Exotic pet laws in Oregon

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(a)(J)(vii)

Capybara — Hydrochaeridae — Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris;

Named to the species on the prohibited list. This entry previously read as unrestricted because rodents are outside the Agriculture exotic animal definition, which is true and beside the point: the ODFW nonnative wildlife rules are what decide a rodent in Oregon, and they name this one. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

ORS 609.305; ORS 609.341(1); ORS 609.351(1)

Any nonwolf member of the family Canidae not indigenous to Oregon, except the species Canis familiaris (domestic dog)

Oregon writes its canid clause the same way as its cat clause, by family with one species excepted, so the fennec fox is an exotic animal on its family membership alone. Most states that ban a serval leave a fennec fox alone, because their cat rules are drawn by family and their canid rules by species; Oregon draws both by family, which is why the two land together here. The permit window closed in 2010 and was never reopened. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

Existing owners: A State Department of Agriculture permit issued before 1 January 2010, or issued within a year of that date on proof the animal was already held. Applications closed 90 days after 1 January 2010, breeding a permitted animal is barred, and possession ends 30 days after a permit lapses.

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

How this rule works: A five-line closed definition run by the Department of Agriculture: non-indigenous Felidae except Felis catus, non-human primates, non-wolf non-indigenous Canidae except the domestic dog, bears other than the black bear, and Crocodylia. § 609.341 bars keeping one without a permit and § 609.351 shut the application window, which was 90 days after 1 January 2010, or one year for an animal already held then. There is no hybrid clause anywhere in it. This statute answers cats, canids and crocodilians only; every other animal on this map is decided by the ODFW rules in OAR 635-056.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(a)(J)(xviii)

Southern flying squirrel — Sciuridae — Glaucomys volans;

Oregon names Glaucomys volans specifically, and separately prohibits the giant flying squirrels of the genus Petaurista. Oregon has its own native flying squirrel, the northern, which is why the prohibition is written to the southern species: this is a rule about keeping a nonnative congener out rather than about the pet trade as such. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(a)(J)(xvii)

Prairie dogs — Sciuridae — Cynomys All species and hybrids;

Prohibited at genus level, not merely unlisted. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the Agriculture exotic animal statute, which covers cats, primates, canids, bears and crocodilians and never reaches a rodent. The statute is the wrong law for this question: ODFW runs the nonnative wildlife lists, and the prairie dog is on the ban list alongside the capybara, the marmots and the southern flying squirrel. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(d)(A)(x)

Pond slider — Emydidae — Pseudemys and Trachemys All species and hybrids;

Both genera are prohibited outright, and the same species is excepted by name from the Emydidae clearance on the noncontrolled list, so Oregon says it twice. This is among the firmest positions any state on this map takes on the red-eared slider: not a licence, not an invasive-species labelling rule, a flat bar on possession, import, purchase, sale, exchange and transport. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

ORS 609.305; ORS 609.341(1); ORS 609.351(1)

Any member of the family Felidae not indigenous to Oregon, except the species Felis catus (domestic cat)

The serval is caught by two words and a family name, the same way a lion is. What makes this a ban rather than a permit regime is ORS 609.351, which opened the application window for 90 days after 1 January 2010 and never reopened it: there is no route to a new permit for a new animal, only a lifetime allowance for animals that were already here and papered in time. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

Existing owners: A State Department of Agriculture permit issued before 1 January 2010, or issued within a year of that date on proof the animal was already held. Applications closed 90 days after 1 January 2010, breeding a permitted animal is barred, and possession ends 30 days after a permit lapses.

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

How this rule works: A five-line closed definition run by the Department of Agriculture: non-indigenous Felidae except Felis catus, non-human primates, non-wolf non-indigenous Canidae except the domestic dog, bears other than the black bear, and Crocodylia. § 609.341 bars keeping one without a permit and § 609.351 shut the application window, which was 90 days after 1 January 2010, or one year for an animal already held then. There is no hybrid clause anywhere in it. This statute answers cats, canids and crocodilians only; every other animal on this map is decided by the ODFW rules in OAR 635-056.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(d)(A)(ii)

Snapping turtle — Chelydridae — All species and hybrids;

The whole family is prohibited, so the alligator snapping turtle goes with the common one. Chelydridae appears nowhere on the noncontrolled list, which clears eight other turtle families. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0050(1)(d)(A)(i)

Tiger salamander — Ambystomatidae — Ambystoma tigrinum All nonnative sub-species;

Prohibited by name, and the reason is next door: eastern Oregon has its own tiger salamander population, and the rule bars the nonnative subspecies that would hybridise with it. Oregon lists nineteen caudates as prohibited and four as noncontrolled, and the axolotl is on the short list while this species is on the long one. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0060(4)(c)(F)

Kingsnakes and gopher (bull) snakes -- Colubridae -- Individuals of Lampropeltis getula, L. zonata and Pituophis catenifer that are morphologically distinct from native species.

