Where is the tiger salamander legal?

All native salamander species, including those in the genera Ambystoma, Amphiuma, Aneides, Cryptobranchus, Desmognathus, Eurycea, Gyrinophilus, Hemidactylium, Necturus, Notophthalmus, Phaeognathus, Plethodon, Pseudotriton, and Siren.

Alabama catches this one twice, from opposite directions. 220-2-.92(1)(b) does not list amphibians species by species the way it lists reptiles; it protects "all native salamander species", naming fourteen genera, and Ambystoma is the first of them. The eastern tiger salamander is an Alabama animal, so it is protected wildlife and possession needs a scientific collection permit or a written permit from the Commissioner. Then 220-2-.26(1) bans by reference anything the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act, and the January 2025 federal salamander rule added genus Ambystoma to that list. The second hook has no permit behind it at all, only the 220-2-.26(6) exemption for accredited educational, research and rehabilitation facilities. Note that Cornell LII still shows the older per-species amphibian list, which does not carry the genus-wide language.

How this rule works: The native side of Alabama, and the rule that catches what 220-2-.26 does not. Protection means no possession without a scientific collection permit or a written permit from the Commissioner. The reptile list is species by species, the amphibian list is not: it protects all native salamander species by genus. Cornell LII still shows the older per-species salamander list, so read the official PDF.

Genus Ambystoma (nonnative tiger salamander group)-(D)

How this rule works: § 671(b) defines (D) detrimental and (W) welfare. § 671.1(a) lists permit types; none covers pet keeping. The only possession permit, Animal Care, requires lawful possession in California before January 1992.

The eastern tiger salamander is native to Delaware and is state endangered there. Amphibians sit outside the Agriculture permit chapter, which names only mammals, their hybrids and reptiles, so DNREC's native wildlife rules are the whole answer and they do not make native wildlife available as pets. The barred tiger salamander sold in the trade is a western species and would fall outside the native rules, but it is also outside the Agriculture chapter, which is why the axolotl comes out legal here.

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.

a person shall not import into the District, possess, display, offer for sale, trade, barter, exchange, or adoption, or give as a household pet, any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity, except the following

Amphibians appear nowhere in the permitted list, so the salamander is barred alongside the axolotl.

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.

Except under the authority of the permits described in Regulation .01A of this chapter, the following species or subspecies are considered native to Maryland and may not be possessed, bred, or commercially traded: (1) Salamanders: (a) Eastern tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) ...

Maryland puts the eastern tiger salamander on its third tier, which is a flat bar rather than a cap. The only permits that reach it are the scientific collection permit under Nat. Res. § 10-909 and the endangered species permit under § 10-2A-05, both institutional. The species is at the northern edge of its range in Maryland and is state endangered, which is the context. Note the chapter draws no captive-bred exception anywhere on this tier, and Regulation .03D makes the scientific name control, so Ambystoma tigrinum is caught however the animal was produced or wherever it came from. Oregon reaches the same result by naming every nonnative subspecies on its prohibited list; Maryland reaches it by naming its own. 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.

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.

This one comes from an absence rather than a decision, and the mechanism is worth understanding because it will catch other native amphibians. 166 NAC 10 § 001.03 reaches every reptile and amphibian native to Nebraska that is not a game species, a nongame species in need of conservation, or threatened or endangered, and it makes it unlawful to take, possess, transport, export, process, sell or ship any of them except as provided in § 001.03A. The exceptions are four closed lists: two bait frogs, sixteen species at ten each, seventeen at three each, and a scientific collectors permit. The tiger salamander is on none of them, and it is on none of the other three chapters either, so there is no exception available and no permit written for a pet. The out-of-state purchase route at § 001.03A2 does not help, because it is expressly limited to "the species listed below in 001.03A3 and 001.03A4". One caveat on the species: Nebraska's animal is the barred tiger salamander, treated as a subspecies of Ambystoma tigrinum under the lumping this rule's vintage reflects and often split off as A. mavortium now, and an argument that A. tigrinum sensu stricto is not native to Nebraska is the only visible way out of this.

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.

In accordance therewith, the following species are determined to be endangered: ... 3. Eastern Tiger Salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum ... The animal may not be kept as a pet, for hobby purposes or in situations which, in the judgment of the Department, could adversely affect or provide no net benefit to the health of the animal or the welfare of the species.

