Where is the garter snake legal?

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Colubridae is on Appendix A, but only for snakes native only to the tropical and subtropical region, and the common garter snake is a temperate North American animal. CPW's herpetofauna list records Thamnophis sirtalis against Appendix A, A, 4 with the finding "native range outside tropical/subtropical", and files the checkered and plains garter snakes the same way. Nothing else in Chapter W-7 reaches it: Appendix B is three snake genera and Thamnophis is not among them. What Colorado does allow is wild collection of two of its own garter snakes, the wandering and the plains, by residents holding a Resident Herpetofauna Collection and Possession License under § 704, which is a route to a Colorado animal rather than to a pet-trade one. This entry read legal until the 1 May 2026 herpetofauna rewrite moved the reptile lists out of Chapter W-11 and attached a native-range test to them.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated 1 May 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

Delaware's native-wildlife rules forbid keeping a Delaware-native reptile as a pet, and DNREC's own guidance is explicit that native wildlife isn't for private ownership. A narrow carve-out exists for a captive-bred, aberrantly-colored native snake held under permit, but an ordinary wild-type garter snake doesn't qualify.

How this rule works: Delaware Code Online's game and fish possession chapter administered by DNREC, paired with a separate exotic species permit chapter at Del. Code tit. 3, c. 72.

By Georgia Law, most native species of wildlife cannot be held without permits or licenses. These licenses are not issued for the purpose of holding native wildlife as pets. These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology. ... The following list of species native to Georgia may not be held as a pet regardless of its origin or morphology.

Georgia handles its own wildlife separately from the wild animal rule, and the sentence that matters is "These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology." A captive-bred animal from an out-of-state breeder is in the same position as one caught in a Georgia yard, and a colour morph is too. The garter snake is on DNR's list of native species that may not be held as a pet. Licences exist under O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4 and DNR says in terms that they "are not issued for the purpose of holding native wildlife as pets".

How this rule works: The agency page that answers the native half of Georgia, which the wild animal rule does not reach. It states the operative rule in one line, "By Georgia Law, most native species of wildlife cannot be held without permits or licenses. These licenses are not issued for the purpose of holding native wildlife as pets", and adds the sentence that closes the captive-bred argument: "These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology." It then lists native species that may not be held as a pet, among them the corn snake, milksnake, garter snake, green anole, both hognose snakes, all four box turtles and the flying squirrel. Two limits are worth carrying: the list says of itself that it "does not include all native wildlife that is prohibited", and a separate paragraph names the natives Georgia does allow to be taken, "rats, mice, armadillos, coyotes, groundhogs, beaver, freshwater turtles, venomous snakes, frogs, spring lizards, fiddler crabs, freshwater crayfish, freshwater mussels, and nutria".

Serpentes (all species)

Hawaii bans the entire snake suborder outright, with no exception for harmless mainland species. There is no permit path for a pet garter snake in Hawaii.

How this rule works: The list that matters most for pet keepers and the one almost never quoted. Conditional approval means importation and possession are allowed subject to the conditions the Board of Agriculture sets, unlike the restricted list, which is research and exhibition only.

"Small game" means black, gray and fox squirrels, European hares, varying hares, cottontail rabbits, native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes, coyotes, red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) except captive bred red fox or gray fox, raccoon, opossum, or weasel, skunk, bobcat, lynx, muskrat, mink, except mink born in captivity, fisher, otter, beaver, sable and marten but does not include coydogs. ... No person shall, at any time of the year, buy, sell, offer or expose for sale, transport, or have in his possession any fish protected by law, game, protected wildlife ... whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law.

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.

No person shall sell or give to another person, possess, harbor, keep, or yard wild or other animals identified in this section ... other than in: (i) a zoological park or aquarium ...; or (ii) a laboratory ...; or (iii) a veterinary hospital ...; or (iv) a temporary exhibit, performance or display that has been issued a permit by the Commissioner. ... For the purposes of this Code, a wild animal is deemed to be any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings and all such animals are hereby prohibited ... Such animals shall also include: (i) any animals specified by the Commissioner in regulations ...; (ii) any native or exotic wildlife whose possession or sale is prohibited because they are designated as protected or endangered pursuant to any federal, state or local law, regulation, or rule; and (iii) any of the following animals:

Caught by the clause most readings of this article skip. Before its 24 numbered categories, § 161.01(b)(ii) prohibits "any native or exotic wildlife whose possession or sale is prohibited because they are designated as protected or endangered pursuant to any federal, state or local law, regulation, or rule". New York State makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes small game and therefore protected wildlife, and ECL § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife whether taken in the state or brought in from outside it. The common garter snake is a New York native, so the state prohibition becomes a city one through that sentence. The colubrid clause at (b)(10) is worth checking separately and probably does not reach it: that clause takes "all venomous, mid-or rear-fanged, Duvernoy-glanded members of the family Colubridae", and while Thamnophis does have a Duvernoy's gland, it is not a venomous snake in any ordinary sense. The state route is the clean one. § 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.

