In the spirit of communicating more and generally putting my thoughts out there about my rats or the current ratty space I find myself in, this first post might seem trivial to most people. Shows and stars.

As a member of some UK rat clubs, I like to enter rat shows. Exhibiting my rats under different judges allows me to get a varied opinion of my breeding choices and what I should be mindful of when making my next choices in pairing my rats. Some shows will provide you with written critiques (crits) which enable you to take away judges thoughts and really absorb them which I find really helpful, especially when I’m putting my new keeper choices on the bench. I am also a competitive person and I like my rats to at least be acknowledged if they are a good example of the variety that I am breeding. Anyone that fails to acknowledge their competitive side when showing rats, is quite frankly, not being honest!

So what is the point of shows? Other than getting a crit, rat shows are a good way to promote the variety. What happens here in the UK is that breeders will pick up a variety and because they live in a certain area, only local shows may see that rat variety because some people may not like to travel far with their rats. The same for judges, some judges may not see certain varieties if they only judge within a small geographical radius so every now and again for me, it’s important to travel or show under a different judge. It’s also useful to show any visitors or prospective pet homes the varieties that are currently being bred, as well as offer a chance to chat through homing requirements and other options.

At the end of the day, if a rat has done well on the show bench, the goal for many owners is for the rat to be awarded stars by the judge. Stars are awarded at National Fancy Rat Society (NFRS) shows and other regional club shows where the club has applied to the NFRS to be able to award stars. When rats are awarded stars, these stars are noted on the show cards and the owner can build these up over the rats show life to try and qualify the rat as a champion in either varieties or pets.

The table above shows how many stars you need to obtain so your rat can qualify as a NFRS variety or pet champion.

Just winning a class or section will not guarantee the rat is awarded a star, according to the NFRS website, stars are awarded to “to exhibits which are a good example of their variety.” Placing in the Supreme Challenge (top 4 places) of a show is almost guaranteed to yield stars, however, awarding stars is down to judges discretion overall.

While it’s important to state at this point that I am not a NFRS qualified judge, as an exhibitor I do want to air my current concerns about the awarding of stars. While I didn’t attend many shows last year, it seems that over the last 7 months, star awarding has been very frugal by judges. Now this could mean that the rat just doesn’t live up to the hype of the variety which is fair enough. But NFRS wording clearly states the exhibit should be a GOOD example of a variety. So surely all the rats I’m seeing not getting awarded stars can’t all just be bad, right? If the rat has all the correct defining features and can easily be recognised as the variety, do they deserve stars?

My recent experiences at a show saw me enter a rat that, after winning a class, then went on to win the section. At this point a section win is great and my main focus for any show. Winning a section is usually a good indicator that you will get stars. But for my exhibit, none was awarded. After seeking feedback after the show I was told that my rat was the wrong shade. A shade that I had been exhibiting consistently for 4 years with never any feedback containing similar comments. So I brushed that off after concluding that I should simply not show under that judge again. But I left the show disappointed and starless. I would have preferred to not even place as a section winner, because what message is that sending otherwise? I can be placed as a section winner and get a rosette but the rat isn’t good enough to be awarded a star. This just didn’t make sense to me.

Since this show I have won stars for the variety elsewhere and got another rat to qualify for a pet champion status. But others around me are also leaving shows starless. Other exhibitors that have entered rats that have previously placed in Supreme or at least taken a best section win before with the same rat are starting to leave some shows with nothing, despite previous placing. And this seems to be a more common occurrence. Some judges seem to worry about being perceived as overly generous with stars and are giving the impression of cutting back just for the sake of it. I feel like the spirit of awarding stars with some judges has been lost. While stars should be only awarded to good exhibits, they need only be a GOOD example of the variety. They shouldn’t need to be pure perfection. I think there’s also a fine balance between being a judge and understanding that you need to engage exhibitors to keep them returning to shows.

I do wonder, as someone on the NFRS judges training track myself, if it would be worthwhile for current judges to have refresher sessions, or be encouraged to sit in with another current judge every now an again. While I appreciate that everyone will see colour differently, I think that generally speaking, a judge should be able to recognise a good rat on the bench. As trainees, we are encouraged to do a lot of work ourselves to be familiar with new varieties or varieties we don’t often see. I see no reason why this learning should stop once qualified as a show judge. Again, though, this has to be mindful due to the Judges Training Coordinator being a voluntary role (as are all NFRS committee positions) and judges making the effort themselves to be more active in the community, especially if they no longer keep rats themselves.

I don’t know if this is just my thinking but I’d be interested in hearing other exhibitors thoughts on their show results and the judge training process.