Rats are exceptionally clean animals, and spend close to 30% of their
active hours grooming & cleaning themselves. Therefore, you usually
do not need to shampoo or bathe them yourself.
If you're taking them for a show, if you are bothered by a noticeably dirty
tail or (usually in males) oily hair, or if they've gotten a urine odor on them by
you waiting a little too long for a cage change, then you can bathe them on
occasion with puppy or kitten shampoo. Don't use baby shampoo or ANY
shampoo that people use, since it can cause irritation and discomfort for
your rat. If it's only the tail you're after, you can CAREFULLY wash it with
a very soft toothbrush and puppy shampoo. Gently stroke the rat's tail
with the damp toothbrush, and brush AWAY from the rat's body.
If you try to brush towards the body, you can harm the delicate
skin structure that makes your rat's tail look like a rat tail.
You can also harm the tail's skin if you brush too hard. Your pet
won't appreciate it, and you won't appreciate the ensuing vet bill.
Some people have their rat's nails clipped. If you decide this is necessary,
please go to a vet experienced with rat anatomy, or find a well-versed
rat owner to do this for you.
If you decide to do this yourself anyway, keep a styptic pencil or styptic
powder ready, in case you accidentally nick or cut the little vein
that runs inside the rat's toenails by cutting too much of the nail off,
slipping with the clipping instrument, or having the rat get excited
about his maicure and jaming his toes into the clipper the wrong way.