Can rats have bloody noses?

[Cigar]

I went into my room and saw blood drops on the food dish. I discovered that it was Poppy [figures it was the female who likes being handled the least!] and pulled her out. I cleaned up her nose to make sure it wasn't a bite or anything. It's only coming out of one nostril. She's covered in blood. :/ Boy is she ever going to hate having a bath..

Can anyone help?

 

[mamarat]

Are you sure it's not porphyrin? It's like red snot. Rats get that when they're sick or stressed.

 

[Cigar]

I'm positive. This was blood. :| It smelled like blood, looked like blood, and kept coming out of her nose. There's no staining around the eyes either.

 

[mamarat]

Was she in a fight with another rat? How old is she?

 

[Cigar]

No fight that I'm aware of. I checked both females and studied her nose for quite a while. No scratches or bite barks. Poppy is about 7 months.

*The bleeding stopped and I gave her a quickie run around in the tub to clean off.

 

[jorats]

She might have just scratched it deep down inside. Keep an eye on her, is she still very active?

 

[mamarat]

How is Poppy today?

 

[Cigar]

She's acting like her old self. She'll let me pet her in the cage with a closed hand but as soon as my hand opens to pick her up she zooms away. Her nose is still clear, no signs of porphyrin anywhere. She's cuddled up with her buddy Clover.

 

[mamarat]

That's good, let's hope it was just a scratch.

 

[jorats]

I've got a few like that... they just won't let me pick them up but they sure want to play.