Blonde Roof Rat

Are Roof Rats Legal in Singapore? Keeping, Breeding & Selling

9 min read · Updated August 2026

Roof Rat Laws › Singapore

Summary. Singapore prohibits the roof rat as a pet, completely. It runs a closed ‘positive list’: only species the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS, a cluster under the National Parks Board) has approved may be kept. The approved small-mammal list includes the domestic mouse (Mus musculus) alongside rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and chinchillas, but NO species of the genus Rattus, so neither the roof rat (R. rattus) nor the ordinary fancy rat (R. norvegicus) may be kept. Because it is not a listed pet, R. rattus defaults to ‘wildlife’ under the Wildlife Act 1965, and s.5C(1) makes it a strict-liability offence to keep any wildlife without the Director-General’s written approval (no such approval is available to the public). Breeding is separately barred by the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act 1998 (CVPA), which defines any rodent ‘capable of carrying’ disease as a public-health vector and, under s.16, prohibits breeding vectors without permission; sale/transfer is blocked by the Wildlife Act (s.8) and the AVS pet-shop licensing rules (the hobbyist breeding exemption applies only to approved ‘relevant pet animals’). The ONLY lawful pathway for any Rattus is institutional: an accredited Animal Research Facility (ARF) may import and keep lab rats, never a private pet keeper. One statutory quirk: the Wildlife (Exemption) Order 2020 cull-list names R. norvegicus and R. tanezumi (and Mus musculus castaneus, Suncus murinus) as exempt from the s.5C culling ban, but R. rattus is omitted, so a strict reading paradoxically gives the wild roof rat unpermitted-culling protection denied its cousins, an anomaly that offers a pet keeper nothing. Not CITES-listed; the closed positive list, not CITES, is the operative bar.

Key points here are confirmed in writing by the responsible agency (see below). Last reviewed 2026-06-18.
legal note This is a research aid, not legal advice; rules change and are interpreted by local officials. Verify with the official source before acting.
Confirmed by the agencies.
  • Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks / Animal & Veterinary Service) confirmed in writing (June 2026) that the roof rat (Rattus rattus) is classified as a wildlife species under the Wildlife Act and is not approved to be kept or sold as a pet, and that the import of any wildlife species requires prior written approval from the Director-General, Wildlife Management.

Status by activity

Keeping / owning   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-18

R. rattus is not on the AVS approved-pet positive list (which permits mice, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chinchillas, no Rattus), so it defaults to ‘wildlife’ under the Wildlife Act 1965. Section 5C(1) provides that ‘a person must not intentionally kill, trap, take or keep any wildlife in any place unless the person has the Director-General’s written approval to do so’, a strict-liability offence (belief that the animal is a domesticated pet is no defence), carrying up to S$20,000 fine and/or 12 months’ imprisonment for a first offence. The Wildlife Act’s domestic-animal carve-outs (dogs, cats, livestock, poultry) do not include any rat, and no public permit/registration pathway exists to keep a roof rat. AVS guidance also treats rats as vermin that will not be allowed.

Sources: Singapore Statutes Online / Attorney-General’s Chambers; administered by NParks, Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks, Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by AVS (NParks)

Breeding   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-12

Breeding is interdicted by public-health law independent of the keeping ban. The Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act 1998 (CVPA) s.2 defines a ‘vector’ to include ‘any rodent, including its young, which is carrying or causing, or capable of carrying or causing, any disease to human beings’, the test is the species’ biological capacity, so a captive-bred, pathogen-free R. rattus is still a vector. CVPA s.16 (‘Prohibition on breeding, etc., of vectors without Director-General’s permission’) makes it a strict criminal offence to intentionally breed vectors; no private hobbyist permit is ever issued (penalties under s.23 run to large fines and imprisonment). The only entities permitted to breed Rattus are licensed Animal Research Facilities. Keeping the animal to breed it is independently barred under the Wildlife Act s.5C, so a hobbyist breeding programme is doubly unlawful.

