damaged tail

Question
I have a female rat who is rather difficult to handle but I noticed yesterday that her tail tip looks dead, its gone very dark and thin and flat. There is a red swelling above the balck tip. It also looks rather dry and flaky. It doesnt seem to hurt her and nor does it smell. She is drinking and eating normally though does seem slightly off colour (she has been easy to catch!). My vet doesnt know much bout rats so I need an idea of what I should do to help her help my rat... I have 9 other rats in with her currently, should she be seperated? All others tails seem fine.

Answer
Hi Regan

Sounds like your girl was degloved, which occurs when a layer of skin and underlying tissue is torn away and exposes the bone. The tail of a rat is an extension of the rats vertebrae and degloving can be a very serious injury when it involves a large part of the tail. However, it seems to be localized injury involving the tip which is at least partial good news. Partial meaning that its still an injury and needs a bit of nursing care. The black tip you see is indeed necrotic tissue, so that means the tip is dead and it will eventually just dry up and fall off. She will have a blunt end to her tail after this occurs.  Keep it as clean as you can and apply neosporin ointment several times a day since it will be licked off.

I do want to just give you a tidbit of advice though: I always find that rats do much better in small mischiefs, keeping no more than say, 4 males to one cage or 5 to 6 females to another, regardless how large the cage is you have. I have a ferret nation which, according to the cage calculator, can house 16 rats at once, which I would never advise due to many issues, including hygiene, but it also makes rats more edgey and grumpy having to share space with so many other rats. They may pile on top of each other and sleep but it seems there is always some kind of drama on a daily basis when dealing with a large mischief. I would not take her out of her cage because it would stress her too much, but if you could, I would perhaps put her in another cage with a few of her best friends. You said she is hard to handle, and I dont know if that implies she is a bit aggressive or just super speedy and slippery and hard to hold still.

Either way, I know you didnt ask my advice on the matter of having 9 rats together but I just thought I would toss that in anyhow. I will stick to the original question now and zip my lip. Its not a big deal really but it does take some stress off the rats if there is drama and from the injury to her tail, something went down, such as another rat biting on her tail, but we may never know for sure.

Hope this helps and have a great holiday !