Went to buy some feeders...

[dogsNdragons]

Meet Devon Blue (fe):

And Quark, hairless (fe) and the two surprises:

I picked the blue female out for a pet from by friend who raises feeders. Afterward, I stopped at the pet shop to browse and saw the hairless girl in with their feeders. I wasn't wanting to get a second rat, but how can you pass that face up?? She was a owner turn in and really sweet. Of course, now I have four :shrugs:. The babies will probably be named Lunch and Dinner , unless anyone local wants a pet rat.

 

[starsevol]

I think it's good you got a second rat. REALLY good. They are social animals and really need a buddy to have a good life.

Meet Devon Blue (fe):

And Quark, hairless (fe) and the two surprises:

I picked the blue female out for a pet from by friend who raises feeders. Afterward, I stopped at the pet shop to browse and saw the hairless girl in with their feeders. I wasn't wanting to get a second rat, but how can you pass that face up?? She was a owner turn in and really sweet. Of course, now I have four :shrugs:. The babies will probably be named Lunch and Dinner , unless anyone local wants a pet rat.

 

[Allalaskan]

I was told by the pet store ( ya I know not a good source lol) that most hairless rats are so inbreed that they become sterile, is this true?

 

[dogsNdragons]

I think it's good you got a second rat. REALLY good. They are social animals and really need a buddy to have a good life.

Yes, I originally got just the blue girl. But then I had to make that stop at the pet shop

 

[dogsNdragons]

I was told by the pet store ( ya I know not a good source lol) that most hairless rats are so inbreed that they become sterile, is this true?

That I am not sure about. I did some reseach and found that there are several genetic types of hairless. The originals were breed for research and are athymic and T-cell deficient (RNU or Nude rats). There is also the Rex which is a dominant so if the rat gets two copies of the Rex gene, it is expressed as hairless.

I think my girl is a homozygous Rex because she has some sparse hair on her head and curled whiskers..

 

[Jessicat]

I was surprised to see your hairless female with pups because I too thought that hairless were sterile. I just assumed this from experience of keeping males. They never seemed to father any children. I didn't really keep them long enough to qualify any "scientific research" though!

 

[dogsNdragons]

Here is an update on my rattie girls.
I named the blue one Devon Blue and the hairless Quark, both after types of cheese :grin01:

I got them set up in a wire cage with two balconies, a hammock and some toys. They are really enjoying the hammock.

Quark:

Devon Blue:

Hammock pics:

Cage: