NIRO's 5th Annual Spring Fancy Rat Show
By Melina Cardona, NIRO President

Our annual rat show was held on May 23, 2009 at the Valparaiso National Guard Armory in Valparaiso, IN. 
Many thanks go to the National Guard Armory for allowing us to hold our event in their spacious building. 

 We had plenty of rat folk join us for a day of fun as breeders, exhibitors, pet people, rescues, and vendors. Many thanks go out to each of them for their support, and all of the help throughout the day from start to finish. We also had some people join us that were not current pet owners but were interested in seeing what a rat show was about. They walked away with a newfound understanding of why we have such a love of these wonderful creatures! 

 This show was not open to the general public but it was open to all people who were interested in rats, love rats, and wanted anything to do with pet rats! We displayed educational materials to help in answering questions, we had some very special rats at the Meet-n-Greet table that won the hearts of several individuals. Many thanks to everyone who resisted the urge to walk away with them. 

 There were many gorgeous rats from several exhibitors at this year's show. The last few shows have really upped the ante in regards to quality rats. There has been much improvement in the general type but what most stands out to me is the temperaments. I judged the Agouti & Non-Agouti does and am very happy with the squishy temperaments exuding from the females we have in our programs these days.
 
 Thank you to everyone who helped make this show possible, and for joining us on such a wonderful day. Thanks go out to all of the businesses that donated some of their wonderful products and art. Please visit the Donations page to view each business and do some shopping! We're happy with the success of this show and have already set up a date for our show in 2010. Hope to see you there!

Photo by: Deb Faught