Meet the Members

Saz Lea

Hi, I'm Sarah but everyone knows me as Saz and I live in Hull. I've been keeping rats for about 14 years now and I currently have 11, both bucks and does. I don't breed but one day I'd love to find the time to raise a litter of eepers. I like to get involved at shows, to help the committee out because I know how hard it is to organise and run a show (having previously been the chairman, the magazine editor and the membership secretary). Getting involved at shows is a great way to help the club and meet new people!

Sheena Stratton

I'm Sheena and I have been keeping rats for about 9 years now and run Bog Myrtle Stud. We started with two bucks, Itchy and Scratchy who belonged to my son Jay, but soon I had some ratties of my own, Jason and Captain Jack and from there things just grew. Now I breed, show and judge rats and always enjoy helping out at shows. I love being an active member of the MRC and can usually be found either stewarding, helping the show sec or busy in the kitchen but I can always find time for a chat.

Ann Holloway

Hi, I'm Ann Holloway, and I first met a rat 15 years ago at an Open University summer school, when I had to train lab rats to press buttons to get food as part of a psychology course, and I thought they were the most gorgeous creatures ever. I then had to wait until I was in a position to have my own rats, and eventually got my first pair of boys to celebrate my 40th birthday last year. I live in a converted barn in the Cotswolds with my husband, 3 cats, 2 hamsters and 28 rats (16 boys, 8 girls, and 4 hairless boys with eye problems who need special care).

I first started going to rat shows in January 2012, and joined both the NFRS and the MRC. The MRC is really handy for me because all the shows are within fairly easy travelling distance, and the people I've met at shows have all been lovely. I've also become friends with a lot of MRC members and rat lovers on facebook, and I'm just starting to explore the various rat forums on the internet!

The "rat community" is generally a really friendly one - much like the rats themselves. I love the way my rats interact with each other and like to sleep in big ratpiles in their hammocks and sputniks - it always looks so comfy and friendly and inviting. If I was small enough I'd happily climb in and go to sleep with them!

I look a bit serious in the picture because I was trying to concentrate on using the camera backwards while Isaiah and Obadiah (who are brothers) were climbing all over me! My rats are a complete mixture - I have some rescue rats whose ages are unknown, as well as some specially bred rats who came to me with family trees going back 5 generations. My oldest rats are now 28 months, and my youngest are just 6 weeks old! I love them all, and give them everything I possibly can, because they give me so much enjoyment!

Mike and Amanda

Hi there, we are Mike and Amanda. We live in Shropshire with our 4 children and many ratties. We run m.n.m.rat rescue. We have been keeping rats since early 2009 and been running our rescue from late 2009,we have done so much rescue work and have worked with other rescues and the RSPCA.

In this time we have been able to re-home and adopt out over 390 rats! so as you can guess we are very busy. We run a very busy house hold along with the many rats here we have also 3 dogs, 8 cats, chinchillas, degus, skinny pigs, guinea pigs, african pygmy hedgehog, a blue fronted amazon parrot etc etc far too many to list so as you can tell we are big animal lovers! We have made many new friends and contacts through MRC, you will find a very welcoming bunch of rat mad people here at MRC, maybe we will catch you at a show sometime :)

Coleen Gruber

Hello. My name is Coleen Gruber. I have a small Rattery in Grimsby, Lincolnshire named Skatta Rattery. I joined the MRC mid 2011 and would highly recommend doing so to anyone. The shows are well worth travelling to, the magazine is always packed with great articles, the forum is invaluable and the other members are great at making you feel like you've always been there. I hope to see you and your rats at the next show, but be warned, everything 'rat' is highly addictive!

The Millington Family

Hi we are the Millington family, Eric, Michelle and Charlotte-Eve. We have been keeping rats now for just over a year. Our little girl Charlotte-Eve wanted a pet desperately and after plenty of research we decided rats were for us. We live in Haslington in South Cheshire so MRC was the nearest club to us, although unfortunately some shows are just too far for us to travel to.

We really enjoy the shows as they are a chance to chill out, meet old friends and make new, everyone is really friendly and very knowledgeable. Charlotte-Eve is particularly fond of the shows as she loves to see all the different varieties of rats and also to show hers off to everyone when we bring them. The raffle is particularly popular with us and if we don't win at least 3 prizes then this is a bad day's work for us!

Gundula Swann

Hi everyone, I'm Gundula. I've been a member of the MRC for a good few years now and have been keeping rats since 2007. With me in the photo is my husband David, who originally got me hooked on rats. We currently have 6 rats in our house (we have had as much as 7 in the past). I try to go to rat shows as much as I can, although that doesn't seem too often at the moment. It's something I'm definitely working to improve on.

I really like being a member of the Midlands Rat Club, it's an invaluable resource on everything rat for a start, on more than one occasion I would have been lost without the support of my fellow members. I'm on the forum a lot and love to interact with people, it's a good way of building up friendships that I can then reinforce when I go to a show and put faces to the forum names.

Another great thing about the club that I have found useful is the rat sitting register (thanks to which I have found lovely new friends that I can trust with my kiddies). In the last few months I've also shown a rat for the first time. It's an experience that I'm definitely going to repeat, it was great fun! I'm not a breeder and my rats aren't exactly what you'd call pedigree rats, so I'm sticking to the pet class for the time being.

As for rats, I have a special soft spot for oldies, I love to give them special care and attention. As a result I rescue a lot, mainly rats that are around 18-20 months old, rather than get babies from breeders, although my heart regularly melts at the sight of pingy little baby rats!

Well, that's enough from me for now. You're welcome to drop me a line on the forum to say hello

Helen Petley

I'm Helen Petley, a junior member. I had my first rats in January 2012, and have just entered them into their first competition. They are two buff bucks, brothers Pip and Squeak. You can only tell them apart by their ears (and if you know them - their personality!) as one is a top eared and one is a dumbo. I live near Birmingham and Ii also love rock climbing, singing, playing the piano and drums.

Annette Rand

Hi, I'm Annette Rand, the club webmaster. I've been keeping pet rats since 2001 when we bought three for our children (who are now all grown up). I became hooked and rats are now a very major part of my life. I breed them, love them, play with them and generally use up all of my spare time on them, and I've been breeding since 2008 under the rattery name of Brandywine Rats.

I enjoy my membership of the MRC because it gives me access to lots of help and interaction on the members' forum, I get to take my rats to shows and have a good day out, and because the club lets me play with the website.