BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Exotic Pets mouse tail

Hi all. I have a question about my mouse's tail. He's a little white lab-escapee. We have his cage in the room with one of our rabbits. Last night he got loose and I think the rabbit bit mouse's tail. His tail has a cut and is starting to scab but looks a little swollen at the wound area. I'm wondering if his tail will fall off? As far as I can tell, it still moves when he wants it to. My only experience is with gerbil tails (as a kid) which break off when mishandled. I didn't know if the mouse tail would do the same kind of thing.

A mouse tail is pretty strong. The tail can support the mouse's weight. The tail will probably not fall off depending on how hard it was bitten. You may want to get antibiotics or clean it really well since it is swollen.

Thanks, karen. I took him to my wonderful vet, who x-rayed it and watched him for a day before advising that it needed to be removed. She also said it didn't look like a bite, more like he got it caught on something (so bunny was off the hook). We now call him "Stubby Stuart" and you'd never know he was missing anything! I of course miss seeing his beautiful long tail, but he still has enough to provide balance and he gets around just fine.

I'm glad it was resolved. I was going to suggest to take toa vet who would probably recommend removal. Once the tail breaks it's usually a lost cause, esp if it was broken at a place where it will cause pain constantly.

Sounds like stubby stuart is recovering well!!!



Meg

Yikes im so scared of mice, but i do hope stubby isn't in any pain
there bald tail believe or not is what scares me
If they had a bushy tail i wouldn't be scared ;o)

Nope, Stubby-Stuart isn't in any pain! He still runs around like crazy. His tail (now stub) has the finest little white fuzz on it, but it does look bald. I do understand being freaked out by it, though - esp. the way they can use it to hang on things.