shorty

Question
I have a female hooded rat that is a little under a year old.I have noticed her chewing on her tail quite a bit pulling the scales off. She's never gotten it caught or been picked up by it. Looking at the tail closely it isn't red or oozing or anything and the places where the scales are gone still have the tiny hairs on them. I used warm water and a baby washcloth and ran it down her tail and more scales came off on the wash clothe. I was just curious if this was normal, for her to "shed" for lack of a better word. Her tail scales?

Answer

Hi there Amanda

Just to let you know, rats do not have scales. A rats tail is covered in layers of thick skin and fine hairs. I know its easier to just say "scales" when describing their tail but some folks really thought that the tail was scaly.  Other people who of course fear rats, think the tail is like some snake and will wrap around you and cut off your circulation. I am serious. You would not believe the misconceptions out there about our poor sweet funny, smart and CLEAN rat friends!!

Anyhow back to the question at hand:

Usually when rats start to have problems with the skin on the tail, it can be related to a skin infection.  No duh, your probably saying. LOL  But from what? Why? How? And what to do about it?

Sometimes, however, it is simply dirt that you see that may have accumulated. Believe it or not, that does sound a bit gross, but I have seen it esp if the rat isnt litter box trained and they have the entire bottom tray of their cage covered in litter/bedding.  If the rat urinates, gets the tail wet, drags it along in the litter, this  coats it, almost like "breading chicken"  LOL  Does that make sense?  After a while it starts to slough off, leaving the rat owner thinking it is the flesh of the tail but its really just layers of accumulated muck.  Its a good idea to always be sure their tail is clean (for all readers reading this) since their tail must be able to breathe. The rats tail plays a big part in controlling body temperature and if it is coated with dirt, this can cause problems. Infection is one of the problems since the tail cannot breathe.  Like human flesh, if we never bathed, even just one area of our body, the chance that we develop a nasty skin infection is high because our skin must breathe.

Is there a way to take a photo of his tail and either attach one here or send them to me at sandsycrittercity@yahoo.com?

Also, do you have a vet that is qualified to treat rats? If not, please let me know your location and I will use my database here to find a good vet for your vet should the need arise.