Columnist Susan Snyder: Fancy that: A club for rodent fans

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

With snow-white fur and pink eyes, Kibbles looks pretty much the way a mouse should.

But make no mistake, she is not your common vermin. Kibbles is a "fancy mouse," which puts her in a class of mice (meeses?) bred for showing.

Yep, showing. And if Laura and Amber Kimmick can swing it, Kibbles will make her debut in events sponsored by the Las Vegas Valley's new chapter of the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association.

The group does, too, exist. It's based in Riverside, Calif., and has a website -- afrma.org.

Kibbles and her black-and-white mate, Nibbles, share a cage in the guest room of the Kimmicks' Anthem home.

Kimmick and her daughter, Amber, bought the mice in December and discovered the fancy rat-and-mouse group while reading a book about mouse care. Kimmick decided the Las Vegas Valley needed a chapter.

Well, why not? We have fancy tigers, fancy hotels and fancy shows. Why not fancy mice and rats?

The group's first meeting is at 3 p.m. Sunday in the pool area of Sunset Park in Henderson. Kimmick and her daughter are the only members so far, which makes Kimmick president. She hopes this first meeting attracts enough people to get started on electing officers, writing bylaws and planning social events.

"Any type of mice and rats are welcome. And all ages are welcome," Kimmick said. "Even if you don't have mice yet, you can come. This is social. We want to have fun with it."

Kibbles and Nibbles are fancy, but not expensive. They cost $2 a piece. But Kimmick says some fancy mice, such as a hairless variety, can cost $40 each. It's quite an investment. The average mouse lives only a year or two.

Kimmick says her husband, Randy, and 17-year-old son, Peter, don't share her enthusiasm for mice and rats -- fancy or average.

"Rats are smart. I wanted to get a rat, but my husband drew the line at rats," Kimmick said.

Kibbles and Nibbles live in a plastic cage with tubes and cubbyholes. Evidently, they get along quite well. Kibbles gave birth to nine babies soon after the Kimmicks brought her home, and she is pregnant again.

Mice, Kimmick says, can have up to 20 babies at once, and the gestation period is 17 to 21 days. (No wonder they only live two years.)

As for getting Kibbles "fixed," Kimmick says she's not sure she could get a veterinarian to do it.

"She's pretty small," she says. "We thought they were two girls when we got them, because that's what we meant to get."

Well, they are pretty small.

People's reactions to Kimmick's rodent hobby vary, but not much.

"They say, 'EEYEW.' They think it's creepy," she said. "But mice are better than having hamsters and gerbils because they're less common."

(Please, I am only the messenger. No fancy-hamster mail).

Amber Kimmick, a fourth grader with her heart set on being an astronaut, has a more basic reason for liking mice best.

"I think they're cute."

For more information on Sunday's meeting, call Kimmick at 263-1185, or check out her website, webspawner.com/lvvc.