# Hairless Rats?



## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

So I've been wanting to get a 3rd rat for a while. I was looking at the website for our local shelter, and they currently have a hairless neutered male who's about 6 months old. A lot of people think hairless rats are weird looking, but I've always found them kind of cute, and I wanted to get hairless rats when I first got my ratties, but there were none at the shelter and there are barely any rat breeders around here. I'm planning on calling the shelter tomorrow and asking if I can set up an appointment to come and meet him.

Before I bring him home, I have a few questions. Are there any general things I should know about hairless rats? Do they have different needs than other rats (i.e. special care for their skin, special diet, etc.)? Also, my other two rats are unspayed females. Has anyone ever introduced a neutered male to unspayed females? Is the introduction any different? Any advice would be greatly appreciated (as well as potential name options for my new boy )


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Hairless rats aren't really any different to fuzzies...only the obvious that they have no fur to keep them warm...REALLY good you have 2 furry ratties you plan to intro him to coz he can snuggle them for warmth & comfort.

Just keep an eye on his skin...it can sometimes get dry or you may notice a few cuts/scrapes where they don't have their fur for protection from your other ratties nails etc. when they play. I use natural baby oil for when mine get dry skin & if I notice a cut, just a lil neosporin covers that.

Another thing would be just to watch their eyes...many can be prone to eye issues. My boy has had horrible eye problems from day 1...but my other boy [hes actually a double rex, so not 100% hairless] hes been perfectly fine.

Otherwise they are great! & very cute ;D....As far as intros, I think male & females tend to go really well, but I don't have personal experience myself on that.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

The only thing I can think of is their skin tends to dry out sometimes like was said.

As for intros it should go as any other intro as long as he is healed from the neuter. As log as intros are done properly you shouldn't have any problem.


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## Xerneas (Aug 6, 2013)

Eden10 most of what you need to know. The reason why they have more eye problems is because lack of hair = lack of protection against debris that gets into the eye, so they may need to be wiped more.

They are prone to dry skin so they will to have something rubbed onto the skin occasionally. Olive oil is great, anything else non-toxic and not harsh (like the baby oil Eden10 mentioned) can work.

I've also read about them needing some more calories in their diet. Since they need to use up more energy for body heat you can feed calorie-rich foods to them more often.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I have two hairless rats, V and Evy, and before them I also owned a hairless dumbo named Molly. There's really no difference between them and fuzzy rats. I do tend to keep some warmer hammocks in my cage in the winter (even if it's Florida). Depending on the hairless rat, I give mine baths every week. V has a lot of buck grease build up on his back if he does not get bathed. I use Dr. Bonner's Castle Soap to prevent their skin from drying when I bath them. Some of them, not all of them, will have eye issues. A simple Q-tip dipped in some water does the trick for that. They do tend to get the chill more often then my fuzzy rats, Toast and Pastoolio, do.

Edit: I also forgot to mention they do drink and eat almost twice as much as Toast and Pastoolio do.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

I currently have a little double rex girl. The only hair she has on her is mostly around her nose and eyes and just a slight bit of peach fuzz on the rest of her body. She is by far the weirdest rat I've ever had, not just for looks (I think she's adorable!) but for her personality. She's so different from her mom and siblings who are all regular furry rats. I don't know if hairless and double rex tend to have slightly odd personalities, but she's really a cute little wierdo! She's tiny, maybe even smaller than her mom. She loves to climb upside down on the top the cage ceiling and none of the other rats are interested in that. She gives me kisses and nibbles often. She does sleep a lot and always has a sleepy look on her face with those squinty sleepy eyes whenever she wakes up. Even though she's naked, she doesn't cuddle very often with the other rats, but when she does, she loves cuddling with her mom. She is super spazzy and will zoom around wrecklessly when excited, sometimes running into things. When she plays directly with me, instead of just zooming around excitely and bouncing off the walls, she will grab my hand in a little bear-hug and in a frenzy mock bites me all over before flying away again. She will sometimes bite my finger or clothing (gently, not in a mean way) and try to pull me into the cage with her when I have the doors open to say hello to everyone. Her whiskers are very short and curly so she has no real sense of her surroundings and is surprised easily and bumps her face into things. She appears to always be on the tips of her toes when excited and will hop and bounce everywhere like an excited ferret, I almost named her Roo because of this! Her name is Aoife (pronounced EE-fuh) which I thought was a weird and unique cute sounding name which fits her very well. She's a really unique little baby and we really love her 

