrictor, the rainbow boas and the sand boas, which clear it. So the family listing that makes the boa constrictor legal in Colorado does not carry the rosy boa, and this entry read legal until the May 1, 2026, rewrite added that test.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Testudinidae is on Appendix A, but only for tortoises native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and the Russian tortoise is a Central Asian steppe animal ranging far north of the 26 degree line. CPW's herpetofauna list records Testudo horsfieldii against Appendix A, C, 3 with the finding "native range is outside tropical/subtropical", and files the Greek tortoise, Hermann's tortoise and the leopard tortoise the same way, against the sulcata and the red-footed tortoise which do clear it. A tortoise being on Appendix A's family list is therefore not the answer in Colorado; the range test is.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

The serval is a wild felid, not Felis catus, so the domestic-cat line that clears Bengal hybrids does not reach it, and Leptailurus serval appears on neither the unregulated list nor the prohibited list. That leaves it regulated. Colorado has no pet license to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licenses, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park license that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before January 1, 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The contrast inside a single sentence of § 1103(A) is the thing to notice: a serval hybrid is a domestic cat in Colorado, and a serval is not.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW herpetofauna list; 2 CCR 406-7 § 704(B)(7)(a)

Any species of turtle native only to the tropical and subtropical region from the following families: Carettochelyidae (New Guinea softshell turtles) Dermatemydidae (Central American river turtles) Kinosternidae (mud and musk turtles) Testudinidae (tortoises) Trionychidae (soft-shelled turtles)

Chelydridae appears nowhere in Chapter W-7. Appendix A's turtle block lists five families and this is not one of them, Appendix B is three snake genera, and Appendix C, the wild-collection list, does not include it either. Under § 701 anything the chapter does not allow is unlawful to possess, so a snapping turtle is regulated wildlife with no pet license available. The snapping turtle is native to Colorado's eastern plains, which is the context for the one route the chapter does leave: § 704(B)(7)(a) lets someone who lawfully held a snapping turtle collected on or before May 1, 2026, keep it for the animal's life, on filing a CPW Legacy Report by July 30, 2026.

Existing owners: A snapping turtle legally collected on or before May 1, 2026, may be kept and transported within Colorado for the life of the animal if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by July 30, 2026. No new wild capture is allowed.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(19)

19. All species and hybrids of non-human primates, except as authorized by §35-80-108 C.R.S.

Colorado puts every nonhuman primate on its prohibited list. The exception points to a section of the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, C.R.S. 35-80-108, which was not read; nothing in the wildlife rules offers a keeper's route.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(8)

B. The following terrestrial wildlife species or viable gametes (eggs and sperm) are hereby determined to be detrimental to existing wildlife and their habitat in Colorado, and except as authorized in writing by the Division after consideration of the criteria in Commission Regulation #1102(A)(4), their possession is prohibited. Persons who have proof of possession of those species listed in subsections 1 through 8 of this section prior to September 1, 1990, may possess the following species for the life of the animal(s). ... 8. Striped skunks.

Named on the prohibited list by common name, so the taxonomy question does not arise. Descenting does not help, and CPW names skunks among animals not allowed even where another state permits them. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild.

Existing owners: Proof of possession before September 1, 1990, allows the animal to be kept for its life, tagged and reported, but not sold, traded or moved within Colorado.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No wild cat is on the domestic or unregulated list, so a tiger is regulated wildlife with no pet license. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants. Federally, the Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2022 (16 U.S.C. § 3372(e)) bars any person outside a licensed exhibitor, sanctuary or state institution from breeding or possessing a tiger unless the animal was born before December 20, 2022, and registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 180 days, so no new pet is lawful anywhere in the country whatever the state rule says.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW species determinations, Choloepodidae spp.; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

CPW rules on the two-toed sloths by family: "Choloepodidae spp. Two-toed sloths" are regulated wildlife, not on the domestic or unregulated list. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife; 2 CCR 406-11 § 1103

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

The unregulated list names one opossum, the short-tailed possum Monodelphis domestica, and the prohibited list names the brush-tailed possums. The Virginia opossum is neither, so it is regulated wildlife with no pet license. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

CPW, Wildlife and Animal Possession in Colorado, Regulated Wildlife

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

CPW's mammal list rules on the South American coati, Nasua nasua, as regulated wildlife, not on the domestic or unregulated list; the white-nosed coati is on no list either and lands in the same place. The prohibited list's raccoon entry is a single species, so it does not reach a coati. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated May 1, 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Chapter W-0, § 008(B)(5)

5. All species and hybrids of wild species in the family Cervidae not designated as alternative livestock by §35-41.5-102 C.R.S. or as domestic or unregulated wildlife by Chapter W-11 of these regulations.

Every deer that is not alternative livestock or on the W-11 lists is prohibited, and the only cervids those carve outs reach are the elk and fallow deer kept as alternative livestock and the reindeer on the domestic list. The white-tailed deer is none of them. Only commercial parks licensed for an authorized species on or before March 2, 2014, may continue. Colorado's chronic wasting disease rules for captive cervids sit in Chapter W-11 and govern parks, not pets.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix A(E)(3); Appendix C(J); § 704

Any species from the order Urodela (salamanders and newts) except tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum/mavortium)

Colorado clears the salamanders at order level and then carves this one species pair straight back out, which is why the axolotl is free here and the tiger salamander is not. The route that remains is a wild-collection license, not a pet-shop purchase: Appendix C(J) lists the western tiger salamander, and § 704 lets a Colorado resident take, possess and transport one only under a Resident Herpetofauna Collection and Possession License, which requires passing a CPW education course, is capped at four animals a year and twelve at once, bars propagation, and requires reporting each take within seven days. Non-residents have no route at all, and CPW's list records that any acquisition of a western tiger salamander other than licensed wild collection or legacy possession is not allowed. Colorado is also where the ranavirus work on the bait-salamander trade was done, which is the concern this rule sits against.

