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Explore the world of reptiles — cold-blooded, scaly vertebrates including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and the tuatara, found across deserts, rainforests, and oceans worldwide.
703 stories
Step into any Houston backyard on a warm afternoon and you’re almost guaranteed to spot a lizard darting across a fence rail or freezing mid-stride on a tree trunk.
Idaho already has a boa constrictor living within its borders, and it isn’t the snake most people picture when they ask about keeping one as a pet.
Step onto almost any dock, seawall, or garden path in the Florida Keys and a lizard is probably watching from a few feet away.
A boa constrictor curled up in a Mississippi living room raises fewer legal red flags than a pet raccoon or a backyard fox would.
Oklahoma’s grasslands, rocky canyons, and hardwood forests support a surprisingly varied collection of reptiles, and the types of lizards in Oklahoma range from a spiny, ant-eating specialist to a slender, color-changing tree dweller.
If you’re wondering whether you can own a boa constrictor in Georgia, the short answer surprises a lot of first-time reptile owners: yes, in most cases you can, and you won’t need the same state wild animal license that covers Burmese pythons or Argentine tegus.
If you’re eyeing a boa constrictor as your next pet, New Jersey’s rules are more forgiving than you might expect, but not as simple as a flat yes.
If you’re picturing a Massachusetts snake owner sneaking a boa constrictor past the law, you can put that worry aside.
If you picture a boa constrictor curled up in a New Mexico terrarium, you might assume it’s illegal before you even ask.
If you’re picturing a boa curled up in a terrarium in your Oklahoma living room, state law doesn’t stand in your way outright, but it does put up some paperwork.
If you are asking whether you can own a boa constrictor in Alaska, the answer starts with an unexpected fact: the federal government came close to banning the species nationwide but ultimately backed off.
California is home to more lizards than almost any other state, and spotting one on a garden fence or hiking trail is practically a rite of passage for anyone who spends time outdoors here.
Boa constrictors sit in an unusual legal gray zone: federal wildlife officials proposed banning them alongside Burmese pythons and giant anacondas, then backed off.
North Carolina is one of the few states where you can legally keep a boa constrictor without a statewide permit, but that fact surprises a lot of people.
Boa constrictors rank among the most commonly kept large snakes in the American pet trade, and Alabama is one of the more permissive states when it comes to reptile ownership.
Louisiana residents can legally own a boa constrictor, but “legal” comes with a catch most first-time buyers miss: you need a permit from the state before you ever bring one home.
Vermont doesn’t put boa constrictors on a banned-species list, which surprises plenty of first-time reptile keepers who assume any snake capable of reaching six feet or more must be off-limits somewhere in New England.
Spotting a lizard darting across a sunny rock in the Ozarks or scurrying along a porch railing in Little Rock is a common experience for Arkansas residents, yet most people can only name one or two species.
Nevada looks like empty desert to most visitors, but the ground beneath those creosote bushes and lava rocks is busy with reptile activity.
If you’re wondering whether you can own a boa constrictor in Tennessee, the short answer is yes — but the full picture involves three separate layers of law that most first-time reptile owners never think to check.
