Edit #3

My roommate and I looked at it a A) the brownish/reddish tip seems to be getting smaller and B) it looks like dried/crusted blood to both of us. When a rat bit my BP a couple months ago she had dried blood on her neck till she shed (I couldn't wash/wipe it off for the life of me) and it looks very similar but much smaller. So that, along with the "slit" scale leads me to believe a cut. Plus, with no swelling, pus, bad smells or any pinkness around the area (The area is no longer pink anywhere) it leads me to disregard scale rot. I think I'm going to keep her on paper towels until she sheds and go from there.