Exotic pet laws in Utah

Table 3b-1, controlled mammals

Capybaras - Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Hydrochoerus isthmus

Controlled rather than prohibited, so a certificate of registration is required before collection, importation or possession, but a route exists. Same column as the bobcat and the two-toed sloth.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Table 3b-1, controlled mammals

Fennec fox - Vulpes zerda

Controlled rather than prohibited, so a certificate of registration is required before collection, importation or possession, but a route exists. Same column as the bobcat and the two-toed sloth.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Utah Admin. Code R657-53-7(3)(b); species tables, Limited possession

Limited possession (2 daily and yearly/4 total, per species) ... California kingsnake Lampropeltis californiae

This entry read legal before, and Lampropeltis californiae is in fact on Utah's Limited possession table, which is the tightest controlled tier the rule has: two a day, two a year, and four in total, on a herpetology collection permit obtained after an orientation course. The Arizona mountain kingsnake and the western milk snake are on the same table. What the earlier reading got right is the other half: R657-53-8(1)(a) and (c) take captive-bred animals and animals legally obtained outside Utah out of the possession limits altogether, and the only possession certificate of registration in the rule is R657-53-12 for native venomous reptiles. So a captive-bred kingsnake from a breeder is unrestricted and a Utah-caught one is capped at four.

How this rule works: The division's classification tables under R657-53. Every table on the page is about animals taken from the wild in Utah: six prohibited natives, six naturalized non-natives at unlimited, four native lizards at Expanded, and the Standard and Limited controlled lists. The page says outright that 'the DWR does not maintain a full list of non-native species', so it answers a pet species only when that species also lives wild in Utah.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Utah Admin. Code R657-53-7(3)(a); species tables, Standard possession

Standard possession (3 daily/9 total, per species) ... Common gartersnake Thamnophis sirtalis

This entry read legal before, on R657-53-5's list of activities allowed without a wildlife document. That is right for a captive-bred animal and wrong for a Utah one, and the common gartersnake is a Utah animal. Thamnophis sirtalis is on the division's Standard possession table, which makes it a Controlled species: taking one from the wild needs the herpetology collection permit, which costs ten dollars and requires passing an online orientation course first, and the limit is three a day and nine in total. The terrestrial gartersnake is on the same table and the black-necked gartersnake is at Limited, two and four. A captive-bred or out-of-state garter snake is a different animal in law: R657-53-8(1)(a) and (c) lift both out of the possession limit entirely, and no certificate of registration attaches to possessing one. So the answer turns on where the snake came from rather than what it is.

How this rule works: The division's classification tables under R657-53. Every table on the page is about animals taken from the wild in Utah: six prohibited natives, six naturalized non-natives at unlimited, four native lizards at Expanded, and the Standard and Limited controlled lists. The page says outright that 'the DWR does not maintain a full list of non-native species', so it answers a pet species only when that species also lives wild in Utah.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Utah Admin. Code R657-53-7(3)(b); R657-53-8(1); species tables, Limited possession

Limited possession (2 daily and yearly/4 total, per species) ... Western milk snake Lampropeltis gentilis

Utah's species table names the state's own milk snake population Lampropeltis gentilis, a segregate split off from the broader Lampropeltis triangulum complex the pet trade calls milk snake, and puts it in Limited possession: two a day, two a year, four in total, on a herpetology collection permit obtained after passing an orientation course. The earlier reading here took the words "limited possession" to mean the cap reached a purchased animal as well as a wild-caught one. R657-53-8(1) says otherwise in terms, and it is the section that decides this: total possession limits apply to everything acquired in state or imported, "except the following do not count towards an individual's applicable limit", and the exceptions are animals that are captive bred and animals "legally obtained outside of Utah", in both cases so long as the species is not Prohibited and not a native venomous reptile under R657-53-12. A milk snake is neither. So the cap is a wild collection cap after all, and a captive-bred milk snake from a breeder is unrestricted in Utah.

How this rule works: The division's classification tables under R657-53. Every table on the page is about animals taken from the wild in Utah: six prohibited natives, six naturalized non-natives at unlimited, four native lizards at Expanded, and the Standard and Limited controlled lists. The page says outright that 'the DWR does not maintain a full list of non-native species', so it answers a pet species only when that species also lives wild in Utah.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Utah DWR species tables, controlled species

Tiger salamander - Ambystoma mavortium - Standard possession (3 daily/9 total, per species)

A Utah native and a controlled species. Taking one from the wild requires the orientation course and a collection permit, caps at 3 daily and 9 in total possession, and carries a mandatory online report within 72 hours.

How this rule works: The division's classification tables under R657-53. Every table on the page is about animals taken from the wild in Utah: six prohibited natives, six naturalized non-natives at unlimited, four native lizards at Expanded, and the Standard and Limited controlled lists. The page says outright that 'the DWR does not maintain a full list of non-native species', so it answers a pet species only when that species also lives wild in Utah.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Table 3b-1 header

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Table 3b-1 header

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer. The northern flying squirrel is also a Utah native, which brings the state's native wildlife rules to bear on a wild-caught animal independently of this table.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Table 3b-1 header

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer. Utah also has its own native species, the federally threatened Utah prairie dog, which is protected separately from anything in this table.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

Table 3b-1 header

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer. Worth noting the prohibited column's big cat entry lists Panthera, Acinonyx, Uncia and Puma by name under the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act, and the serval is not among them, so it falls to the unlisted default rather than the big cat ban.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.