rat.charmer
Well-Known Member
I've noticed this with all my PEWs - as they get older, they start getting 'rust' on the top of their heads and shoulders. There's no porphyrin...so what is it, should I be concerned and should I try to get rid of it?
"Rusting" on older rats?
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SQ
Senior Member - Vegan for the animals
Mine have done that on occassion, but it has been porphyrin they wiped on their heads and shoulders when grooming themselves.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Exactly what SQ wrote... it's the porphyrin they wipe away. My beautiful Captain now has a pink head. :roll: He's not sick though... then I have Jasper who can't get any sicker and yet he's white as can be.
rat.charmer
Well-Known Member
Oh ok!
Should I be doing anything special for them? I'm not noticing the porphyrin around their eyes or noses and I find they look rusty mostly after they've woken up from sleeping in their hammocks.
Should I be doing anything special for them? I'm not noticing the porphyrin around their eyes or noses and I find they look rusty mostly after they've woken up from sleeping in their hammocks.
LA
Well-Known Member
Actually I read that their saliva has a tinge to it and that's what makes the fur colour like that. I think it was in a rat magazine. I will have to find it.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
That actually could be it LA. Sure makes sense cause Captain doesn't show any signs of being sick or have porphyrin. I always thought it was the porphyrin... I'm going to do more research on this. :thumbup:
Sorraia
Well-Known Member
The porphyrin is causing the staining. It is a pigment present in the saliva. So if even if the rat is not sick, stressed, or otherwise has porphyrin discharge from the eyes and nose, it is still distributing the pigment when it or other rats groom itself.
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Porphryin is in the urine I believe as well as the saliva and the discharge from the harderian gland behind the eye (nose/eyes).
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Yes, it's in the urine too. :nod:
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Firben said:
I haven't heard that...interesting though, since women become more pink when ...well you know.
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
jorats said:
The little ladie's hoohoo (I have always wanted to use that word!) can darken to bluish during heat as well as open up. But coat and skin colour? Never noticed it.
:lol: :lol: :lol:jorats said:
I've never noticed Miss Sofie turm pink...
Must be our poor lightning.. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Anyway.. i've got a picture of our PEW girl in heat, to show how they turn blue, and open up when in heat:
But no actual facts about the fur changing color.. We simply call them hormone patches here... i'll get back at you about that later..
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Great pic Firben!
I did a bit more research on porphyrin... it comes from the Harderian gland which is behind the eye, at the base of the third membrane. This gland produces the porphyrin in the eye but can leak down into the nose.
There's no mention of porphyrin in urine or saliva. There is mention of porphyrin staining due to grooming.
From my favorite website Rat Behavior and Biology.
I did a bit more research on porphyrin... it comes from the Harderian gland which is behind the eye, at the base of the third membrane. This gland produces the porphyrin in the eye but can leak down into the nose.
There's no mention of porphyrin in urine or saliva. There is mention of porphyrin staining due to grooming.
From my favorite website Rat Behavior and Biology.
Sorraia
Well-Known Member
Firben said:
I have not heard that. If there is such a change, it would have to be in the skin. Changes in the fur would not be noticeable, because once the fur has grown out of the skin it is now essentially "dead tissue". Such "dead tissue" cannot be changed by the body itself, only by outside factors (such as staining). This is why hairs (and nails) can be examined to determine when in time a nutritional deficiency or poisoning occurred. A "record" of it will be left in the hair/nail. As it grows, the record goes with it, moving farther and farther away from the skin. By calculating the rate of growth, measuring the record from the skin, and then using those together, it can be determined how long ago that record occurred. This can be done in rats and other animals, but because their fur and nails are so much shorter, it is harder! People, with long hair and nails (if not clipped or broken) are easier to do this on.
rat.charmer
Well-Known Member
Sorraia said:
And that's why you shouldn't try to kill somebody by poisoning them slowly over time with arsenic etc. I knew I learned something in my forensics class...
In Sudbury there was a hair study that looked at the distance from various mines and the level of metal contaminants in hair. It was a pretty neat experiment!
LA
Well-Known Member
lilspaz68 said:jorats said:
The little ladie's hoohoo (I have always wanted to use that word!) can darken to bluish during heat as well as open up. But coat and skin colour? Never noticed it.
HAHAHAHA I will never forget the day I lifted up Lily when she was in heat and noticed the hoohoo HEHE was open more so then normal. I turned to Wayne and said 'Hey hon did you know the vagina on a rat opens up more when they are in heat' he gave me this look and said 'I really didn't want to know that'
:laugh4:
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Poor Wayne, scarred for life! :giggle:
NezumiNeko
Well-Known Member
Jimmy was a metal rat. As he aged, and groomed himself a lot, he began to rust.
Okay..... with live rats... .I guess what they said,
Okay..... with live rats... .I guess what they said,
