Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Some advice for actors working with rats

Lots of people feel skittish around rats, probably because rat tails look a little freaky, all naked and maybe a little scaly looking. Rats are actually pretty awesome little guys and make excellent pets, but it can take a long time before you relax enough to get to know them.

If you're going to do a scene with a rat, or many rats, your fears may be amplified because rats tend to be used in horror or mystery films. There's nearly always a dead body or a crazy person involved. Sometimes the crazy person is a scientist and sometimes its a killer. Sometimes you're the one playing that crazy person and you may find yourself suddenly having to hold a rat. If so I have a key piece of advice for you.

Despite what you have seen in dozens of films and television shows, and despite what the handler themselves may tell you, you should never, ever, under any circumstances pick up a rat by the tail. I'm not sure why people do this, esp since the tail is the creepy part, but it's dangerous and could end up seriously damaging, or even killing the rat, and giving you a complex and a terrible guilt trip.

Every time someone grabs a rat by the tail they run the risk of something called "degloving" which is where the skin and maybe the muscles and meat of the tail come off in your hands, letting the rat fall. But the rat falling is the least of the problems. Now the rat tail is just bone, open to the air, and the rat is in agony and quite likely screaming. (Rats can scream in ultrasound which you can't hear but they also scream in frequencies we can hear quite well.)

The rat now has a true medical emergency and will probably need surgery and antibiotics, and even then he or she may not survive.

Please make sure that when you work with rats you don't carry or lift them by the tails. Tame rats love to explore and should be very willing to walk on your hands, maybe on your arms also. If you don't want them exploring their way up your arm you can cup them in your hands and maybe let their heads peak out so the camera can catch them.

If you get grief from the director or anyone else calmly explain the dangers of holding the rat by the tail. After all, everyone wants to be able to put one of those notices saying no animals were harmed in the making of this film in their credits, right?

One final word of advice, don't just Google images of degloved tails for idle curiosity. It really is as bad as I've described and I don't want you getting sick.

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