Rhode Island's exempt Colubridae list names sixteen groups of pet-trade snakes by genus, and Thamnophis is not one of them. The regulation states directly that possession of native snakes is restricted to institutions, meaning typical pet ownership of a Rhode Island garter snake isn't permitted.

How this rule works: One of the most species-specific schemes in the country. § 3.6 defines domestic animals, § 3.7 sets general prohibitions, § 3.9 governs permits, and § 3.17 is the long exempt list of animals that need no exotic animal possession permit. Anything not domestic, not native and not on the § 3.17 list needs a permit.

The take or possession of any native West Virginia reptile or amphibian species not listed hereafter is prohibited pursuant to W. Va. Code 20-2-4.

West Virginia bars its own reptiles rather than exotic ones, which is the opposite of how most states are built and the reason this reads as banned while a bearded dragon here is legal. 58-73-1.1 prohibits taking or possessing any native species not listed later in the rule, and section 4 lists ten salamanders for bait, two frogs, and two turtles, the snapping turtle and the eastern spiny softshell. No snake and no lizard is anywhere in it. The DNR summary of the rule opens by saying West Virginia herp regulations prohibit the possession of 80 species of reptiles and amphibians. The DNR checklist names the Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis s. sirtalis) among the state twenty-two snakes.

How this rule works: A closed list for natives. Section 4 names ten salamanders for bait, two frogs, and exactly two turtles. No lizard and no snake appears anywhere in it, and 58-73-1.1 says possession of any native species not listed is prohibited. The DNR summary of this rule opens by saying West Virginia herp regulations prohibit the possession of 80 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Arkansas's unrestricted list clears several New World colubrid genera by name (Lampropeltis, Pantherophis, Nerodia, and others), but every one of those entries excepts species native to Arkansas, and Thamnophis never appears on the list at all. As Arkansas's own native species, a garter snake isn't covered by the pet-trade clearance and instead needs the state's Permitted Captive Wildlife Species List.

How this rule works: Species exempt from Codes 09.02 (possession of non-native wildlife restricted), 09.07 (breeder/dealer permit) and 09.10 (importation permit), named individually with binomials. Read it out of the codebook rather than the compiled PDF AGFC posted at agfc.com in 2022, which is the version that circulates as "the Arkansas list" and is two revisions behind: it lacks the rosy boa and the whole Anoline Lizards entry with its Arkansas-native exception. The compiled PDF says so itself, that the codebook lists "take precedence".

Maine's unrestricted-species list runs through every North American colubrid genus commonly kept as a pet, kingsnakes, ratsnakes, hognose, watersnakes, and more, and Thamnophis is conspicuously absent from every entry. A Maine garter snake needs the state's separate captivity permit rather than falling under this pet-trade clearance.

How this rule works: The list 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-A) requires the department to maintain and 09-137 CMR ch. 7 § 7.06(1) describes: species needing no importation, exhibition, propagation, research or possession permit, which pet shops may also trade. Dated 11 August 2017 on every page, and this is the version IFW still serves. Three headings do most of the work: Reptilia, Serpentes and Testudines each carry "Captive Bred Origin Only", and an asterisk on an entry removes anything on the USFWS injurious or threatened and endangered lists, in CITES Appendix I, or on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, Critically Endangered or Extinct in the Wild.

those species of mammals... and nonvenomous reptiles and amphibians native to Missouri

The garter snake is native to Missouri and nonvenomous, which places it in Class I, the tier that needs a simple possession permit rather than being unregulated.

How this rule works: Class I is native Missouri mammals, reptiles and amphibians plus birds native to the continental United States. Class II is the venomous natives, mountain lion, wolf and black bear. Class III is cervids. An animal that is none of these is outside the Wildlife Code entirely.

