HOW TO SHOW

Well, you've got a rat that you think is show-worthy, and there's a rat show in your area! How do you go about showing them? Each hosting club, overclub or affiliation will have slightly different rules as it pertains to quarantine and preparation, but as for the RFL, here is an easy tutorial to make showing as stressless and fun as possible for you and your pets!

First step: Quarantine

The importance of a pre-show quarantine or isolation cannot be stressed enough. Rats can catch several very communicable viruses and bacterial infections from other rodents which can rapidly be passed from animal to animal if proper quarantine procedures are not followed. There are many specific rules which can be seen on the RFL's website, but the general procedure is that there should be no new rodents, lagomorphs or birds introduced into the rat's home for the 30 days prior to the show. No rats should be pregnant or nursing during those 30 days either, as the mother's antibodies can protect the babies until weaning, bringing the infection to active state again.

The relevant dates for the pre-show isolation should be listed on the website of the club whose show you wish to attend, as well as their rules. If you have any questions concerning those rules, then ask! Better to ask ahead of time then have to skip the show because of a mistake!

You must print out and sign a Pre-Show Isolation Agreement form, and mail it to the RFL along with your registrations for the show, indicating that you understand, and will abide by, the Pre-Show Isolation rules as written.

Second step: Registration

Firstly, any rat that you wish to show at NIRO or RFL shows must be registered with the North American Rat Registry, or NARR. Luckily, you can register any rat with NARR, even those without known pedigree, and obtain a NARR number to show under. Details can be found at NARR's website, and you do not even have to join NARR to do so.

The club's website should be a source for all the relevant and needful forms. But they can be confusing to fill out!

First, fill out the Exhibitor Entry form. This is the form that tells the hosting club who you are! It tells them which club you belong to, if you have a preference for sharing a table with another exhibitor, whether you want to sell things at your table and how many rats you will be bringing.

Then, set that aside to fill out an entry form for each rat you are bringing. The RFL's form allow three rats per page, so you may only need one page, or you may need to use several to list all your animals!

Here is the RFL's rat entry form:

Filling it out, step by step, is just a matter of answering a few questions about your rat. Rats are divided by the RFL into three sections: Colorpoints (Siamese, Himalayan, and Burmese shaded rats,) Ticked (Agouti-type colors) and Non-Ticked (Black-based colors.) If you visit the Show Standards section of the RFL's website, you can read which colors are standardized in which section. If you do not know what color your rat is, speak to its breeder. If it is a pet store rat, then post a picture on the RFL forums and ask for advice!

When filled out, your entry form should look like this:

I've used one of my Black Satin girls as an example. You can see I've ignore the Entry# at the top of the form - that is for RFL use, and you don't need to worry about it when you fill in the form. Each rat that you plan to bring to the show must be registered with one of these forms.

If you are planning to travel to the show with another fancier who is also bringing rats, you must fill out a Trade/Transport Agreement form. This lets the club know that you and the other exhibitor have observed proper Pre-Show Isolation, but will have contact with one another's animals on the way to the show.

Once you have filled in all of the relevant forms, mail those in to the show secretary, along with your fee, and you should receive a confirmation email with the details of your entries once they receive your forms.

Gathering supplies

First and very importantly, make sure that you have proper travel cages in which to bring your rats to the show. Cat style carriers, carriers with wire doors or sides, or wire-sided cages are all forbidden at the show, because it allows too much contact between rats who are placed side-by-side, and can get very drafty in air conditioning! That means you need to have a comfortably sized solid-sided container in which to bring your rats.

Most people will use modified Sterelite or Rubbermaid tubs for this purpose. They are light, easy to carry, and do not break if dropped. It is necessary to cut the middle out of the top portion of the tub, and then affix chicken wire or a similar wire mesh in the top, in order to aid ventilation of the tub. Hanging aquarium-style water bottles can be hung inside the tub, but when traveling it is best to simply offer the rat a few vegetables for moisture, as the jiggling of the tub while traveling will cause the bottle to leak into the bedding.

You can find a good step-by-step instruction on how to modify a tub into a travel cage at The Dapper Rat's website.

You will also need show boxes. The RFL and NIRO both use medium sized Kritter Keepers with black tops for this purpose. Most local pet stores will carry, or can order, these items, but it can be hard to find black tops. If you buy one with a colored top, Krylon Fusion Gloss Black paint does a good job of adhering to the plastic. Do not paint the clear plastic handles or the window in the top, just the colored plastic!

