Are Roof Rats Legal in New Mexico? Keeping, Breeding & Selling

Keeping / owning   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-14

The roof rat is a non-domesticated species not on the Director’s Species Importation List, so under 19.35.7.10(A)(5) it ‘will be designated group IV until such time as another determination is made by the director,’ and Group IV species are ‘prohibited for the general public.’ The current list (Jan 3, 2023) names ‘Rattus norvegicus / Rat, Common’ and ‘Mus musculus / Mouse, Common’ in Group I (no permit) but contains no Rattus rattus entry, confirmed by direct extraction of the official PDF. The Group IV exceptions are for scientific study, department-approved restoration/recovery, zoological display, temporary events/entertainment, service animal, or qualified expert; personal pet ownership is not among them, and the Department does not issue a Group IV pet-keeping permit. The ‘domesticated animals’ exemption in NMSA 17-3-32 does not reach R. rattus, because the Department has not designated it domesticated/semi-domesticated; the burden is on the importer to prove an animal is domesticated. The only lawful route to possession is first to obtain a Director’s determination (19.35.7.7) adding captive-bred R. rattus to Group I (or to a permitted group). General animal-cruelty law applies. Never release (19.35.7.19).

Sources: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, Cornell Legal Information Institute, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish, LE Field Operations Division / Special Use Permits Program, New Mexico Legislature (via Justia)

Breeding   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-14

Breeding presupposes lawful possession, and the general public cannot lawfully possess a Group IV species. Because R. rattus is unlisted and defaults to Group IV (19.35.7.10(A)(5)), a private or commercial breeding program for the pet trade is prohibited. New Mexico offers no small-breeder, hobbyist, or residential exemption for Group IV wildlife, and its dedicated propagation framework is for game birds, not non-domesticated rodents. If an accredited zoo or research institution qualified for a Group IV permit, breeding might be allowed under the facility’s approved containment and veterinary plans (19.35.7.12 requires a containment/confinement plan and an accredited-veterinarian health certificate), but that institutional route is not a pet-breeder pathway. Federal USDA/AWA licensing can reach a large-scale dealer who ships wholesale/sight-unseen, but cannot make a state-prohibited species lawful to breed in New Mexico.

Sources: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish, LE Field Operations Division / Special Use Permits Program, USDA APHIS

Selling or giving away   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-14

Transferring ownership of a Group IV species is among the most restricted activities. 19.31.10.10(C) makes it ‘unlawful to purchase, possess, barter, transfer, transport, sell, or offer to sell any live animal listed as group II, III or IV on the directors species importation list or any protected species without a department issued permit or license.’ Because R. rattus defaults to Group IV, both sale and free gifting are prohibited for the general public: even a free transfer is barred, because the recipient cannot lawfully possess a Group IV animal. No commercial pet store, wholesaler, or dealer can lawfully traffic in roof rats in New Mexico. (By contrast, for Group I species like the fancy rat, a pet store can hold a single annual commercial-importation permit covering multiple animals and the retail buyer needs no permit, the streamlined channel that is closed to R. rattus until it is moved to Group I.)

Sources: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish, LE Field Operations Division / Special Use Permits Program

Transport & import   Prohibited

Confidence: High · Last verified 2026-06-14

Importing or transporting a roof rat into or within New Mexico is prohibited while the species defaults to Group IV. NMSA 1978 Section 17-3-32 makes it a misdemeanor to import any live animal without a Game & Fish permit (only ‘domesticated animals’ are exempt, which R. rattus is not), and 19.35.7.8 provides it is ‘unlawful to import any live non-domesticated animal into New Mexico without first obtaining appropriate permit(s) issued by the director except those animals identified within the species importation list group I.’ R. rattus is not Group I, so bringing one across the state line, even as a personal pet in a private vehicle, is unlawful; that Group IV import permit is not available to the general public. Internal transport is separately barred by 19.31.10.10(C) (unlawful to ‘transport’ a Group IV animal without a permit). The Livestock Board’s CVI/import rules do not apply, because rodents are not ‘livestock’ (a standard CVI is legally insufficient here). Common carriers acting in their regular duties are exempt from the ‘importer’ definition (19.35.7.7), but that shields only the carrier; the sender and the receiver remain liable. Never release an imported animal without a release permit (19.35.7.19).

