Troy, NY Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Chapter 124 (Animals) of the Code of the City of Troy, enacted by the Troy City Council for the city in Rensselaer County, New York, opens with Article I, Farm Animals and Snakes. Section 124-2 is the snake rule, added on 2-3-1992. It names snakes only; this page does not rely on it for any other animal.

The rule starts from a status. Anyone owning, possessing or harboring a snake, whether poisonous or nonpoisonous, who fails to exercise due care in safeguarding the public from bodily harm from the snake has created a public nuisance and a threat to public safety. The code then fixes what due care means in public: a person is considered not exercising due care unless the snake appearing in public is properly caged to avoid bodily harm. The caging sentence is written around a snake appearing in public, and the cage is the standard.

Species does not change the test. A harmless nonpoisonous snake and a poisonous one fall under the same words, and an owner, a person who merely possesses the snake and a person who harbors it are all covered. Section 124-2 prints no permit, license or registration requirement for owning a snake; the duty it creates is due care and caging.

Any person failing to properly cage a snake is in violation of the section and subject to the penalties outlined in § 124-18, which the section cites by number. That is the same penalty section that applies across the City's Dog Control Ordinance, but § 124-2 reaches it by its own cross-reference.