Sources: Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by NEA, Singapore Statutes Online / Attorney-General’s Chambers; administered by NParks

Selling or giving away   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-18

Sale or transfer (including giving away free) is blocked on two layers. (1) Wildlife Act 1965 s.8 prohibits selling, offering for sale, or exporting any wildlife without the Director-General’s written approval; doing so in the course of an animal-related business is aggravated (s.5C(3)(b)(i): up to S$20,000 / 12 months even on a first offence). (2) The Animals and Birds (Licensing of Premises for Pet Shop and Other Purposes) Rules require an AVS pet-shop/breeding licence to distribute, breed, exhibit or sell pet animals (Rule 4), and AVS will not licence the sale of a non-positive-listed species. The Schedule 1 hobbyist ‘breed-and-give-away-for-adoption’ exemption applies only to a ‘relevant pet animal or bird’, which excludes all Rattus, so it is legally void for the roof rat. Therefore one cannot lawfully sell, trade, or give away a roof rat in Singapore.

Sources: Singapore Statutes Online / Attorney-General’s Chambers; administered by NParks, Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by AVS, Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks

Transport & import   Restricted

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-12

Import/export of animals requires an AVS import licence under the Animals and Birds Act 1965 s.7 (no person may import any animal without the Director-General’s licence). The framework bifurcates rodents into two mutually exclusive paths. PERSONAL PET import is allowed only for positive-listed small mammals, the AVS pet-import page lists rabbits, mice, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs and chinchillas, and the GoBusiness licensing system summarily rejects a personal pet application for any Rattus species; so personal import/transport of a roof rat is effectively PROHIBITED. The ONLY lawful pathway is institutional: an accredited Animal Research Facility (ARF) licensed under the Animals and Birds (Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes) Rules may import lab ‘rats’ from an AVS-approved overseas facility, with a commercial veterinary health certificate, pre-arrival border inspection (≥5 days’ notice) and quarantine (import licence ~S$174 express). That route is closed to private citizens. Not CITES-listed. Never release.

Sources: Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by AVS (NParks), Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks, Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks

Restrictions & responsibilities

The roof rat cannot lawfully be kept, bred, sold, given away, or imported as a pet in Singapore. No Rattus species is on the AVS approved-pet positive list (only the mouse, Mus musculus, among small rodents), so the roof rat is ‘wildlife’ under the Wildlife Act 1965, keeping it without the Director-General’s written approval is a strict-liability offence under s.5C (up to S$20,000 / 12 months), breeding it is barred as a public-health ‘vector’ under CVPA 1998 s.16, and selling/transferring it is barred under Wildlife Act s.8 and the AVS pet-shop licensing rules. The ban is genus-wide (the ordinary fancy rat R. norvegicus is barred too). There is no private permit, licence, or hobbyist exemption. Never release.
  • Do not keep, breed, sell, give away, or import a roof rat in Singapore, no private permit pathway exists (Wildlife Act s.5C; CVPA s.16; Animals and Birds Act / pet-shop rules)
  • Never release a roof rat (it is a documented public-health vector and pest)

Where: Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), National Parks Board

Source: Singapore Statutes Online / Attorney-General’s Chambers; administered by NParks, Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by NEA, Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by AVS (NParks), Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks

The only lawful route by which any Rattus may be imported, bred or kept in Singapore is institutional research. An accredited Animal Research Facility (ARF) licensed under the Animals and Birds (Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes) Rules, with an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), an attending veterinarian and AVS oversight, may import lab rats from an AVS-approved overseas facility under a commercial veterinary health certificate, with pre-arrival border inspection (≥5 days’ notice) and quarantine. This pathway is closed to private individuals and confers no private pet-keeping right.
  • (Institutions only) Hold a valid AVS Animal Research Facility (ARF) licence with an IACUC and attending veterinarian
  • Import lab rats only from an AVS-accredited overseas facility, with a commercial veterinary health certificate
  • Book border-control inspection at least 5 days before arrival; complete inspection and quarantine on arrival

Forms: AVS, Importing and exporting laboratory animals, GoBusiness, Licence for Animal Research Facility · Where: Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks (ARF licence + import licence via GoBusiness) · Fees: Import licence for non-food animals/biologics ~S$174 (express, issued one working day after submission)

Source: Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS), NParks, Singapore Statutes Online / AGC; administered by AVS

It appears you can’t currently keep roof rats as pets in Singapore. Please confirm with the official sources above before acting. If you’d like to see this change, you can contact your representatives and the responsible agencies, ask them to treat a domesticated Rattus rattus line fairly, and tell us what you learn so we can help others.

Official sources

Search terms: Rattus rattus, black rat, roof rat, ship rat.

About this page
Last reviewed 2026-06-18, which is when a person last read this page against its sources. Spotted an error, or know the law has changed? Email blonderoofrat@gmail.com.
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