History
The origin of the modern fancy rat begins with the rat-catchers of the 18th and 19th centuries who trapped rats throughout Europe. These rat-catchers would then either kill the rats, or, more likely, sell the rats to be used in bloodsport. Rat-baiting was a popular sport until the beginning of the 20th century; it involved filling a pit with several rats and then placing bets on how long it would take a terrier to kill them all. It is believed that both rat-catchers and sportsmen began to keep certain, odd-coloured rats during the height of the sport—eventually breeding them, and then selling them as pets. The two men thought to have formed the basis of rat fancy are Jack Black, rat-catcher to Queen Victoria, and Jimmy Shaw, manager of one of the largest sporting public houses in London. These two men are responsible for beginning many of the colour varieties present today. Black, specifically, was known for taming the “prettier” rats of unusual colour, decorating them with ribbons, and selling them as pets. It was not uncommon in upper circles of Victorian England to see a lady with her pet rat on a short monkey leash, sitting on her lap, grandly festooned with ribbons.
Rat fancy as a formal, organized hobby began when a woman named Mary Douglas asked for permission to bring her pet rats to an exhibition of the National Mouse Club at the Aylesbury Town Show in England on October 24, 1901. Her black and white hooded rat won "Best in Show," and ignited interest in the area. After Douglas's death in 1921, rat fancy soon began to fall back out of fashion. The original hobby formally lasted from 1912 to 1929 or 1931, as part of the National Mouse and Rat Club, at which point Rat was dropped from the name returning it to the original National Mouse Club. The hobby was revived in 1976 with the formation of the English National Fancy Rat Society (NFRS). Pet rats are now commonly available in stores and from breeders, and there exist several rat fancy groups worldwide.
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