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Starting A Pet Shop

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Starting a pet shop

You will need a licence from us before your pet shop is allowed to display, sell, distribute, or export pets. The types of animals you are allowed to sell will be printed on your pet shop licence.

Animals allowed for sale

The following animals are allowed for sale in pet shops: 

  • Dogs
  • Cats
  • Rabbits
  • Guinea pigs
  • Hamsters
  • Gerbils
  • Mice
  • Chinchillas

Under the Wildlife Act, a person must not offer for sale or sell any wildlife except with the Director-General, Wildlife Management’s written approval to do so. Subject to the conditions listed below, the following wildlife species are approved by the Director-General to be sold or offered for sale:

  1. Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans)
  2. All birds except house crow (Corvus splendens), white-vented or Javan myna (Acridotheres javanicus), common myna (Acridotheres tristis), feral pigeon (Columba livia), and birds which are prescribed as protected wildlife species
  3. All fish except piranhas and fish which are prescribed as protected wildlife species
  4. Land hermit crabs (Coenobita rugosus)
  5. Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)
  6. Green tree frogs (Litoria caerulea)
  7. American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus)
  8. Crab-eating frogs (Fejervarya cancrivora)
  9. Malayan box turtles (Cuora amboiensis)
  10. Tubifex worms (Tubifex tubifex)
  11. Blood worms (Chironomidae and Glycera spp.)
  12. Daphnia (Daphnia spp. and Monia spp.)
  13. Sea monkeys (Artermia spp.)
  14. House crickets (Acheta domesticus)
  15. Mediterranean two-spot crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus)
  16. Mealworms and superworms (Tenebrio molitor and Zohobas moria)
  17. Black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens)
  18. Earthworms
  19. Sarong worms (Diopatra neapolitana)
  20. Microworms (Panagrellus spp.)
  21. Camponotus irritans
  22. Meranoplus bicolor
  23. Odontoponera denticulata
  24. Odontomachus simillimus
  25. Tetraponera rufonigra
Conditions for items 1-9:
  • These species can only be sold by a pet shop or farm (as defined under the Animals and Birds (Pet Shop and Exhibition) Rules and Animals and Birds (Licensing of Farms) Rules respectively), or a licenced importer under the Animals and Birds Act.
  • The pet shop, farm, or importer must hold a valid pet shop, farm or import licence (as the case may be) under the Animals and Birds Act and comply with all conditions of the respective licence.
  • The pet shop, farm, or importer must have a CITES permit or Certificate of Origin in respect of the wildlife which is listed in the CITES Appendices.
*This is only applicable to items 1-9 of the wildlife species list.
  

Selling and displaying Dragon Fish (Asian arowana or Scleropages formosus)

Aquarium shops and fish farms in Singapore must have a pet shop licence or fish farm licence from us in order to sell Dragon Fish. To display and sell Dragon Fish, you must fulfil Condition 10 of the Pet Shop Licensing Conditions (5) for Display and Sale of Fancy Fish.You are only allowed to sell Dragon Fish that are:

  • Bred in captivity
  • Second generation and beyond