Exotic pet laws in Florida

68A-6.002(1)(a)13; 68A-6.003(6)

Class I wildlife shall not be possessed for personal use, except as follows: (a) Any Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, shall be eligible for a permit in accordance with the provisions for Class II wildlife.

"Bears (family Ursidae)" is Class I item 13, and Class I wildlife may not be possessed for personal use. The only exception is an animal already held on August 1, 1980, and the rule says no other Class I wildlife "shall be transferred or kept for personal use". Exhibitor and commercial permits remain.

Existing owners: A Class I animal possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, is eligible for a permit on Class II terms.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(n); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

The entry reads "Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)", which is written to survive the 2012 split that moved the Argentine black and white tegu from Tupinambis to Salvator. Naming both genera is the drafting choice that several other states on this map did not make, and it is why a taxonomy argument does not work here. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(e); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

Listed as "Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus)", which under the rule's own opening words reaches "taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids", so the split of Python bivittatus out of P. molurus changes nothing. Florida is where this animal's reputation comes from and the rule is written accordingly. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(a)23; 68A-6.003(6)

Class I wildlife shall not be possessed for personal use, except as follows: (a) Any Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, shall be eligible for a permit in accordance with the provisions for Class II wildlife.

"Cougars, panthers (Puma concolor)" are named at Class I item 23, and Class I is closed to personal possession. Class I animals may be held by licensed exhibitors and dealers under § 379.3761, F.S., not as pets. 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.

Existing owners: Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, became eligible for a permit on Class II terms; no other Class I animal may be transferred or kept for personal use.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(k); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus).

Named on the prohibited nonnative list with all three other anacondas. As for the Burmese python, 68-5.007 lets only someone in lawful possession before the listing keep the animal for its life, PIT-tagged and with no further specimens. 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.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may keep it, for that animal's life, under permit, PIT-tagged, with no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(m); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

Iguana iguana was added to the prohibited list in the 2021 rulemaking, which is recent enough that a lot of secondary material still describes Florida as the easiest state in the country for this animal. The transitional provisions in 68-5.007(1)(a)2 are unusually specific about it, letting a Class III exhibition or sale licensee who documented green iguanas on a 2018 or 2019 application keep exhibiting them, without importing any. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(a)12; 68A-6.003(6)

Class I wildlife shall not be possessed for personal use, except as follows: (a) Any Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, shall be eligible for a permit in accordance with the provisions for Class II wildlife.

Lions (Panthera leo) are named at Class I item 12, and Class I is closed to personal possession. Class I animals may be held by licensed exhibitors and dealers under § 379.3761, F.S., not as pets. 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.

Existing owners: Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, became eligible for a permit on Class II terms; no other Class I animal may be transferred or kept for personal use.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(l); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

Varanus niloticus is named on the prohibited list, and it is the only monitor there: the savannah and ackie monitors are untouched by this chapter and need no permit at all under 68A-6.003(14)(a). Florida draws the line at the species with established breeding populations in Cape Coral and Palm Beach County rather than at the genus. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.006(4)(f); 68-5.007

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus).

Named on the prohibited nonnative list in the 2021 reptile rewrite, and the opening words reach taxonomic successors, so the move to Malayopython changes nothing. As for the Burmese python, 68-5.007 lets only someone in lawful possession before the listing keep the animal for its life, PIT-tagged and with no further specimens. Federally, the reticulated python 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.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may keep it, for that animal's life, under permit, PIT-tagged, with no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(a)11; 68A-6.003(6)

Class I wildlife shall not be possessed for personal use, except as follows: (a) Any Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, shall be eligible for a permit in accordance with the provisions for Class II wildlife.

Tigers (Panthera tigris) are named at Class I item 11, and Class I is closed to personal possession. Class I animals may be held by licensed exhibitors and dealers under § 379.3761, F.S., not as pets. 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.

Existing owners: Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, became eligible for a permit on Class II terms; no other Class I animal may be transferred or kept for personal use.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-25.002(1); 68A-6.002(1)(b)33; 68A-6.003(7)

No person shall buy, sell, take, possess, transport, release, or import any American alligator, or any part thereof, or the nests or eggs of any American alligator except under permit from the executive director, as otherwise provided by this Title, or as follows:

Two rules stack. The reptile rule bars possessing a live alligator except under permit or as the title otherwise provides, and the captive wildlife rule puts "Alligators, caimans (family Alligatoridae)" in Class II, whose personal use permit costs $140 a year and needs documented experience and caging. The alligator rule's own exceptions are for exhibitors and licensed sellers, so the Class II personal permit is the only keeper's route on the text; whether FWC issues it for a native alligator rather than steering keepers to exhibitor licensing is worth confirming with the agency.

