Fancy Rat Enthusiasts Club
The Club shall be called The Fancy Rat Enthusiasts Club.
a) To promote & advocate the fancy rat as both an excellent pet and exhibition animal.
b) Provide help, support and advice to all fanciers in an honest, open and friendly manner.
c) Motivate and encourage all rat owners to adopt a high standard of etiquette in respect to others, without prejudice, judgement or malice.
d) Maintain and uphold objective C.
e) To encourage and maintain the highest standard of rat care, with good practices and standards of breeding.
f) Uphold the true definition & type to the recognised standards to which fancy rats are judged.
Committee
The club shall be run by the committee, which consists of the elected members below.
Chairperson
Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Honorary Secretary
Liaison Officer
Publicity Officer
Committee Member
Committee Member
The above committee shall be elected annually at the annual general meeting, which will be held once per calendar year.
No one person shall take more than one committee position, although an additional club workers role is permitted at the committee’s discretion.
The committee may/will appoint non-annually elected posts in the form of club workers. These could be any or all of the below
Workshop manager
Rosette Officer
Trophy Officer
Web Master
Events Organiser
Health Consultant
The above posts will not have the same voting rights as the committee.
All committee members and club workers must be fully paid up members of the club.
Responsibility to take the club minutes is that of the honorary Secretary, to report all decisions to the members.
Both minutes and rules are available on request, by SAE to be received by post.
Any amendments to the rules, objectives and constitution may be made at an A.G.M.
If a committee post does become available, then the committee may opt a member to temporarily fill the post until the time of the next A.G.M.
Committee business can be carried out in the following ways, Telephone, Email, Post & private discussion that shall be recorded by the Honorary Secretary.
All committee business shall be confidential.
During the first 2 years of the clubs activities, any amendments or changes to club rules may be done via the committee if and when needed. Members will be notified of any changes.
All committee members are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate & professional manner at all times.
If this is not adhered to the chairperson will notify all other committee members and the decision to investigate the matter taken and dealt with accordingly.
Below are the grades of membership available.
Family / Adult Partnership
Adult (Over 16 years)
Junior / Senior Citizen
All membership shall be subject to approval. The membership form & payment should be sent to the membership secretary who can accept the membership.
The committee has the right to refuse any application of membership.
In this instance the member shall be given a full refund of payment.
Membership shall run for 12 months.
Membership subscription costs may be reviewed by the committee and submitted to the A.G.M for approval.
All adult members (over 16 yrs) are allowed to vote, even if part of a family membership.
Junior members (6-15 yrs) are not eligible to vote or hold committee posts.
The committee shall keep all records of all members’ details. These will remain confidential and only be used in club matters of business. e.g. postal votes for A.G.M.
Each membership shall be accepted by the committee as full acceptance of all club rules.
All members are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate and respectful manner at all times.
Accounts
The Honorary Treasurer shall keep written accounts of all income and expenditure.
There will be 2 signatories on the clubs bank account, which will be 2 unrelated committee members whom shall not live in the same household. These shall be the named treasurer and one other.
All claims for reimbursement must be made within 3 months of the date of the incurred costs. These must be submitted along with a receipt.
The treasurer shall present a written account of all monetary income and expenditure to the A.G.M, which shall be audited by an agreed independent non, member of the committee.
There shall be two judging sections. These sections are
Varieties
Pets
Varieties are judged according to the nfrs standards of excellence.
Pets are judged on friendliness, health and condition.
Each section shall be distinct and no animal is permitted to be shown in more than one section at a show.
Animals that are to be in different sections, may not share the same show tank.
The show secretary on the day reserves the right to refuse any late entries.
Rats are to be shown in a clear plastic tank, the acceptable size tanks shall be a minimum of 11 litres and a maximum of 14 litres.
Plastic lids are provisionally accepted, although this may be subject to change. Wire mesh lids are preferable as they allow for better ventilation.
All rats being shown must have an acceptable substrate in their show tanks. These are to be pale substrates, Aspen shavings, Hemp, Aubiose, or shavings, this includes bedmax shavings.
Cardboard substrate shall not be permitted as a source of tank substrate.
Each rat entered must have a source of moisture through out the duration of the show; these can be either a piece of apple, carrot or cucumber.
No water bottles are allowed on the show tanks after the rats have been placed on the bench, these must be removed before judging. This may be subject to change under certain circumstances at the show secretary’s discretion.
Adult rats may only be shown singularly, 1 per tank in both the variety section and Pet section.
Kittens may be shown in pairs in 1 tank, as long as the two kittens are the same sex and both are easily distinguishable from each other. Only paired kittens that are being exhibited are permitted on the show bench, no companion kittens are allowed.
No recently mated or pregnant does are allowed at the show or its environment. How ever, it is the show secretary’s discretion to allow rats to be returned to their owners if very recently been mated.
