Massachusetts — allowed pet mammals & prohibited wildlife (Mass.gov guide)

Massachusetts — allowed pet mammals & prohibited wildlife (Mass.gov guide)

Source: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs — "Wildlife as pets" guide (mass.gov), extracted 2026-07-23. First-hand state-agency text; C1 substring-verified against pdf-raw/exotic-legality/ma_wildlife_as_pets.txt.

Massachusetts uses a positive (allow) list for mammals kept as pets. Per the guide: "You can only have the following mammals (or groups) as a pet in Massachusetts" — the listed allowed mammals include Sugar glider, Four-toed (African pygmy) hedgehog, Chinchilla (derived from captive stock), Degu, Jerboas, Southern flying squirrel, and Hamster.

Conversely, "any crocodilian species in your possession in Massachusetts" is prohibited — "This includes Alligators, Caimans, Gavials."

This covers the state-level "what exotic animal can I keep as a pet in Massachusetts?" question via the official allowed-list. (Other classes — birds, lizards, etc. — have their own can/cannot lists in the same guide.)

Verbatim C1 claims (each a substring of the source file + this body):

1. "You can only have the following mammals (or groups) as a pet in Massachusetts"
2. "Sugar glider"
3. "Four-toed (African pygmy) hedgehog"
4. "Chinchilla, derived from captive stock"
5. "Degu"
6. "Jerboas"
7. "Southern flying squirrel"
8. "Hamster"
9. "any crocodilian species in your possession in Massachusetts"
10. "Alligators"