pigletpye
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hi,all. im newhi to everyone out there, have just joined and thought i would tell you a lil bit about me and my darling piglet. i have never kept rats before, but my piglet was waiting to be adopted at a new branch of pets at home, and it was love at first sight, and now i absolutely adore him. i have had him nearly 3 weeks and we are gradually getting to know one another, he "starfishes" when i talk to him and will come to his name provided it is accompanied by cheese!!. He is a hairless rat, but so CUTE. already i have caught GMR, every time i go out i find myself wondering if there are any more adoptees. would welcome any suggestions for help etc,thanx all x
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RattyHelen
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Hi, welcome to the site! 
I'm sure Piglet would appreciate some friends too 
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FluffyBuffyWatwat
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Hello.
Pics of Piglet
And if he's hairless he'd certainly benefit from some friends.
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Dragonrat
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What Lucy said. But more emphasis on the pics.
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Sare
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Hi there 
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Linzi
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Hi there! Yes please on the pics front!
I'm not surprised you've got GMR already, they are very addictive, but that's not a bad thing given how sociable they are. 
If you got a pair of young ones to live with Piglet they should be fairly easy to introduce to him too.
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sarattie
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Welcome to the forum.
The rules are pictures must be added with 5 posts or you are banned.
Yes hairless ratty would love to snuggle up to a couple of friends!!
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jan
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HI ABN WELOCME TO TGHE FOURNM
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sarahh
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Hey welcome to the forum, aww piglet such a cute name and a hairless rat aswell. Well done you for adopting this is the best way forward with animals we have adopted so many animals from our local pets at home and 1 rat we adopted first followed by 2 elderly rats a couple of weeks ago.
I know hairless animals don't tend to live as long as those who have hair and their body temperature needs to be kept an eye on so they don't get too hot or cold also because they have no hair you need to be more careful about piglet getting scrathes and cuts.
I know what you mean I have caught the GMR bug its totally catching lol. I saw 4 dumbo's in the adoption bit today so wanted them but no room now.
Is piglet showing signs of being lonely? How old is piglet? If he is young you maybe ok with getting him some friends. I have a year old rat who was a lone rat when we adopted him and the boys we have now they hate each other so Kamarlie is happy being a lone rat and the elderly boys are happy together.
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pigletpye
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piglet alineHi, thanks so much for your very friendly post. My piglet is 8 months old, he was living with another hairless rat, apparently they were bought together, but they then started to fight quite badly, so the previous owner took the decision to separate them and they were both sent to the adoption centre, where they tried putting them back together, because they were used to living together, but they would have none of it, which is why they were separated again and adopted separately. I have plenty of time on my hands, so as we are gradually bonding i plan to spend a lot of time with him, so hopefully he wont get too lonely. He doesnt seem unhappy at the moment, and always seems pleased to see me and get out. hope to speak again soon x
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sarahh
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Hi ya Your rattie sounds like he is a dominant rattie and prefers being on his own. Kamarlie and my friends male rat we were going to try boh of them together but they dislike each other and both prefer being lone males. As you have said you have plenty of time on your hands so therefore he will see you as another rattie. Kamarlie see's me as his mate and we play rough and tumble play fights he loves it.
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FluffyBuffyWatwat
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Whilst it is possible that some rats do prefer being on their own, I do have a male that simply cannot live with other rats, 99 times out of 100 it is best for them to have companions.
As much as you bond with a rat, you cannot give it everything it needs, as you cannot groom them, or snuggle up with them, and if your rat is hairless this is very important.
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Linzi
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What Lucy says is true. Although you do occasionally find rats that won't live with others, they do tend to be fairly rare. When I first started keeping rats I kept lone ones too, as all the books I read at the time said it was fine. Although they seemed happy enough at the time, it wasn't until I started keeping more than one rat together that I saw what a difference ratty company made, and I realised that my lone rats probably weren't all that happy.
You may of course have one of those rare ratties, but I'd say it was definitely worth a try getting a couple of kittens to try with him. Where a rat may not easily accept an older rat as a new companion, it's fairly rare that they won't accept kittens (have a look at Tigerbabe's thread about her Gizmo, and you'll see what I mean). Good luck!
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