# rats tail



## babybeef (Jul 3, 2010)

are rats tails supposed to get kind of dirty looking when they get older or is it just dirty? its like dirty in most spots on her tail and then there are pink spots too


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## eddricksmommy101 (Jul 16, 2010)

ITs spots its normal.



Eddricks tail is mostly black


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

BabyBeef said:


> are rats tails supposed to get kind of dirty looking when they get older or is it just dirty? its like dirty in most spots on her tail and then there are pink spots too


Rats are fastidious groomers but at the end of a grooming session is the tail grooming, and this is where some rats get lazy and don't bother. Or you will see a rat that has a perfectly pink base of tail and the rest is dirty! LOL They always start with the base and work their way to the tailtip 

from ratbehavior.org

Cephalocaudal groom ("CCG"): Grooming sequence of face and body (common to all rodents). The rat starts by licking the paws, then rubs them over the head. This is followed by licking and rubbing the side of the body, the anogenital region, and the tail. The sequence may be anywhere from loosely organized to very stylized, performed in a similar or identical fashion each time. In rats, most sequences appear to be loosely organized. The grooming sequence may be interrupted at any point, and it seems that rats usually stop before grooming their tails.


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## TamSmith (Mar 1, 2010)

you could always clean her tail with a soft tooth brush and a little bit of dawn original dish soap. Just to make sure it's not dirty.


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## babybeef (Jul 3, 2010)

Lol zippers tail is dirty at the base and pink and clean near the tip and it seems to get cleaner everday lol

btw
I have a question
is it possible to keep a rat out for too long?
Bc I've been keeping my rat on my top bunk for the whole day
she has food n water n I always clean up her poop x.x lol


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## simpliciter (Oct 1, 2007)

I thought one of my rats tails was just turning brown then one day I took a damp paper towel and just wiped it off and ewwww it was just really dirty.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Its okay to have your rat out all day with you. Just make sure they have access to clean fresh water, food, litter box and somewhere to curl up asleep. Also make sure you are able to keep tabs on them! 

Yeah I check all my tails every month or so. Sometimes they just miss a spot or two lol. One of my boys grooms backwards, he does his tail first and his head last LOL. Silly boy.


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

I use a soft toothbrush and their shampoo occasionaly to clean their tails if they are getting really bad.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yeah I use a soft toothbrush too. Make sure you brush from the base of the tail towards the end.. and not back to front. After cleaning I put a dab of olive oil on to make sure its not drying out.


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