Looking for the Does page? Click here!
Looking for the Bridge page? Click here!
--
One of our little Bug fans. :) It's a great photography book. Visit jessicaflorence.com
--
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the 28th Rat. We are a relatively new rattery having opened in early 2008 after many years of experience with rats as pets. Firstly our specialization is developing lengthy, tight curls on Australia's rex variety of rat and secondly the downunder variety comes in to play; for this line we focus on getting the rats as spotty and unusual as possible. Our overall goal is to produce sound, well-adjusted animals without loosing the original spark of simply enjoying the company of these brilliant creatures.
The 28th Rat is registered with the AUSRFS NSW and is situated in Tamworth, NSW, Australia.
--
About
The 28th Rat is managed by Sonya (my mother) and Lakeisha (myself). I handle everything online as well as covering most of the expenses with mum dipping in here and there. We share the care of the ratties; I mostly do the cage cleans and free range while mum handles feeding time. We make the rattery decisions together including breeding plans, ratty residents, etc. Of course I shouldn't forget my father who assists with anything and everything that requires handiwork best suited for a man. He drives us everywhere, modifies cages and builds various things (what would we do without him?).
Lakeisha & Sharpie on the left, Sonya & Kuro on the right.
--
The Name
I often get the question, "Why The 28th Rat?" Our rattery name was inspired by an inside joke with a friend of mine.. for some reason the number '28' seems to pop up everywhere for me. Whether it be the page of a book, the time in the corner, the date or the number plate on the car ahead of us - 28 is always there. Now this does seem like a silly way of naming the rattery but I do find it unique. The main reasons of choice was that I recently had acquired my 28th rat, Angel, who became the founder of the rattery. The rattery was established in the year 2008 which also happened to be the year of the rat. How could I resist?
--
History
Our adventure in owning rats started several years ago. After moving to Tamworth when I was around 7, my brother purchased two females for himself; an agouti self called Lilly and cinnamon self called Molly. More than anything these two were ‘spur of the moment’ pets and were quickly disregarded by my brother. I was too young to appreciate the girls and mum was too caught up with the business of life in order to take a full liking to them. They were beautiful girls however and I remember them riding in our pockets and hoodies. I also remember the time Lilly found a discarded lollypop in the bin- rushing off with her prize in mouth. :) Unfortunately the two girls developed tumors and due to a lack of knowledge we had them put down.
A couple of years later when I was 9 or 10 I visited my friend, Elisha, as she was leaving to live in Queensland. She loved rats and had 3 of her own: Mickey, Ratty and another I don’t recall the name of. Needless to say I fell in love with the three and after a month or so of begging the parents I bought my first rat, Dexter. Dexter was a champagne hooded who had aggression issues and used to bite at every chance. I was too young and excited to have my very own rat however that I just wore a jumper every time I held him and covered myself up with my sleeves! Eventually he came around though and became the most lovable squish well into his old age. Our second rat was a dove hooded named Monty. He was just a baby at the pet store and we fell in love. This boy was the reason I began to love rats but unfortunately passed away at the tender age of 13 months to a respiratory illness.
Dexter and Monty
Our next two rats were Reggie and Ragon. These boys were actually mum’s idea so it was obvious we had become hooked. We also purchased Moochie, and agouti hooded, a few months later.
It didn’t take long for me to get online and find myself a rattery. I contacted Bianca of AristocRats Rattery in Armidale about a pair of boys. Luckily enough we were passing through on a holiday and we picked up our first rats from a breeder:
AristocRats Rattery Coco, the Agouti Downunder Hooded.
AristocRats Rattery Pop, the Black Downunder Hooded.
These boys are relatives of my downunder line today and I’m proud to be continuing the line. Not long after came Fez and Comett, followed by Aslan and Sprite, followed by BTR Snookims and BTR Dynamite, followed by... and the list goes on. :)
--
Our Set Up
Under Construction
--
Goals
It is unlikely that our 'goals' will ever be achieved. Breeding is always an ongoing process; there is always something more to work on. Temperament, health, conformation and variety all come into play when speaking of our goals. The first two listed are the most important things to think about. There is no use having the most beautiful specimen in the world if a friendly nature and good health are sacrificed. When choosing breeding animals we look for rats who are outgoing and unafraid, enjoying the company of their humans. Rats who are flighty or unwilling to be handled do not take part in our program. We have a special love for cuddly rats that spill into your lap with sleepy adoration; these are the best kind. Alongside personality, health is very important. We take caution with snuffly or sneezing rats; respiratory problems are not tolerated and are removed from our program. We watch out for tendencies toward tumors, cancer and take special note about the longevity of our rats.
Conformation is a thing that is commonly overlooked for the more 'interesting' varieties of rat. We love stocky rats - the bigger the better will always be our motto. Big, bright eyes and round, smooth ears are very desirable with a wide, flat head. Placement of such attributes are essential to that adorable expression rat lovers yearn for. Something else we are trying to work towards is introducing a large variety of colours into our lines. A lot of breeders have wonderfully marked rodents however they are at most black and agouti. Blues do not take part in our breeding program and our lines are blue-free to the best of our knowledge (unless stated otherwise).
We have two lines of rats: our main focus, the rex line, and our secondary project, the downunder line. For both lines we have different intentions as followed:
Rex
The coat is to be evenly dense and curly. The belly may be less curly, with the guard hairs greatly reduced or missing, and the coat has less of a shine than expected for a rat with a standard coat - but it should not look unusually dull. The texture of the coat is to be coarser than that of the standard coat type but it should not be brittle. The whiskers are to be tightly curled and somewhat shorter than standard rats.
- AusRFS (NSW)
For our rex line we are striving for thick, curly fur of which is long in length and evenly spread across the rat (with an exception to the belly). We want for these rats to be very large and lazy in personality but not overweight; just naturally stocky. We are focusing on agouti-based colours for this line (Agouti, Silverfawn, Fawn, Argente, Cinnamon) marked in self. Males are very favored in this line as they can best display the quality we desire. We wish to have a strong, cuddly, healthy line of self rexes in a variety of different colours one day - and this is our ultimate goal.
Downunder
We specialize in all of the Downunder varieties described by the AusRFS NSW: Downunder Berkshire, Downunder Hooded, Downunder Hooded/Spotted, Downunder Spotted and Downunder Variegated. Our love for this variety began with our first two Downunder boys: AR Coco and AR Pop. We wish for this line to be as spotty, disorientated and crazy as it can possibly get. We are not trying to stick to 'marking standards' of any kind but to display rats of the splattered and interesting kind in a variety of different colours. Though their markings may be this way it is not similar for conformation - this stays true to be an important guideline. The rats in this line should be more playful than that of the rex. To add to the Aussie pride of the marking all our Downunders are to be named accordingly. :)
