Father of the Fancies

Those of us who love fancy rats, in all their shapes and sizes, have one man in history to thank; Jack Black, who was, of all things, an exterminator.  Black was the official rat-catcher of the ruler of England, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, in fact. 

 As an exterminator Black came across plenty of rats, and made a hobby of keeping and breeding any rats of unusual color that he happened to come across.  Jack Black is credited with creating the first domesticated lines of black, grey, fawn, marked and albino rats.  In fact, his animals were many of the first kept as pets, a fad that began among sophisticated ladies of the Victorian era, including Queen Victoria herself.  Children’s author Beatrix Potter is also believed to have owned one of his rats, named “Samuel Whiskers,” the namesake of one of her books. 

  Jack Black’s albino rats, in particular, are believed to be the foundation animals for the Wistar line of laboratory rats, the progenator of all modern laboratory rats.