Possibly adopting a hairless male rat...

[Bruce Whitehead]

Hi all,

I have a chance to adopt a hairless male.

I have always liked these guys, but am not finding much beyond pet store care sheets on them.

I have heard that they can have liver, skin, and vision issues, and are more suspectible to colds, etc.

He is currently living by himself, the owner only has one rat. I have had males that lived alone and never acclimated to other rats in the past (fighting,etc.).

Any tips or good sites that anyone can recommend?

I have sent a laundry list of questions to the keeper regarding his health and socialization, and will probably go and have a look at him this weekend.

I did meet him briefly (but I was there to pick up mouses for the hatchlings - so he was just a really cute aside at the time).

And allergies... my partner and I are both allergic to our rats, so since our pet of all pets Ginger passed we have not had any of our rats are free roamers. Is there less chance of allergies with this guy?

We would really like to have another lap rat... it has been too long.

Thanks in advance,
Bruce

[onebreitgirl]

I had some hairless rats a couple years back. I had a female pet that was a little doll. Mine didn't have any health problems that I noticed, but I was just as allergic to the hairless as the normals. I am on daily allergy meds now so none of them really bother me anymore.

I love hairless rats...they are so funny looking.

[Michelle.C]

Funny thing, I never knew much about Hairless genetics before a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, they are one of the few rats that never really interested me.

However, quite recently, I had the cutest self black rat pop in a litter bred from my Cinnamon male to a Berkshire Russian Blue female. Cutest little bugger you have ever seen. I was proud too, she is my first black self after all of the rats I have rescued, purchased from breeders and bred myself.

To my dismay, she has started balding (lol). I found out that both parents are recessive hairless, so I have started researching hairless rats. I never intended to acquire one, but I am too attached to her and her brother to let them go.

I knew their was something weird about her having wavy (rex like) hair, I just never messed with hairless genetics.

I'm thinking one of those sites I listed says this, but just in case, I'll go ahead and go off memory. Hairless rats have several genetic problems, abnormal hearts, kidney failure, etc. However, rats from a Hairless x Hairless are most at risk for genetic problems. One that is bred from Hairless x Furred Recessive Hairless is even less at risk, they generally live pretty close to the same as a normal rat. Of course, Furred Recessive Hairless x Furred Recessive Hairless is the ideal breeding you want when producing a Hairless.

Some URLs you might find useful.

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/c...a_figure_3.php Care sheet from one of the most reliable rat care sites out there.

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/c...a_figure_2.php A bit on their genetics.

http://www.curiosityrats.com/mine.html Nice little blurb about Hairless Rats.

http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatTypes.htm Wonderful site on Genetics and Health Concerns.

I hope this helps!

[Bruce Whitehead]

Excellent feedback and great links, thanks to you both.

The links were great.

I am going to see him on Monday night and will do as much research/reading prior and be armed with a few questions. If it all pans out then he'll have a home here.

Bruce

[Bruce Whitehead]

I picked him up earlier this week... oh man... is he cute!

He has been housed alone, but is just an amazing rat. Very gentle and very sweet.

I think I always thought they were "so ugly they are cute" - kinda like a chinese crested, but nothing could be further from the truth.

He is just cute-ness personified.

We are pretty happy with him.

Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[Bruce Whitehead]

And for the record... he is definitely getting a date with my blonde hooded dumbo (Ginger II) when he comes out of QT.

[Ginevive]

Awe, what a cute hairless! I miss the ones that I used to have. I liked to put nice comfy things in with them, such as (new) socks, washcloths, etc.. Because they are so hairless, I figured that they liked to cuddle up with a blankie