Where is the Argentine black and white tegu legal?

Any species of Tegus (Salvator sp.);

Banned by genus, so every tegu in the pet trade under the name Salvator is caught, not just the Argentine black and white.

How this rule works: Alabama's prohibited list, not a permitted one, so absence from it means an animal is unrestricted. The official code site is a React app that serves nothing to a fetcher, but /api/rule/<number> returns the current rule as a PDF; use it, because Cornell LII's copy is the 2020 version and the current one differs. Two clauses do most of the work: everything the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a block of mammals is banned when it comes from outside Alabama.

Non-venomous snakes, fish, and turtles, traditionally kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes

The reptile category is snakes, fish and turtles. Lizards are simply absent from the entire permitted list, so every lizard is barred in the District by omission rather than by any decision about tegus.

How this rule works: A closed list and one of the shortest in the country. Subsection (j)(1) bars importing, possessing, displaying, selling, trading or giving as a household pet "any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity", except seven categories: domestic dogs, domestic cats, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes and fish and turtles, ferrets, and racing pigeons. No lizard, no amphibian and no invertebrate fits any of them. Read from the D.C. Code rather than from a reproduction: the seven categories and their exact wording are what every cell in this jurisdiction turns on.

Live specimens of the following species, including their taxonomic successors, subspecies, or hybrids or eggs thereof may be possessed only pursuant to permit issued by the Executive Director except as provided in Rule 68-5.007, F.A.C. ... (4) Non-native reptiles: (a) Yellow anaconda ... (e) Indian or Burmese python (Python molurus). (f) Reticulated python (Python reticulatus). (g) Northern African python (Python sebae). (h) Southern African python (Python natalensis). (i) Amethystine python (Morelia amethistinus). (j) Scrub python (Morelia kinghorni). (k) Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). (l) Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus). (m) Green iguana (Iguana iguana) (n) Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)

The entry reads "Tegus (genera Salvator and Tupinambis, all species)", which is written to survive the 2012 split that moved the Argentine black and white tegu from Tupinambis to Salvator. Naming both genera is the drafting choice that several other states on this map did not make, and it is why a taxonomy argument does not work here. The grandfathering is narrow and personal: under 68-5.007 a permit for personal possession may be issued only to someone in lawful possession before the species was listed, for the remainder of that animal's life, with the animal PIT-tagged, and no additional specimens may ever be acquired. A surviving spouse or beneficiary can be permitted to keep the animal out, but nobody new can start.

Existing owners: Only a person in lawful possession before the species was listed may hold one, for that animal's life, under a Conditional/Prohibited/Nonnative Species permit, with the animal PIT-tagged and no further specimens acquired.

How this rule works: Florida's nonnative species chapter, and the rule that answers the animals Florida is famous for. 68-5.006 is the prohibited list, and its reptile section is what the 2021 rulemaking rewrote: the yellow, Beni, DeSchauensee's and green anacondas, the brown tree snake, the Burmese, reticulated, Northern African, Southern African, amethystine and scrub pythons, the Nile monitor, the green iguana and the tegus of genera Salvator and Tupinambis. Its mammal section is short and has nothing a pet keeper would want, and its bird section names four. 68-5.007 governs what a prohibited species owner can do, and the answer is close to nothing: personal possession permits are issued only to people who already held the animal before listing, for that animal's life, PIT-tagged, with no new specimens ever. 68-5.004 is the separate conditional list, which for this map means one animal, the red-eared slider.

(c) Reptiles: 1. Order Squamata: (i) Family Pythonidae - Python molurus (Indian rock python); (ii) Family Pythonidae - Python bivittatus (Burmese python); (iii) Family Teidae - Salvator merianae (Argentine black-and-white tegu); (iv) Family Varanidae - Varanus niloticus (Nile monitor); 2. Order Testudines: (i) Family Pelomedusidae - Pelomedusa subrufa (African helmeted turtle); (ii) Family Trionychidae (softshell turtles) - Pelodiscus sinensis (Chinese softshell turtle); 3. The species listed in subparagraph (c) shall only be licensed for scientific, educational, or public exhibition purposes consistent with O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4; provided, however, that such species possessed on or before the effective date of this rule may be held as a pet without a license or permit provided that the owner tags and registers all individuals with the Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division within 12 months following the effective date of this rule;

Georgia names six reptiles in its licence rule and then closes the pet route on all of them in the same subparagraph: they "shall only be licensed for scientific, educational, or public exhibition purposes". Salvator merianae is named by its current binomial rather than as Tupinambis, which is the post-2012 name and forecloses a taxonomy argument. This entry previously read as restricted; the correct reading is that no pet licence exists. The grandfathering is unusually generous in kind and unusually short in time: an animal held on or before the effective date may be kept as a pet with no licence at all, provided the owner tagged and registered it with DNR Law Enforcement within twelve months of that date.

Existing owners: An animal possessed on or before the effective date may be held as a pet without a licence if tagged and registered with Georgia DNR Law Enforcement within 12 months of that date.

