This article is from the WSSF 2012 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Jennifer Casse, Facebook
QHow do I start a club in my area? There are no clubs (that I can find anyway) in my state (NC). Is it possible to start one?

AYes! There is a lot of interest and many rat (and mouse) breeders on the East Coast but no formal club back there for them. To get started in forming a club, you can read the Starting a club . . . topic in the Notes section on our Facebook page. We also have articles on starting a club, putting on a display, and the information on AFRMA Affiliations on our Show Information page to help you get something going.

You can start small by setting up a web site or group (Yahoo, Google, Facebook, etc.) to get others in the area gathered together and have small informal get-togethers at your house, local park, or community center. Once you get enough people willing to help out, then you can look into having a show for all your new friends and invite the public to come and learn about rats and/or mice. Shows can be held at your house, park, community center, fairgrounds, other group’s buildings (e.g. Lion’s Club, Elks Club, dog club, etc.), etc. Let us know if we can be of further help!

Van Chartier, LovinDaRats Rodentry, CA, e-mail
QI emailed earlier about showing Capped-Stripes only to discover that they are as of yet unstandardized. We want to get this marking standardized. We know that they need to be presented to the Board at a show and then enter an exhibition period, but how do we go about this?

Mara Hughes, age 14, e-mail
QWhat does the AFRMA rule Unstandardized animals are to be shown only once. mean?

ATo make new colors/varieties, go to the AFRMA Unstandardized page—this tells the details on entering and showing Unstandardized animals. Basically, to start, you need to present a minimum of three animals (either at a show or Board meeting), make up a written standard including point breakdown (the Rat Color Standards book and the Non-Recognized page has a simple standard for Capped-Stripe rats), at least one generation must have been bred to show the new color or Variety does in fact breed true/reproduce itself, along with information on the new variety. Upon acceptance, during the exhibition process at least 3 generations must have been bred and a minimum of 20 animals shown in at least 3 shows—this usually comes out to more by the time you and other breeders of the new variety finish the process.

To become a recognized color we must have at least 20 different animals shown (not the same animal being shown many times) so we know it is a color that can be perpetuated and is reproducible, that is why each animal can only be shown once in the Unstandardized class (can be shown more than once in the Unstandardized Breeder classes such as Unstd. Stud Buck, Unstd. Brood Doe, Unstd. Progeny).

Jen, e-mail
QHow do I get added to the breeder list?

AFirst, you will need to join the club if you haven’t already. We have an online combined membership/breeder’s list form you can use where payment is via PayPal.

Or, if you are already a member, then you just need to send in the Breeder’s List form and payment. We have an online form (with PayPal).

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