Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was just wondering what your thought were on this. when this baby rat was born, within a few days i noticed the end of its tail was turning purple (from bad circulation) now it is 5 days old and that end of the tail is black. im just waiting for it to fall off. i figured it wouldnt be a problem for the rat, what do you think?

how old is a rat when its about the size of an adult mouse?

thanks much
-mike

It may become infected and cause sepsis (and possibly death)...if you're intending to keep the rat, I would have it amputated. If not, then kill it and cut the dead part off the tail, and feed it off.

but what if this rat already has sepsis. wouldnt it e unhealthy to feed it to my snakes?

No.. in the wild it would be picked off by some kind of predator anyway.... We have to remember that.. Snakes would be eating the young, small or sickly anyway...

If the pup were mine I would feed it off after killing it and nipping off the dead tail. It could get worse and kill the pup. Figuring it is dead I would imagine that pup is in a fair amount of pain.

My rat pups are 30 grams at 2 wks and 50 grams at 4 wks My adult mice are usually 30-35 grams
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Sonya