Oregon clears these snakes individual by individual rather than by species, and the test is appearance: an animal must be morphologically distinct from the native species, which in practice means a recognisable colour or pattern morph rather than a wild-type-looking snake. Wild-caught, native-looking kingsnakes and their offspring are not covered. The entry is also written under the older taxonomy in which the California kingsnake was Lampropeltis getula californiae; it has since been raised to L. californiae, which Oregon does not name, so the animal depends on being read as part of L. getula. Two layers of imprecision on one line. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The allow-list. Wildlife on it may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged or transported without an ODFW permit. It is long and written to genus or family with named exceptions, and it uses the taxonomy current when each entry was added rather than the current one.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 603-052-1320(1), (3), (7)

Invertebrate species listed as approved may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in Oregon without a permit from the Department. This applies only to stock collected within the continental United States. ... Emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator (education, pet). ... Live invertebrates not on the list of approved invertebrates in any life stage may not be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in the state unless a permit is first obtained from the Department.

Oregon runs two closed lists, and this animal is on the second one. ORS 496.004(19) defines wildlife as fish, shellfish, amphibians, reptiles, feral swine, wild birds and wild mammals, so a terrestrial arthropod is outside the Fish and Wildlife rules entirely; the Department of Agriculture picks it up instead under its plant pest authority. Named to the species and marked for pet use, in a scorpion section that runs to more than a dozen entries including the fat-tailed scorpions and the deathstalker. The condition is a real one and easy to miss: the clearance applies only to stock collected within the continental United States, so an animal imported from abroad needs a Department permit even though the species is approved. Nothing on this list is unregulated; an invertebrate absent from it may not be possessed at all without a permit. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: Oregon's second closed list, run by the Department of Agriculture and covering terrestrial invertebrates, which the Fish and Wildlife rules never reach. Subsection (3) bars possessing any live invertebrate not on the list without a Department permit, and subsection (1) limits the clearance to stock collected within the continental United States. The list is long and written to species with the intended use in brackets, and most pet-trade arachnids, myriapods and roaches are on it. It does not apply to marine or aquatic invertebrates.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0060(4)(c)(C)

Milk, Pine, Corn, Rat, Garter snakes -- Colubridae -- All nonnative species of Milk, Pine, Corn, Rat, Garter;

The clearance is written for nonnative garter snakes only, and the common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, is an Oregon native. So which animal it is decides the answer: a nonnative Thamnophis is cleared outright, and an Oregon one is not covered by this entry at all. Native wildlife falls outside this division, which by its own title governs nonnative wildlife, and lands instead under the ODFW protected wildlife and holding rules in OAR 635 division 44. Note also that the entry has been rewritten since it was last read here; it previously carved out Boiga irregularis, Lampropeltis getula, L. zonata and Pituophis catenifer, and now reads as a positive list of the five snake kinds. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: The allow-list. Wildlife on it may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged or transported without an ODFW permit. It is long and written to genus or family with named exceptions, and it uses the taxonomy current when each entry was added rather than the current one.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 603-052-1320(1), (3), (7)

Invertebrate species listed as approved may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in Oregon without a permit from the Department. This applies only to stock collected within the continental United States. ... Giant African millipede, Archispirostreptus gigas (education, pet). ... Live invertebrates not on the list of approved invertebrates in any life stage may not be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in the state unless a permit is first obtained from the Department.

Oregon runs two closed lists, and this animal is on the second one. ORS 496.004(19) defines wildlife as fish, shellfish, amphibians, reptiles, feral swine, wild birds and wild mammals, so a terrestrial arthropod is outside the Fish and Wildlife rules entirely; the Department of Agriculture picks it up instead under its plant pest authority. Named to the species and marked for pet use, alongside five other millipedes. Oregon is one of the few states that answers this animal by name in either direction. The condition is a real one and easy to miss: the clearance applies only to stock collected within the continental United States, so an animal imported from abroad needs a Department permit even though the species is approved. Nothing on this list is unregulated; an invertebrate absent from it may not be possessed at all without a permit. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: Oregon's second closed list, run by the Department of Agriculture and covering terrestrial invertebrates, which the Fish and Wildlife rules never reach. Subsection (3) bars possessing any live invertebrate not on the list without a Department permit, and subsection (1) limits the clearance to stock collected within the continental United States. The list is long and written to species with the intended use in brackets, and most pet-trade arachnids, myriapods and roaches are on it. It does not apply to marine or aquatic invertebrates.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 603-052-1320(1), (3), (7)

Invertebrate species listed as approved may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in Oregon without a permit from the Department. This applies only to stock collected within the continental United States. ... Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa (education, pet). ... Live invertebrates not on the list of approved invertebrates in any life stage may not be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in the state unless a permit is first obtained from the Department.

