The all new Scuttling Gourmet is now available. It has been completely re-written, has double the page count, colour pictures and a wipeable cover.

Who?

I am Alison Campbell and this website is the home of the Shunamite rats and our own corner of the rat community. Shunamite is the breeding prefix by which my rats are known. I also have a line prefix - Tabi - which refers to any rat that has been bred from my established agouti line.

What?

Everything included here represents my own emphasis and personal vision. In re-designing this site (Autumn 2008) I have chosen to take an alternative approach. I hope that you will be able to "walk in my moccasins" and begin to understand why rats are so important to me, and why I choose to celebrate them in my own life.

Where?

I am based in the North East of England in North Tyneside. However, my rat-related activities have spanned pretty much the whole of the UK.

When?

My first encounter with a rat "in the fur" so to speak, was in May 1997, when I went with my then 7 year old daughter to buy a pair of rat kittens as her pets. It took me less than 10 minutes of sofa time with them to fall in love. That love affair has only deepened as I have grown in my own knowledge and understanding of these unique little creatures. Shunamite rats was born early in 2001, and became a registered stud (under NFRS rules) in the summer of 2004. The last few years have been a journey to the place I find myself today. The rest of this website will help you to understand where that is. I hope you enjoy it here as much as I do.

Why?

Always the most probing of questions. Why rats? Why breed them? Why rescue? Why the NERS? All of these questions and many more will be explored in the rest of this website. So for now I will just address two questions, "Why now?" and "Why Shunamite?"

Why a new direction now?
Autumn 2008
The past year has been a time of re-evaluation and change for me and I find myself in the position of wanting to reach for something different. I have never been very competitive or enchanted by the idea of winning shows. It's taken a long time for me to acknowledge that it's fine to have alternative reasons for breeding. I don't know if my goals are realistic or not, but I am determined to learn all I can and to try to push the current norms for health and longevity in rats.

Early 2011 - The Tabi Initiative
Over the past 6 months or so I have become involved in what we have decided to call the Tabi Initiative. A group of us have chosen to work very closely together - breeding highly related rats from the Shunamite agouti/black/dumbo line which has been affectionately labelled 'tabi' for some time. The tabi rats have a recognisable 'throw yourself at life' kind of temperament and are exceptionally people oriented. They are generally sound in health and lifespan in terms of current expectations in the UK. We feel they are a good diving board for this project and also wish to maintain the unique temperament that we have grown to love. The initiative brings together 3 ratteries who are committed to working to improve the longevity (median lifespan) of this group of rats, the theory being that together we can achieve far more than on our own. The ratteries are Shunamite, Eximius and Muse.

Our initial approach is to try to improve the average (median) lifespan of our rats, whilst maintaining temperament, health and type, initially by trying to delay the onset of life threatening illnesses.

We aim to do this using a combination of tools and techniques including:

• Line breeding with increasing selective inbreeding.
• Backwards selection with an emphasis on ancestral health into old age. Rats will be scored according to the health/rate of ageing of their parents and grandparents at the time of mating and only those who score highly wil be bred from.
• Selecting slower growing rats who mature later in life.
• Selecting rats who are neophilic and maintain a young, active attitude into old age.
• Delaying litters until our does are at least 9 to 13 months so that more information is available for their ancestors to allow for meaningful scoring.
• Keeping detailed records on all of the rats we breed.
• Choosing fit, healthy, typey rats as our breeding rats, though colour and variety may (at times) be sacrificed.
• Good nutrition and care for our rats and kittens, in keeping with what is most advantageous for health and lifespan.
• A stimulating environment and active life, including the opportunity to wheel run for all of our babies and (preferably) adults.

We are also looking into specific screening tests, such as albumin tests on adult males as an indicator of predisposition to kidney problems later in life.

We will be working by initially (over 2011) breeding 6 - 8 litters from a closely related combination of rats (all siblings or cousins). Each combination will be a unique pairing and each rat will only be used once (some bucks possibly twice). We will then between us keep siblings of both genders from all of the litters.

All does will be bred between about 9 and 13 months, with a preference for late matings if possible. This will mean that by the time we are looking to do the 2nd generation litters, the parents of the rats we will be considering will be around 2 and we will be able to note how they are aging, and what health issues they have had (eg age at which a doe developed a mammary lump). At this stage we will only choose to breed on from the rats whose parents are aging best and have been healthiest.

We will then keep a wide spread of siblings from each litter and repeat the process.

We have also designed a Tabi Initiative record booklet that will go out with each of the rats we home. This gives owners a place to record detailed information about their rats as they grow, meaning the information is readily to hand when we are looking for updates.

Why Shunamite?
The Shunamite people were an ancient Hebrew people group who were reported to have been visited by a prophet who breathed new life into the dead body of a widow's only son. It's a story about restoring dead dreams and hope. To me the word has come to represent life and hopefulness and joy and my rats embody all of these things to me.

Acknowledgements

In the safety of my own space I would also like to acknowledge those human companions, without whom I wouldn't have made it this far, or had the courage to reach beyond the readily achievable. The backbone people - Estelle, Ann S, Lisa G - who got me started and have many times stopped me from quitting and helped me become stronger. The heart people - Graham and Sandra, Deb and Ed, the Admin Team on FR, the NERS committee members (through the years), just about everyone called Katie or Alison (you know who you are) - who refined my vision and showed me what was really important. The head people - toyah, Graham, Ellie S, Julia, Alison Neo, Alison MR - who have challenged me all the way and really made me think beyond the obvious. The hands people - those who have taken our Shunamite babies over the years and shared their lives with them, many of whom we are proud to call friends - who made any of this possible. And the feet people - Gwen H, Katie G, Sue L, Lizzie, Anna G - who have walked alongside me through thick and thin, just being themselves. We so rarely get the opportunity to publicly say thank you - so, thank you! You all know I don't really *do* people... but you have all put up with me so well. Forever onwards and upwards.