Noblesville, IN Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 90.10 of the Noblesville Code of Ordinances keeps the city out of the exotic-pet permitting business directly: it does not issue its own exotic-animal license, but instead conditions any wild or exotic animal's presence in the city on the owner already holding whatever state and/or federal permit that animal requires. Owners who cannot produce the necessary state or federal permit for a wild or exotic species are in violation the moment the animal is kept within city limits, and § 90.10(B) points enforcement and the public to Indiana Administrative Code Title 312, the Natural Resources Commission's Fish and Wildlife article, for the substantive permitting standards that actually govern which species need what paperwork.

The chapter's own definitions section narrows what counts as "wild or exotic" by first defining "DOMESTIC ANIMAL" to include dog, cat, horse, donkey, pig, sheep, rabbit, mouse, rat, reptiles such as snakes, lizards and turtles, guinea pig, chinchilla, hamster, gerbil, goat, ferret, bird, and sugar glider; keeping one of those listed species is not treated as keeping a wild or exotic animal under § 90.10, regardless of how unusual the pet might otherwise seem. Enforcement runs through the Noblesville Police Department's animal control officers, who may impound an animal found in violation.

A violation of § 90.10 is charged as a Class C Infraction under § 90.99(A)(3), the lightest tier the animal chapter uses, carrying a fine of not less than fifteen dollars ($15) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), reflecting that the underlying wrongdoing is a paperwork failure rather than a public-safety event.