The skulls are legal, yes. They're feral hogs, which aren't protected at all. Our suitcases got inspected twice on the way back! First by US agriculture, checking for plant materials (the vast majority are illegal to move between Hawaii and the mainland), and once by the airline checking for bombs, and neither of them did anything about the skulls. We didn't hide them or anything, just put them in paper bags and stuck 'em in. Meat might be harder to import, but the only concern with skulls is if it's something endangered.
It would definitely have been illegal to bring these guys in, just like that. I might have been able to get a permit with some calling around, though, since these aren't a crop or human danger. But it's not illegal to accidentally bring something over, nor is it illegal to own, say, an accidentally imported spider.
I definitely should have checked better to see what was in the skulls (Hawaii has centipedes! yikes), but I was overheated at the time and not really thinking anything other than "sweet, skulls". The real worry with things from Hawaii is accidentally bringing a true farm pest over that doesn't live in the continental US yet, which you find in plants, farms, and related areas, and this was an area without any farming. Well- farm pests and rat lungworm, but the lungworm is on snails, not hogs.
They seem to be doing fairly well so far. A smoky brown roach got in there somehow, and I'm leaving it in there as kind of a canary/comparison. It's not bothering them or anything, I find them in the same hiding spots when I check.
Also, I don't know if it's the Madeiras or the smoky brown, but something has been dragging the food bits under a leaf to eat.
I see them out at night sometimes. I don't think I have to worry about them escaping- they don't seem to like the petroleum jelly. They'll go up to it and inspect it, but most of the time don't even touch it with a foot. Maybe they don't like the smell very much. One is out now, I can see by my reading light, and it's just kind of wandering across the glass.
It would definitely have been illegal to bring these guys in, just like that. I might have been able to get a permit with some calling around, though, since these aren't a crop or human danger. But it's not illegal to accidentally bring something over, nor is it illegal to own, say, an accidentally imported spider.
I definitely should have checked better to see what was in the skulls (Hawaii has centipedes! yikes), but I was overheated at the time and not really thinking anything other than "sweet, skulls". The real worry with things from Hawaii is accidentally bringing a true farm pest over that doesn't live in the continental US yet, which you find in plants, farms, and related areas, and this was an area without any farming. Well- farm pests and rat lungworm, but the lungworm is on snails, not hogs.
They seem to be doing fairly well so far. A smoky brown roach got in there somehow, and I'm leaving it in there as kind of a canary/comparison. It's not bothering them or anything, I find them in the same hiding spots when I check.
Also, I don't know if it's the Madeiras or the smoky brown, but something has been dragging the food bits under a leaf to eat.
I see them out at night sometimes. I don't think I have to worry about them escaping- they don't seem to like the petroleum jelly. They'll go up to it and inspect it, but most of the time don't even touch it with a foot. Maybe they don't like the smell very much. One is out now, I can see by my reading light, and it's just kind of wandering across the glass.
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Glad the little colony appears to be doing well still, fingers crossed they continue to grow and then breed for you! 
Thankfully it turns out there are one or two cultures of this species still in the US, so they're not extinct yet and will likely become more commonly available in the near future, (whether the interest in buying them will be there or not, time will tell). 
