# Yeowch! Rat scratch thread



## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

I know I'm not the only victim of a young rat's enthusiasm. In the case of this evening, all three climbed out of their cage up my arms and were scrabbling for my shoulders. It would have been fine, but my toddler son decided to come and say hi and pet them, and his loudness definitely keyed them up a bit. They did great, but my neck was a bit of a casualty >_<










Every red mark would be from nails, owie! Anyone else have battle wound to share? Love the rats, hate the nails


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## Jackie (Jan 31, 2013)

Do you have anything in their cage that helps file thier nails like a sandy tile or brick? If your rats are calm you can clip their nails too. My friend has four rats and they climbed all over me and I got quite a few scratches.


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## Mousey (Oct 23, 2012)

Oh I know how you feel. You should see my hands, neck, and shoulders. You get used to it after a while.  And yes, having something they can file their nails down with themselves is a great idea. I used to use sandy tile or tough sand paper for my reptiles, never have with my rats though.


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm putting slate tiles in their cage, but it's still under construction. So right now it's just their baby toenails with little blunting. I'm still socializing/taming them and didn't want to bother with clippers for another few weeks, when they trust me more. If the lava ledge perches and tile don't help in the long run I WILL clip them, though!


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

Ouch! Yeah, my boy Fievel has VERY sharp claws. He always scratches up my hands/neck/shoulders even when he's being really calm. I'm gonna try to put a brick in their cage soon (I think I saw cagedbirdsinging recommend this somewhere?) to see if that helps. Not sure why his claws are so much sharper than Ratigan's, but oh well. People always ask me what's up with my hands. Hopefully people don't think he's a vicious little guy because of my scratches!


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

I rub all my rattie scratches with rubbing alcohol after i wash them with soap and water... Helps the irritation from scratches a lootttt... 


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

Good idea, Gaanyaan, I'll have to try that. I've been using lactic acid lotion which stings like mad for the first few seconds but it really seems to calm the irritation faster overall. I have no idea what the science is behind that, but it works!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

When we first got Amelia she was a cage rat with no human handling experience and she tore me up head to foot daily. Now she's pretty much managed to learn to be more careful with her claws so thankfully no more deep scratches or claw marks. Fuzzy Rat lost so many nails I think she's learned to keep her's short on her own, either that or they have just stopped growing.

My 7 year old daughter yelled at Amelia whenever she clawed her, maybe that's why Amelia is more careful now. Can't say either way.


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## Silentbob (Feb 6, 2013)

I've been getting them a bunch on my hands, ironically from when I'm trying to trim their claws. Usually I'll wash with antibiotic soap and then a coat of Neosporin seems to help speed up the healing and reduce the redness.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

I work in the medical field and i have patients and doctors looking at my hands all day and it's kind of embarassing between picking at my nails and my rat scratches it looks like my hands went through a wood chipper.


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## Rat Princess (Jan 28, 2013)

Whenever I get a new baby, it always starts off scratching because it's scared, but eventually they are careful on my skin and don't scratch. So with time, your babies might stop scratching you. The only exception for this is when they get baths. I had to bath my fatty often because he couldn't clean his back and he smelled bad very quickly. After bath time it looked like i had been scraping at my hand with a fork lol. I just ignored them until they went away though, they're easy to get used to at least!


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## applekiwi1992 (Aug 3, 2012)

If your looking for a cheap way to keep their nails filed down just go outside and find some rocks. Look for ones with a rough texture. I've got about 15 different size and textured rocks. They work like a charm. Put them around the food dish and their water bottle that way they have to walk on them. Oh and make sure you wash the rocks real well just in case.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Heres mine after Herman climbing on my shoulder/neck for just a couple mins! This is what happens if I don't where a hoody & scarf...I get an allergic reaction from their scratches....luckily they clear up in less than an hour & I feel fine.
I think quite a few others on here get similar reactions to their ratties lil nails.


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

I couldn't get a pic of the back of my neck, but it was bright red lol.


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## Flora (Aug 30, 2012)

I dont know why but I get embarrassed when people ask what scratches are from. I just say "my rats" and they always look at me like Im crazy!


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## Poisoned (Nov 17, 2012)

You think rats are bad.. My squirrel - when something spooked him, he'd kick off of me with those powerful legs and leave cuts, not scratches. lol!

I try to put something long-sleeved and high-necked on when I have them out. The scratches do look a bit odd to my customers.


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

Eden10 said:


> Heres mine after Herman climbing on my shoulder/neck for just a couple mins! This is what happens if I don't where a hoody & scarf...I get an allergic reaction from their scratches....luckily they clear up in less than an hour & I feel fine.
> I think quite a few others on here get similar reactions to their ratties lil nails.


That's what mine do, especially if I don't disinfect them quickly. I just tried rubbing alcohol today and that did wonders, the scratches stung but didn't get NEARLY as inflamed as they've been getting when I just leave them.

