Name: Hoppy Sex: Doe Variety: Chocolate hairless Date of birth: 3 June 2004 Weight: -

Hoppy is a lovely but rather bossy hairless rat - she is definitely the alpha in her cage, and is almost always in the middle of any trouble. She's friendly and outgoing, and never keeps still - and feels very strange to hold compared to normal "furry" rats.

Hairless rats should not deliberately be bred as they often have trouble feeding and caring for their litters, and they may also have health problems themselves (in particular, kidney problems). Not only do they suffer from the cold as you would expect, they can also easily overheat. We do not know of any responsible breeders in the UK breeding hairless rats for these reasons, although occasionally they do appear in certain lines. We are not able to help people to track down hairless kittens, so please don't ask us too - although we are happy to advise on the needs of hairless rats from our own limited experience of keeping one.