The Rat Code
Version 2.01

Contents
* Operators

* Section 1 - General Rat related stuff

+ B - Breeding
+ C - Clubs
+ D - Diet
+ F - Freedom
+ S - Shows

* Section 2 - Section for individual rats

+ Brief Overview
+ S - Sex
+ A - Age
+ V - Variety
+ S - Shows
+ O - Origin

* Section 3 - Personal details

+ oc - Occupation
+ re - Religion
+ a - Age
+ e - Education
+ n - Rat nut factor
+ p - Other pets

* Examples

* Usage

* Contact

Operators

Use these operators when one rating does not fit you or if you are sometimes one rating, but sometimes another, or to indicate other areas of undecidedness.

@
For this operator said trait is not very rigid, may change with time or with individual moods and interaction, people who sometimes change their rats feeding patterns would use D++@

( )
for indicating ranges between 2 different codes (e.g. For breeders who own a rattery but think than certain types of breeding is morally wrong they would use B+(!B) This is different to @ in that it is specific to 2 different codes, wheras @ covers the whole range.

>
for 'wannabes'. Indicating that while someone is currently at one rating, but wants to reach another rating (be it up or down). (e.g. For someone who is a member of a rat club, but wants to join others they would use C>C+

$
Indicates that in this particular category the person makes money out of, it does not have to be their main job. (e.g. Someone who sells a few rats from their litters would use B$)

?
Unless specified within a category a ? is used to indicate no knowlege of a category. (e.g. Someone who doesn't know the sex of their rat would use S?)

!
Unless specified in the category description the ! placed before the category letter indicates that the person wants nothing to do with the category. (e.g. If a person wants nothing to do with rat clubs they wolud use !C) This is unlike ? in that this indicates refusal to participate whereas ? indicates lack of knowlege, it is also unlike # in that # signifies that the person doesn't want to indicate his/her point of view.

#
This operator, unless otherwise stated in the category description signifies that the person doesn't want to give any information about the subject. (e.g. A person who doesn't want people to know about his sex life would use s#).

Section 1 - General Rat Related Stuff

The first part of the Rat Code follows the format below:

RC(1b) <num males>m<num females>f<num bridge>r <codes> <codes> ...

e.g. Somebody who has 2 male rats 1 female and 7 rats who have died they would use 2m1f7r

The ratcode always starts with RC(version number) followed by the number of rats. If you have no rats and never have then use the code !RC(version number)

B - Breeding

C - Clubs

D - Diet

F - Freedom

S - Shows

Section 2 - Individual Rats

Here is the part of the Rat Code where you discuss in relative detail your individual rats, this may be a problem for people with lots of rats, if it is, and you don't wish to have a very large code then you can omit this section if you wish.

<First section of the Rat Code> {Enclose individual rat data in curly brackets} {Like this}

e.g. RC(1b) 2f2r B-- C D++ F S! {<Rat 1 name> <codes> <codes>} {<Rat 2 name><codes> <codes>} ...

S - Sex

A - Age

V- Variety

This code shows the colour variety and body shape/type of your rat, now some rat societies or owners use different names for the varieties than I use here, if that is the case, it's only a matter of finding the equivalent variety that your society or you personally use.

Use the below modifiers to show the body shape and format your rats have (e.g. If you have a normal rat then you would use 'Vn' or a dumbo rat then you would use 'Vd')

You can use a combination of the above modifiers, say if you have a hairless, dumbo tailless (Genetically impossible) you would put 'Vdht' followed by nothing, as the below codes are all for hair colour varieties.

SELF COLOURS

MARKING

SILVER

OTHERS

Place these codes on the end of your existing Variety code (e.g. For a normal pink eyed white you would use VnPEW or for a tailless Berkshire use VtBS, or for the entirely theoretical and quite impossible self blue dumbo tailless hairless rex use VrdhtBU ^_^)
If you have a marked rat you can specify it's colour by first putting the variety code as normal Vn (or Vd Vr whatever) then the marking code (Capped) CA then a / then the colour (American Blue) AB thus making VnCA/AB.
If you have lets say a normal self coloured rat with ticking use VnBZ/AB/AG A Blazed American Blue with ticking.

S - Shows

T - Temperament

O - Origin

Use this code to show where you got your rat from. This code is followed by one of the below modifiers. (e.g. If you found this rat in your garage use Ow or if you bred this rat yourself use Oh)

PARENTS

If you bred this rat yourself or bought it from a breeder or rattery or you otherwise know the animals parentage then you can put in brackets [father/mother] the parents names. (e.g. If your rattery rat has parents called Sally and Frank use Ora[Frank/Sally] or if your pet shop rat's mother is called Diane but father unknown then use Op[?/Diane]

Section 3 - Personal Details

oc - Occupation

If you employed in multiple fields, or if your job covers more than one field then use / to seperate the 2 fields. (e.g. For a lawyer who also lectures in law use ocL/ET)

re - Religion

s - Sex

a - Age

You may also instead of using the +'s and -'s use your exact age. (e.g. If you are 50 use a50 instead of a+++)

e - Education

n - Rat nut factor

p - Other pets

If you have more pets than your ratties they use this code to indicate what you have.

Start with p after the p put down the number of each type of pet followed by one of the codes below. (e.g. Someone who has a cat and a mouse would use p1c1r)

If you have no other pets use the code !p

Examples

Here is an example of a completed code:

RC(2) 2f2r B-- C D++ F S! {SCSI Sf A-- VnBS/BL S-- T+ Op}
{IDE Sf A-- VnHD S-- T Op} ocU reP sM a- e++ n++++ p1c1r

As with the Geek Code I think it would be nice to arrange it in a standard manner, like below:

~~~(---)8> RatCode <8(---)~~~
RC(2) 2f2r B-- C D++ F S! {SCSI Sf A-- VnBS/BL S-- T+ Op}
{IDE Sf A-- VnHD S-- T Op} ocU reP sM a- e++ n++++ p1c1r
~~~(---)8> RatCode <8(---)~~~

Usage

Now all that is left is to put this in your email and news .signature file and hey presto, every time you post a message or send an email, fellow rat lovers who happen to be looking at your message will instantly know about you and your pets.

Contact

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, please mail them to ratcode@yahoo.co.uk or post them to the Yahoo eGroups group Rodents@egroups.com or if you are an NFRS member NFRS@egroups.com

Thanks for looking
Hellahulla