I had issues with my guinea pigs, too (but not hamsters, interestingly enough). It was bad enough with the guinea pigs that we could barely handle them - both my husband and I ended up with flare ups of eczema from handling them and cleaning their cage. It was a bummer! Fortunately the rats are slightly irritating when scratching but their fur and oils don't seem to bother us. I can deal with nails


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Yeh I use chamomile lotion & it makes the scratches feel SO much better!I've had pretty much every small pet available & ratties are the only ones that give me a reaction...typical! Coz I friggin ADORE my ratties! Best small animal I've owned!


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

Of course, right? It's a good thing they're so cute!


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## bbrats (Jan 21, 2013)

i feel your pain! my little ratties think im an elevator and use my arms to get from the floor to tables or desks and then off again. I always feel awkward talking my sweater off in class because there is always a huge array of scatches all over my arms. Their new trick tho is climbing up my whole body if im standing, so now im covered in scratches :S haha


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Yeh my Herman HAS to be on my shoulder...he acts like a little baby when I open the cage, like runs to the door & makes this little snorty/snuffling noise like grabs my shirt with his front feet & climbs onto my shoulder, then starts nuzzling my ear lol. Its SO CUTE! Like he has separation anxiety!I'm glad they don't make me sneeze or anything. The scratches are a pain & get itchy, but they go away so fast its not really a big deal. My rabbit & guinea-pigs made me sneeze constantly coz they eat hay...I'm super allergic to hay (so I discovered lol)


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

We guessed it may have been the Timothy hay aggravating issues with our cavies, too, and the claws/fur just made little cuts whereby our body had to heal and respond to the hay issue more than just breathing it in. Kind of the way grass allergies work - it's not just the pollen, but the cuts from the blades exacerbating the topical symptoms.

Either way, disinfecting them quickly has helped SO much. I'm also considering an oral antihistamine if it keeps up, but that's a last resort. They usually don't do too much scratching unless my kids are playing with them, because they're louder and scarier than me . The ratties do great, but there is more frantic climbing/clawing.


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## Silentbob (Feb 6, 2013)

Guess I'm kind of lucky, the work I do involves working around a lot of wiring racks so it's easy for me to play off the cuts on my hands as battle damage from work


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

I get scratched all the time. It is so common now that I don't even notice it


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I always have scratches around my neck and occasionally they rash up (though that hasn't happened since my roommate adopted my boys from me--I'm guessing I was allergic to urine), but last night I got a doozy. I had opened the top part of the DCN to get the girls out but my roommate was saying something from the other room so I stepped away from the cage to open the door and Luna jumped from the cage to me (she recently discovered she can jump up to a foot to get to me--it's been fun?) and grabbed onto the skin around my neck to catch her balance. It's... not pretty. But the idea that she jumps that far just to get to me is so cute that I can't be mad.


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## Poisoned (Nov 17, 2012)

These claws on my skin - worst thing ever.


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

Poisoned said:


> These claws on my skin - worst thing ever.


Those are more talons than claws, ow! Cute squirrel, though


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## Maltey (Jun 26, 2011)

Harley has an abscess on her chin. Need I say more?










It is incredibly painful! I'm mostly used to scratches now but occasionally they flare up, like these.


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

Ooh, face injuries do not a happy rattie make!


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## FiMarie (Jan 19, 2013)

Funny story.... Tybalt hangs out in the hoods of my sweatshirts (like this):
View attachment 13921


He fell asleep in there yesterday and I was running around doing chores, etc. Long story short, I forgot he was in there after about an hour (he must have been sleeping so soundly) and I was taking the garbage out to the dumpster. He had never been outside before other than to and from the car a few times... but even then, he was in his carrier. So anyway, the neighbor's little dog must have smelled him. He got off of his leash and came bounding after us, barking. Tybalt panicked and tried to climb on top of my head to get as far away as possible! In the process, he clawed the bejeesus out of the back of my neck and the backs and tops of my shoulders. I was so worried about the situation that I wasn't paying attention to my skin, just trying to get him in my arms to calm him down, so I was relatively unaware of how badly he had gotten me until I took a hot shower later that night. THAT stung. I go walking into the bedroom in a towel and my boyfriend came in behind me and says "Holy crap! What happened to you?" My response was "Tybalt met a dog." I needed to say no more. I should have taken pictures to post on here. My scratchies are already too pale pink to show up on my camera.


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## kbug (Feb 14, 2013)

I usually wash my hands well, then apply witch hazel to any redness or scratches. It's natural and very mild, but it still has anti-inflammatory properties.  You can get a bottle for about $3 at Walgreens (http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-witch-hazel-natural-astringent/ID=prod6112380-product). It works wonders and makes scratches a LOT less visible, as well as less itchy!


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

Well I got the boys out as usual to clean their cage & Fester decided to be a brat & shred my hand, this is the result...


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