Puberty is a key developmental milestone that marks an individual’s maturation in several ways including, but not limited to, reproductive maturation, changes in behaviors and neural organization. The timing at which puberty occurs is variable both within individuals of the same species and between species. These variations can be aligned with ecological cues that delay or suppress puberty. Naked mole-rats are colony-living rodents where reproduction is restricted to a few animals; all other animals are pubertally-suppressed. Animals removed from suppressive colony cues can reproductively mature, presenting the unique opportunity to study adult-onset puberty. Recently, we found that RFRP-3 administration sustains pubertal delay in naked mole-rats removed from colony. In this review, we explore what is known about regulators that control puberty onset, the role of stress/social status in pubertal timing, the status of knowledge of pubertal suppression in naked mole-rats and what comes next. •Puberty onset is marked by the release of GnRH in the hypothalamus.•GnRH is modulated by several key neuropeptides (e.g. RFRP-3, KISS1, KNDy neurons).•Neuropeptides regulating GnRH interact with endo-/exogenous cues to alter pubertal timing.•Naked mole-rats remain pubertally-suppressed unless removed from the suppressive colony cues.•Naked mole-rats allow us to explore how social environment/stress control puberty.