How this rule works: The rule that reaches Florida's native turtles, and it is separate from both the captive wildlife chapter and the nonnative one, which is why it is easy to miss. Subsection (6) caps take at one turtle per day, bars taking snapping turtles, cooters and two other groups from the wild entirely, caps possession at two for the Florida native box turtles and two other species, and bars buying or selling any turtle taken from the wild. None of it turns on a permit for an ordinary keeper; it is a set of numbers and a sale ban.

Checked against the published text on October 8, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)24, (1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

(c) Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Same reading as the fennec fox: FWC's personal pet page treats foxes as Class III despite the Canidae parenthetical in Class II item 24, so the answer is the free personal use permit rather than the $140 one, on the agency's reading of its own rule.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

(c) Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

No otter is named in Class I or Class II, and the badgers are the only mustelids there, so the Asian small-clawed otter is Class III. That means the no-cost Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use under 68A-6.003(8), and the animal is not on the 22-item no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14). CITES Appendix I since 2019 bars commercial international trade, which governs where a lawful animal can come from.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

No macropod is on Class I or II, and the no-permit list's only marsupials are honey possums and sugar gliders, so a wallaby falls to Class III and the free personal use permit. Marsupials have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0127.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)17; 68A-6.003(7); 68A-6.004

Class II: ... 15. Servals (Leptailurus serval) 16. European and Canadian lynx (Lynx lynx) 17. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) 18. Caracals (Caracal caracal) ...

Named at Class II item 17, next to the serval and the lynx. A Permit to Possess Class II Wildlife for Personal Use costs $140 a year, requires the applicant to be 18, and requires documented experience plus the facility and caging standards of 68A-6.004 and 68A-6.010. The bobcat is a Florida native, and a wild-caught one is still subject to the general bar on possessing wildlife without a permit in 68A-6.003(1).

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)16; 68A-6.003(7)

Class II: ... 15. Servals (Leptailurus serval) 16. European and Canadian lynx (Lynx lynx) 17. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) 18. Caracals (Caracal caracal) ...

Class II item 16 names "European and Canadian lynx" with the binomial Lynx lynx, from when the Canada lynx was treated as a subspecies of it, and the class list covers "taxonomic successors and subspecies". So it is a $140 Class II personal use permit with documented experience and caging standards. The Canada lynx is federally threatened in the lower 48, which brings federal rules on interstate sale but not a Florida bar.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Florida writes its primate classes genus by genus. Class I takes the great apes, gibbons, baboons and drills; Class II takes howlers, uakaris, mangabeys, guenons, patas, vervets, sakis, colobus, indris, macaques and langurs. Neither capuchin genus is on neither list, so it falls to Class III and a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing. Primates have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0121.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (14)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C. ... Hybrids resulting from the cross between wildlife and domestic animal, which are substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal shall be regulated as wildlife at the higher and more restricted class of the wild parent.

Class III in Florida is a residual category, "all other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required", and the capybara lands in it by not being anywhere else. That means a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing, runs two years, and requires the applicant to be 16. The thing to notice is what it is not on: 68A-6.003(14) exempts 22 categories from any permit at all, and this animal is not among them. This entry previously read as unrestricted. The exemption list does carry several rodents, the guinea pig, the hamster, the gerbil, the prairie dog and the chinchilla, but not the capybara, and an unlisted rodent falls back to Class III rather than out of the scheme.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.017(1), (2); 68A-6.003(14)(a)

Any person who keeps, possesses, exhibits or sells any venomous reptiles or reptile of concern shall comply with Sections 379.303, 379.304, 379.305, 379.372, 379.373, 379.374 and 379.3761, F.S., and the provisions of subparagraph 68-5.007(5)(a)1., F.A.C., and the rules of this chapter.

A cobra needs Florida's venomous reptile permit, which an individual can hold: 18 or older, at least one year and 1,000 hours of experience with the species or its family with two qualified references, the Commission's examination, and an inspected facility before the animal arrives. The king cobra and the Asian Naja species are on CITES Appendix II, which governs import and export, not keeping.

How this rule works: Florida's venomous reptile permit. Anyone who keeps a venomous reptile must comply with ch. 379 F.S. and this rule; an applicant must be 18, have a clean record on wildlife and cruelty violations for three years, have the facility inspected before animals arrive, and show at least one year and 1,000 hours of experience with the species or its family, with two references from licensed keepers or professional bodies. Individuals as well as businesses may apply. The reptiles of concern list is currently empty.