How this rule works: Georgia sorts wild animals into three tiers and none of them is a pet tier. Rule .03 prohibits outright, and its only pet-relevant entry is the monk parakeet. Rule .04 is inherently dangerous animals needing a licence AND liability insurance: all Felidae, four canid genera, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, great apes, crocodilians, the venomous snake families and a short list of fish and scorpions. Rule .05 requires a licence, and it works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is why it is so wide: all Carnivora, all hedgehogs, all lagomorphs, all marsupials, all primates, and all rodents except six named genera. The thing to read before any of it is O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1), because it says who a licence is issued to: the wild animal trade and public exhibitors, plus no-cost permits for science, education, a capuchin monkey for a person with a permanent disability, and grass carp for a pond owner. No pet. So an animal on .04 or .05 is not a permit animal for a keeper, it is a no, and the rule proves it by writing express "may be held as a pet without a license" exceptions for exactly two animals, the European ferret and the sugar glider.

Salvator

On Part A, research and exhibition only.

How this rule works: Part A animals may be brought in by a university or a licensed exhibitor under permit and may not be kept as pets. Part B, published separately as AR-71RB, is the private and commercial use list and was checked as well: it runs to hoofed stock, giraffes, otters, seals, macropods and three named parrots, and contains none of the animals in this dataset.

The following nonnative reptile and amphibian species are prohibited from importation, possession, sale, attempting to sell, transfer, release, and reproduction in the state... ii. All species in the Genera Salvator and Tupinambis, including the Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae);

Existing owners: Owners had 365 days from the effective date of the January 2025 rule to register the animal and obtain a permit. Registered animals may not be bred and no more may be acquired.

How this rule works: Rewritten in January 2025 and now one of the strictest reptile rules in the country. Three tiers: prohibited nonnative species, restricted nonnative species needing a permit, and a general rule that any constrictor over eight feet needs a restricted snake permit.

Reptiles (Reptilia). All Helodermatidae ...; all front-fanged venomous snakes, even if devenomized ...; all venomous, mid-or rear-fanged, Duvernoy-glanded members of the family Colubridae, even if devenomized; any member, or hybrid offspring of the family Boidae, including, but not limited to, the common or green anaconda and yellow anaconda; any member of the family Pythonidae, including, but not limited to, the African rock python, Indian or Burmese python, Amethystine or scrub python; any member of the family Varanidae, including the white throated monitor, Bosc's or African savannah monitor, Komodo monitor or dragon, Nile monitor, crocodile monitor, water monitor, Bornean earless monitor; any member of the family Iguanidae, including the green or common iguana; any member of the family teiidae, including, but not limited to, the golden, common, or black and white tegu; all members of the family Chelydridae, including snapping turtle and alligator snapping turtle; all turtles and tortoises with a carapace length of less than four (4) inches; and all members of the order Crocodylia ...

The clause covers "any member of the family teiidae, including, but not limited to, the golden, common, or black and white tegu", using the lower-case spelling the Code prints. Salvator merianae is the black and white tegu, named and family-caught both. § 161.01(d) is worth knowing alongside the prohibition: a prohibited animal may be seized by any authorized city employee, the owner has three business days to request a hearing, and with the Department's written consent the animal may be removed to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited. That last provision is the closest thing to relief in the article.

How this rule works: A city rule that is stricter than any state on this map, and it works in three layers. It opens with a standard rather than a list, deeming a wild animal to be "any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings". It then adds, at (b)(ii), any wildlife protected or endangered under federal, STATE or local law, which imports New York State's protected wildlife scheme into the city wholesale. And it closes with 24 numbered clauses that work mostly by family: all cats other than Felis catus and their hybrids, all dogs other than Canis familiaris, all Mustelidae including the ferret by name, all squirrels, all marsupials, all large rodents, all Boidae, all Pythonidae, all Varanidae, all Iguanidae, all teiidae, all Chelydridae, all venomous spiders including the tarantula by name, and all turtles under four inches. § 161.01(c) is the short answer to what is left: gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, domesticated rabbit, and small birds such as parakeet, parrot, canary and finch.

A permit shall be required for any other exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians, or nongame species not specifically exempted by N.J.A.C. 7:25-4.4.

New Jersey is a closed-list state in the strict sense. 7:25-4.2(a) bars possession of any exotic or nongame species without a permit, 4.4 then names the handful that may be kept without one, and 4.5 sweeps everything else back in. The Argentine black and white tegu appears on none of the Division's three lists, so it is not exempt under 4.4, not one of the families singled out in 4.3, and not potentially dangerous under 4.8. That leaves 4.5, and the permit it points to is the individual hobby permit at 4.6(a)1, which 4.7 conditions on diet, caging that prevents escape, lawful acquisition, veterinary care and freedom from disease. The Division's own handout tells readers to phone the permits office for anything the lists do not name, which is a fair signal that the catch-all is where these end up rather than an oversight. The near miss is worth flagging: 4.3(a)3.xi names Ameiva spp., which is the tegu's own family Teiidae, but the list takes that one genus rather than the family, so Salvator merianae is not on it and arrives at the same permit through 4.5 instead.

