Exotic pet laws in Virginia

Va. Code § 29.1-521(A)(10); 4VAC15-360-10(A); 4VAC15-290-60

To hunt, trap, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, deliver for transportation, transport, cause to be transported, by any means whatever, receive for transportation or export, or import, at any time or in any manner, any wild bird or wild animal or the carcass or any part thereof, except as specifically permitted by law and only by the manner or means and within the numbers stated.

The southern flying squirrel is a Virginia native, carried on the department's incorporated fauna list as "Small Eastern Flying Squirrel ... Glaucomys volans volans" and "Southeastern Flying Squirrel ... Glaucomys volans saturatus" with no naturalized asterisk. So it is not a nonnative (exotic) animal and the permit table at 4VAC15-30-40 is not its rule; § 29.1-521(A)(10) is, and it bars possessing a wild animal except as specifically permitted. Nothing specifically permits it. The one-per-address allowance at 4VAC15-360-10(A) covers aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and nongame fish, and no mammal. Chapter 290 has no captive wildlife permit for a pet: 4VAC15-290-60 is for an exhibit "educational and purposeful in nature", 4VAC15-290-20 is scientific collection, and 4VAC15-360-50's propagation and sale permits reach amphibians and reptiles only. Recorded banned on the strength of the statute rather than on a named prohibition, which is the shape to re-check if the department ever publishes a captive wildlife permit reaching native mammals.

How this rule works: The definitions that decide which of Virginia's two schemes reaches an animal, and the one place a species can be written out of both. "Wild animal" is "any member of the animal kingdom, except domestic animals", and the list that follows names arthropods expressly. "Nonnative (exotic) animal" excludes domestic AND naturalized species, so a naturalized animal is not an exotic and goes to the native rules instead. The domestic animal list is closed and unusually specific: it clears "Domesticated breeds of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association, Inc." and "Domesticated morphs of red cornsnake (Pantherophis guttatus) visibly distinguishable from native red cornsnakes". Native and naturalized status is fixed by the department's List of Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, incorporated by reference: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/virginia-native-naturalized-species.pdf

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A)

Canidae All Species Wild Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes or Coyote hybrids, Jackals and Foxes

Virginia restricts the whole dog family by name and spells out foxes in the common name column, so the fennec is caught by the same row as a jackal.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 5 August 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A)

Sciuridae Cynomys spp. Prairie dogs

Listed by genus in the squirrel family section of the permit table, so every prairie dog species is covered.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A)

Felidae All Species Cats*

The table restricts the whole cat family by name rather than listing species, so the serval is caught by the same line as a lion. A special permit is required to import, possess or sell one.

Existing owners: Cats carry the asterisk, so an animal held before 1 July 1992 and declared in writing by 1 January 1993 may be kept under a possession-only permit that renews every five years and cannot be transferred.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A)

Ambystomatidae All species, except Ambystoma mexicanum All mole salamanders, except Mexican axolotl

The mole salamander family is on the permit table with a single exception for the axolotl, so the tiger salamander needs the special permit.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 5 August 2026.

§ 15-360-10(A)

it shall be lawful to capture and possess live for private use and not for sale or export no more than one individual of any native or naturalized, as defined in 4VAC15-20-50, species of amphibian or reptile per physical address

The exotic permit table is the wrong rule for this animal. Virginia fixes native and naturalized status by an incorporated document, the department's List of Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, and that list carries "Green Anole * Anolis carolinesis *", the asterisk denoting a naturalized species. A naturalized animal is expressly excluded from the definition of a nonnative (exotic) animal at 4VAC15-20-50, so 4VAC15-30-40 does not reach it and 4VAC15-360-10 does: one individual per physical address, live, for private use, and not for sale or export. That the cap binds a keeper rather than only a collector is confirmed from the other direction by the domestic animal list, which writes an express carve-out for "Domesticated morphs of red cornsnake ... visibly distinguishable from native red cornsnakes"; that exception would have nothing to do if ordinary keeping of a native herp were free.

How this rule works: The rule the exotic permit table does not reach, and the one that answers a Virginia native or naturalized herp: one individual of any native or naturalized species of amphibian or reptile per physical address, live, for private use and not for sale or export. It covers aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and nongame fish, and no mammal.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A), (C)

Exception for certain monk parakeets. No permit is required for monk parakeets (quakers) that have been captive bred and are closed-banded with a seamless band.

Virginia lists Myiopsitta monachus in the subsection A permit table and then writes an exception for the birds people actually buy. A captive bred quaker wearing a seamless closed band needs no permit. A wild caught bird, or one with an open band that could have been fitted later, does. The band is the whole test, so keep the paperwork that came with the bird.

Existing owners: An asterisked animal held before 1 July 1992 could be kept if declared to the department in writing by 1 January 1993. That declaration works as a possession-only permit, renews every five years and cannot be transferred.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 4 August 2026.

§ 15-30-40(A)

Felidae All Species Cats*

The table restricts the cat family without exception and without a hybrid clause, which is the problem. A Bengal is registered as Felis catus but carries leopard cat ancestry, and the rule offers no filial generation line to settle which side it falls. Ask the Department of Wildlife Resources before buying.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

Checked against the published text on 5 August 2026.