History of Rattus norvegicus

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After popularity for the pet rat grew, There are now several rat fancier groups in Australia. The Australian Rodent Fanciers Society began in 1996 and now has branches in all states and territories other than the Northern Territory breeding, caring, promoting and dedicating there time and lives to these amazing creatures. 
Rats now days cannot harm humans or give illness, they are totally geneticly diffrent to the "wild brown rat"!


                                      Apperarance of rats 
Appearance Domesticated rats grow to a body length of 12-15cm (5-6") with a furless tail roughly the same length. Females (does) are long and athletic. Males (bucks) are more brick-like with a short, wide, masculine face. The coat is glossy and sits close to the body. Coat colour can range from white (actually albino), black, grey, red, chocolate, champagne, fawn and more recently, blue. Depending on coat colour, eye colour may vary from black, ruby or pink. Several coat patterns are also available. A solid coloured rat is called a 'Self'. 'Hoods' are predominately white with colour on the head, shoulders and along the spine. A 'Berkshire' is like a two tone coat, the rat is colour over the top with many coulours like agouti, black,blue,topaz, mink , cinammon and anymore with white underneath. Both of these typeHistory Rat. The mere mention of the word would send shudders down most (but not all) people's spines. These mammals have shared a close although uneasy association with another mammal - man, for many thousands of years. Rats are mostly known for their role in the 'black death' or bubonic plague, resulting in the death of perhaps 25 million people in the 14th century. But the rat can only take half the credit. It was in fact the rat's fleas which spread the disease biting and infecting cattle and humans. There are in many hundreds of species of rat, and the brown rat, the black asian rat and the european rat. Rattus norvegicus, was singled out and became domesticated on a large scale during the nineteenth century - primarily for use as the first laboratory rat. Over time pet owners became interested in rats when scientists began breeding for temperament and colour and soon s may also have a blaze of white down the face. These are called 'blaze'. A more recent type is the 'Downunder'. Developed in Australia, the Downunder is a variation of the Berkshire or Hood, with an additional strip of colouring along the belly. Hairless and rex (curly coated) rats are not widely available in Australia, the close relative to Hairless Rats would be a inbred line of double Rex,  "Double rex "have very thin patchy hair which is started by two Rex rats being bred.
                                      

                              Some History of india and rats
Did you know that india had a temple called karni mata the *Golden Temple* where it is one of the most holy place in the india, this temple is devoted to keeping and worshiping rats in the hindu practice, In hindu mythology the God Ganesh had a pet rat that travels with him everywhere and offers Ganesh a friendship so therefore vahana the rat is a vital part of hindu worship, The temple was built in the 17th century in dedication to the Goddness Durga, Rats are seen as holy because they were considered as reincarnation of people that were hiding from the  power of the hindu God Yama the God of death!