Exotic pet laws in Colorado

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

W-07, Appendix A, C: Family Emydidae not approved in regulation

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 1 May 2026 and reported by 30 July 2026.

Existing owners: An ornate box turtle legally collected on or before 1 May 2026 may be kept and transported within Colorado for the life of the animal if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by 30 July 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 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 licence exists on paper but not one a pet keeper can obtain.

Existing owners: Lawful non-commercial possession of exotic mammals before 1 January 1983 may continue under a non-commercial wildlife park licence, covering those animals and their progeny born after 1 January 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 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 licence 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 5 September 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 5 September 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.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 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 1 May 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 5 September 2026.

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

W-07, Appendix A, C: Family Chelydridae not approved in regulation

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 licence 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 1 May 2026 keep it for the animal's life, on filing a CPW Legacy Report by 30 July 2026.

Existing owners: A snapping turtle legally collected on or before 1 May 2026 may be kept and transported within Colorado for the life of the animal if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by 30 July 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 1 May 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 5 September 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 licence, 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 1 May 2026 may be kept for life if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by 30 July 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 licence, but it does now need two things it did not need before 1 May 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 licence 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 licence, 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 1 May 2026 and reported by 30 July 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 licence. 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 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 1 May 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 licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.