Exotic pet laws in Illinois

520 ILCS 5/2.2; 520 ILCS 5/3.23

OTHER MAMMALS-Flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans ... It shall be unlawful for any person at any time to take, possess, sell, or offer for sale, propagate, or release into the wild, any of these wild birds (dead or alive) and parts of wild birds ... wild mammals (dead or alive) and parts of wild mammals ... contrary to the provisions of this Act.

Illinois names the southern flying squirrel in its protected species list, in the "OTHER MAMMALS" group alongside the red squirrel, the eastern woodrat and the bats, and then makes possession unlawful except as the Act provides. The route the Act provides is § 3.23: anyone wishing to possess, propagate or hold in captivity but not sell a protected species may do so under a Class A Noncommercial game breeders permit, $10 a year, expiring 31 March. That is a real personal permit rather than an institutional one, which is what separates the flying squirrel here from a species that is simply barred. The protection is species-specific and does not turn on where the animal came from, so a captive-bred out-of-state Glaucomys volans is still a protected species once it is in Illinois. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: § 2.2 says the Act applies only to wild birds and wild mammals, then lists the protected species by name and family. Parrots are not among them; the flying squirrel is. § 3.23 (DocName 052000050K3.23) carries the Class A noncommercial breeder permit that lets a private keeper hold a protected species, plus the two named-species clauses that decide the rabbit and the monk parakeet.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

17 Ill. Adm. Code 1010.30; 520 ILCS 10/3

THREATENED AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF ILLINOIS ... Snakes ... Plains Hog-nosed Snake Heterodon nasicus

The species the pet trade sells as the western hognose is Heterodon nasicus, and Illinois lists it as a threatened species. 520 ILCS 10/3 then makes it unlawful to possess any animal on the Illinois List unless otherwise authorized by law, with no captive-bred carve-out written into the statute, so a Department endangered or threatened species possession permit is the route, applied for through the Office of Resource Conservation, with a separate Herptile Endangered and Threatened Species Propagation Permit at $150 a year on top if the animal is to be bred or sold. The eastern hognose, Heterodon platirhinos, is the other Illinois native and is not listed, so it sits under the ordinary 4-per-species and 8-total cap instead. Which hognose it is decides the answer here, and the pet trade animal is the listed one. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: Amended effective 30 October 2025. Three entries here reach animals sold in the pet trade: the Great Plains ratsnake is endangered, and the plains hog-nosed snake and the ornate box turtle are threatened.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

17 Ill. Adm. Code 1010.30; 510 ILCS 68/5-5(a)

THREATENED AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF ILLINOIS ... Turtles ... Ornate Box Turtle Terrapene ornata

Illinois splits its two box turtles. The ornate box turtle is a threatened species, so 520 ILCS 10/3 bars possessing one without a Department permit. The eastern box turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina, is on the § 885.40 native list but not on the endangered and threatened list, so it needs no permit and sits under the ordinary limits: 4 of the species, 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect one from the wild and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or sell. Turtles other than common snapping turtles may be taken by hand only, and § 30-5 bars commercial turtle farming in the State. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: Amended effective 30 October 2025. Three entries here reach animals sold in the pet trade: the Great Plains ratsnake is endangered, and the plains hog-nosed snake and the ornate box turtle are threatened.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.105(j)

Any hybrid, intergrade, cross, or morphological variation of any listed herptile shall be treated as an endangered or threatened herptile under this Part. Examples of these include, but are not limited to: scaleless corn snakes, root beer corn snakes, creamsicle/dreamsicle corn snakes, and Slowinski/Kisatchie rat snakes.

This entry previously read the corn snake as an Illinois native subject to the possession cap. It is not: Pantherophis guttatus is absent from the § 885.40 native taxa list, which carries emoryi, obsoletus and ramspotti/vulpinus but not guttatus, so an ordinary corn snake is a non-native herptile and needs no licence. What does reach it is newer and narrower. Illinois lists the Great Plains ratsnake, Pantherophis emoryi, as endangered, and this subsection, added effective 31 July 2025, treats any hybrid, cross or morphological variation of a listed herptile as endangered too, then names the common pet-trade lines that carry emoryi ancestry: creamsicle, dreamsicle, root beer and scaleless corn snakes. Those need an endangered species possession permit; a normal corn snake does not. It is an unusually specific rule, and a keeper is unlikely to find it by looking up the species. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: Official Joint Committee on Administrative Rules text, amended effective 31 July 2025. § 885.40 is the list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which decides whether the possession cap applies to a species at all; § 885.20 sets the seasons and limits; § 885.80 sets the $50 Herpetoculture Permit; and § 885.105(j), new in 2025, sweeps named corn snake morph lines into the endangered species regime.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

510 ILCS 68/5-5(a); 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.40

The possession limit for herptiles (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) is no more than 4 total per species. ... In no case shall a person possess more than 8 indigenous amphibian or reptiles in total.

The common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, in both its eastern and Chicago subspecies is on the § 885.40 list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which is what puts it inside the cap rather than outside it. No licence is needed to keep one, but three conditions ride along: no more than 4 of the species and no more than 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect any native taxon from the wild, and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or to sell. Non-residents may not possess herptiles collected from the wild in Illinois at all except under a scientific collection permit. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the dangerous animal statute, which is a closed list of big cats and says in terms that it does not reach herptiles. The Herptiles-Herps Act is the law that actually answers a snake question in Illinois, and a native colubrid sits inside its cap. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: The statute behind 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885, and the only Illinois law that reaches pet reptiles and amphibians. § 5-5 sets the possession limits, § 15-5 clears the family Boidae from the permit system outright, § 25-5 defines 'monitor lizards' as only the crocodile monitor and Komodo dragon, and § 85-5 bars possession of a special use herptile. Sections are served individually from this endpoint by DocName, 051000680K<section>.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

510 ILCS 68/5-5(a); 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.40

The possession limit for herptiles (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) is no more than 4 total per species. ... In no case shall a person possess more than 8 indigenous amphibian or reptiles in total.

The milk snake, in the red and eastern subspecies Lampropeltis triangulum syspila and L. t. triangulum is on the § 885.40 list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which is what puts it inside the cap rather than outside it. No licence is needed to keep one, but three conditions ride along: no more than 4 of the species and no more than 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect any native taxon from the wild, and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or to sell. Non-residents may not possess herptiles collected from the wild in Illinois at all except under a scientific collection permit. The genus is well represented on the native list, so the cap is the ordinary answer for a milksnake here, and the $50 Herpetoculture Permit in § 885.80 is what lifts it for a keeper who breeds. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: The statute behind 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885, and the only Illinois law that reaches pet reptiles and amphibians. § 5-5 sets the possession limits, § 15-5 clears the family Boidae from the permit system outright, § 25-5 defines 'monitor lizards' as only the crocodile monitor and Komodo dragon, and § 85-5 bars possession of a special use herptile. Sections are served individually from this endpoint by DocName, 051000680K<section>.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

510 ILCS 68/5-5(a); 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.40

The possession limit for herptiles (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) is no more than 4 total per species. ... In no case shall a person possess more than 8 indigenous amphibian or reptiles in total.

The red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans is on the § 885.40 list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which is what puts it inside the cap rather than outside it. No licence is needed to keep one, but three conditions ride along: no more than 4 of the species and no more than 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect any native taxon from the wild, and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or to sell. Non-residents may not possess herptiles collected from the wild in Illinois at all except under a scientific collection permit. Illinois is inside the species' natural range, which is why it lands here rather than in the free non-native bucket, and it is the opposite of how states outside that range treat the animal. Turtles other than common snapping turtles may be taken only by hand, and § 30-5 bars commercial turtle farming in the State outright. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: The statute behind 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885, and the only Illinois law that reaches pet reptiles and amphibians. § 5-5 sets the possession limits, § 15-5 clears the family Boidae from the permit system outright, § 25-5 defines 'monitor lizards' as only the crocodile monitor and Komodo dragon, and § 85-5 bars possession of a special use herptile. Sections are served individually from this endpoint by DocName, 051000680K<section>.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.20(b), (c)

Bullfrogs and common snapping turtles may be taken only June 15 through October 15. There is no closed season on all other non-listed native herptiles. The daily harvest limit for bullfrogs is eight, with a possession limit of 16. The daily harvest limit for common snapping turtles is two, with a possession limit of four.

Illinois pulls the common snapping turtle out of the general herptile cap and gives it its own regime, the only reptile besides the bullfrog treated this way. It is a native taxon under § 885.40, and it is the only one with a closed season: a sport fishing licence, take only between 15 June and 15 October, two a day and four in possession. Bowfishing for it is barred in sixteen named southern counties, and § 30-10 bars collecting wild turtles for turtle races in the seven counties where ranavirus has been documented. The alligator snapping turtle is a different animal and is state endangered. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: Official Joint Committee on Administrative Rules text, amended effective 31 July 2025. § 885.40 is the list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which decides whether the possession cap applies to a species at all; § 885.20 sets the seasons and limits; § 885.80 sets the $50 Herpetoculture Permit; and § 885.105(j), new in 2025, sweeps named corn snake morph lines into the endangered species regime.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

510 ILCS 68/5-5(a); 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885.40

The possession limit for herptiles (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) is no more than 4 total per species. ... In no case shall a person possess more than 8 indigenous amphibian or reptiles in total.

The eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum is on the § 885.40 list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which is what puts it inside the cap rather than outside it. No licence is needed to keep one, but three conditions ride along: no more than 4 of the species and no more than 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect any native taxon from the wild, and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or to sell. Non-residents may not possess herptiles collected from the wild in Illinois at all except under a scientific collection permit. It is not on the state endangered or threatened list, unlike the Jefferson, silvery and spotted dusky salamanders and the mudpuppy, so the ordinary cap is the whole of it. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

How this rule works: The statute behind 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885, and the only Illinois law that reaches pet reptiles and amphibians. § 5-5 sets the possession limits, § 15-5 clears the family Boidae from the permit system outright, § 25-5 defines 'monitor lizards' as only the crocodile monitor and Komodo dragon, and § 85-5 bars possession of a special use herptile. Sections are served individually from this endpoint by DocName, 051000680K<section>.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.