The Rat's Whiskers

by Annette Rand

Share the wonder and privilege of watching baby rats develop and grow from wriggling little jellybeans into intelligent and resourceful young ratlets. A delightful and fascinating photographic journey through the first weeks of these baby rats' lives.

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2014

About the author

Annette's adventure into the world of colouring books for adults began with a book of imaginary butterflies, prompted by the memory of drawing them for her children to colour when they were young. This was followed by a book full of 'fanciful rats', the keeping and breeding of pet rats being Annette's ongoing pastime and passion. The Doodle Artist collection will continue with a mixture of topics, but with many featuring various small furry animals.

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn't a book on how to care for pet rats. This book is written by a professional British rat breeder and her book is a kind of photolog of the process, from mating to rat show. The photos are well done and the rats are adorable. There are photos of baby rats for nearly each day of development after birth, up until the rats are 6 weeks old. You can really see how they grow rapidly. She does cover what it's like to have to find homes for the babies, and what it's like entering her rats in a show. She also covers genetics briefly. All in all, a fun addition to the rat owner's library that is photo-rich and not overly text-heavy.

This could work as a supplemental biology text for young homeschoolers learning about genetics and breeding for the first time (rat development!) Just a heads up that there is one photo of rats mating, and the author describes what it's like when a doe goes into heat and what happens during pregnancy. There was nothing here that I wouldn't show my own kids, but some parents might want to preview first.

[Shatterlings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this, it's a very sweet little book about raising a rat litter and is essential reading if you are thinking about breeding rats.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely insight

Beautifully written with lots of pictures throughout the entire mating to weaning and beyond of rat breeding.

Interesting section on genetics how to do them to see the most likely genetic makeup of your litter