Checked against the published text on October 8, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Florida writes its primate classes genus by genus. Class I takes the great apes, gibbons, baboons and drills; Class II takes howlers, uakaris, mangabeys, guenons, patas, vervets, sakis, colobus, indris, macaques and langurs. Callithrix is on neither list, so it falls to Class III and a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing. Primates have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0121.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (14)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C. ... Hybrids resulting from the cross between wildlife and domestic animal, which are substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal shall be regulated as wildlife at the higher and more restricted class of the wild parent.

Class III in Florida is a residual category, "all other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required", and the degu lands in it by not being anywhere else. That means a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing, runs two years, and requires the applicant to be 16. The thing to notice is what it is not on: 68A-6.003(14) exempts 22 categories from any permit at all, and this animal is not among them. This is the sharpest illustration of how the exemption list works, because the chinchilla is on it at (l) and the degu is not. Two South American caviomorph rodents of similar size and similar husbandry, and one needs a permit because a list written years ago named the other.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (14)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C. ... Hybrids resulting from the cross between wildlife and domestic animal, which are substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal shall be regulated as wildlife at the higher and more restricted class of the wild parent.

Class III in Florida is a residual category, "all other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required", and the fennec fox lands in it by not being anywhere else. That means a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing, runs two years, and requires the applicant to be 16. The thing to notice is what it is not on: 68A-6.003(14) exempts 22 categories from any permit at all, and this animal is not among them. Worth reading carefully, because Class II item 24 says "Wolves, coyotes, jackals (family Canidae)" and the parenthetical would sweep in every fox. FWC does not read it that way: its own personal pet page lists "fox" among the common Class III species requiring a permit, alongside the raccoon, the coatimundi and the wallaby. So the answer is the free permit rather than the $140 one, on the agency's reading of its own rule.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

5B-57.004(1)

It is unlawful to introduce, multiply, possess, move, or release any arthropod, plant pest, biological control agent, noxious weed, or invasive plant regulated by the Department or the USDA except under permit issued by the Department unless a federal permit, PPQ 526, has been issued by the USDA with concurrence by the Department. No permit shall be issued nor concurrence with a federal permit, PPQ 526 made unless the Department has determined that the arthropod, plant pest, biological control agent, noxious weed, or invasive plant can be contained to prevent escape into the environment or that it will not pose a threat to agriculture, beneficial organisms, or the environment or become a public nuisance.

Florida answers this animal through its agriculture department, not FWC, and the wildlife chapters give no hint of it. 5B-57.004(1) makes it unlawful to possess any arthropod "regulated by the Department or the USDA" without a permit from the Division of Plant Industry, unless a federal PPQ 526 has already issued with the Department's concurrence. Archispirostreptus gigas moves interstate under exactly that federal permit, which is what brings it inside the sentence. The permit standard is containment: the Department must find the animal can be contained to prevent escape into the environment, which in practice means secure enclosure rather than a fee. Nothing in Chapter 68-5 or Chapter 68A-6 names it, so an entry resting on those chapters alone would read this as unrestricted.

How this rule works: The rule that catches invertebrates in Florida, and it belongs to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than to FWC, which is why reading only the wildlife chapters gets this wrong. It makes it unlawful to possess "any arthropod ... regulated by the Department or the USDA" without a state permit, unless a federal PPQ 526 has issued with the Department's concurrence. The test is therefore federal as much as state: an arthropod USDA treats as a plant pest is caught, and one it does not is not. That splits the four invertebrates on this map, since the giant African millipede and the Madagascar hissing cockroach are both moved under PPQ 526 and a tarantula and a scorpion are not plant pests at all. Permits turn on containment: the Department must find the animal can be contained to prevent escape.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

(c) Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Not named in Class I or Class II, so Class III by default. That means the no-cost Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use under 68A-6.003(8), and the animal is not on the 22-item no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14).

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

5B-57.004(1)

It is unlawful to introduce, multiply, possess, move, or release any arthropod, plant pest, biological control agent, noxious weed, or invasive plant regulated by the Department or the USDA except under permit issued by the Department unless a federal permit, PPQ 526, has been issued by the USDA with concurrence by the Department. No permit shall be issued nor concurrence with a federal permit, PPQ 526 made unless the Department has determined that the arthropod, plant pest, biological control agent, noxious weed, or invasive plant can be contained to prevent escape into the environment or that it will not pose a threat to agriculture, beneficial organisms, or the environment or become a public nuisance.