She lives with her mom, sister, and 2 neutered brothers. The brothers were separated from their mom and sisters just before they were 5 weeks old (they are now 5 months old). They got neutered a little over a month ago and have been living with their siblings for a month now. I waited about 10 days to do the first introductions, and waited until day 14 before they could actually live together. They get along so well! I'm not sure if it's because they are siblings and even when seperated had their cages next to each other so they were never really truly seperated, but I love having boys and girls together, and they seem to love it too! They always cuddle and play together. The boys are much more playful than the girls surprisingly, but they're big babies and often will lose during their play fights! In the future, we will definitely get spayed girls or neutered boys so we can have a mix gender mischeif again.

For the skin, I have noticed of course that they get scratched up pretty easily, so you will have to clip everyone's nails very frequently to try to prevent more scratches. When my girl gets a particularly big scach, I will give her a bath with antibacterial soap and then rub a little bit of food grade coconut oil into my hands and rub it all over her skin. She and the other rats will groom it off of her and it keeps her skin soft.

For her eyes, she definitely needs to have them cleaned often. She gets globs of porphyrin stuck in the corners and it's difficult to get out. I will get a q-tip with warm water and wipe at her eye until I get some out, but getting all of it out is almost impossible. A few months ago one eye was very squinty all the time. I got antibiotics to treat the start of a URI she had and hopefully to help her eye, but her eye didn't get better. One day when I looked at her, I noticed she had a white spot on her eye and it turns out that the reason she was squinty was actually because she had litter stuck under her eyelid. I got it out and she was 100% better. Just be careful about the eyes and keeping them clean! Other than that I dont' think there's really any truly special needs that they have.

Excuse my novel, I love talking about how awesome my rats are! haha ;D

For name ideas, you should post a picture of your boy! It might be easier to think of some after we see him. Do you have any ideas already or a theme you'd like to stick to?


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

I use Veterycin (think thats spelled right) eye wash for my boy, its expensive but good stuff! Like mentioned tho not all nakey rats will have eye problems...just something to watch for. My boy came to me with a messed up eye (came from a feeder bin) so that probably didn't help. & I also noticed that they have crazy personalities...idk if they have a high metabolism, but both my boys have always been WAY more hyper & move quicker than the rest of my rats! May have nothing to do with them being hairless, but seeing as Finnebon mentioned it


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

That's funny, I wonder if it does have something to do with hairless/double rexness then! My girl is much quicker and agile too when she moves, it's like she's always wound up really tightly or something hehe they're so cute. I would definitely like another one in the future.

Thanks for sharing the eye wash stuff! I'll have to get some of that. I was going to make a post about that asking what would be recommended for rat safe eye drops since I just wiped out Aoife's eyes. I think drops might make it easier every once in a while to get out the gunk stuck in the corners.


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

Thanks for your advice guys. 

I'm going to call the shelter tomorrow morning and ask if I can come see him after work. This is the same place that I got my girls from, so I know they take really good care of their animals.

Does anyone know if neutered males still get buck grease? I'm not sure what causes it, so I don't know if he would still get that or not.
I have some olive oil here. How often should I grease his skin? Only when it seems dry, or more regularly?
Eden10: Where do you get Veterycin?

If post pictures if I end up bringing him home. I'm really hoping he doesn't have any behavioral issues. This is my first time owning rats, and while I'm thoroughly enjoying it, I don't think I'm ready to tackle a biter.


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

Okay, so I called them this morning and they set up an appointment for this afternoon. I got to take work off early (I work at a vet clinic so my boss was pretty willing to let me go), and I'm about to head over there. I'll let you guys know the results in a n hour or so!


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## monster_paws (Jan 17, 2013)

I had a neutered boy that would get a little bit of buck grease. Definitely not even close to as much as before, but still a little. They also don't smell like boy musk anymore and smell like whatever they've been lounging on.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Yay! Can't wait! I hope you bring him home 

I think neutered males have less buck grease since it's mostly a hormone driven thing (I think) but I also dont' know how it is for hairless rats since my hairless is a girl. I would imagine it's a little more noticeable though since there's no fur to hide it and you'd probably just have to clean him off with a wet paper towel or a bath.

