Exotic Pet Laws in New York: What Is Banned

Box turtleBanned

ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), 11-0107(2); 6 NYCRR Part 182

Native turtles are small game, and DEC puts the result in one sentence: "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time." The woodland box turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina, is separately on the Part 182 list, which reaches it a second time through the species of special concern branch of the protected wildlife definition. The chain runs through a definition nobody expects. ECL § 11-0103(2)(c) puts "native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes" inside the definition of SMALL GAME, which makes them game, which makes them protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c). § 11-0107(2) then bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law", so a captive-bred animal bought in another state is in the same position as one caught in a New York yard. And the only possession licence, § 11-0515, is issued for "propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes", which is not a pet.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Box turtle in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Burmese pythonBanned

ECL § 11-0103(6)(e)(5); 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(16)(iii)

Named twice. The statute lists "Burmese Python (Python m. bivittatus)" and separately "Indian Python (Python molurus)", covering the species on both sides of the split, and 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(16) lists Python bivittatus by its current binomial. New York is one of the few states to name the reticulated python, both African rock pythons, all four anacondas and both amethystine pythons alongside it, so the whole large-constrictor group is answered rather than just the famous one.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law §§ 11-0103, 11-0107, 11-0511, 11-0512 and 11-0515 →Burmese python in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Garter snakeBanned

6 NYCRR § 3.3; ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), 11-0107(2), 11-0515

The common garter snake is the fifth name on the § 3.3 list of native snakes, and subdivision (b) of that section reads in full "Open season. None." This entry previously read as requiring a permit, which understates it: no licence issued under § 11-0515 covers keeping one as a pet, so there is nothing to apply for. The chain runs through a definition nobody expects. ECL § 11-0103(2)(c) puts "native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes" inside the definition of SMALL GAME, which makes them game, which makes them protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c). § 11-0107(2) then bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law", so a captive-bred animal bought in another state is in the same position as one caught in a New York yard. And the only possession licence, § 11-0515, is issued for "propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes", which is not a pet.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Garter snake in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Hognose snakeBanned

6 NYCRR § 3.3; ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), 11-0107(2); 6 NYCRR Part 182

Caught twice over. The eastern hognose snake is on the § 3.3 native snake list with no open season, and it is separately listed as a species of special concern on DEC's Part 182 list, which is named directly in the definition of protected wildlife at ECL § 11-0103(6)(c). The western hognose, the ordinary pet-trade animal, is not a New York species, so the answer turns on which hognose a keeper actually has, and the state list only reaches one of them. The chain runs through a definition nobody expects. ECL § 11-0103(2)(c) puts "native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes" inside the definition of SMALL GAME, which makes them game, which makes them protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c). § 11-0107(2) then bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law", so a captive-bred animal bought in another state is in the same position as one caught in a New York yard. And the only possession licence, § 11-0515, is issued for "propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes", which is not a pet.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Hognose snake in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Milk snakeBanned

6 NYCRR § 3.3; ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), 11-0107(2)

The eastern milk snake is on the § 3.3 native snake list, which is what separates it from the corn snake and the California kingsnake in New York: those two are not New York species and nothing reaches them, while this one is small game with no open season. A pet-trade milk snake is very often Lampropeltis triangulum, so the common name is not a safe guide here. The chain runs through a definition nobody expects. ECL § 11-0103(2)(c) puts "native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes" inside the definition of SMALL GAME, which makes them game, which makes them protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c). § 11-0107(2) then bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law", so a captive-bred animal bought in another state is in the same position as one caught in a New York yard. And the only possession licence, § 11-0515, is issued for "propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes", which is not a pet.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Milk snake in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Nile monitorBanned

ECL § 11-0103(6)(e)(5); 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(14)(ii)

Named in both the statute and the regulation. The monitor entry is six species long, the Asiatic water, Nile, white-throat, black-throat, crocodile and Komodo monitors, which means New York regulates Varanidae by species rather than by family. The savannah monitor and the ackie monitor are on neither list and need nothing, so the family a keeper is shopping in matters less here than the exact animal.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law §§ 11-0103, 11-0107, 11-0511, 11-0512 and 11-0515 →Nile monitor in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

ServalBanned

ECL § 11-0103(6)(e)(2); § 11-0512(1)(a)