How this rule works: NJDEP's own courtesy copy of the whole of N.J.A.C. 7:25. Subchapter 4 starts at 7:25-4.1 and carries the definitions, the permit requirement at 4.2, the three species lists at 4.3, 4.4 and 4.8, the pet bar at 4.9(a)3 and 4.15(b), and the state endangered list at 4.13. The three list PDFs the Division hands out are extracts of this.

Rep/Amph | Lizard | Teiidae | Tupinambis sp. | Black, Red and Gold Tegu | II

Group II on the Director's list: not known to be invasive or dangerous, but an importation permit is still required before the animal may be brought into New Mexico. Listed at genus level under the older name Tupinambis; the Argentine black and white tegu is now Salvator merianae. One caveat on all of this: 19.35.7 NMAC is an importation rule, its stated scope being persons who desire to bring wildlife species into New Mexico, so it governs getting the animal here rather than keeping one already in the state.

How this rule works: The roughly 1,300 row table that 19.35.7 NMAC points at and that earlier research could not obtain. Every row gives a family, a scientific name, a common name and a roman numeral group. Group I is semi-domesticated and needs no importation permit. Group II is not known to be invasive or dangerous and needs a permit. Group III presents minimal or manageable concerns and needs a permit with specific provisions attached. Group IV is prohibited to the general public. The list is reached from the download page rather than a direct file URL, and the site needs a User-Agent header.

No person shall transport into or have in his possession within this state any live wildlife or viable eggs thereof from without the state, except as authorized by an importation permit issued by the director

West Virginia’s importation section is the rule the rest of this column was written without, and it changes the answer for every exotic reptile and amphibian in it. W. Va. Code § 20-1-2 builds wildlife out of wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-bearing animals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish bait. The reptile and amphibian clause carries no nativity qualifier and no captive-bred carve-out, so a pet reptile or amphibian bought from an out-of-state breeder is live wildlife from without the state. An Argentine black and white tegu is a reptile and a South American species, so it is wildlife from without the state on any route into West Virginia. § 20-2-13 then bars both bringing that animal in and having it in possession within the state except under an importation permit from the director, and the permit is discretionary: the director may issue it, fix its terms and revoke it at his pleasure. How firm this is, both ways. § 20-2-4(a) independently makes it unlawful to take, obtain, purchase, possess or maintain in captivity any live wildlife except as the chapter or a rule provides, and § 20-2-4(b) says wildlife lawfully taken outside of this state is subject to the same laws and rules as wildlife taken within it, which closes the argument that an out-of-state origin puts the animal outside the chapter before it is made. Against that, the section is headed importation and certification and the body of it is disease control, fish pathologist certificates and inspection of imported shipments, with the only penalty clause written for coyotes. Nothing in Title 58 implements § 20-2-13 for anything but aquaculture, and WVDNR publishes no application for an importation permit. So this is a statutory permit requirement that is real on paper with its machinery not visibly in place, which is the same shape as the Minnesota breeder condition and is recorded the same way. Neither of West Virginia’s two species lists bars this animal. W. Va. C.S.R. § 74-1-3, the dangerous wild animal list adopted 5 April 2022, is a mammal list plus the Komodo dragon. W. Va. C.S.R. § 58-73 reaches native West Virginia reptiles and amphibians only.

How this rule works: West Virginia splits its animals by two definitions in one section. Wildlife takes in reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans with no nativity limit and no terrestrial arthropod at all. Wild animals means all mammals native to the State of West Virginia, which is the phrase that decides every mammal here. § 20-2-4 bars possessing either except as the chapter or a rule provides, and § 20-2-51 is the only pet route, a two dollar permit from the director.

The commissioner must prescribe conditions and may issue permits to breed, propagate, and sell snakes, lizards, and salamanders. A snake, lizard, or salamander that is obtained from a permitted breeder or that was possessed before August 1, 2021, may be possessed as a pet.

Minnesota gets here in three steps, and the surprise is that none of them turns on the species being native. Section 97A.015, subd. 55 defines wild animals as creatures wild by nature and includes reptiles, with no geographic limit. Subd. 39 makes snakes, lizards and salamanders protected wild animals as whole categories. Section 97A.501, subd. 1 then bars possessing a protected wild animal unless the game and fish laws allow it, and this subdivision is the allowance. A tegu is a lizard, so the breeder-source condition applies to it as much as to a Minnesota native. Two things to know about how firm this is. The statute says the commissioner "must" prescribe conditions, but there is no snake, lizard or salamander breeder permit on the DNR's permits page, Minnesota Rules chapter 6256 covers only frogs and turtles, and no rule chapter implements the subdivision. And the DNR's own pet-trade page describes the change as reaching "wild collected Minnesota snakes, lizards, and/or salamanders", which is narrower than the statute's words and does not mention the breeder permit at all. So the condition is real on paper and its machinery is not visibly in place.

How this rule works: Subd. 8, added in 2021, is the pet reptile rule: the commissioner must prescribe conditions and may issue breeder permits, and a snake, lizard or salamander is possessable as a pet if it came from a permitted breeder or was held before 1 August 2021. Subd. 3 is the older, broader route, allowing special permits without a fee to possess wild animals as pets.