The health of hairless

[tarajoy]

I had a hairless rat once, and her 'fuzzy' sister. The hairless unfortunately died at approx. the age of 1.5 years. She was always a tad underweight despite what I gave her. I always made sure there was plenty of cozy stuff (and cagemates) to make her warm. The vet found no problems with her. However, I went on vacation for a week and a very experienced rat owner took care of my ratties with no problems. However, when I came home I noticed she had defiantly lost some weight, while all the other ratties were normal. I pulled her out, she was cold, lethargic. She died in my arms only a few minutes after I arrived home. (It is like she waited for me!). But, anyways, I still have no idea what happened to her. Does anyone know is hairless rats are more prone to sickness and/or premature death? I am just kind of scared to ever get another one!

 

[user 78]

Hairless rats are no different than furred rats as far as general care goes. They do tend to eat a bit more than their furred companions, simply because they burn more energy staying warm. As for any specific type of thing that would only effect hairless rats in a general health sort of way, there isn't anything that I'm aware of.

 

[jorats]

A long time ago, it was said that hairless didn't live long. But it's no longer like that. I have noticed that hairless and double rex seem to be a smaller rat. In many cases, people try to feed their hairless and double rex more because of the unfounded fact that they need more protein so I've seen a lot of obese hairless and double rexes.
I too had a hairless, a while ago. My little guy didn't make it past 15 months. He was very sickly, and from a breeder.
I suppose he was just unlucky.

 

[tarajoy]

Wow, thanks for the info guys