Sources: New Mexico Legislature (via Justia), New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, USDA APHIS / CDC

• Understand that no public pet-keeping or transfer permit exists for a Group IV species in New Mexico.
• Do not acquire or import a roof rat into New Mexico until the species is reclassified by the Director; doing so is unlawful and the animal can be confiscated.
• Check local county/city ordinances as well; municipalities may further restrict rodent keeping even if the species is later reclassified.

Where: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish – Special Use Permits Program

Source: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives

• Request the current Director’s Species Importation List and a written statement of R. rattus’s current group from the Special Use Permits Program (DGF.Permits@dgf.nm.gov).
• Petition the Director, in writing, to make a determination adding captive-bred domesticated Rattus rattus to Group I, citing the Group I precedent for the fancy rat and house mouse and the 19.35.7.7 semi-domesticated definition.
• If Group I is declined, ask in the alternative for placement in Group II or III so a permitted pathway exists.
• If informal email fails, an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request can obtain internal NMDGF memos on the regulation of pet rodents.

Where: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish – Special Use Permits Program, 1 Wildlife Way, Santa Fe, NM 87507 · Fees: No fee to petition for a determination. (For the separate Group IV institutional importation permits that are NOT available to pet keepers, the fee tier under 19.30.9 NMAC is $15 for 1-5 animals, $75 for 6-99, $300 for 100+, plus an optional $25 expedite fee.)

Source: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish, LE Field Operations Division / Special Use Permits Program, New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives

Source: New Mexico Dept of Game & Fish / State Records Center and Archives

New Mexico sorts every non-domesticated animal into four groups on the Department of Game & Fish ‘Director’s Species Importation List,’ under NMSA 1978 Section 17-3-32 and 19.35.7 NMAC. Group I species are ‘designated semi-domesticated animals and do not require an importation permit.’ Group IV species are ‘dangerous, invasive, undesirable’ and ‘prohibited for the general public.’ The current list (dated January 3, 2023) names ‘Rattus norvegicus / Rat, Common,’ the domestic fancy rat sold in pet shops, and ‘Mus musculus / Mouse, Common’ in Group I, with no permit needed. It contains no entry for ‘Rattus rattus,’ the domestic roof rat. Because the roof rat is on no group, the rule’s default clause (19.35.7.10(A)(5)) controls: ‘any species of live non-domesticated animal not currently on the species importation list will be designated group IV until such time as another determination is made by the director.’ So a captive-bred, hand-tame pet roof rat defaults to Group IV (prohibited), and the Group IV exceptions are for science, zoos, recovery programs, temporary events, service animals, or qualified experts, not personal pets, while the fancy rat one species over is freely legal with no permit at all. This is not a behavioral or safety judgment about the roof rat; it is a gap in a list. The fancy rat already on the list is itself the wild brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), domesticated in the 19th century, and a captive-bred roof rat is the same case one species over.

The ask: Ask the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, in writing, to make a Director’s determination adding captive-bred, domesticated Rattus rattus to the Director’s Species Importation List as a Group I semi-domesticated animal (no permit), the same treatment already given to the fancy rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the house mouse (Mus musculus). As a first step, request the current Director’s Species Importation List and a written statement of what group Rattus rattus is in today, and whether captive-bred animals are treated differently from wild ones. This is a species-listing gap, not a domestication question: captive-bred roof rats are tame, raised entirely indoors, and never released, so they meet the rule’s own definition of a species the Director may designate semi-domesticated, one ‘commonly tamed, raised, bred or sold in captivity’ (19.35.7.7). Domestication, not wild ancestry, is what the rule rewards: the dog descends from the wolf and the cat from a wild felid, yet both are domestic, and the Department already extended Group I to the fancy rat and the house mouse despite their wild origins. The fancy rat is itself the wild brown rat, domesticated only in the 19th century (see https://blonderoofrat.com/how-the-sewer-rat-became-the-fancy-rat/), so a captive-bred roof rat qualifies on the same basis, one species over. Whether a captive-bred Rattus rattus is domesticated in the same sense as the fancy rat already on the list is a question for the Department to decide; the petitioner is not asking it to assume any particular answer.

