# I know you guys will appreciate this



## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

This guy came into our wildlife resuce a few weeks ago. He is hairless. Can you guess what he is?


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## hansloas (May 15, 2010)

groundhog?  I LOVE HIM ALREADY.


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

haha yeah he is. Isn't he the cutest thing ever? I think he kind of looks like a koala as well. His names Harry lol. He's not very friendly but I love him.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Wow hes cute lol, why is he hairless? Is he wild? We have tons of groundhogs right outside my house (we back onto an orchard).... the babies are adorable!


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

Its either a genetic thing, like hairless rats, or nutrient deficiency of some sort. The owner of the wildlife rescue thinks the latter. He is starting to get a few strands of hair. He is wild. One of our volunteers caught him. He is a baby. He's pretty small. I'd say around 4-5 months or so. I wish I could just snuggle him though. He's way to cute lol.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

That would certainly be interesting if it was a natural genetic mutation.. but since hair is coming back.. it is probably something to do with a nutrient deficiency. 

How do you catch a groundhog? lol. I always go and look at them and they run into holes and whistle at me lol. They are quite adorable though. 

What are the plans for this guy? Could he ever be released? I know they don't make that great of pets (I looked it up when I first saw one, I used to live in england so had never seen one before three years ago)


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

I have no idea how they caught him lol. The girls who caught him were young, like 15 so they probably had a lot of determination to get him. My best guess is that they used a trap. As far as I know, if he gets his hair back and it was just a deficiency he will most likely be released. But if it turn outs that its genetic we might keep him as a program animal. I don't know if he will be relased if its just genetic but I honestly have no idea. I've seen them release all kinds of animals that I don't think I would let go lol


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

I was just at the rescue yesterday and he has gotten a lot of hair back now. It really thin right now but it is growing back. Which is great news for him because as soon as his nutrition problem is fixed he will be released.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yay, hes cute!


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## SilentRobert23 (Aug 16, 2010)

Odd coincidence. My therapist was telling me early that groundhogs are sometimes kept as pets, and now here I am, reading this thread. . . .

Why was he caught in the first place? Because he was hairless?


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, he was caught because he was hairless. He's not being kept as a pet though. He is wild and will be released as soon as all his hair grows back. The main reason he was brought in though is that he will not survive winter without any hair so he will probably be released next spring.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yeah they don't make good pets. You have to hibernate them during the winter.... :-\ I looked into it once, cause they are soo cute.


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, they're friendly babies but once they go into puberty look out. They start biting and fighting each other. Even the sweetest bottle fed baby turns around. But he looks really good now, he's got quite a bit of hair. I'll have to get a new picture of him this friday.


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## laughingrats (Apr 21, 2010)

Ahaha I love the wrinkles! Man he's sure cute.


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## RatMomSC (Feb 5, 2010)

Thanks for posting this. He is so adorable! Made me smile.


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

You're welcome, I knew everyone here who had hairless rats or liked them would love him lol


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-story-roanoke-wildlife-rescue-090110,0,1431598.story
Here's an article that aired on the news last night, if you watch the video you will see him in it!


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Aww that is the cutest thing ever


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

*Re: I know you guys will appreciate this UPDATE 9/9*

Here's a few pictures of him from last friday, you can see that he's getting hair in around his shoulders now.

























He has a new name now too which is Sir Winston Churchill but I'm almost positive that this is actually a female


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Aww it reminds me of my double rex male, Diesel  What a cute little bugger. I wonder if that is just how a baby ground-hogs fur grows? 

And tehehe, call it a unisex name


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## hshelton (Feb 23, 2010)

We've had other baby ground hogs this year, all of them came with fur. His is just some sort of defiency. Nothing that a good diet can't solve fortunately


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## Nagi (Sep 19, 2010)

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! That is so so so so cute!<3 Completely made my afternoon!


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