I just took a few rats off the stretchers to hang them up and one was very sticky, as if sugar was thrown on it as it was trying or something. Looking back, I had a couple like this last year. Does anybody know what could cause this?

this happens with mink when you catch a very large and fatty mink. theres fat underneath the saddle and that becomes sticky after the hide dries. maybe the same thing with your rat. on the mink, you cant remove this fat w/o removing the saddle, and most people just leave it. it usually gets a yellowish look then becomes sticky.

Sounds like mold forming. Is it taking a long time to dry? If it has a apple smell, it is molding.

Thanks fossil a mink of mine is that way too. I just went and checked it out.
Don, I leave them for a week. I keep it 70+ degrees in the shed, so I'm not sure what could be causing this. The hide just smells like my fur shed, its hard to smell the subtle things in there as I am sure you can relate lol. Would the smell be particularly strong?

It would be strong enough to smell fairly easy. 70 degrees without fans running is not a good temperature. It is to warm. A pelt should never feel sticky. It should dry in 3 days or close to that. If you have a lot of humidity, it causes big problems. I have had my wood burning stove lit up many times when thwhene temp is 55 and the humidity is high. I always run fans in my shop when I want fur to dry fairly fast.
I can walk in the door of my shop and know if things are not going right. I just put up a bunch of rats a couple days ago and they are mostly dry now. The only thing left to dry is around the lips. If I had fur that was not getting dry after 3 days,I would put fans on them.
Put the hide under your nose and see if it has any kind of odd oder.

So Don it is safer to dry at a cooler temp to make sure of no molding?? it's cooler were i dry my hides not cold by anymeans but not 70 degrees by anymeans either i havent had no problems with no mold but i was just kinda curious on if it's okay to dry at a cooler temp?

think he saying around 55* with low humidty ,and low humidty being the key

Yes, I have to suspect the humidity being the real issue for mold. I dry mine in 70 degrees BUT with a dehumidifier in the same room. Hard to dry anything in a humid environment. Mold grows well there, though.

I don't think there is anything wrong with some tackyness on a rat pelt. In fact many of the better pelts have some. Better than a dried out rat pelt. Auction houses use weight as a grading tool; so dried out is not good. I think that 70 is way too high. There is high humidity in my garage and attic where i store driesd goods untill sale and i have no problems with mold.

My fur buyer goes to the auction house to BUY fur. I asked him if there was anything I should be doing differently to dry my rats. He said "no these are real nice". So, I don't have an issue with 70 degrees in regards to drying.

First off, removing 99% of the fat is good. Some will dry up. Second scraping the hide too much will bring hair through. Be observant as to the removal of fat. Leave the shoulder muscle meat. Just smooth it back up towards the nose when done removing the fat. The temperature of around 60' w/fan blowing, is good with a lower humidity. Don't leave them for weeks drying. Do you like jerky thats hard as a rock? The skin needs to be flexible and dry.

70 is ok if it is a dry 70. 50 is to cool if it is a wet cool. I run fans when I dry lots of fur. There is a difference in sticky on rats. Old grease on rats gets sticky, new grease on rats ought not ne sticky. If I found my rats or any other fur being sticky feeling after 3-4 days of drying, I would be concerned. If the rats have been laying around for a few weeks, you will get a little sticky feeling to certain areas on the pelt.
Trying to explain something on the computer is like trying to teach a telephone pole how to bark, it is almost impossible.

No Don, it just gets muttled up and off track easy. You explain things quite well...and makes sense.