The eastern tiger salamander is third on New Jersey's own endangered list at 4.13(b), which is a state listing and not a borrowed federal one. 4.10(a) then says no permit shall issue for a species designated endangered, and the narrow exception at 4.10(b) runs through 4.15, whose subsection (b) says the animal may not be kept as a pet or for hobby purposes. The Division's notice adds a second reason on top: larval salamanders, water dogs, dino dogs and mud puppies may not be kept at all, because they cannot be told apart from one another by sight at that stage.

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.

"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 strongest of the native answers, because two independent routes reach it. Native salamanders are small game with no open season, and the eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is listed as ENDANGERED in New York, which brings ECL § 11-0535 and the endangered species branch of § 11-0103(6)(c) down on it as well. New York's population is confined to Long Island and is the reason for the listing. 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 eastern tiger salamander is a New York native, so the state prohibition becomes a city one through that sentence. It is listed as ENDANGERED in New York State, which is the clearest possible trigger for a clause written around species "designated as protected or endangered". § 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.

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.

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.

The following species may not be taken or possessed in any number for private use: red-eared slider and all reptile and amphibian Species of Greatest Conservation Need designated in Virginia’s 2015 Wildlife Action Plan.

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. This cell read permit on 4VAC15-30-40’s Ambystomatidae row, "All species, except Ambystoma mexicanum", which is a correct reading of a table that cannot reach this animal. The eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is on the department’s native list with no asterisk, and the permit table operates only on nonnative (exotic) animals, which by definition exclude species naturally occurring in Virginia. So the Ambystomatidae row reaches the mole salamanders Virginia does not have and stops short of the three it does. What reaches this one is 4VAC15-360-10(A)(6): the eastern tiger salamander is on the department’s amphibian Species of Greatest Conservation Need list at tier I, the highest, and the subdivision says such species may not be taken or possessed in any number for private use. In any number, so there is no one-per-address version of this and no permit behind it; the tiger salamander is also a state endangered species in Virginia. The regulation names the 2015 Wildlife Action Plan and the department now publishes the list as revised for 2025, and the eastern tiger salamander is on both.

How this rule works: The list 4VAC15-360-10(A)(6) turns on. The regulation names Virginia’s 2015 Wildlife Action Plan, and the department now publishes the list as revised for the 2025 Action Plan, saying the 2025 rankings were built from the 2015 ones. The reptile list carries the woodland box turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina, and the eastern hog-nosed snake, Heterodon platirhinos; the amphibian list carries the eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum. It does not carry the common gartersnake, the red cornsnake, the eastern milksnake, the snapping turtle or the green anole. Several entries name the conservation action as continuing to maintain "no possession" regulations, which is the department describing this rule from the other side.

An importation/possession permit shall not be issued for importation or possession of the live cold-blooded wildlife in this section... (a) Injurious wildlife listed in 50 CFR § 16.

Wyoming adopts the federal injurious wildlife list wholesale, and 50 CFR 16.14 covers every species in the genus Ambystoma. That makes the tiger salamander one of the few animals Wyoming will not permit at all, and the ban follows from a federal disease rule about Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans rather than from anything Wyoming decided about salamanders.

How this rule works: Section 10(a)(i) is the sentence that matters for reptile keepers: amphibians and reptiles not listed in Section 8 or 9 need no permit at all.

Any species from the order Urodela (salamanders and newts) except tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum/mavortium)

Colorado clears the salamanders at order level and then carves this one species pair straight back out, which is why the axolotl is free here and the tiger salamander is not. The route that remains is a wild-collection licence, not a pet-shop purchase: Appendix C(J) lists the western tiger salamander, and § 704 lets a Colorado resident take, possess and transport one only under a Resident Herpetofauna Collection and Possession License, which requires passing a CPW education course, is capped at four animals a year and twelve at once, bars propagation, and requires reporting each take within seven days. Non-residents have no route at all, and CPW's list records that any acquisition of a western tiger salamander other than licensed wild collection or legacy possession is not allowed. Colorado is also where the ranavirus work on the bait-salamander trade was done, which is the concern this rule sits against.

