Can You Own a Boa Constrictor in Hawaii? What the Law Really Says

If you’re wondering whether you can own a boa constrictor in Hawaii, the short answer is no, and the state enforces that ban more aggressively than almost anywhere else in the country. Hawaii has confiscated boa constrictors from cargo ships, backyards, and farms across multiple islands over the past decade, and each case ends the same way: the snake is seized, and the owner faces potential criminal charges. This guide walks through the federal rules that apply to boa constrictors nationwide, Hawaii’s own outright ban, the narrow permit exceptions reserved for zoos and researchers, how county rules layer on top of state law, and the penalties you would face for keeping one illegally.

Is It Legal to Own a Boa Constrictor in Hawaii

No. Hawaii law makes it illegal for private residents to transport, import, or possess a boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) anywhere in the state, regardless of how the snake was acquired or how long it was legally owned elsewhere. As one Hawaii news outlet summarized after a juvenile boa was found aboard a cargo ship bound for Honolulu, state law prohibits the transport and possession of snakes.

Boa constrictors are popular in the mainland pet trade partly because of their manageable size and temperament, but Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture treats them the same as any other large constrictor. Boa constrictors are non-venomous and are native to Central and South America, and adults can reach up to 12 feet in length with a normal diet of small mammals such as mice and rats. That size and appetite are exactly why the state won’t allow them.

Snakes and large reptiles pose a serious threat to Hawaii’s unique ecosystem as they compete with native animal populations for food and habitat, and many species also prey on birds and their eggs, increasing the threat to endangered native birds. You can see how real that risk is on our page covering endangered animals in Hawaii, many of which are ground- or shrub-nesting birds with no evolved defense against a large constrictor. For a broader look at every species affected by this policy, see our guide to types of snakes in Hawaii and our dedicated boa constrictor profile.

Important Note: Moving to Hawaii from a state where boa constrictor ownership is legal does not create an exception. Hawaii residents who have raised the question of transferring a pet snake to the islands have been told plainly that the rules are absolute, with no grandfather clause for animals owned legally elsewhere.

Federal Restrictions on Boa Constrictors

Boa constrictors are also touched by federal law, though not as directly as you might expect. Under the Lacey Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the authority from Congress to prohibit the importation and some transport of certain types of wildlife through the federal regulatory process, and those species are called injurious. Once a species lands on that list, it may not be imported into the United States or transported between the continental United States, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any possession of the United States without a permit.

In 2015, the Fish and Wildlife Service used this authority against several giant constrictor species, but not the boa constrictor. Federal officials had originally proposed listing nine species as injurious, yet the final rule lists the reticulated python, DeSchauensee’s anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda as injurious under the Lacey Act, and removes the boa constrictor from consideration. The agency’s own reasoning was that the boa constrictor was the only one of the nine species initially proposed to list as injurious wildlife that was withdrawn from consideration, in part because the regulatory prohibitions of the Lacey Act are less effective when a species is widely held in captivity in high numbers and significant domestic breeding is already occurring.

Key Insight: Because the boa constrictor was never listed as federally injurious, there’s no nationwide Lacey Act ban on importing or transporting one across state lines. That decision was deliberately left to individual states, and any regulations pertaining to the transport or use of these species within a particular state continue to be the responsibility of that state. Hawaii chose to be far stricter than the federal baseline.

This matters for anyone comparing Hawaii’s rules to other invasive-species management strategies around the islands, from feral pigs to invasive deer in Hawaii. In each case, the state has decided that federal inaction doesn’t excuse it from acting on its own to protect native ecosystems.

Hawaii’s Laws on Owning a Boa Constrictor

Hawaii’s snake ban isn’t a policy statement or a recommendation, it’s written directly into statute and administrative rule. Hawaii Revised Statutes list any live snake, flying fox, fruit bat, Gila monster, injurious insect, or eels of the order Anguilliformes, or any other animal, plant, or microorganism in any stage of development that is detrimental or potentially harmful to agriculture, horticulture, animal or public health, or natural resources as prohibited, with only extremely narrow carve-outs for research snake-detector dogs and government zoo exhibits.

That statute is implemented through Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 4-71, where the Board of Agriculture maintains a List of Prohibited Animals, a List of Restricted Animals, and a List of Conditionally Approved Animals, and animals found on the List of Prohibited Animals are prohibited from entry into the state. Boa constrictors fall squarely under this prohibited category. As the Animal Legal & Historical Center’s summary of the rule puts it, the introduction into Hawaii of live animals or non-domestic animals is prohibited except for those on the approved lists or by permit, and no person shall introduce into Hawaii any animal from the list of prohibited animals.

Snakes aren’t the only exotic species swept up under this framework. Hawaii applies the same prohibited-and-restricted list structure to other non-native animals, including certain frog species in Hawaii that have caused their own ecological headaches after arriving through the pet and nursery trades. The state’s logic is consistent: if an animal has no natural predator on the islands and could establish a wild population, it’s treated as a biosecurity threat rather than a pet.