Squamata | Serpentes | Colubridae | Thamnophis | all species | Garter snakes, ribbon snakes

Resolved from a previous unclear entry now that the lists are in hand. Colubrids are unrestricted as a family and then the entire genus Thamnophis is clawed back on the Restricted list, so every garter snake and ribbon snake is restricted. A permit exists on paper but not for a pet: Regulation 881 says the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for keeping or possessing a wild animal in captivity except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes.

How this rule works: The appendix the Unrestricted list keeps pointing at. Headed: species below are exceptions to Unrestricted Wild Animal List status and require an importation and possession permit. It matters because several families are unrestricted as a whole and then clawed back species by species here, which is how Vermont ends up allowing a ball python and not a Burmese, a California kingsnake and not an eastern milk snake.

The possession limit for herptiles (excluding common snapping turtles and bullfrogs) is no more than 4 total per species. ... In no case shall a person possess more than 8 indigenous amphibian or reptiles in total.

The common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, in both its eastern and Chicago subspecies is on the § 885.40 list of Illinois native herptile taxa, which is what puts it inside the cap rather than outside it. No licence is needed to keep one, but three conditions ride along: no more than 4 of the species and no more than 8 indigenous herptiles in total, a sport fishing licence to collect any native taxon from the wild, and a $50 Herpetoculture Permit to breed or to sell. Non-residents may not possess herptiles collected from the wild in Illinois at all except under a scientific collection permit. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the dangerous animal statute, which is a closed list of big cats and says in terms that it does not reach herptiles. The Herptiles-Herps Act is the law that actually answers a snake question in Illinois, and a native colubrid sits inside its cap. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

How this rule works: The statute behind 17 Ill. Adm. Code 885, and the only Illinois law that reaches pet reptiles and amphibians. § 5-5 sets the possession limits, § 15-5 clears the family Boidae from the permit system outright, § 25-5 defines 'monitor lizards' as only the crocodile monitor and Komodo dragon, and § 85-5 bars possession of a special use herptile. Sections are served individually from this endpoint by DocName, 051000680K<section>.

This section governs the: (1) sale; (2) transport for sale; or (3) offer for sale; of any reptile or amphibian native to Indiana regardless of place of origin. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section and in section 9 of this rule, an individual must not sell, transport for sale, or offer to sell a reptile or amphibian that is native to Indiana.

This entry read legal on 312 IAC 9-11-6 through 9-11-8, the three permit classes, which is the wrong rule for a snake that lives in Indiana. 312 IAC 9-5-7(c)(92) lists the eastern gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis, and the section bars selling a native reptile "regardless of place of origin", so the bar follows a captive-bred animal in from out of state. Possession is separately capped at four of any one native species by 9-5-6(f). Indiana lists eight Thamnophis in all, including the ribbonsnakes and the plains gartersnake, and Butler's gartersnake is separately state endangered under 9-5-4. A captive-bred albino or leucistic garter snake is exempted from the sale bar by 9-5-7(f), which is how the morph trade operates here.

How this rule works: The rule 312 IAC 9-11 does not reach. 9-5-1(b) makes every reptile and amphibian native to Indiana a protected wild animal, 9-5-6(f) caps possession at four per species, and 9-5-7 bars selling a native species "regardless of place of origin" against a list of 99 taxa given by binomial. 9-5-7(f) then exempts captive-bred albinistic, leucistic and xanthic morphs. Indiana's own rules site, iar.iga.in.gov, serves its React shell for every path including its own script bundles, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

no more than five reptiles and no more than two individuals of any reptile species per person and/or domicile, whichever is reached first

The Kansas column was written against K.S.A. 32-1301, the dangerous regulated animal statute, which names six cats, bears and non-native venomous snakes and answers nothing here. The pair that decides a Kansas cell is K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2), which makes it unlawful to possess any wildlife at all "unless and except as permitted by law or rules and regulations adopted by the secretary", and the two regulations that do the permitting. K.A.R. 115-20-3 permits exotic wildlife, and 115-20-3(d) reads exotic as a species not native or indigenous to Kansas and not present here as an established wild population. Thamnophis sirtalis is an established Kansas taxon on the Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas, and the only gartersnake Kansas lists in regulation is the checkered gartersnake, Thamnophis marcianus, which 115-15-1(b)(4) makes threatened and which is not this animal. A Kansas native is therefore outside 115-20-3 and falls to K.A.R. 115-20-2, which permits taking certain Kansas wildlife for personal use on a noncommercial basis. 115-20-2(b)(13) puts reptiles on that list, with common snapping turtles and soft-shelled turtles taken back out, and the open season under (d) is year-round. What the earlier entry missed is the cap in (e): five reptiles and two individuals of any one reptile species, per person and per domicile, whichever is reached first. 115-20-2(f) defines domicile as the address you declare in legal documents to pay taxes, receive social security, vote, bank, and register vehicles and animals, so two people at one address do not get four. Taking one from the wild needs a hunting license, since 115-20-2(i) exempts only invertebrates from that, but K.A.R. 115-9-7(i) exempts the possession of wildlife that was legally acquired by the individual, so a bought animal needs no license to keep. One gap Kansas has never closed: 32-1002(a)(3) bars purchasing or selling any wildlife in this state unless a regulation permits it, 115-20-2 permits taking only on a noncommercial basis, and 32-1002(b) lifts the possession and sale bars for animals legally taken outside this state without saying what that means for one bred in captivity out of state.