Show boxes are needed for every rat that will be on the judging table at the same time. So it is best to count up how many Colorpoint does, Colorpoint bucks, Ticked does, Ticked bucks, Non-Ticked does and Non-Ticked bucks you have, and whichever section has the largest amount of rats, that is the largest number of boxes you will need. Since, when a rat is done being judged, they go back into their travel cage, their show box is available for another rat to use. The only exception to this rule is a rat who has won their section and must stay on the table to be judged against more rats.

Those two items, enough travel tubs and show boxes for your rats, are all that you need to bring in order to enjoy the show!

Prepping for the Show

About a week before the date of the show, you will want to wash your rats. This is especially important for bucks and light-colored rats, which tend to accumulate stains and yellowing on the belly and shoulders. Some rats like to be washed, some tolerate it, and some hate it! It is important to remember NOT to get water in your rat's nose! Aspiration pneumonia will hurt your rat, and ruin your chances to go to the show.

The best rat-cleaning soap I can recommend is Dawn dishwashing detergent, unscented. It is a safe, mild, non-toxic soap that does a superb job of cutting through the greasy buildup that our rats, especially bucks, sometimes get! Wet your rat, then set him on a towel while you gently rub the soap in, paying special attention to the back and shoulders area. You can use an old, soft-bristled toothbrush to scrub the tail and any stubborn shoulder stains. If you have a white, Colorpoint or other pale rat that has developed red staining on the shoulders, small dog tearstain removal wipes can be used.

Then hold him under the warm, running tap to rinse off. Towel-dry, since most rats will panic if you attempt to use a hairdryer. Make sure the cage you are putting your rat back into is clean!

You don't want to wash your rat closer to the show than a week, to allow some of the hair's natural oils to return to the coat. A freshly bathed rat can have a fluffy-hamster look on the judging table, and satin or rex coats can sometimes need time to return to their best condition after a bath.

A day or two before the show, you should clip the rat's nails. This can be a pain, but the judge really doesn't want to be scratched to bits by a flailing rat who is just looking for some purchase when being removed from the show box! This works best as a two person job, with one person holding the rat against their chest or legs and the second person clipping. Be careful not to nick the quick!

The Dapper Rat's Rat Information section has good articles on both bathing a rat and trimming their nails.

The day of the Show

Do a last minute check of all your rats before loading them into their travel tubs. Does everyone look healthy? Has anyone gotten into a fight and gotten scratched? Does anyone look tired or under the weather? Do not bring those rats to the show! They will very likely not pass health check and be allowed in.

Load your rats into their traveling tubs, being sure to keep males and females separated. You should not put rats that do not normally share cages together, as they may get stressed out and fight, injuring one another. Make sure that you have all your show boxes, clean and empty, for all the rats you have entered.

Health check

When you arrive at the show, leave your animals in the car and go to the Health Check area. The Health Check officials should give you a number and ask you to wait. Do not remove your animals from the car until your number is called, and when it is, please take the animals directly to the Health Check without interacting with any other exhibitors or animals. The Health Check officials will look your animals over and then you will be given the box numbers for your show boxes and let into the show area.

Your table will be assigned and labeled. Please set yourself and your animals up comfortably there. Your animals should remain in their tubs until their show bracket is called, no one besides you should handle them, and they should not be carried around the room.

You can fill your show boxes with the host-provided bedding at this time.

Show Catalogue

Everyone will be given a show catalogue when they enter the show. In it will be listed information on the judges and hosting club, and a list of all the animals expected to participate in the show and the brackets in which they will be shown. You should use this catalogue to see when your rats will need to be ready to be shown, and you can use it to see what the competition will be like, as well!

Clerks and the Judging Table

Clerks will call the next class while the previous one is being judged. When a clerk calls for a class in which your rats will be participating, load each rat in its own show box. Make sure you place the number sticker you were given after Health Check on the outside of the box, and be sure this number corresponds correctly with your rat's number in the Show Catalogue.

The Clerk will take your rat and give it to the judge for the class. Please do not speak to the judge (you may ask them to raise their voices if you cannot hear the judging) or cheer or in any way indicate which rat on the table belongs to you. Please keep talking to a minimum, since other observers will also want to hear their own animal being judged.

When the class is over, all the rats except the first-place rat will be returned to their owner by the clerk. If your rat remained on the table to continue to compete, please continue to be discreet about your ownership. In order to maintain objectivity in judging, it is important that the judges not know they may be judging a rat which belongs to a friend or adopter.

After the Judging

Once all the judging has been completed, the Best in Show has been selected, and all the ribbons have been given out, photographs of the winners will be taken by the show photographer. Points will be recorded with the showing alliance between NIRO and the RFL, so that rats who attend more than one show can accumulate points toward their championship.