HISTORY OF RAT KEEPING & RARE RAT VARIETIES by Debbi J. Needham
HISTORY OF RAT KEEPING by Debbi J. Needham, c. 2010

Since the turn of the 20th century (1900s), people in England, and then eventually the USA, collected
and displayed what they considered oddities of nature. One such oddity was the small, prolific, and
highly adaptable rat called Rattus norvegicus or the Norway rat. Stowing away on ships, they
quickly spred across the world inhabiting many different environments.

Because of its frequent and prolific reproduction, (litters every 4 weeks), there was plentiful opportunity
to discover unusual specimens. The first rats to be collected were white, black, and patterned.  Once
discovered, they were kept in cages in the house, and displayed to visitors as curios or examples of
natural genetic change, variation or natural selection.

It's possible that the publishing of Charles' Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection, 1859, spurred hobby
animal collecting. Natural Selection is the process by which an animal adapts to its environment by
surviving, and passing on, changes to its body that help it to better survive their environments.
Charles Darwin published this theory in his book: On the Origin of Species in 1859.

By the mid 1900s, social clubs in England and the USA were formed around rat keeping. By the end
of the 1900s, rat showing clubs formed in Europe and USA. Due to hobbyists breeding rats, unusual
colors, markings, and fur type were discovered and developed. Domestication occurred as club
leaders encouraged hobbyists to breed only calm and friendly specimens. Coat colors were
developed that included blue, lilac, orange, cream, cinnamon, and fawn, as well as may different
spotted and patterned coats. At the beginning of the 20th century, hobbyists focused on coat types
resulting in curly, long hair, rex and hairless types. The place that the hobby breeder kept their rats is
called a rattery.

Beginning in 1999, and completed by 2004, scientists finally mapped the DNA of the rat  through the
Rat Genome Project. This spurred further enthusiasm for hobbyists to discover more genetic varieties.

OFR Rattery was a hobby rattery maintained by Debbi & Allie Needham in Washington State, and
supported by Connie Perez in California, from 1999 to 2006. OFR specialized in breeding extremely
rare genetic varieties of domesticated rats, sometimes establishing lines from one single specimen.
These lines were test-mated and line bred for inheritance patterns, whether the inheritance pattern
appeared dominant or recessive and the lines were health checked, followed and sent out to other
enthusiasts in the rat hobby community. A yahoo social group was formed to share genetic
information between hobbyists throughout the rat hobby community. Hobbyists from around the world
joined the list. Much information was gained through the work of Connie Perez and Debbi Needham of
OFR. They are the originators of many of the rare fancy rat varieties kept in the hobby today.

Contents - OFR Rare Rat Varieties

March 2001
OFR Hairless Rat Does & Breeding
Hairless Rat Care Sheet
OFR Hairless Rats

December 2002
Australian Down Under Rats

June 2002
Tailless Rats

February 2002
History of NLR Solaris
Solaris Line of Tri colored, Calico Rats

April 2002
Story of HARLEY, the long haired rat!
The OFR Harley Coated Line - 2002-2003

May 2004
Domesticated Dwarf Rats Info.
OFR Dwarf Rats (2004)

Jan. 24, 2005
UK Burmese, UK Black-eyed Siamese, & UK Pearl
Spike and Angel, Laboratory Dwarf Rats
Brought to OFR by Connie Perez in 2004.
Odd Fellows Rattery (OFR)
Harley Coated Rat
Coat type discovered in 2005 by OFR.
Tina Sharoody's Rattery
Tailless Rat
Rat Genesis Rattery (RG)
Down Under Rat
DUs were imported in 2002
by Connie Perez. Rat
Genesis is Connie Perez's
rattery in N. CA.
Northern Lights Rattery Solaris
Tri-colored Rat - (calico)
Discovered to be a mutation that could not be
reproduced.
by Debbi J Needham
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