Oregon runs two closed lists, and this animal is on the second one. ORS 496.004(19) defines wildlife as fish, shellfish, amphibians, reptiles, feral swine, wild birds and wild mammals, so a terrestrial arthropod is outside the Fish and Wildlife rules entirely; the Department of Agriculture picks it up instead under its plant pest authority. Named to the species and marked for pet use, in a roach section of nearly twenty entries that separates the hissing cockroaches from the pest species listed for education and research only. The condition is a real one and easy to miss: the clearance applies only to stock collected within the continental United States, so an animal imported from abroad needs a Department permit even though the species is approved. Nothing on this list is unregulated; an invertebrate absent from it may not be possessed at all without a permit. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: Oregon's second closed list, run by the Department of Agriculture and covering terrestrial invertebrates, which the Fish and Wildlife rules never reach. Subsection (3) bars possessing any live invertebrate not on the list without a Department permit, and subsection (1) limits the clearance to stock collected within the continental United States. The list is long and written to species with the intended use in brackets, and most pet-trade arachnids, myriapods and roaches are on it. It does not apply to marine or aquatic invertebrates.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 603-052-1320(1), (3), (7)

Invertebrate species listed as approved may be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in Oregon without a permit from the Department. This applies only to stock collected within the continental United States. ... Tarantulas, Family Theraphosidae (education, pet). ... Live invertebrates not on the list of approved invertebrates in any life stage may not be imported, possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or released in the state unless a permit is first obtained from the Department.

Oregon runs two closed lists, and this animal is on the second one. ORS 496.004(19) defines wildlife as fish, shellfish, amphibians, reptiles, feral swine, wild birds and wild mammals, so a terrestrial arthropod is outside the Fish and Wildlife rules entirely; the Department of Agriculture picks it up instead under its plant pest authority. Cleared at family level and marked for pet use, so no species question arises. The asterisked stock restriction on the two entries below it, the wolf spider and the orb weaver, which may come only from Pacific Northwest stock, does not apply to the tarantulas. The condition is a real one and easy to miss: the clearance applies only to stock collected within the continental United States, so an animal imported from abroad needs a Department permit even though the species is approved. Nothing on this list is unregulated; an invertebrate absent from it may not be possessed at all without a permit. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: Oregon's second closed list, run by the Department of Agriculture and covering terrestrial invertebrates, which the Fish and Wildlife rules never reach. Subsection (3) bars possessing any live invertebrate not on the list without a Department permit, and subsection (1) limits the clearance to stock collected within the continental United States. The list is long and written to species with the intended use in brackets, and most pet-trade arachnids, myriapods and roaches are on it. It does not apply to marine or aquatic invertebrates.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

OAR 635-056-0130(1); OAR 635-056-0020(14)

For species that are not listed in these rules, no person may possess, import, purchase, sell, exchange, or offer to purchase, sell or exchange the species in Oregon.

Oregon appears to have exempted the wrong hamster. The not-wild list at OAR 635-056-0020(14) reads "Common Hamster — Cricetus cricetus", which is the European common hamster, a large wild burrowing rodent nobody keeps as a pet. The pet-shop animal is the Syrian or golden hamster, Mesocricetus auratus, and that binomial appears nowhere in the division: not on the not-wild list, not on the noncontrolled list, which clears the dwarf hamsters of the genus Phodopus, and not on the prohibited list, which names Calomyscus and Cricetulus. An unlisted mammal is not unregulated in Oregon; OAR 635-056-0130(1) bars possessing it. Read literally, the commonest small pet in the country cannot be kept here. Recorded unclear rather than banned because the exemption plainly means to reach the pet hamster and attaches the wrong name to it, and because pet hamsters are sold openly in Oregon. It is the clearest drafting slip found on this map, and the fix is one binomial. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

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

How this rule works: Subsection (1) is what makes Oregon a closed-list state: for species not listed in the rules, no person may possess, import, purchase, sell or exchange the species. An animal that is simply absent from all three lists is barred, not unregulated, and the only routes are a petition to the commission or a request to the director to classify it as Noncontrolled.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.