Activity	Legal Status in Hawaii
Private ownership of a boa constrictor	Prohibited statewide, no exceptions for prior ownership
Importing a boa constrictor into Hawaii	Prohibited without a state-issued permit
Interstate/intrastate transport within Hawaii	Prohibited under HRS 150A-6
Zoo or research exhibition	Allowed only with a government permit and strict conditions
Surrendering an illegally owned boa	Allowed under the state’s amnesty program

Some visitors assume the ban is loosely enforced because Hawaii is geographically isolated from the mainland pet trade. In reality, that isolation is exactly why officials are so strict, since snakes and large reptiles pose a serious threat to Hawaii’s unique ecosystem as they compete with native animal populations for food and habitat once introduced, and there’s no way to remove an established population afterward. This is the same reasoning applied to Hawaii’s rules around other non-native reptiles covered in our guide to venomous animals in Hawaii, even though boas themselves are non-venomous.

Permits and Requirements for Boa Constrictor Ownership in Hawaii

Hawaii’s permit system for non-domestic animals is real, but it was never designed for hobbyists. Under HAR 4-71-6.5, restricted list animals and unlisted animals require a permit for both import and possession, and where a permit allows transfer or sale, the proposed transferee must first obtain a permit for possession by application to the chief, site inspection approval, and satisfaction of any bond or other requirements. That process exists for institutions, not individual pet owners.

The clearest example is the government zoo exception. State rules allow a government agency to bring into and maintain in the state not more than two live, nonvenomous snakes of the male sex solely for the purpose of exhibition in a government zoo, and only after the sex of each animal has been independently verified. Some restricted and conditionally approved animals also require the applicant to post a bond with the department before an import permit is granted, per the requirement that certain animals require a bond with the department.

In practical terms, there is no permit category a private resident can apply for to legally keep a pet boa constrictor in Hawaii. This stands in contrast to other regulated wildlife activities in the state, such as recreational fishing, where residents can obtain a straightforward license and legally participate; you can see how that process works in our breakdown of fishing license requirements in Hawaii. Boa constrictor ownership simply isn’t in that same permittable category. If you’re weighing legal reptile alternatives, it’s worth researching which species appear on Hawaii’s Conditionally Approved list, such as certain lizard species already established in Hawaii, before assuming any exotic pet is an option.

Local Ordinances That May Apply in Hawaii

Because the boa constrictor ban is written into state statute and administrative rule, it applies uniformly on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii Island alike, there’s no county carve-out that makes ownership legal in one jurisdiction but not another. Enforcement runs primarily through the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s Plant Quarantine Branch, but county-level institutions are built into the compliance system. Illegal animals may be turned in to any HDOA office, the Honolulu Zoo, or any Humane Society, no questions asked and no fines assessed under the state’s amnesty program.

Where county rules can add an extra layer is at the level of housing and property management rather than criminal law. Homeowners’ association covenants, condo bylaws, and rental lease agreements frequently include their own pet restrictions that go beyond state law, similar in spirit to how some counties layer additional requirements on top of Hawaii’s baseline animal statutes, as seen in our overview of dog breed restrictions in Hawaii. Even if a boa constrictor were somehow legal at the state level, a lease or HOA agreement could still bar it independently.

Residents on any island who spot a snake, boa or otherwise, are directed to the same statewide resource: the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-7378. That single number covers reports from Hilo to Lihue, reinforcing that this is a state-managed biosecurity issue rather than a patchwork of county ordinances.

Penalties for Illegally Owning a Boa Constrictor in Hawaii

Hawaii’s penalty structure for illegal wildlife possession scales with intent. Under HRS 150A-14, a person who owns or intentionally transports, possesses, harbors, transfers, or causes the importation of any snake or other prohibited animal without a permit shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not less than $5,000, but not more than $20,000, while someone who intentionally transports, harbors, or imports with the intent to propagate, sell, or release any prohibited animal without a permit shall be guilty of a class C felony and subject to a fine of not less than $50,000, but not more than $200,000.

Violation	Charge Level	Fine Range	Possible Prison Time
Basic unpermitted possession	Misdemeanor	$5,000–$20,000	None specified at this tier
Possession with intent to propagate, sell, or release	Class C felony	$50,000–$200,000	Up to 3 years

News coverage of Hawaii’s snake seizures often cites the upper felony figure because it applies whenever someone is found with multiple animals or evidence of breeding intent. As local reporters have noted, the penalty for illegal possession is a felony with fines of up to $200,000 and up to 3 years imprisonment. That’s the number most people hear about, even though a first-time, single-snake case may be charged as the lower-tier misdemeanor instead.

Hawaii softens this enforcement approach with an amnesty program aimed at getting illegal animals off the street rather than maximizing prosecutions. If illegal animals are turned in prior to the start of an investigation, no criminal charges will be pursued and no fines will be assessed. Officials have repeatedly confirmed that individuals who have illegal animals are encouraged to turn them in under the state’s amnesty program, which provides immunity from prosecution.

Legal Disclaimer: This article summarizes publicly available Hawaii statutes and administrative rules for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. If you currently possess a boa constrictor or have questions about a specific situation, contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture or a licensed Hawaii attorney before taking action.

Whether you’re a longtime reptile keeper relocating to Oahu or simply curious after reading about the latest snake found on a cargo ship, the practical takeaway is the same: Hawaii’s ban on boa constrictor ownership is comprehensive, actively enforced, and backed by some of the steepest wildlife penalties in the country. The amnesty program offers a genuine off-ramp for anyone currently out of compliance, but going forward, a boa constrictor simply isn’t a legal pet option on any Hawaiian island.