Arlington County, VA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 2-19(F) of Chapter 2 makes it unlawful to own, possess, use, transport, or bring into the County any constricting snake not housed in a sturdy, secure, escape-proof enclosure with an operable lock or secure latching device, and requires transport containers to be similarly escape-proof; any escape must be reported immediately to the Animal Control Agency. Paragraph 2 adds a heightened set of standards specifically for constricting snakes weighing over 25 pounds: each enclosure may hold only one snake, must be labeled with the snake's scientific and common name and the owner's identifying information, must include a written safety protocol and escape recovery plan kept on-site and with the snake during transport, and, under subparagraph (c), each such snake must carry a microchip meeting the current International Standards Organization (ISO) standards 11784/11785, registered to the owner.

The same paragraph sets minimum enclosure dimensions tied to the snake's length, a temperature-regulation and environmental-enrichment requirement, sanitation and veterinary-care obligations, and a rule that the primary enclosure cannot be located outside a permanent building structure on the property. This microchip mandate does not extend to smaller constricting snakes, non-constricting snakes, or other reptiles, and Chapter 2 has no general companion-animal microchipping requirement for dogs or cats; the only other microchip reference in the chapter is as one of two acceptable permanent-identification methods, alongside a tattoo, for a dog or wild/exotic animal that a court or the Animal Control Agency has already required to be identified.