Poor rat boy is bleeding from the face...

Rats wear their teeth down by bruxing. If their teeth are too long then they are usually misaligned and need to be trimmed.

Baby kale is a dark leafy green.
As you may be aware, drafts can cause illness in rats so I would be concerned about the AC unknit blowing on them

Did you check his teeth and the inside of his mouth?

unicron9 said:

I should also mention both times this bloody thing happened was right after I gave them peas, and Frenzy has this weird thing where he thinks he has to de-skin every single pea before eating the inside while Rumble goes in behind him and eats up the skins. Rattrap ignores all that dumb stuff and inhales peas like a Pac-man vacuum cleaner.
The way he eats peas makes me wonder if indeed those long bottom teeth are cutting the top of his mouth. Going to only give him rat brick for a while.

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My boys de-skin the peas as well. Usually just requires cleaning up the stray shells if none of my boys are interested in eating those discarded shells. For whatever reason, giving them the peas in a peapod, decreases the amount of pea shells I find later lol. No idea why it makes a difference. They also do this with the (very occasional) grapes I give them. Not with the (also very occasional) apples I give them, though. Strange how they pick and choose what needs to be skinned lol.

Some other dark leafy greens to give them are collard greens, bok choy, mustard greens, turnip and beet greens. My boys LOVE kale. These greens are also good for you too, so added bonus! Spinach can be given, but in small amounts.


I've found that wooden toys for birds work wonderfully for rats as a chewing toy. My boys love them and prefer them over rodent wooden toys.

ViciousCurse said:

My boys de-skin the peas as well. Usually just requires cleaning up the stray shells if none of my boys are interested in eating those discarded shells. For whatever reason, giving them the peas in a peapod, decreases the amount of pea shells I find later lol. No idea why it makes a difference. They also do this with the (very occasional) grapes I give them. Not with the (also very occasional) apples I give them, though. Strange how they pick and choose what needs to be skinned lol.

Some other dark leafy greens to give them are collard greens, bok choy, mustard greens, turnip and beet greens. My boys LOVE kale. These greens are also good for you too, so added bonus! Spinach can be given, but in small amounts.


I've found that wooden toys for birds work wonderfully for rats as a chewing toy. My boys love them and prefer them over rodent wooden toys.

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My dudes are super picky spoiled brats though. Snub their noses at grapes, wont eat blueberries, and I'd be surprised if they ate kale. I'll give it a try though.
They also have a wooden bird toy wheel thingy that they chewed a little when they were little, then lost interest. It might be because we let them out so much that all they want is to be out, and the cage is just a stupid place to sleep, poo, pee, and eat for them. Whenever they see me walking by they run to the front of the cage and grab the bars like pitiful little prisoners waiting to be released. I took a picture of that once even (below).

Shelling out peas is actually a normal rat thing. So you can rule that out

Dark leafy greens like broccoli, kale, spinach, even romaine lettuce will contain both iron and vitamin K. Of course meat sources are best for iron.

Check the teeth by just lifting the lips and check its even across the top. I have pics if you aren't sure that you can compare to.

While, yes, some of what you said read insensitive; I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here. This is a stressful scenario. Money is a sensitive subject. But you're here asking for advice/help and that tells me you're trying to find a humane solution within your means. With an exotic pet, that is a challenge.

First of all, for your boy: Does he spend a lot of time looking "fluffy", bloated, or dazed? How is his balance? Is he walking funnier than usual or flat-footed? Do his eyes seem swollen at all? Is he eating normally, infrequently, or seem tempted by food/water and then not sure what to do with it?

These are other symptoms that (may or may not) pop up with brain or pituitary tumors. Other possibilities include an infection or, as SQ mentioned, damage done by overgrown teeth.

Overgrown teeth and infection are treatable! For vets, you won't be charged for anything you don't agree to - and can discuss other options while at the vet, if finances are an issue (ask for a quote breakdown, they'll give you an itemized list and walk you through that list). The initial vet visit is a cost, yes. But any treatments moving forward will be at your discretion. You may not need an x-ray or expensive diagnostic tool to tell you what's wrong. Or, the vet may say "it might be x or y, but we can only determine y with an x-ray; or treat x with antibiotics." You can choose which makes the most sense - for your rat and for you - to pursue.

Just keep doing right by your companions. Choose humanely. By the sounds of it, you're aware that spending $0 will lead to further, or continued, suffering.

btw, my rats love baby kale …… it is less bitter then kale

SQ said:

btw, my rats love baby kale …… it is less bitter then kale

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My three all adore kale (and the 3-year-old never had it until about a week ago). They go absolutely bonkers for it - jumping all over the place and trying to grab it with their little hands. They don't even do that for Cheerios.

I love when the rats try to grab the kale, but just seem off put when it rubs against their whiskers lol. They get these funny little faces like "augh! Feels weird, but it's so good."