# Rat with a swollen and/or lopsided scrotum cause for concern? Pics inside~



## Mattsrats (Feb 24, 2014)

Hey Hey,

I was playing with Bandit today and noticed his scrotum is HUGE. It is almost as big as Skidz's yet Bandit it is 1/3 his size. 

I already checked for cancer as I read online and his testicles are fine, normal size, and they are both the same exact size. 
His scrotum is firm, feels like it is full of liquid, and tends to swell up more on the left (his right) ... when I was compressing it to check for cancer it made a squish sound and was back to a normal size. After a few minutes of him hanging out it's back to being huge again. 

It almost made the same squish sound that my intestinal hernia made when I had to push it back in when it would pop out. (Had surgery for it last year)

Is this just a normal rat growing thing? I remember Rat Daddy or someone said it's common for rats to develop different sized parts of their body until they are adults. With all of my bad luck lately I am paranoid about my ratlets health now but I am not going to keep messing with/checking it and scare him even more.

He is scheduled to be neutered a week from tomorrow and I will let the vet examine him then.

He was exploring, bruxing, climbing all over me etc but now he just sits on my shoulder frozen and won't play anymore.... I probably freaked him out and now I feel bad about it. Sometimes I don't know when to leave things well enough alone.

If anyone knows or can comment, please do.

This pic doesn't accurately show what I mean but I am curious if a rat his age should have such big junk?










I freaked him out when I was inspecting his junk so now he is wary of me and won't explore anymore. EDIT: he is already down on the keyboard sniffing my typing lol.....he puts his nose into everything including me getting an earful of nose and whiskers!


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

They're pretty big for his size but some are better endowed than others. However, the squish is a bit worrying. Did anything come out or was he uncomfortable when you did it?


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## Mattsrats (Feb 24, 2014)

There was no discharge of any kind if that is what you are asking. He is also not in any kind of pain that I can tell because he is back to being hyper and exploring.

He squeaked at me and started licking my hand but that was only after the 3rd inspection in a row so that was a please let me go gesture more than being in pain I think.

To me it almost felt like intestines distended into his scrotum because that is the same squish my hernia made. 

If gently squeeze his scrotum to check it, he writhes in pain and squeaks non-stop but I thought any male would do that till I did the same exam to Quinn and he didn't even care no matter what.

He is pretty laid back and doesn't seem to care otherwise and I picked him up just now and inspected them and he didn't even care.

With all my Mischief tragedies I am left a bit paranoid about the smallest things. This new fella is very friendly and a VERY nice rat and I would like him to see 2 or 3 years old at least.

I need to let it go otherwise it is going to drive me nuts, I will just make things worse, and mess with his trust in me. We are still getting to know each other and fear I will F that up if I keep messing with his equipment lol.

I figured it was just another case of rattie development but I had to ask regardless.


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## Mattsrats (Feb 24, 2014)

After relaxing for awhile I decided I will call the vet tomorrow and see if there is any openings to bump Bandit's neutering up to as soon as tomorrow or Monday just to be safe. I just worked a 48hr work week... 6 days in a row and now I have a 4 day weekend. I am hoping to spend some time with Bandit and working with Quinn.

Is it normal for a rat's scrotum to be large and squishy?

I am assuming people don't go around grabbing rat junk but I was just curious because I know it could be temperature, recent rehoming, growing pains etc.

Has anyone ever let their rats ride around in a shirt or hoodie while packing?


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