Rat hair

Question
We have three young male rats, and whilst cleaning them out this week I noticed something which looked like sick with a lot of fur in it.  Do rats get hair balls like cats?  Is this something I should be concerned about.  They all seem to be eating well and are not currently losing weight - do you have any advice?

Answer
Do you mean vomit?


If so, no, rats do not get hair balls nor are they physically capable of vomitting. This is a scary thing since rats cannot vomit, making them more apt to choke on things.

Due to the lack of strength in the esophageal muscle, they are unable to break through the barrier of muscle that is found between the stomach and the esophagus, so vomiting cannot take place. It is also said that in the rats brain it is actually not "wired" properly to send signals to the muscles that involve vomiting so therefore they are unable to control the two muscles that are needed to contract in the diaphragm to move the "product in question" up and through the esophagus to be expelled as vomit.


That said, knowing it was not from the rat throwing up, I assume it was wet also?  Where did you find it at?