In the case of the above, the rat in question shall remain in its cage, in peace without disturbance through out the duration of the show.
There are certain varieties that are not permitted at any of our shows, please contact the clubs secretary for a full list of these varieties.
No exhibitors are allowed to show more than twice in any year with out becoming a member.
Entry fees shall be £1 per rat for members and £2 for non-members. Non-members will receive a refund of £1 per rat if they join on the day.
Show hire tanks are limited, at a cost of £1.50 for members and £2 for non members, this includes suitable substrate.
Rats in the variety section shall be judged to the NFRS variety standards of excellence by an approved appointed NFRS judge.
Members of the judge’s household are not permitted to enter in the section of which they are judging.
Shoulder rats are provisionally not permitted at the shows. This ruling may be subject to change.
Variety judges are arranged by the committee from the NFRS qualified judges list.
Pet section judges are chosen at the discretion of the committee, prior to the show date, and must be fully paid up members of the Fancy Rat Enthusiasts Club.
The judges decision is final in regards to the placing of the rats, also the disqualification of any rat for these reasons mentioned, ill health, parasites, intractability, underage or rats too small to be on the exhibitors bench.
All disqualified exhibits are to be removed from the bench, and taken to the show secretary. They will then be placed in a safe designated area until the end of the show.
The owner of the disqualified rat will be notified, and will be advised to leave the rat in the designated safe area until the end of the show.
In extreme cases where the rat has been disqualified for severe ill health, the owner of the rat may be asked to remove the rat from the show building to prevent further stress or if the judge feels that veterinary treatment is urgently required.
Both variety and pet judges will be given a free lunch and beverages throughout the day, plus an additional gift to the value of between £5 & £10.
Variety judges will be given reasonable travel expenses, up to a maximum of £25, which may be increased in exceptional circumstances at the committee’s discretion.
Trainee judges who are part of the NFRS trainee judge’s scheme are welcome to steward and sit in with our judges as part of their training, this must of course be arranged and approved by the show secretary in advance.
Exchanging livestock
No sales of rats or kittens are allowed at our shows.
Only private breeders may bring rats/kittens for collection/exchange, no rescues are permitted to be exchanged with in the club.
Kitten/rat collections/exchanges are permitted, from the age of 7 weeks, by prior arrangement between the two persons involved.
All collections/exchanges should be put to the show secretary and shall be cleared by the chairperson prior to the show. Giving details of the sex of the rat date of birth, previous owner`s and new owner`s names.
The club does not vet every individual, and cannot be responsible for any problems, which may occur after collection/exchange. Each person does so at his or her own risk.
Any rats that the committee deem to be unsuitable for collection/exchange may be asked to leave the show venue immediately. These reasons outlined below
Noticeably ill
Underage (under 7 weeks or look appear to be under 7 weeks)
Both parties whom are either collecting/bringing rats/kittens to exchange are to be fully paid up members of the club.
Awards
The club will provide ribbons, rosettes and prize cards.
Ribbons, Rosettes *and NFRS Variety stars* will be awarded at the judge’s discretion.
Trophies
The trophies awarded at any cup shows shall remain the property of the Fancy Rat Enthusiasts Club.
Small sponsored trophies are welcome subject to the committee’s approval.
A.G.M Rules
An A.G.M shall be held once per calendar year.
An E.G.M can be called at the discretion of the committee.
To vote at either an A.G.M or E.G.M, you must be a fully paid up adult member of the club.
Any proposals for the A.G.M must be submitted to the Honorary Secretary 28 days prior to the date of the A.G.M.
All A.G.M proposals must be proposed and seconded by fully paid up members of the club.
A.G.M agenda and proposals will be available to members to read on the day of the agm before the start time upon request to the secretary.
At least 6 of the committee members and one quarter of fully paid up members are required for a voting quorum.
The voting shall take place at the agm, provisionally for the first agm only.
No postal, email or telephone votes are allowed at the clubs first agm.
Warnings, suspensions and Expulsions
Any incident that occurs at a show can be brought to the attention of 2 committee members verbally on the day. This of course must be followed by a written description of the incident to the honorary Secretary no more than 14 days after the date of the incident.
Written complaints shall be discussed at the next committee meeting in which the parties concerned will be notified of 14 days prior to the meeting date.
This allows the parties concerned to appear in person or send in a written explanation, which will be read by a member of the committee.
It is the committee’s discretion to deem the appropriate course of action regarding the nature of the complaint.
These actions could include
Verbal warning
Written warning
Monitoring of behaviour
Refusal of membership renewal
Suspension
Expulsion.
In order to ensure the welfare and well being of the show rat and their exhibitors, these rules are subject to constant review by the committee.
We thank you for reading these rules and look forward to working with you to make this club the best it can be.
Please note that items denoted by * have been added to the rules.