How this rule works: 115-20-3 is the permission K.S.A. 32-1002 refers to for anything not native to Kansas. 115-20-2 is the parallel permission for Kansas own wildlife, and it carries caps that 115-20-3 does not: five reptiles and two of any one reptile species per person or domicile. Read from Cornell LII because ksrevisor.gov serves a bot-check loader and both ksoutdoors.gov and www.kdwp.state.ks.us refuse this container outright.

Except as provided in §§D—F of this regulation, a person without a reptile and amphibian permit may not possess more than four of each individual reptile or salamander, live or dead, listed in Regulation .03A of this chapter. The individual reptiles or salamanders may have been: (1) Obtained from the wild; (2) Captively produced; or (3) Legally obtained outside of Maryland.

The eastern gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis is on Maryland's first tier of native species, which means no permit but a hard cap of four. Read the second sentence: the cap applies whether the animal came from the wild, from captive breeding, or lawfully from outside Maryland, so buying a captive-bred one out of state does not lift it. Above four, or to breed or sell at all, a reptile and amphibian permit is needed. Colour mutations bred in captivity are exempt from the cap under Regulation .04E, with the burden of proving the mutation on the owner, and Regulation .16 bars using any listed species in a competition. This entry previously read as requiring a permit outright. It does not: Regulation .04A allows four of a first-tier species with no permit at all, and the permit is what lifts the cap or allows breeding and sale. The common ribbonsnake, a close relative, sits one tier down at one per person. Subsection (e) of § 10-621 preserves stricter county and municipal rules, and Maryland counties use that power, so the local ordinance is worth checking before the state list.

How this rule works: Maryland's native reptile and amphibian chapter, adopted 1993 and amended through 2016, renumbered from 08.03.09. It works off three lists in Regulation .03: .03A species may be kept four per species without a permit, .03B species one only, and .03C species not at all outside a scientific collection or endangered species permit. A species on none of the three lists is not native to Maryland and the chapter does not reach it. Regulation .03D provides that where both names are given, the scientific name controls.

Reptiles and amphibians may not be bought, sold or offered for sale.

The common garter snake is Michigan native and is not on the protected list, so it may be taken, but only on conditions. A fishing license is required, the limit is three a day and six in total across snakes, lizards and turtles combined, and the quoted sale ban means you cannot lawfully buy one in Michigan or sell the one you have. Personal collection is the only lawful route. Note that Butler's garter snake, a separate Michigan species, is on the protected list and may not be taken or possessed at all, so the answer turns on which garter snake you have.

How this rule works: The order that actually governs herps in Michigan, and the one most summaries miss because it sits in the fishing rules rather than the wildlife rules. Its reach is the phrase "any state reptile or amphibian from the wild", so it binds native species taken here and leaves captive-bred non-native pets alone. Michigan.gov blocks automated access, so this was read from the official guide as published by the state's regulations publisher.

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. The garter snake is also a Minnesota native, and the DNR's narrower reading of the rule, that it bars collecting and selling wild-collected Minnesota snakes, bites hardest here: on either reading of the statute, a garter snake taken from the wild in Minnesota is not lawfully possessed. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the regulated animal statute, which reaches only cats, bears and primates and was never the law that answers a reptile question here. 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.