Florida answers this animal through its agriculture department, not FWC, and the wildlife chapters give no hint of it. 5B-57.004(1) makes it unlawful to possess any arthropod "regulated by the Department or the USDA" without a permit from the Division of Plant Industry, unless a federal PPQ 526 has already issued with the Department's concurrence. Gromphadorhina portentosa moves interstate under exactly that federal permit, which is what brings it inside the sentence. The permit standard is containment: the Department must find the animal can be contained to prevent escape into the environment, which in practice means secure enclosure rather than a fee. Nothing in Chapter 68-5 or Chapter 68A-6 names it, so an entry resting on those chapters alone would read this as unrestricted. The same reasoning reaches it as reaches the millipede, and for the same reason: it is the federal plant-pest status that does the work, not anything Florida wrote about the species.

How this rule works: The rule that catches invertebrates in Florida, and it belongs to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than to FWC, which is why reading only the wildlife chapters gets this wrong. It makes it unlawful to possess "any arthropod ... regulated by the Department or the USDA" without a state permit, unless a federal PPQ 526 has issued with the Department's concurrence. The test is therefore federal as much as state: an arthropod USDA treats as a plant pest is caught, and one it does not is not. That splits the four invertebrates on this map, since the giant African millipede and the Madagascar hissing cockroach are both moved under PPQ 526 and a tarantula and a scorpion are not plant pests at all. Permits turn on containment: the Department must find the animal can be contained to prevent escape.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (13)

Fox, skunks, bats, raccoons, or whitetail deer taken from the wild shall not be possessed as personal use wildlife and shall be possessed only in accordance with permits issued under Rules 68A-9.002, 68A-9.006, F.A.C., or Section 379.3761, F.S.

The raccoon is in neither Class I nor Class II, so it is Class III, and FWC's own personal pet page names the raccoon among common Class III species. That means the no-cost Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use under 68A-6.003(8), and the animal is not on the 22-item no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14). The one bar is 68A-6.003(13): a raccoon taken from the wild may never be a personal pet, so it has to be captive bred.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.017(1), (2); 68A-6.003(14)(a)

Any person who keeps, possesses, exhibits or sells any venomous reptiles or reptile of concern shall comply with Sections 379.303, 379.304, 379.305, 379.372, 379.373, 379.374 and 379.3761, F.S., and the provisions of subparagraph 68-5.007(5)(a)1., F.A.C., and the rules of this chapter.

The no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14)(a) covers only nonvenomous reptiles, so every rattlesnake, native or not, needs Florida's venomous reptile permit. It is open to an individual: the applicant must be 18, show at least one year and 1,000 hours of hands-on experience with the species or its family backed by two references from licensed keepers or professional bodies, pass the Commission's examination, and have the facility inspected before the snake arrives. That is a demanding permit, but it is a personal one.

How this rule works: Florida's venomous reptile permit. Anyone who keeps a venomous reptile must comply with ch. 379 F.S. and this rule; an applicant must be 18, have a clean record on wildlife and cruelty violations for three years, have the facility inspected before animals arrive, and show at least one year and 1,000 hours of experience with the species or its family, with two references from licensed keepers or professional bodies. Individuals as well as businesses may apply. The reptiles of concern list is currently empty.

Checked against the published text on October 8, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)24, (1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (13)

Fox, skunks, bats, raccoons, or whitetail deer taken from the wild shall not be possessed as personal use wildlife and shall be possessed only in accordance with permits issued under Rules 68A-9.002, 68A-9.006, F.A.C., or Section 379.3761, F.S.

Same reading as the fennec fox. Class II item 24 says "Wolves, coyotes, jackals (family Canidae)", and the parenthetical on its face would make every fox a $140 Class II animal, but FWC's personal pet page lists "fox" among common Class III species, the free permit. 68A-6.003(13) adds that a fox taken from the wild may not be a personal pet, so a red fox has to be captive bred.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Florida writes its primate classes genus by genus. Class I takes the great apes, gibbons, baboons and drills; Class II takes howlers, uakaris, mangabeys, guenons, patas, vervets, sakis, colobus, indris, macaques and langurs. Lemur, unlike the indri, is on neither list, so it falls to Class III and a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing. Primates have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0121. 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: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)15; 68A-6.003(7); 68A-6.004

Class II: ... 15. Servals (Leptailurus serval) 16. European and Canadian lynx (Lynx lynx) 17. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) 18. Caracals (Caracal caracal) ... 24. Wolves, coyotes, jackals (family Canidae) ...