Existing owners: A western tiger salamander legally collected from the wild on or before May 1, 2026, may be kept for life if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by July 30, 2026.

Cities and counties here can prohibit what state law permits, so check your local ordinance too.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix B; § 703(B)

Any captive-bred species from the genus Lampropeltis (kingsnakes and milksnakes) except the Western milksnakes (Lampropeltis gentilis/Lampropeltis triangulum gentilis) and Speckled kingsnake (Lampropeltis holbrooki/Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)

The California kingsnake is neither of the two excluded natives, so it is on Appendix B and needs no license, but it does now need two things it did not need before May 1, 2026: it must be captive-bred, and § 703(B) requires documentation identifying the animal, a receipt or bill of sale, a donation certificate, an importation health certificate or proof of lawful parentage. CPW files Lampropeltis californiae against this line. Anyone holding one on May 1, 2026, could file a CPW Legacy Report under § 703(C) instead. CPW tells keepers to check their city or county as well, so a local ordinance can still be the binding rule.

Cities and counties here can prohibit what state law permits, so check your local ordinance too.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix B; § 703(B)

Any captive-bred species from the genus Pantherophis (cornsnakes, ratsnakes, and foxsnakes) except the Great Plains ratsnake (Pantherophis emoryi)

Two conditions, both real. The animal must be captive-bred, and § 703(B) requires documentation that reasonably identifies it, a receipt or bill of sale, a donation certificate, an importation health certificate or proof it was bred from lawfully possessed parents. No license and no fee, but a wild-caught corn snake and an undocumented one are both outside the exemption. Colorado carved the Great Plains ratsnake out of the genus because it is a native species. Anyone who held a Pantherophis on May 1, 2026, could satisfy the documentation requirement instead by filing a CPW Legacy Report under § 703(C). CPW tells keepers to check their city or county as well, so a local ordinance can still be the binding rule.

Cities and counties here can prohibit what state law permits, so check your local ordinance too.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix B; § 703(B)

Any captive-bred species from the genus Heterodon except the Eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos), Lystrophis, or Leioheterodon (hognose snakes)

Captive-bred western hognose is on Appendix B, needing documentation under § 703(B) but no license, and CPW files Heterodon nasicus (captive bred) against exactly this line. Two things fall outside it. The eastern hognose is excluded by name. And a hognose taken from the wild in Colorado is not covered: CPW files that as legacy possession only, lawful if held on or before May 1, 2026, and reported by July 30, 2026, with no new wild capture allowed. CPW tells keepers to check their city or county as well, so a local ordinance can still be the binding rule.

Cities and counties here can prohibit what state law permits, so check your local ordinance too.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix B; § 703(B)

Any captive-bred species from the genus Lampropeltis (kingsnakes and milksnakes) except the Western milksnakes (Lampropeltis gentilis/Lampropeltis triangulum gentilis) and Speckled kingsnake (Lampropeltis holbrooki/Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)

Captive-bred Lampropeltis triangulum is on Appendix B, so it needs documentation under § 703(B) but no license. The exclusion is the part that matters for this species: the western milksnake, which Colorado writes as Lampropeltis gentilis or L. triangulum gentilis, is Colorado's own native milksnake and is left out of the exemption, so the answer depends on which milksnake it is. Anyone who held one on May 1, 2026, could file a CPW Legacy Report under § 703(C) in place of documentation. CPW tells keepers to check their city or county as well, so a local ordinance can still be the binding rule.

Cities and counties here can prohibit what state law permits, so check your local ordinance too.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

Appendix A(B)(19); § 700(G)

"Tropical and subtropical region" means the region between 26.0 degrees north latitude and 26.0 degrees south latitude.

Varanidae is on Appendix A, but only for monitors native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and § 700(G) fixes that region at 26.0 degrees north to 26.0 degrees south. The ackie monitor's range across northern and central Western Australia and inland Queensland reaches roughly that latitude, so it sits on the line the rule draws rather than clearly inside it. CPW has published determinations for six monitors, the savannah, Nile, black-throated, blue-spotted tree, crocodile and Asian water monitors, and none for Varanus acanthurus, and its list is expressly not exhaustive. Recorded unclear rather than legal because the qualifier is species-specific and this species is the one it is hardest to call. CPW takes the question by email for exactly this situation.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

2 CCR 406-7 #700(G), Appendix A(A)(3)

A. Any species of snake native only to the tropical and subtropical region from the following families: ... 3. Boidae (giant snakes)

Boidae is on Appendix A, but only for species "native only to the tropical and subtropical region", which #700(G) defines as 26.0 degrees north to 26.0 degrees south. Colorado decides that species by species and CPW's published determinations cover several boas but not the green anaconda. Its range is centered on the Amazon and Orinoco basins, and whether any of it falls south of 26 degrees south is the question the rule turns on. Recorded unclear until CPW rules on it, the same answer the ackie monitor gets; CPW takes questions on unlisted species at [email protected]. Federally, the green anaconda has been injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act since 2015 (50 CFR 16.15(a)), which bars importing one into the country or shipping one to Hawaii or a territory; USARK v. Zinke (D.C. Cir. 2017) held it does not bar shipment between the continental states.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective May 1, 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident license, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.