Fancy Rats Forum

I'm training one of my rats and he's got more confident having a little run around just outside the cage (supervised of course). But suddenly a loud firework banged outside and it frightened my poor rat, and instead of running back into the cage he went to run underneath the cabinet. I panicked because there are a couple of wires behind there, so I quickly went to grab him before he disappeared under there but he leapt out of my hands so quickly. His tail was still in my hands, and I tried grabbing his body again but he was eager to run under there and I ended up pulling his tail without intending to.
He ran under there but luckily came back out a few seconds later (hopefully he didn't chew any wires), and I gently picked him up and put him safely back into his cage. I worried in case I might have caused him injury. He ran around in his cage and I gave him a grape which he took and chewed a bit, and his tail seems OK. His brother groomed him all over and he relaxed.

I do feel bad for pulling his tail but like I said it doesn't look damaged. Will he be OK? How would I know if it hurts him?

You might want to check that he's moving around normally, with good coordination and sensation in all four limbs, and also check that he hasn't got a tail injury just by gently squeezing along his tail and seeing if he reacts strongly at any point. But I wouldn't worry; grabbing them by the tail by accident happens from time to time and while. I do actually use the base of the tail to restrain them sometimes if they're trying to go somewhere they shouldn't and it's the only part of the rat I can get at.