Named at Class II item 15, between the lynxes and the caracals, so the serval is one of the few animals Florida answers by name rather than by class. A Permit to Possess Class II Wildlife for Personal Use costs $140 a year, requires the applicant to be 18, and requires documented experience: FWC asks for a logged experience record along with facility and caging standards under 68A-6.004 and 68A-6.010. That is a real barrier rather than a fee, and it is the difference between Class II and the free Class III permit. Class I, one tier up, cannot be held as a personal pet at all.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(b)33; 68A-6.003(7)

Class II: ... 32. Dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis) 33. Alligators, caimans (family Alligatoridae)

Caimans are named at Class II item 33; only the black caiman is Class I. A Permit to Possess Class II Wildlife for Personal Use costs $140 a year and requires documented experience and caging that meets 68A-6.010 and 68A-6.011.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Florida writes its primate classes genus by genus. Class I takes the great apes, gibbons, baboons and drills; Class II takes howlers, uakaris, mangabeys, guenons, patas, vervets, sakis, colobus, indris, macaques and langurs. Saimiri is on neither list, so it falls to Class III and a Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use, which costs nothing. Primates have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0121.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (13)

Fox, skunks, bats, raccoons, or whitetail deer taken from the wild shall not be possessed as personal use wildlife and shall be possessed only in accordance with permits issued under Rules 68A-9.002, 68A-9.006, F.A.C., or Section 379.3761, F.S.

Skunks are in neither Class I nor Class II, so they are Class III. That means the no-cost Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use under 68A-6.003(8), and the animal is not on the 22-item no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14). 68A-6.003(13) names skunks among the animals that may never be personal pets if taken from the wild, which leaves the captive-bred animal on the free permit.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

No sloth is on Class I or II or on the no-permit list, so a sloth falls to Class III and the free personal use permit. Sloths have their own caging standard at 68A-6.0128.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

No opossum is on Class I or II or on the no-permit list, which names honey possums and sugar gliders but not Didelphis, so the Virginia opossum falls to Class III and the free personal use permit. The wild-taken bar at 68A-6.003(13) names foxes, skunks, bats, raccoons and white-tailed deer, not opossums.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8)

(c) Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Not named in Class I or Class II, and FWC's personal pet page lists the coatimundi among common Class III species. That means the no-cost Permit to Possess Class III Wildlife for Personal Use under 68A-6.003(8), and the animal is not on the 22-item no-permit list at 68A-6.003(14).

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(c); 68A-6.003(8), (13)

Fox, skunks, bats, raccoons, or whitetail deer taken from the wild shall not be possessed as personal use wildlife and shall be possessed only in accordance with permits issued under Rules 68A-9.002, 68A-9.006, F.A.C., or Section 379.3761, F.S.

A white-tailed deer taken from the wild is barred as a pet by name. One bred in captivity is not on Class I or II, so it falls to Class III and the free personal use permit, with cervid caging standards at 68A-6.01210. Florida's chronic wasting disease rules on importing live cervids are a separate chapter and were not read here.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-25.002(6)(a)1, 8, (c)

(6) Turtles. (a) Take and possession ... 1. No person shall take more than one turtle per day unless authorized by permit ... 4. No person shall take Escambia map turtles (Graptemys ernsti), cooters (Pseudemys spp.), striped mud turtles (Lower Keys population) (Kinosternon baurii) or snapping turtles (Chelydra spp.) from the wild. ... 8. No person shall possess more than two Escambia map turtles (Graptemys ernsti), two box turtles of Florida native species ... or two loggerhead musk turtles (Sternotherus minor). ... (c) Sale - No person shall buy, sell, or possess for sale turtles, their eggs or parts thereof, that have been taken from the wild.

Florida caps this animal by number rather than by permit, and the cap is two. 68A-25.002(6)(a)8 bars possessing more than "two box turtles of Florida native species (Florida box turtles [Terrapene bauri]; eastern, Gulf Coast, and three-toed box turtles [Terrapene carolina subsp.]; their taxonomic successors; or hybrids thereof)", which is written wide enough to reach every box turtle a keeper is likely to have. Take from the wild is one turtle per day at (6)(a)1, by hand, baited hook, minnow seine or dip net only, and (6)(c) bars buying or selling any turtle taken from the wild. No permit is involved at any point, which is why this is easy to miss: the animal is otherwise a nonvenomous unprotected reptile needing nothing.