001.03 Regulated Taking of Reptiles and Amphibians - The provisions of 001.03 apply to all species and subspecies of reptiles and amphibians native to Nebraska except those legally designated as Game species, Nongame Species in Need of Conservation, and Threatened or Endangered species. It shall be unlawful for any person to take, possess, transport, export, process, sell or offer for sale, or ship any reptile or amphibian species defined in this section except as provided in 001.03A. ... 001.03A2 For those individual specimens or parts thereof legally obtained by purchase or consignment from outside of Nebraska, sale, offer of sale and associated transport, possession or processing will be permitted without regard to limits or numbers for the species listed below in 001.03A3 and 001.03A4, provided that such authority shall be contingent upon a persons ability to provide proof of legal acquisition including bill of sale or consignment.

The common gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis, is on the ten-per-species list at § 001.03A3, the more generous of Nebraska's two collecting tiers. Two other Nebraska garter snakes are not there: the plains gartersnake is on the same ten list, but the western terrestrial gartersnake and the western ribbon snake are nongame species in need of conservation at § 001.02, where possession is unlawful without a scientific collection permit. Three garter snakes, two very different answers. The route that matters for a pet is § 001.03A2: an animal legally bought or consigned from outside Nebraska may be possessed without regard to numbers, provided the keeper can produce proof of lawful acquisition, a bill of sale or a consignment record. So the cap is on collecting, and the receipt is what lifts it.

How this rule works: Nebraska renumbered its Game and Parks regulations: what used to be 163 NAC ch. 4 is now Title 166, and captive wildlife has its own chapter 8 rather than a subsection. Anything on this map citing "163 NAC ch. 4, § 008" is pointing at a title that is now called ADMINISTRATION. Chapter 8 has three operative parts. § 001.01B bars retaining any WILD BIRD or WILD MAMMAL in captivity except a listed set of Nebraska natives under a Captive Wildlife Permit. § 001.07A prohibits six species outright, none of them a pet: the Asian raccoon dog, white-tailed and mule deer, red deer, wild pigs and bighorn or thinhorn sheep. And § 001.08A is a closed importation list, which is what actually answers most exotic mammals here, because they are not wild mammals and so the permit scheme never reaches them. Chapter 10 does the same job for reptiles and amphibians and is limited to species native to Nebraska.

No closed season. All reptiles except those listed in (3) and (5) of this section shall have a year-round season. (2) Bag limit. The bag limit is 6 per day or in possession for each species allowed in section (1) of this section.

This entry read legal on 800:25-25-3, the exemption list, which is the wrong rule for a snake that lives in Oklahoma: subsection (c) exempts reptiles "not indigenous to Oklahoma" and Thamnophis sirtalis is indigenous. What applies instead is the reptile and amphibian part at 800:25-7. Two provisions matter to a keeper. 7-7(2)(A) requires a resident or nonresident hunting licence of anyone "taking or attempting to take reptiles and amphibians or possessing reptiles or amphibians" that are land dwelling, which is a possession hook and not merely a collecting one. And 7-8 gives every reptile a year-round season except a closed list of twelve, with a limit of "6 per day or in possession for each species". Recorded as conditional on those two rather than as a permit, because there is no application and no discretion: a hunting licence is sold over the counter. 29 O.S. § 7-502(B)(4) separately exempts anyone possessing legally obtained wildlife "from a source other than the wild, as pets" from the statutory possession bar, which is why a captive-bred animal is not caught by the closed-season rule. One gartersnake is on the closed list and it is not this one: 7-8(5)(G) closes the season on the wandering gartersnake, Thamnophis elegans vagrans.

How this rule works: The part that reaches Oklahoma's own herps, and the one that 800:25-25-3 does not answer. 7-7(2) requires a hunting or fishing licence of anyone taking or possessing a reptile or amphibian, 7-8 gives every reptile a year-round season at six per species per day and in possession with a twelve-species closed list, and 7-9 does the same for amphibians at four. 7-7(1) separately bars commercial activity involving wild-collected indigenous species.

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.

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.

Native species not listed in this subsection | No closed season | 1 | 1

Corrected from legal. The common garter snake is Pennsylvania native and is not tabled by name, so the catch-all line caps possession at one animal. Two further rules bind that the previous entry missed. § 79.10(a) makes it unlawful to transport or import a native species into Pennsylvania from another jurisdiction, so an out-of-state garter snake is not an option, and § 79.9 bars selling or buying a reptile taken from Pennsylvania and its progeny. The designated color morphs at § 79.12 are the exception, exempt from the possession limit and sellable by registered propagators. Note that two Pennsylvania gartersnakes, the short-headed gartersnake and the eastern ribbonsnake, are tabled separately at zero.

