# Bathing Rats, Buck Grease and Rat Tails



## RatSqueak (Feb 11, 2018)

How often should rats be bathed?

How do you clean off buck grease when giving ratties a bath? I read that Dawn dish soap works, but don't want to use it too often if it's too harsh. Is there a way to keep buck grease build up down so baths aren't needed? (I have unneutered boys, the grease is only really noticeable on the white part of my hooded rat). 

Out of curiosity, how do you tell the difference between buck grease or parasites? 

And rat tails...I cleaned my boys' tails with a soft baby toothbrush and soap. Worked well. Baby wipes didn't work in bringing off the discolouration, but if rat tails were wiped down every day, would it stop discolouration? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

I tried bathing my boys a few weeks after I first got them, before I realised that you don't really have to bathe them. They clean themselves well enough normally, and you should only really bathe them if there's a huge buildup of something. I have 2 boys with white fur and one black Berkshire, and buck grease never shows on the Berkshire. It shows permanently on my roan, and rarely on my black hooded. Buck grease is kind of orange and in most rats looks something like this (pic from Google):









How bad is it on your rats to make you want to wash it off? In the picture above that's very normal, and bathing normally stresses a rat out which wouldn't be worth it. Personally I would be wary of any kind of dish soap, and if I did have to wash my boys I'd go for baby shampoo or something, as that's formulated to be kind to eyes and stuff. 

You don't normally see parasites, depending on what they are. I believe lice you can see, but mites you can't. I'd imagine they'd be more black speckles rather than bits of orange stuck to the fur. 

And what do you mean by discolouration? I know my boys have some kind of markings on their tails (they're not just one shade of anything) but I believe that's something permanent rather than any kind of dirt or something.


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## Asiposea (Dec 16, 2016)

It typically isn't necessary to bath a rat regularly unless there are some special circumstances (an older rat who has trouble grooming). I do have a boy that is greasier than others and I've scrubbed his back with diluted dawn once or twice. Buck grease can present as little orange/brown flakes that can resemble lice. I've done a double take several times. Lice, however, will move- the flakes will not. Neutering seems to be the sure way of decreasing the grease. Here's a page on more info.

If your boys enjoy water play, I've found that soaking tails in water helps prior to cleaning them up. Also, I've rubbed coconut oil on their tails to 'encourage' them to groom that area. I've never cleaned their tails every day, but I'd only imagine this would help.


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## RatSqueak (Feb 11, 2018)

I have two black berskhires and one hooded/variegated. I only notice the buck grease on the variegated since his fur is white.

Aftering your messages I checked him and the specks don't move and they appear to be orange flakes on a true white (plastic lid) background, although the specks look darker in his fur. He's not itching either, but I wanted to check to make sure. [img= class=inlineimg]http://www.ratforum.com/images/smilies/smiley.gif[/img]

As for discolouration, the tail tends to be orangish-yellow. Again, this is noticible in my hooded rat as his tail is more pinkish with darker spots and my berkshires have darker pigmented tails. The bath removed some of it but not all(before the bath is his sleeping picture; after the bath is the tail picture). Maybe this is buck grease as well? I've seen some pictures of people's rats on Facebook that are just browinish/yellowish grime they are so bad (dirty?). Don't want my rat's tails to get that bad, I'd rather prevent it. I'm guessing it also might be urine too, because my rats' tails did smell like pee when they put their tails in my face while on my shoulder(I spot clean daily, remove bedding weekly). 

One reason I'm looking into this is that my (non-rat loving) family is coming to visit my rats for the first time and I'd like the rats to make a good impression. Or when I share pictures of my rats—of course the tail is the thing that most people notice and get put off by... the discoloring doesn't help people's wrong perceptions that rats are dirty animals. [img= class=inlineimg]http://www.ratforum.com/images/smilies/sad.gif[/img]

Side note: I've only had one rat clean his tail regularly—none of my current rats do.


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## Steffy (Oct 6, 2017)

Yeah, I don't know what it is with rats and their tails. They clean themselves so meticulously but then disregard the tail!?! 
Do their poos in a toilet box very neatly but then drag their tail through it as if it wasn't attached to them. To be fair, I wouldn't want to lick it clean after that either.

I can understand why you want to present your rats' appendages as neatly as possible to your family when they meet for the first time. My mum's reaction to our first rat was "A rat?! They have such gross naked tails!" I doubt she had ever seen one close up but I don't think she would appreciate it any more if she ever met my ratties and their tails were filthy.

Luckily one of mine seems to have a clean tail at all times although I probably have only seen her lick it a little two or three times. The other one seems to be a lazy tail cleaner with the tail root being perfectly pink for a centimeter or so and then there is a sharp line to dirt (nowhere near as bad as you see when you google dirty rat tails but definitely distinct). On occasion I have wiped it with a wet cloth which gets some of the dirt off. 
Your result in the photo is pretty good!


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## Asiposea (Dec 16, 2016)

The more I think about it, there really is something irresistible about the clean pink tail of a baby rat. Too bad it doesn't last. I feel as though this dirty/clean topic would make a satisfying 'before' and 'after' picture thread.


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## Steffy (Oct 6, 2017)

> I feel as though this dirty/clean topic would make a satisfying 'before' and 'after' picture thread.


Hehe, it would certainly be fun but I doubt it would be satisfying, with everyone pining for the once clean tails


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## RatSqueak (Feb 11, 2018)

Steffy said:


> Yeah, I don't know what it is with rats and their tails. They clean themselves so meticulously but then disregard the tail!?!
> Do their poos in a toilet box very neatly but then drag their tail through it as if it wasn't attached to them. To be fair, I wouldn't want to lick it clean after that either.
> 
> I can understand why you want to present your rats' appendages as neatly as possible to your family when they meet for the first time. My mum's reaction to our first rat was "A rat?! They have such gross naked tails!" I doubt she had ever seen one close up but I don't think she would appreciate it any more if she ever met my ratties and their tails were filthy.
> ...


Thanks! My mine are lazy tail cleaners....how they clean everywhere but the tails is beyond me, but then again, they don't seem to mind peeing on each other either. Rats will be rats!


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## RatSqueak (Feb 11, 2018)

Steffy said:


> Hehe, it would certainly be fun but I doubt it would be satisfying, with everyone pining for the once clean tails


Agreed, the before/after photos would be satisfying if it weren't for tails collecting "dirt" so quickly. Before getting rats I thought they'd be much more sensitive about their tails, like cats. Strange creatures.


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