How this rule works: The rule that reaches Florida's native turtles, and it is separate from both the captive wildlife chapter and the nonnative one, which is why it is easy to miss. Subsection (6) caps take at one turtle per day, bars taking snapping turtles, cooters and two other groups from the wild entirely, caps possession at two for the Florida native box turtles and two other species, and bars buying or selling any turtle taken from the wild. None of it turns on a permit for an ordinary keeper; it is a set of numbers and a sale ban.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68-5.004(3)

Non-native turtles. Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans): red-eared sliders may be possessed only by permitted individuals or commercial import or export businesses according to the provisions of subsection 68-5.005(4), F.A.C., except as provided below: (a) Red-eared sliders in personal possession prior to July 1, 2007 may continue in the possession of the owner without a permit, except that red-eared sliders less than four inches carapace length may not be possessed after July 1, 2008 without a permit. (b) Red-eared sliders with distinctive aberrant color patterns, including albino or amelanistic specimens, may be possessed without a permit otherwise required by this rule.

Florida is the only state on this map that lets a color morph out of a restriction it applies to the wild-type animal. Trachemys scripta elegans is a conditional nonnative species, which means a permit, with two exceptions written into the entry: an animal in personal possession before July 1, 2007, stays legal, and any slider "with distinctive aberrant color patterns, including albino or amelanistic specimens" may be kept with no permit at all. The logic is ecological rather than about the pet trade: an albino slider that escapes does not survive to establish, so the state has no reason to restrict it. The federal four-inch rule at 21 C.F.R. 1240.62 still applies on top, and Florida writes its own version of it into the grandfather clause.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-25.002(6)(a)4, (c)

(6) Turtles. (a) Take and possession ... 1. No person shall take more than one turtle per day unless authorized by permit ... 4. No person shall take Escambia map turtles (Graptemys ernsti), cooters (Pseudemys spp.), striped mud turtles (Lower Keys population) (Kinosternon baurii) or snapping turtles (Chelydra spp.) from the wild. ... 8. No person shall possess more than two Escambia map turtles (Graptemys ernsti), two box turtles of Florida native species ... or two loggerhead musk turtles (Sternotherus minor). ... (c) Sale - No person shall buy, sell, or possess for sale turtles, their eggs or parts thereof, that have been taken from the wild.

Wild take is barred outright. 68A-25.002(6)(a)4 says no person shall take Escambia map turtles, cooters, Lower Keys striped mud turtles "or snapping turtles (Chelydra spp.)" from the wild, and (6)(c) bars buying or selling any turtle taken from the wild. What is not barred is possession: the common snapping turtle is not on the imperiled list at 68A-27.003, is not among the species capped at two, and is a nonvenomous unprotected reptile for the purposes of 68A-6.003(14)(a), so a lawfully acquired captive-bred animal needs no permit. The alligator snapping turtle is the opposite: 68A-25.002(6)(a)5 bars taking, possessing, transporting or selling any Macrochelys at all.

How this rule works: The rule that reaches Florida's native turtles, and it is separate from both the captive wildlife chapter and the nonnative one, which is why it is easy to miss. Subsection (6) caps take at one turtle per day, bars taking snapping turtles, cooters and two other groups from the wild entirely, caps possession at two for the Florida native box turtles and two other species, and bars buying or selling any turtle taken from the wild. None of it turns on a permit for an ordinary keeper; it is a set of numbers and a sale ban.

Checked against the published text on October 1, 2026.

68A-6.002(1)(d), F.A.C.; FWC Captive Wildlife FAQ

Wolf-dog hybrids are regulated on a case-by-case basis. Wolf-dogs considered to be indistinguishable from a wolf will be regulated as a Class II canid and will require a Class II license for possession.

Florida's hybrid rule is a resemblance test, not a generation or percentage rule: a hybrid "substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal" is regulated at the wild parent's class. FWC applies it to wolfdogs case by case. One that reads as a dog needs nothing from FWC; one that reads as a wolf is a Class II canid needing the $140 personal use permit with documented experience and caging.

How this rule works: FWC's own reading of the hybrid clause at 68A-6.002(1)(d). The answer to "Do I need a permit for a hybrid wild/domestic animal?" restates the rule, that a hybrid indistinguishable from the wild parent is regulated at that parent's class, says wolf-dog hybrids are regulated case by case, and closes: "Savannah cats, Bengal cats, and Chausie cats are considered domesticated species and are not regulated by the Captive Wildlife Office."

Checked against the published text on October 8, 2026.