How this rule works: Official Pennsylvania Code text; the catch-all 'native species not listed' line sets a 1-per-day/1-in-possession limit, and companion §79.4 requires a permit for continued possession regardless of the animal's origin.

A person without a nongame or nongame dealer’s permit may: (A) possess six or fewer specimens of a species of nongame wildlife listed in §65.331(e) of this title, provided the person does not engage in commercial activity involving the nongame wildlife; and (B) possess 25 or fewer specimens of a species of nongame wildlife listed in §65.331(d) of this title, provided the person does not engage in commercial activity involving the nongame wildlife.

The § 65.331(d) list names three Texas garter snakes, the western blackneck, the checkered and the western ribbon, and it does not name Thamnophis sirtalis. The common gartersnake is instead on the § 65.331(e) list, which drops it to the lower cap: six without a permit, and no selling, offering for sale, exchanging or bartering at all. This entry previously read as unrestricted, citing the dangerous wild animal statute, which contains no reptile. The rule that answers a native Texas snake is the nongame subchapter, and within it the two lists give different answers to two garter snakes. The cap reaches captive-bred animals: § 65.325(a) says nongame wildlife "includes captive-bred nongame wildlife", so a pet shop receipt does not lift it.

How this rule works: The rule that decides a Texas pet question whenever the animal is native, and the one the dangerous wild animal statute distracts from. § 65.327(a) starts from a prohibition, "no person may collect, acquire, possess, import, export, cause the import or export of, or engage in a commercial activity involving nongame wildlife", and § 65.327(b)(3) then gives an unlicensed keeper two numbers: 25 of a species on the § 65.331(d) list, six of anything else. Three definitions carry the weight. § 65.325(a) says nongame wildlife "includes captive-bred nongame wildlife", so buying from a breeder does not lift the cap. The same sentence limits the subchapter to VERTEBRATE wildlife, which is narrower than the statute it implements, since Parks & Wild. Code § 67.001 says "vertebrate and invertebrate", and that gap is what leaves every terrestrial invertebrate outside the scheme entirely. And § 65.326(2) defines commercial activity as "the sale, offer for sale, exchange, or barter", so buying is not itself commercial activity, and § 65.327(b)(1)(B) lets a permitted dealer "sell lawfully obtained nongame wildlife to anyone". The two species lists are attached figures rather than statutory text: the (d) list names about 100 species, and the (e) list is longer and expressly "not limited to" what it names, so a native species on neither list falls to the six cap.

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.

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

Virginia runs two schemes and 4VAC15-20-50 decides which one an animal is in, so the exotic permit table is the wrong rule for anything Virginia already has. A nonnative (exotic) animal is one "not naturally occurring in Virginia, excluding domestic and naturalized species", which puts every native and every naturalized species outside 4VAC15-30-40 and inside 4VAC15-360-10. Native and naturalized status is not a judgment call here: it is fixed by a document incorporated by reference, the department’s 2024 List of Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, where an asterisk marks a naturalized species and two asterisks one native in some areas and naturalized in others. That list carries the eastern gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis, with no asterisk, so it is a Virginia native and the special permit table never applied to it; the old entry’s reading that the table contains no relevant reptile was accurate and was answering the wrong question. 4VAC15-360-10(A) then caps possession at 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. Per physical address, not per person, so two keepers under one roof share the one. That the cap binds a keeper rather than only a collector is confirmed from the other direction by the domestic animal list in 4VAC15-20-50, 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 keeping a native herp were free. The other clause to check is 4VAC15-360-10(A)(6), which bars possessing in any number the red-eared slider and every reptile and amphibian Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Virginia’s Wildlife Action Plan. The common gartersnake is on neither list, so the cap is the whole of it: one snake, one address.

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.

Wisconsin lets residents possess up to five individuals of each non-protected native species, garter snakes included, without a permit, but native reptiles generally may not be bought or sold within the state, so a Wisconsin-kept pet has to come from your own lawful collecting rather than a breeder or shop. Wisconsin repealed and recreated NR 16.12(3) effective 1 January 2027 (CR 25-092). Until then the rule allows taking or possessing up to 5 individuals of each non-listed native species. From that date possession of live native reptiles and amphibians is prohibited outright except under narrow exemptions, of which the one that matters to keepers is NR 16.12(3)(k): captive-bred colour variants acquired from a legal source. A wild-type native animal will no longer be keepable.

How this rule works: Wisconsin Legislature's codified DNR chapter on captive wildlife, sections 16.12 through 16.15 set possession and take limits for native reptiles and amphibians.