patch of skin missing on tail? What is this?

littlematchstick · Nov 30, 2012

I was giving one of my girls a treat this morning when I noticed that she has this weird white spot on her tail. It looks like the skin (that looks kinda scaley on their tail) is missing. Its basically pure white. Its not raised or discolored around it. It basically just looks like part of her skin had peeled off. I tried to get a couple of pics, they aren't the best..but here they are:

I also think she looks like shes getting cataract in her right eye in this pic :/

hopefloats · Nov 30, 2012

Looks like she may have nicked it on something. It doesnt look like an infection at all. I would just keep an eye on it.

Dazzle87 · Nov 30, 2012

I've seen that before as well, just looks like a scrape or nick like hopefloats said. I'd just keep it clean and watch it.

Can you post a picture of her eye?

RattusNorvegicus · Dec 1, 2012

It looks like some of the skin flaked off and that is clean tail under. Her tail looks dirty and I've noticed when they get dirty the 'scales' begin flaking.

A good soaking in warm water then a scrub with dawn dish soap and a tooth brush should make it look (and feel) a lot better. I also put olive oil on their tails after since more often than not they're dry.

lilspaz68 · Dec 1, 2012

Yep, some scales came off a dirty tail, showing the white underneath, nothing to be alarmed about. Will she let you wash her tail? I can tell you the step to step method on washing a dirty tail.

littlematchstick · Dec 1, 2012

lilspaz68 said:
Yep, some scales came off a dirty tail, showing the white underneath, nothing to be alarmed about. Will she let you wash her tail? I can tell you the step to step method on washing a dirty tail.

Is it beneficial to clean their tails? I own one rat right now that will clean her tail about once every...4 or 5 months-beyond that, I have never seen a rat clean its tail, I just never really thought it was important enough to bother with. As for cleaning- I know you can an old soft tooth brush...and go WITH the scales not against them..etc.

RattusNorvegicus · Dec 2, 2012

Honestly, if it doesn't cause discomfort to the rat, I go both ways. It's the only way to get the flaky scales off. They don't seem to mind especially if you start out very slow and gentle (I feed them cheerios while doing this so they are often too distracted to care). I clean my rats' tails (11 tails!) once a month. They get too gross for me not to mind.