They’re small and cute and their eyes are planet-sized. Today I’m going to blather on about Dwarf rats.
Why did we get Dwarf rats? Well, I’d heard good things - really, they sounded too good to be true to me - but since they have a Provisional standard and I would inevitably encounter them on the varieties bench, I wanted to experience them for myself.
Why “first impressions”? Our oldest Dwarves are a quad of bucks who are now 8 months old; we’ve owned them for 6 months. My views and experiences could well change over time but as someone who is new to Dwarf - and was relatively wary of them - I thought it might be worth relating how I’ve found them as pets.
I am not an authority on the Dwarf rats I don’t own and I have limited experience. Traits and trends will obviously vary across different lines/strains. I’m relating my experiences with Dwarf rats as pets and the knowledge I’ve collected from other breeders and owners (so far - I don’t think I’ll ever be done learning).
Maybe it will be useful or interesting to someone - who knows? If not, I’ve killed some time on a show-less Saturday afternoon.
6 of our Dwarves (4 bucks; 2 does) are from Rivendell Stud (with their relatives tracing back to Beltane), and 5 (3 bucks; 2 does) have come from matings of our Beltane does, with the initial aim being Badgers.
To the best of my knowledge, our particular Dwarves can be traced back to a US import in 2016 which included Marble, Silken and Tonkinese (and possibly others - I was on a rat break when the import was organised). The Dwarves we have now stem from the Marbles.
They are not the only line of Dwarf out there - there was also another import, from Europe, some time after the US import. I won’t be discussing rats from that import as I have literally no experience with them.
The most obvious feature of Dwarf rats is their overall size: they’re around a third of the size of Standard Fancy rats, although it can vary.
The NFRS granted Dwarf a Provisional Standard within the last year or so, which covers some of the differences between Dwarf and Standard in terms of conformation:
<aside> 🐀 To be around a third or less the size of a full-sized fancy rat. All varieties (including dumbo) recognised for other fancy rats to be accepted. Head to be shapely, similar to a full-sized rat but finer boned and pointed at the muzzle, eyes big, round and bold with a good width between the ears. Ears to be large and well-shaped. Body to show good length but slightly more rounded over the loin, this may give the appearance of a chopped rump at rest but not during movement. Tail not so long or thick and held high, typically during movement it will be carried off the ground. The tail should not be square shaped or excessively thin.
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In my experience, Dwarf kittens can be identified easily by homing age, but sometimes much earlier. We’ve had two litters containing Dwarf so far (parents are Standard carrying Dwarf) and we had strong suspicions from about 2 weeks old - we don’t have much of a track record to speak of, but all Dwarves bred here so far have been noticeably different by 3-4 weeks old.
Litter containing Dwarf (to the right of pale kitten); 9 days old
Dwarf buck (R) with Standard siblings; 14 days old