For the oil, I will usually only put oil on after I give her a bath since soap and warm water can dry out skin. But as long as he's drinking enough, he should stay hydrated well enough to not get dry skin very often.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

I order it from Wayfair here: http://m.wayfair.com/products/VTC1013 my local rattie vet recommended it for him. Keep us posted on him! Hope the meeting goes well & hes a sweetie


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

I got back a few hours ago, and just now had the time to write this.

When I got to the shelter, his foster mom was there with him. She told me that he'd come from a really horrible hoarding situation, so he didn't have a name. They've been calling him Mickey, but she said that I could rename him if I wanted to. I wasn't able to get a picture of him, unfortunately.

At first he seemed kind of nervous around me, but after a few treats, he warmed right up. At one point while I was talking to his foster mom, Mickey crawled up onto my shoulder and sat there grooming himself for a good 8-10 minutes. By the end of the interview he was asleep in my lap. <3
I think I can safely say that I'm completely in love with the little guy. His mom said that I can come get him on Saturday! I'm so excited to bring him home! I'm not sure if I'll stick with the name 'Mickey'. When he gets home I'll post a picture of him and maybe you guys will have a name suggestion.


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

Going to pick up my new boy today! Soooooo excited!! I've set up a small quarantine cage with food, water, a couple of the girls' toys and a blanket that I let them play in this morning. Do any of you have suggestions for how long I should keep him in the quarantine cage? I doubt that he's sick, because his mom has been taking really excellent care of him. Also should I schedule a vet visit for him, just in case? When I first got my girls I took them into the vet, but they'd been living in the shelter, not a foster home.


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

So now that he's all settled in, here is a picture of him chilling on my kitchen counter.









It took me quite a while to get him in a position that cute.
So far he's gotten along great with the girls and is a total sweet heart!


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

What a cutie!!! I'm so happy it worked out, that firt meeting you had with him sounds like he was very happy that you wanted to take him home! I hope your girls accept him quickly but it sounds like all is going well so far. Congrats on your adorable new boy! ;D


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

He is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!!!  Congrats! Hope intros go well for you. If your able to take him for a check up with a good rat vet then you can...that way you can start intros right away if your want, but the fact he was fostered am sure hes had a check up...otherwise I would probably quarantine for 2 weeks (that way you can start bonding with him too etc.) & then if alls well start intros.


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## Simons mum (Dec 19, 2013)

What a handsome, regal looking little man. I love him!! So happy you both found eachother.


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## zombiesrkewl (Nov 28, 2013)

He is a super charming little guy. I've noticed that he's got the curly whiskers that you usually see on rex rats which makes me think he might actually be a double rex, although I thought most double rexes still had a bit of hair on them?

I sort of think that his foster mom was training him to be a shoulder rat because whenever I take him out of the cage to play, he will invariably end up sitting on my shoulder at some point. He's also super calm about me walking around while he's up there. Usually my rats don't leave my room, but last night I took him out and put him on my shoulder where he stayed for almost an hour while I wandered around the house reading my Kobo. I wanted to see how long he'd stay there, but called it quits after an hour. Are some rats just predisposed to riding shoulders? Or is it a learned thing?

All in all, he's a super sweet heart, and so far he's getting along great with the girls. I think they'll be sharing a cage by New Year's Day.  I asked his mom, and she said he's been pretty healthy other than a minor URI when she first brought him home. She had him neutered because at the time she had only female rats and didn't want to have to run out and get another male for him.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Hes most likely a Double Rex...he may grow some hair. They are nicknamed patchwork rats where they constantly grow & lose their hair...some have pretty cool hair patterns. A 'true' hairless rat isn't supposed to have any hair, not even whiskers (i think according to show standards a few short whiskers are allowed) but if he has curly whiskers he is probably Double Rex. Either way he is adorable  & sounds wonderful! Some rats do love to be on your shoulder & automatically just perch there, then there are others that prefer to be on your lap or in your sleeve...just depends on the rattie! Shoulder rats are great tho


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## Simons mum (Dec 19, 2013)

I just picked up my double rex girl the other day and she's the best! I love the peach fuzz feeling of her, which is why her name is Peaches. My hairless token, loves to just sit on my shoulder, where as peaches sits in my hoodie. It works perfectly. I'd love to add a 3rd hairless to my two. Enjoy your little man.


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