young female with hair falling out near tail

Question
Hi. I recently acquired two female rats from a woman who was giving them away online. I've never had rats before and this has been a rather intense crash course for me.

I do want to include this little history to see if it's maybe part of Lavern (one of the rats) problems.

When I got them their cage was lined with newspaper that was about an inch thick and soaked in urine and fecal matter. They had a TERRIBLE case of the sneezes and each had a couple of cyst like, very large, icky pimples. Laverns foot was covered in ulcer like sores (bumblefoot) and their fur was filthy, thin, and dry. With a great deal of TLC they have come a LONG way in four months. All cysts are gone, sneezing has cut WAY back, Laverns bumblefoot, although still and issue sometimes, is MUCH better now and their fur ls looking pretty good. They now play and act like rats should act. Curious, silly little ladies!

Lavern has always had more problems than her sister Shirley. Her right, back foot has always been a little swollen and prone to bumblefoot sores, her sneezing has always been more intense and has never fully cleared up, and she's a little thinner than Shirley. The vet said her weight is very healthy and in fact Shirley is a little over weight.

They both seem to have dry, itchy skin so a couple of days ago I started including little bits of olive oil in their diets.

The problem I'm writing about is that Lavern has a spot a little bit above her tail that she's constantly grooming and the hair has started to fall out in a little patch. I was able to get a pretty good look at it and it seems to have some dry, flakey skin on it, but not on all of it. Her skin at the spot also has a very slight orange tinge to it.

I've been feeding them a mixed food that I bought at the local pet store, just a bag of your average rat food that's mostly grains. I also give them raisins, apples, steamed broccili, and other foods that have been recommended by the vet and other rat owners.

They also get a yogurt chip about every other day. I just read something online that said some rats are allergic to them. Could this be the cause of her bald spot and both of them having dry skin with lots of scratching? They don't have scabs, not even on the balding spot, so I don't think it's buggies of any sort.

The other odd thing is that they tend to get a sort of orange tinge to their fur. Don't know if that's related at all but I just thought I'd throw that our there.

And last, but possibly also related, is that they are "classroom pets" that go home with me on the weekends. I work in a psychiatric residential treatment center with teenagers. Not all of the kids are allowed to interact because they aren't capable of being safe with them for whatever reason. The kids who DO help care for them absolutely love it and Lavern and Shirley hop around when a couple of them come in the room. They have their favorites and I think it's been good for both kids AND rat to sort of help each other through some hard times. I do worry that (and forgive my while I get a little "out there" right now) the energy from the kids who are REALLY unhealthy with some rather severe mental illnesses, is bothering Lavern. Ever seen anything like that? It was just a thought I had.

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to read this and would appreciate any thoughts you may have on the topic.

Thanks for all your hard work!

-Polly

Answer
Hi Polly

thank you SO much for taking such good care of two little girls that had a rough start to life!

Right off I can tell you what the orange stuff is, which is often seen in males. It is called "buck grease" and again, it gets the name since it is seen in males more than females. It is due to over active oil glands and it tends to cake in an area that is not groomed as often as other places. It tends to be orange waxy film on the skin but can flake off onto the fur. I think from what you describe this is what they have.  The olive oil is a great way to help with it. Feed them a dab on a cracker every day and see how that goes. Also you can brush them with a very soft brush used for babies or even a super soft tooth brush. Some people bathe their rats and thats fine if its only once a month or less, but if you do, this is the perfect time to work on the area with teh buck grease with a bit of dawn dish soap and a soft tooth brush. It may not come out all at once and dont expect it to or it will be too much on the skin.  You can even rub the skin with a bit of cortisone cream if its itchy.

Also, you mentioned if possibly the rats are troubled by any type of energy from the kids that seem to be more troubled than others and the answer is absolutely yes. Rats feed off of the energy of humans and pick right up on it. They can become uneasy fast if they feel negative energy from any source and it can affect them as well, sometimes in an unhealthy way.  I have seen rats that never had a problem with aggression become biters after being exposed to a home that had owners that did nothing but fight with each other, scream and yell in the same room as the rats to the point the rats would hide. Eventually they became used to the loud arguing but it also caused the rats to act out and bite.  The owner came to us and actually had an idea this was the problem so she wanted to give the rats to someone else and that someone was me.  Within a week these two rats stopped biting and stopped hiding.  Nobody had hurt the rats but just the negative environment they were subjected to ruined their trust and made them fearful.   I always tell new rat owners that perhaps had been bitten by the rat to never let the rat know they are fearful of them and by wearing gloves around them this makes the rat mistrust the owner and will either cause further aggression since the rat feels like he can overpower the owner now that she shows fear of the rat, or it can make the rat withdraw more and feel insecure.  A steady flow of calm positive energy works wonders on rats.  So yes, this is pretty interesting you brought this up.

Hope this helps!