This article is from the Nov/Dec. 1993 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Karen Robbins

Written by Nick Mays
Published by T.F.H. Publications, Inc.
Copyright 1993
ISBN 0-86622-340-1

The latest rat book to come out in recent months. This book (256 pages!) devoted exclusively to the rat has lots of history on rats and the rat fancy.

Nick also goes into detail on exhibiting rats (the British way) and the different colors and varieties and their history in Britain. A couple of comments of his I liked (on judging rats):

“To load a show with substandard rats will only waste the judge’s time...I would much rather judge a show consisting of forty-odd rats of good quality than eighty-plus, half of which are mediocre or poor quality.”

(on showing) “In any good fancy, peopled by good honest fanciers, it is not all a terribly deadly serious, cut-throat, win-at-all-costs affair. Nor is it all ‘just a giggle.’ It is both serious and fun, in the sense of careful, considered preparation and professional showing of good quality stock, in an atmosphere of convivial good sportsmanship.”

This book is a must for anyone who enjoys the history of the fancy rat or rats in general.

There are sections on hand rearing orphaned baby rats and bathing your rat.

There were a couple of comments made that AFRMA must disagree with. Since the formation of AFRMA in 1983, we have always used “standardized” show boxes; “plucking of a few maverick hairs” is highly frowned upon in AFRMA.

This book has many new photos not seen in other books (a couple were erroneously labeled) and shows some very nice specimens of rat colors/markings. However, if the best Rex they have is portrayed in the photos, then they need to see our Rexes!

This book is definitely worth adding to your library!