Existing owners: A western tiger salamander legally collected from the wild on or before 1 May 2026 may be kept for life if a CPW Legacy Report was filed by 30 July 2026.

How this rule works: Secretary of State's official text of the new herpetofauna chapter, effective 1 May 2026. A closed-list scheme: #701 makes possession of any live reptile or amphibian unlawful unless the chapter allows it, Appendix A is free possession, Appendix B is free possession with documentation, Appendix C is wild collection under a resident licence, and anything on none of them is regulated wildlife.

Amphibia (Amphibians) Captive Bred Origin Only ... Anura (Frogs And Toads)

Maine's amphibian section contains one order, Anura, and every entry in it is a frog or a toad. There is no Caudata order at all, so no salamander or newt of any species is unrestricted in Maine. The whole section is also limited to captive bred origin.

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

Ambystoma tigrinum is native to Missouri, which puts it in Class I rather than outside the Wildlife Code.

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.

Rep/Amph | Salamander | Ambystomatidae | Ambystoma tigrinum | Eastern Tiger Salamander | 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. The barred tiger salamander that fills the pet trade is listed separately at Group II as well, so both answers land in the same place. The Sonora and California tiger salamanders are Group IV as federally listed animals. 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.

monotypic species and subspecies of reptiles and amphibians not indigenous to Oklahoma are exempt from import and export requirements and commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder's license

Ambystoma is native to Oklahoma, so the non-indigenous exemption does not reach it.

How this rule works: One of the most permissive exemption lists in the country, naming the fennec fox, the sugar glider, the coatimundi, the wallaby and primates individually. Note what the exemptions are from: import and export permits and commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder licences, not a ban. Subsection (c) exempts non-indigenous reptiles and amphibians as a class, with a two-limb carve-out for species that could establish here and are injurious under federal rules. Oklahoma's own rules site, rules.ok.gov, returns 403 to this container, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

Amphibians | Caudata | Ambystomatidae | Ambystoma | all species | Mole salamanders

The whole genus is on the Restricted list, so both the eastern tiger salamander and the barred tiger salamander sold in the trade are caught. Unlike Pennsylvania and Michigan, the species being native or not makes no difference here. 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. So restricted here means a private keeper cannot have one, not that there is paperwork to fill in.

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.

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. A tiger salamander is an amphibian, and the WVDNR checklist of the state’s 34 salamanders carries Ambystoma barbouri, jeffersonianum, maculatum, opacum and texanum and not Ambystoma tigrinum, so this is an out-of-state animal rather than a West Virginia native and § 58-73 has nothing to say about it. § 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.

Ambystoma tigrinum

Conditionally approved, which is the opposite of what Hawaii's reputation would suggest. Part A restricts two other Ambystoma species, so the genus is split across two lists and the species name is what decides it.

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.

Privately owned companion animals not intended for research or resale that are not native wildlife captured from the wild in Idaho

Captive bred stock is a conventional pet. Ambystoma mavortium is native to Idaho, so one taken from the wild in the state is wildlife and falls outside the definition.

How this rule works: Section 010.06 defines conventional pets, which sit outside the wildlife permit regime. Unusually explicit: it names ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders in the rule text.

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 eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum 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. It is not on the state endangered or threatened list, unlike the Jefferson, silvery and spotted dusky salamanders and the mudpuppy, so the ordinary cap is the whole of it. 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.

The tiger salamander is native to Indiana, which is what decides it, and Indiana's native rule is unusual in reaching a purchased animal. 9-5-7(c) lists the eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, among the 99 taxa whose sale it governs, and 9-5-7(a) says the section applies "regardless of place of origin", so a captive-bred animal from an out-of-state breeder is caught by it just as a wild-caught one is. Selling, offering for sale or transporting for sale is barred; possessing is not, subject to 9-5-6(f)'s cap of four live animals of any one native species. Two exits exist. 9-5-7(f) exempts a captive-bred animal with albinistic, leucistic or xanthic colour morphology, on the same logic New Jersey uses for corn snake morphs, that a morph is visibly not a wild-caught animal. And 9-5-9 provides a reptile captive breeding licence under which sales are lawful. It is one of eight Ambystoma on the list, so Indiana has thought about this genus carefully rather than sweeping it in. Note the contrast with Alabama, where the same animal is banned outright because that state adopts the federal injurious wildlife list as a possession bar and the January 2025 salamander rule put Ambystoma on it. Indiana names no federal list 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 total of any combination of amphibian may be possessed per person 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. The eastern tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is an established Kansas taxon under this exact binomial on the Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas, with the western tiger salamander Ambystoma mavortium beside it, so this is a Kansas animal rather than an exotic one. That sends it to K.A.R. 115-20-2, whose subsection (b)(1) lists amphibians other than bullfrogs among the wildlife that may be taken for personal use on a noncommercial basis, year-round under (d). The cap is the part the earlier entry missed, and for an amphibian it is a single number rather than the reptile pair: five in total of any combination of amphibian per person or 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. Kansas lists eleven amphibians in K.A.R. 115-15-1 and 115-15-2 and this is not one of them, so the exclusion in 115-20-2(b) does not bite. Taking one from the wild needs a hunting license under 115-20-2(i), 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.