Where the lever really is: This is an AGENCY problem, a species-listing gap, not a law-as-written problem, so the lever is the Department of Game & Fish, and the agency can fix it without legislation. The roof rat is named on no statutory prohibited list. Its prohibition is a regulatory default: 19.35.7.10(A)(5) provides that any species not on the Director’s Species Importation List ‘will be designated group IV until such time as another determination is made by the director.’ Two facts make this an agency lever: (1) the same rule gives the Director discretionary power to designate a species semi-domesticated (Group I) ‘in those instances where individual members of such species are commonly tamed, raised, bred or sold in captivity’ (19.35.7.7), which captive-bred roof rats are, and which the Department already applied to the fancy rat and the house mouse; (2) because the Director assigns the list groups, the Director can move R. rattus off the Group IV default by a written determination, with no statutory change, which is exactly the ‘another determination is made by the director’ the rule contemplates. The statute (NMSA 17-3-32) only creates the import-permit requirement and exempts ‘domesticated animals’; it does not itself list R. rattus as prohibited, which confirms the gap lives in the agency’s list, where the agency holds the cure. The petitioner should be candid that the outcome is not assured: New Mexico is a high-plague state (Yersinia pestis is endemic in wild rodents) and state pest materials treat the roof rat as an invasive disease vector, so the Director could decline a Group I placement or instead place it in a permitted group (Group II or III). A realistic ask therefore offers the Department two acceptable outcomes: best case, add captive-bred R. rattus to Group I beside the fancy rat; failing that, place it in Group II or III so that at least a permitted pathway exists rather than a flat Group IV prohibition. The Legislature is a backstop only if the Department refuses both; the primary channel is a written petition or inquiry to NMDGF requesting a Director’s determination and the current list.

Where to send it (more than one channel helps):

• New Mexico Department of Game & Fish (Department of Wildlife) – Special Use Permits Program / Species Importation (executive / agency), DGF.Permits@dgf.nm.gov
  Primary and decisive lever. The Special Use Permits Program (LE Field Operations Division) maintains the Director’s Species Importation List and processes importation and special-use permits, and the Director has explicit regulatory authority (19.35.7.7) to designate a species semi-domesticated (Group I) by written determination, exactly the change needed for captive-bred R. rattus. Use the Special Use Permits inbox (DGF.Permits@dgf.nm.gov, shown on the Department’s permits materials) to request the current list, ask what group R. rattus is in, and petition to add it to Group I. The general licensing/customer inbox ispa@dgf.nm.gov and the contact page are alternates.
• Director’s Species Importation List (official current PDF) (executive / agency), official contact page
  Verified official download of the current list (dated January 3, 2023). Read it first to confirm R. rattus is absent (and thus defaulting to Group IV) and to cite the exact Group I entries for the fancy rat (‘Rattus norvegicus / Rat, Common’) and the house mouse (‘Mus musculus / Mouse, Common’) as your precedent when you write to the Department.
• New Mexico Legislature – Find My Legislator (legislature), official contact page
  Secondary backstop ONLY. The agency can and should fix this itself, so go here only if the Department declines to make a Director’s determination; your legislator can prompt the agency or, if ever needed, pursue a statutory clarification. Official tool to find and contact your own state representative and senator.

