hanging around

[roley44]

::recently had to stop putting out bird food because of a rat problem,having seen no rats for a few weeks we put out some food last weekend only to find this horror when returning home from work on wednesday,question 1 would the weight of a rat be enough to rip its own tail off,or has it been hanging and been grabbed by a cat or fox?? we get alot of red kites over our garden could one of these birds have taken the rat??no sign of the rest of the rat or any blood on ground could be found anywhere in the garden, i never seen anything like this in my life(feeders have been moderated to stop this happening again)any thoughts will be appreciated

roley44:

[Kayleigh]

Yuk..how horrible, no idea if the rat is wandering round without a tail but, I thinks its a defense mechanism they can loose their tails if a predator grabs hold of them and it grows back.

Welcome to WAB..

[Hedgehoggy]

Ouch! What a horrid sight to be greeted with! Rats (or any other rodents/mammals) cannot regrow new tails, AFAIK only some reptiles can regenerate new tails after shedding them in defence of predators.

[Rat's tails are bald, the tail in your pic looks quite furry, but that could just be the magnification of the close-up shot depicting fine hairs.]

[vole-woman]

I know wood mice's tails are designed to slip off their skin as an escape mechanism, but they don't grow back. No idea if this is relevant to rats, though. How upsetting for you!

[blackb1rd]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

but I thinks its a defense mechanism they can loose their tails if a predator grabs hold of them and it grows back.

I'm not sure if you're being serious? Of course a rats tail won't grow back if they 'lose' it.

I'd hazard a guess that your rat got taken by a bird of prey (sparrowhawk maybe as they often hunt feeders) and its tail had a more solid grip than it's limbs on the metal(?) so got left behind as the bird grabbed it and flew off.

They can wrap the tail quite tightly around twigs etc for grip so it almost acts like a prehensile tail in a spider monkey or similar.

But who knows, nice grisly find all the same

[Kayleigh]

Sorry, I meant to say I didn't know if the tail would grow back.
It could have just as easily have got its tail trapped and escaped so keep a lookout for a tailless rat running around your garden.

[fairplay]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Sorry, I meant to say I didn't know if the tail would grow back.
It could have just as easily have got its tail trapped and escaped so keep a lookout for a tailless rat running around your garden.

This is what I was thinking - that it's tail somehow became trapped and the rat was forced to bite it off.
But that long white 'thread' - that wouldn't be the spinal cord would it ? If so, wouldn't the rat have become paralysed in the process and is now dead/eaten ?

Neil.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by fairplay

This is what I was thinking - that it's tail somehow became trapped and the rat was forced to bite it off.
But that long white 'thread' - that wouldn't be the spinal cord would it ? If so, wouldn't the rat have become paralysed in the process and is now dead/eaten ?

Neil.

It could be skin if the rat did get stuck and tried to run its tail would come off easy as it would if the rat was held by a predator as a lizards would.
But it could have been predated.

[Wild-Woman]

Very grisly but I should think there's a very satisfied predator reaping the calorific benefit.

[Jonners]

I would think that this particular Rat has "shed" his tail, like Kayleigh suggested, as a defense mechanism. I know that some other similar rodents can do this, and they won't be paralysed as it is only the tail that has been broken. It looks like the Rat's tail got stuck in the feeder and its only means of escape was to lose its tail. Not very nice for you or the Rat!