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.

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

The eastern tiger salamander is Michigan native and, unlike the small-mouthed and marbled salamanders, is not on the protected list. So it may be taken with a fishing license, up to ten amphibians in total, but it may not be bought or sold, which rules out a shop or a breeder. Check what you are buying, because the barred tiger salamander, Ambystoma mavortium, is a western species outside this order entirely and is the one usually sold in the trade.

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 eastern tiger salamander is a Minnesota native, and it is the animal the DNR's own summary of the rule is aimed at, since the department describes the restriction as reaching wild collected Minnesota salamanders. It is not on the state endangered or threatened list; the listed amphibian is Blanchard's cricket frog. 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.

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

Ambystoma tigrinum sits on the Fish and Boat Commission's own native species list even though it is considered extirpated here, because § 79.1 defines a native species by whether it occurs historically in Pennsylvania rather than whether it still does. It is not tabled by name, so the catch-all line applies and the limit is one animal, and § 79.10(a) bars importing a native species from another jurisdiction. Check what you are actually buying, because most pet-trade tiger salamanders are the barred tiger salamander, Ambystoma mavortium, a western species absent from Pennsylvania's native list and therefore outside Chapter 79.

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.

All persons other than a bona fide researcher, or a licensed pet shops and their transportation agents are prohibited from possessing any species of exotic amphibians unless they are kept indoors as pets in a manner that will prevent their escape or liberation into the wild. Keeping of these animals in any type of outdoor enclosure is prohibited.

Rhode Island's native amphibian list does not include the tiger salamander, so it is an exotic amphibian: keepable, but indoors only, and only a pet shop or researcher may import one.

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.

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.

Ambystoma tigrinum is on the § 65.331(d) list and is native across most of Texas, so the answer is 25 without a permit and no commercial activity in them. 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. Note the § 65.331(e) list names eight other Ambystoma and Eurycea salamanders at the lower cap of six, so the tiger salamander is on the more permissive of the two lists rather than outside the scheme.

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.

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.

A person may possess native northern leopard frogs of the species Lithobates pipiens, mudpuppies of the species Necturus maculosus, and eastern tiger salamanders of the species Ambystoma tigrinum provided that such species are possessed for the purpose of purchase and sale under the authority of a Class A captive wild animal farm license

The eastern tiger salamander is a Wisconsin native and is singled out by name. Under the current rule it falls within the 5-per-species native cap; from 1 January 2027 the recreated rule routes it through a Class A captive wild animal farm licence instead. 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: Official Wisconsin State Legislature code text; caps take/possession of native, non-listed amphibians, lizards and snakes at 5 individuals per species, with NR 16.13 layering on the purchase restriction for native species.

Persons engaged in herpetological research shall possess a Scientific Research and Collecting Permit prior to removal of native reptiles or amphibians from the wild.

Ambystoma is native to Louisiana, so taking one from the wild falls under the collecting rules rather than the nonnative lists. Captive bred stock is a different question the rule does not address directly.

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.

Additionally, persons may possess and hold captive fish, bullfrogs, mussels, aquatic turtles, alligators and other aquatic wildlife...

The unrestricted list has sections for birds, mammals, reptiles and snakes and no amphibian section at all. The only amphibian it mentions is the bullfrog, and that by deferring to other chapters. Ambystoma tigrinum is also native to Arkansas.

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".