A starting-point message, please put it in your own words; a short personal note carries far more weight than an identical form letter:

To the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, Special Use Permits Program (Director's Species Importation List):

I am writing about a gap in the Director's Species Importation List under 19.35.7 NMAC. The domesticated pet roof rat (Rattus rattus) does not appear on the list, so under 19.35.7.10(A)(5) it defaults to Group IV (prohibited for the general public), even though the closely related fancy rat (Rattus norvegicus / 'Rat, Common') and the house mouse (Mus musculus / 'Mouse, Common') are both Group I semi-domesticated and need no permit.

The captive-bred roof rats kept by hobbyists are tame, raised entirely indoors, and never released to the wild. They meet the rule's own definition of a species the Director may designate semi-domesticated, one 'commonly tamed, raised, bred or sold in captivity' (19.35.7.7). This is a listing gap, not a question of domestication. Domestication, not wild ancestry, is what the rule rewards: the dog descends from the wolf and the cat from a wild felid, yet both are domestic, and the Department already placed the fancy rat and the house mouse in Group I despite their wild origins. The fancy rat is itself the wild brown rat, domesticated only in the 19th century, so a captive-bred roof rat qualifies on the same basis.

I respectfully request: (1) a copy of the current Director's Species Importation List and a written statement of what group Rattus rattus is in today, and whether captive-bred animals are treated differently from wild ones; and (2) that the Director make a determination adding captive-bred, domesticated Rattus rattus to Group I, on the same basis as the fancy rat. If the Department concludes some oversight is warranted, I would ask in the alternative that it place captive-bred Rattus rattus in Group II or III, so that at least a permitted pathway exists rather than a flat Group IV prohibition.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Your name]
[Your city, New Mexico]
[Your email]

Al Departamento de Caza y Pesca de Nuevo Mexico, Programa de Permisos de Uso Especial (Lista de Importacion de Especies del Director):

Les escribo respecto a un vacio en la Lista de Importacion de Especies del Director, conforme a 19.35.7 NMAC. La rata de techo domesticada (Rattus rattus) no aparece en la lista, por lo que, segun 19.35.7.10(A)(5), queda por defecto en el Grupo IV (prohibida para el publico en general), aunque la rata fancy estrechamente emparentada (Rattus norvegicus / 'Rat, Common') y el raton domestico (Mus musculus / 'Mouse, Common') son ambos del Grupo I semidomesticados y no requieren permiso.

Las ratas de techo criadas en cautiverio que mantienen los aficionados son mansas, se crian totalmente en interiores y nunca se liberan a la naturaleza. Cumplen con la propia definicion de la norma de una especie que el director puede designar semidomesticada: aquella 'comunmente amansada, criada, reproducida o vendida en cautiverio' (19.35.7.7). Se trata de un vacio en la lista, no de una cuestion de domesticacion. Lo que la norma premia es la domesticacion, no la ascendencia silvestre: el perro desciende del lobo y el gato de un felido silvestre, y aun asi ambos son domesticos, y el Departamento ya coloco a la rata fancy y al raton domestico en el Grupo I pese a su origen silvestre. La rata fancy es la propia rata parda silvestre, domesticada apenas en el siglo XIX, de modo que una rata de techo criada en cautiverio califica sobre la misma base.

Solicito respetuosamente: (1) una copia de la Lista de Importacion de Especies del Director vigente y una declaracion por escrito sobre en que grupo se encuentra hoy Rattus rattus y si los animales criados en cautiverio reciben un trato distinto al de los silvestres; y (2) que el Director emita una determinacion para anadir a Rattus rattus domesticada y criada en cautiverio al Grupo I, sobre la misma base que la rata fancy. Si el Departamento concluye que se justifica alguna supervision, solicitaria en su lugar que coloque a la Rattus rattus criada en cautiverio en el Grupo II o III, de modo que al menos exista una via con permiso en lugar de una prohibicion absoluta del Grupo IV.

Gracias por su atencion.

[Su nombre]
[Su ciudad, Nuevo Mexico]
[Su correo electronico]

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