A Day At The Bradford Small Animal Show
Sunday, January 27th, 2008Wow, what a day we’ve just had! My daughter and I went to the Bradford Small Animal show in Harrogate in the UK today. It is an annual event where they competetively show rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and some other animals. We 
had never been to a small animal show before so we didn’t know quite what to expect, but we really enjoyed the day and we had an absolute ball.
It was held in two massive halls where around 3000 small animals, mostly rabbits but with a fair number of guinea pigs and much fewer hamsters were on display. We were free to walk around and view all of the animals and we could also get up close and handle the animals, when they were on the judging tables. The animals owners and the judges were extremely approachable and willing to chat and give information regarding the animals, which made for a real friendly and informative atmosphere and they were also happy for people to take picture of their animals.
As well as the show animals themselves there were a number of trade exhibitons with animal feedstuffs, housing and various other animal related bits and pieces. Around the perimeter of the halls there were also stalls manned by various animal breed clubs and societies, where the club members were happy to discuss their particular breeds of interest. There was even a television celebrity vet, Matt Brash from ITV Yorkshire’s Zoo Vet At Large who was also very approachable and happy to chat with the attendees including ourselves and my daughter even had her picture taken with him, and, of course, we had to buy his book, which he duly signed!
Although rabbits outnumbered all of the other animals by some margin and there was a fantastic array of beautiful rabbit breeds of all sizes shapes and colours, I particularly enjoyed the guinea pigs. I saw for the first time a number of 
guinea pig breeds that were new to me, including my personal favourite the Lilac Fox. This was a stunningly coloured smooth coated guinea pig with lighter eye circles and a very light coloured belly. I spoke in some detail with the breeder and look forward to hearing more about this breed from him and quite possibly acquiring one or two to add to our current pair of guinea pigs.
The only dissapointment for us was how few hamsters there were on show and nearly all of the Syrians were just curled up in a ball in their cages trying to get some sleep. Maybe what the Syrian hamsters need is a nocturnal small animal show 
to really shine! There were quite a few dwarf hamstes and a few long haired Syrians, which were nice as we hadn’t seen to many of them in the flesh before. Anyway it certainly made a great day out and we have already pencilled in it in the diary for next year and plan to find a few more similar small animals shows to attend in the spring and summer.
John
adventurous and will explore her surroundings more and makes constant chirrupy, bird-like sounds. Hope this means she’s happy - we’re still getting used to all their different sounds and trying to interpret what they are communicating to us and each other.
in the background! They really are adorable pets and, despite their understandable anxieties, have never shown any aggression towards us, or even an inquisitive nip. You can see why they make great pets, even for younger children. 
