South African Domesticated "fancy" rats SHOW classes and how they work (applies to pedigreed and unpedigreed rats)
There are 2 varieties recognised in our SHOW and FUN classes namely:
1. Standard (most of our pet rats are standard) has a short, smooth coat with normal
shaped ears
2. Dumbo has much larger ears than the standard rat set low on the side of the head
The 2 varieties are split further into 4 SHOW classes where both varieties mentioned above compete against each other using only their colour and markings.
In a nutshell : The 2 varieties are split into 4 classes by colour and marking, namely :Self,
Any Other Colour Patterns (AOCP), Any Other Colours (AOC), Marked. Both Dumbo
and Standard eared compete against each other for the rat with the best
colour and/or markings in the colour and marked class that they are entered into.
Self where the entire body consists of the same uniform color. The colours in the self category are :
Beige, Black eyed white, Black, Blue, Champagne, Chocolate, Cocoa, Coffee, Cream, Havanna, Ivory, Lavendar, Lilac, Mink, Pink-eyed White, Russian Blue, Russian blue-beige, Russian Dove, Russian Silver
See detailed standards for SELF at this link.
Any Other Colour (AOC) where the entire body is of the
same color, but the coat consists of individual hairs banded with two
or more colours and evenly interspersed with coloured guard hairs. In this Section the colors are:
Agouti, Amber, Apricot Agouti, Blue Fawn, Cinnamon, Cinnamon Pearl,
Fawn, Havanna Agouti, Lynx, Pearl, Russian Blue Agouti,Russian Blue fawn,
Russian Silver Agouti.
See detailed standards for AOC at this link
Any other colour pattern (AOCP) should have a combination of two or more colours other than white arranged in a recognised pattern.
In this Section the colors are:
Cinamon Perl Merl, Perl Merl, Seal Point Himilayan, Agouti Point
Himilayan, Blue Point Himilayan, Golden Himalayan, Seal Point Siamese,
Agouti Point Siamese, Blue Point Siamese, Russian Blue Point Siamese,
Seal Point Sable Siamese, Agouti Point Sable Siamese, Burmese, Russian
Blue Burmese, Sable Burmese, Wheaten Burmese.
See detailed standards for AOCP at this link
Marked there are Fourteen groups within this Section, named according to the pattern of their markings, in any recognised color:
Badger Husky To have a white V-shaped blaze, which
includes whisker bed and comes close to eyes without touching them.
Feet, belly and throat to be white. Rest of body roan coloured. Tail to
be a single colour
Banded Husky To have a white V-shaped blaze, which includes
whisker bed and comes close to eyes without touching them. A 3 to 5 cm
broad roan coloured stripe should run from head to tail base. Rest of
body to be white. Tail to be a single colour.
Capped have a white body with a colored cap on head not to extend to throat or past the ears.
Baldie To have a coloured head, with white nose tip and colour reaching just beyond ears.
Bareback have a colored hood to cover head, neck, chest, and shoulders on a white body.
Berkshire to have a symmetrical white marking extending from
chest to belly, to be of good size, clear cut and devoid of any
brindling. Back feet white from toes to halfway between ankle and toes.
Front legs to be white to half the leg. Tail to be white from tailtip
to no more than half its length.
Blazed Berkshire (Berkshire white wedge shape on forehead)
Variegated Berkshire
Hooded have a white body with a colored hood to cover head,
neck, chest, and shoulders, and a spine marking extending from head to
tail in an unbroken, moderately wide stripe without ragged edges or
brindling.
Blazed Hooded (Hooded with white wedge shape on forehead)
Variegated have colored head and shoulders, white blaze (wedge)
on forehead, small and numerous color splashes from shoulders to tail,
including the sides and tail and a white belly
Blazed Variegated (Variegated with white wedge shape on forehead)
Essex To have a small white spot on forehead. Rest of body is coloured, but colour
should gradually and evenly fade from spine to belly. Colour should be darkest
at the spine and fade gradually to off-white underneath.
Irish have a moderately sized, evenly shaped white marking on the belly, four white feet, white tail tip
See detailed standards for MARKED at this link
Unstandardised may have any naturally occuring coat type, colour, or markings not described before, or any other naturally occuring unique physical feature.
© The South African Rat Fan Club (est. June 2005)