Caught by the second clause of the wild animal list, which is the whole family Felidae "and all hybrids thereof". § 11-0512(1)(a) then makes it unlawful to knowingly possess, harbor, sell, barter, transfer, exchange or import any wild animal for use as a pet. The exemptions at § 11-0512(2) are institutional, and the only individual one is for a person paralysed from the neck down who has a trained new world monkey. 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(8) reaches the same animal independently and its exemptions are equally closed to a pet keeper.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law §§ 11-0103, 11-0107, 11-0511, 11-0512 and 11-0515 →Serval in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Tiger salamanderBanned

ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), 11-0107(2), 11-0535; 6 NYCRR Part 182

The strongest of the native answers, because two independent routes reach it. Native salamanders are small game with no open season, and the eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is listed as ENDANGERED in New York, which brings ECL § 11-0535 and the endangered species branch of § 11-0103(6)(c) down on it as well. New York's population is confined to Long Island and is the reason for the listing. The chain runs through a definition nobody expects. ECL § 11-0103(2)(c) puts "native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes" inside the definition of SMALL GAME, which makes them game, which makes them protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c). § 11-0107(2) then bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law", so a captive-bred animal bought in another state is in the same position as one caught in a New York yard. And the only possession licence, § 11-0515, is issued for "propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes", which is not a pet.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Tiger salamander in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Bengal catConditions apply

ECL § 11-0103(6)(e)(2); 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(8)

The thirteenth Bengal answer on this map and the strictest generation rule on it. Felidae "and all hybrids thereof" is a wild animal, with one exit: hybrids of Felis catus "that are registered by the American Cat Fanciers Association or the International Cat Association provided that such cats be without any wild felid parentage for a minimum of five generations". So F5 and later, and only with ACFA or TICA registration. Two conditions rather than one, exactly as in Massachusetts, but at five generations rather than three. 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(8) repeats the sentence word for word, which is unusual and useful: the regulation cannot be read as narrowing the statute here.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law §§ 11-0103, 11-0107, 11-0511, 11-0512 and 11-0515 →Bengal cat in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Snapping turtleConditions apply

ECL § 11-0103(2)(c); DEC reptile and amphibian seasons

The one native New York reptile with an open season, which is why it is the only one a private person can lawfully hold. Taking requires a hunting licence, runs 15 July to 30 September statewide, and is limited to a firearm or a bow. The carapace must measure twelve inches or longer in a straight line, the daily bag is five and the season bag is thirty. Everything else about New York natives flows from the same definition and comes out the other way: native turtles are small game, and the snapping turtle is the only one the department opened a season for.

How this rule works: Two sentences and a list. Subdivision (a) defines native snakes as sixteen named species including the common garter snake, the eastern milk snake, the eastern hognose snake and the black rat snake, and subdivision (b) reads in its entirety "Open season. None." That is what turns the small game classification into a prohibition. DEC states the result plainly in its own season summary: for turtles, "The only turtle species for which there is an open hunting season is the snapping turtle. You may not harvest, take, or possess any other turtle species at any time", and for the rest, "You may not harvest, take, or possess any native snakes, lizards, or salamanders at any time." New York publishes the NYCRR only through Westlaw, which serves document pages to a browser User-Agent but not the Part 175 possession chapter, so the seasons and this section are the readable half of the regulation.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

6 NYCRR § 3.3, Native Snakes, and DEC reptile and amphibian seasons →Snapping turtle in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Flying squirrelUnclear

ECL §§ 11-0103(2)(c), (6)(c), 11-0511, 11-0512; 6 NYCRR Part 175

Recorded unclear because the statutes point one way and the agency points the other, and the regulation that would settle it could not be read. Every statutory route comes up empty. The flying squirrel is not on the closed wild animal list at § 11-0103(6)(e), so § 11-0512 does not reach it. It is not on 6 NYCRR § 180.1, so the permit requirement in § 11-0511 does not attach. It is not protected wildlife: the small game definition at § 11-0103(2)(c) names "black, gray and fox squirrels" and no other, and no flying squirrel appears anywhere on DEC's endangered, threatened and special concern list. On the statutes alone this animal is unprotected wildlife and unregulated. DEC and every secondary source say possession requires a licence, and the place a general possession rule would live is 6 NYCRR Part 175, which New York publishes only through Westlaw. Westlaw serves individual NYCRR sections to a browser User-Agent but its document identifiers for Part 175 could not be resolved from here, so that chapter is the open item. This entry previously read as banned, which is the likely answer and is not one the readable law supports.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law §§ 11-0103, 11-0107, 11-0511, 11-0512 and 11-0515 →Flying squirrel in every state →Full legal guide →Link to this row

Exotic pet laws in New York

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