Are Roof Rats Legal in American Samoa? Keeping, Breeding & Selling

Keeping / owning   Unregulated / unclear

Confidence: Medium · Last verified 2026-06-12

No wildlife-possession permit or ‘banned-to-keep’ species statute exists for pet rats, so in-territory keeping is not separately licensed, BUT it is legally perilous, not safely permissive. ASAC 25.2101 (Rodent Control) imposes an affirmative duty on ‘every owner, lessee, or occupant of an occupied building’ to eradicate rodents ‘by poisoning, trapping, fumigation or other appropriate means’ and to keep premises ‘free from foodstuffs… and other material which may serve as food or harborage for rodents,’ with NO carve-out for a caged, domesticated rat, so a clean pet enclosure is textually indistinguishable from an illegal rodent harborage. ASAC 24.1104 separately classifies ‘rats and mice’ as pest species takeable at any time without a permit. Maintaining a public-health nuisance after a 10-day notice to abate is a class C misdemeanor (ASAC 25.0107). Whether Health actually treats a secure indoor pet as a ‘harborage’ is the open enforcement question.

Sources: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR)

Breeding   Unregulated / unclear

Confidence: Low · Last verified 2026-06-12

The ASAC contains no statute regulating or licensing the private propagation of small mammals, and no hobbyist-breeder carve-out for non-traditional pets, so breeding is technically unregulated. But it is the most legally hostile of the in-territory activities: intentionally increasing the population of a species the government is actively trying to suppress (ASAC 24.1104 lists rats/mice as pests takeable at will; federal eradication programs are underway) cuts directly against public policy, and breeding still requires keeping, which carries the ASAC 25.2101 harborage problem. A breeding operation would also be exposed to the broad public-health nuisance definition in ASAC 13.0203(31). With no legal way to import founder stock, establishing breeding stock is in any case a practical impossibility.

Sources: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR)

Selling or giving away   Unregulated / unclear

Confidence: Low · Last verified 2026-06-12

There is no pet-dealer or rodent-specific licensing statute, and the quarantine chapter is silent on the local sale/gifting of an animal already lawfully present, so intra-territory transfer is unaddressed by specific point-of-sale law. Practically, however, selling/gifting a rat transfers the ASAC 25.2101 nuisance/eradication liability to the buyer, and any commercial enterprise would need a general business license from the Department of Commerce (DOC), whose issuance requires compliance with health/environmental rules and would trigger Department of Health / Environmental Quality Commission review, almost certainly denied given the territory’s active rat-eradication posture. Because lawful import of founder stock is closed, a commercial breeding/sale operation is practically impossible to establish.

Sources: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Department of Commerce (ASDOC)

Transport & import   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-12

Importing a roof rat into American Samoa is functionally prohibited. ASAC 24.0318 expressly prohibits the importation of ‘miscellaneous pets’, a banned catch-all for non-traditional domestic animals into which pet rodents fall. The ‘domestic animals’ eligible for routine import are an exhaustive closed list (ASAC 24.0320: ruminants, horses/mules/asses, swine, domestic poultry) that does NOT include any rat. A non-domestic animal may be imported only with ‘the prior written permission of the Governor’ (ASAC 24.0315), a waiver realistically reserved for scientific/laboratory imports, not pets. American Samoa has no quarantine facility (unlike Hawaii), so a non-compliant or unauthorized animal is immediately returned to origin at the owner’s expense or destroyed. The species is treated firmly as an invasive pest at the border, not as a permissible companion animal. (American Samoa is outside the U.S. customs territory; a shipment routed through a U.S. designated port would also implicate federal USFWS rules, but the territorial import bar is dispositive.) Never release a roof rat.

Sources: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), FAO Legal Office archive (FAOLEX), PetTravel.com (secondary, summarizing DOA quarantine policy)

• Treat import as effectively closed: a pet roof rat is a prohibited ‘miscellaneous pet’ and is not on the domestic-animal import list
• The only theoretical route is the Governor’s prior written permission (ASAC 24.0315), confirm in writing with the Dept of Agriculture Quarantine office before any shipment; expect denial for a pet rodent
• If denied or non-compliant: there is no on-island quarantine, so the animal is returned at your expense or destroyed, do not attempt entry on spec
• Never release a roof rat (documented invasive; active eradication programs)

Where: American Samoa Dept of Agriculture, Plant & Animal Quarantine (PAQ) Division (and, for any waiver, the Governor’s Office) · Fees: ASAC 24.0306 domestic-animal import permit nominal fee (N/A in practice, a pet rat is not an importable ‘domestic animal’)

Source: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), FAO Legal Office archive (FAOLEX), PetTravel.com (secondary, summarizing DOA quarantine policy)

• Understand that no possession permit exists, but the rodent-eradication duty (ASAC 25.2101) can be read to reach a caged pet rat
• Keep any rat strictly contained, clean, and odor-free to minimize nuisance-complaint exposure
• Confirm with the Dept of Health whether a secure indoor pet enclosure is treated as a regulated ‘harborage’ before relying on the gap

Where: American Samoa Dept of Health, Environmental Health Services

Source: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR), American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR)

Where: Village council (fono) / matai with authority over the communal land

Source: American Samoa Administrative Code (via ASBAR)