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ashana

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
323
Location
Perth, W.A.
Hi everyone,

I had surrendered to our rescue a mum with her 12 babies, this was 8 days ago.

I noticed at first look that one of the babies (who at the time was 2 days old) only had a small part of it's tail (about 1/4 left) as mum must have chewed the tail off during the cleaning up after birth. She also looks to have taken or damaged 2 of the back toes on one foot.

The babies are now approx 10 days old. The bub with the missing bits is one of the runts (there are 3 in this litter) and the tip of the tail and the toes are black. I have been told that this tissue will possibly die and drop off when it is ready, hopefully no infections will occur.

Being that i have never had to deal with this kind of issue before can anyone tell me what special requirements this bub will need if it survives.

I know that rats control their temp by the use of their tails, so this little one is going to have an issue. What else am i going to have to be aware of please.

Obviously when they are weaned we would normally adopt out the litter but this little one may stay with us as we have air conditioning, heating and i am a stay at home mum also so any special needs can be met where i can not guarantee this in a new family.

Thanks all
 
Since it's already black, then yes, it most likely will just fall off and the end will repair itself and become healthy.
Honestly, I don't think he'll need special treatment or attention to his bits remaining but I would keep him with you since you do have all the amenities for the little one to be truly comfortable.
 
I am so glad that you will be keeping this little one! It really must be tough for a rat to be without a tail, since they use the tail for heat regulation & balance & even for grabbing things.

Kisses and banana mash to the whole sweet gang. :tumkiss:
 
Thanks everyone,

Yes this little one has been tugging at my heart strings for the last 9 days :nod: , well they all do but i am sure all you rat lovers will know what i mean :wink:

I am pretty sure it is a little girl and she is one of the runts so she is tiny but is doing really well for herself.

I guess i had better start planning a new and improved "play" pen for this little girl so she can find her feet.

Thanks again. I just needed to be sure that i was covering all bases

Aimee
 
I have 2 boys that are about 5 months old now and they both only have about a 1 inch tail stump left after mum kindly removed the rest at birth.

They get along fine without their tails and didn't seem anymore affected by all the horrible heat we've had lately anymore than any of my other rats. They have different balance though and are a bit more "bumbly" and they seem very at home flat on their backs with their fat little tummies in the air more than my other boys.

I had to put them in a special cage though, one without any wire shelves and a high pan base after Alvie got his stump stuck between two wires :( . They also seem to get phantom tail pain occasionally but it seems to settle down if I give their stump a gentle massage.
 
I used to hear them fighting and I was worried that their hormones were kicking in and they were trying to beat each other up. One day I went running when I heard a commotion and Alvie was squeaking and biting at his stump and at Cocoa who was standing bewildered to one side just watching him.

It happened a couple of more times that they would cry and pull at their tails then blame their brother for hurting them so I started gently massaging their tails and they seem to have improved.

They still get "attacks" occasionally but I just take them out and talk soothingly and stroke them til them calm down.
 
Thanks for your experience Whirly ;)

Here are some picture
This was a couple of days ago, but you can sort of see the stump


6 days ago, the whole bunch


You can see "stumpy" on the bottom left of the pic


In between tailed siblings


About half of that stump is black and i have been told will probably fall off so this little one, if she makes it, will be as close to tailess as us aussies have seen ;)
 
Thanks girls,

Our numbers seem to be 4 males and 8 females.

The 4 boys all have a home together when they are ready which is wonderful.

We also have another litter of 8 that is with their mum and her new family. They are about 7 days younger but another 2 of those males will also have a home when the time is right.

The babies are truly amazing. This experience is so different to when i had to hand raise 10 babies that were only 8 days old (yes they all made it). Some of you may remember my miracle 10 who are now BIG, and doing well.
It is nice to be able to sit back and watch this group with their mum and not have to get up every 3 hours for feeds LOL
 
Little jelly beans :heart: :heart: :heart: . I see why the little stubby runty is pulling at your heart strings.

A bit off topic: It's good to see that you are still going strong with the resuce. We're currently rescue-less in Brisbane :(. I miss Lou.
 
It was a big shock when i found out Lou was stopping rescue because of her health.

I sometimes get tired myself but i keep pushing along as i know that if i don't no one will and that would be very sad indeed.
 

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