By himself or get a new friend?

So my beloved rat Boo mysteriously passed away a week ago at only 1.5 years. We think he might of fallen the wrong way in the cage and died instantly... So now my boy Po is left by himself. Po is about 1 year and 3months but likes to be alone other than cuddling and sleeping with another rat. Otherwise by boys were only on relatively good terms with eachother. Boo did like to pick on Po since he was the dominant rat.

The questions is do I try and adopt another rat around his age to give him a cage mate? Or let him live his life out alone? Which in all honesty he doesn't seem to mind. He hasn't changed at all since Boo has passed. If anything is he more relaxed now and not as much on edge.

If you feel like he is more relaxed now then I don't see a problem with keeping him alone. But that's just me. I feel like if you think he is less stressed now then it is worth it as long as you can spend enough time with him.

It's really hard to know what a rat is feeling. But we do know that naturally, rats live in large colony. I've never kept a lone rat unless they were extremely old. I feel it's just unfair to them. But it's quite a process to do intros and such. If you feel you are up to the task, then I'd say get him a buddy.

I'm still trying to decide if getting him a friend is what's best for him or not. He seems friendlier with me now whereas before he was more of a loner and he no longer shows any distress when I pet him. Where he use to squeak or huff and puff. But I wonder now that he really looks forward to coming out is he missing the company of another rat. If I do get him a buddy should it be someone around his age? Which I know might be more difficult to introduce rather than getting a baby.

I would suggest that you get him a friend. He still has a long life ahead of him and he needs the company and friendship of other rats .... rats are social, live in large family groups in the wild, and even rats that like to spend a lot of time by themselves still need to live with and have friendships with other rats

You might want to get another adult boy, a spayed girl, or two babies if your cage is large enough for 3 rats (babies need another baby to play with, also keeps them from bugging the adult too much) to introduce to him. If you get babies they will need to be 8 to 10 weeks old before you can start intros.

For info on intros see http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32368

Addition information on intros can be found at joinrats.com

good luck
and I am very sorry for your loss

After the past week and paying close attention to my guy I think I'm going to get him 2 little baby buddies. He seems more eager than usual to come out and I think he is lonely. Found some rats 9 weeks old and going to upgrade the cage size. I thankfully have an extra cage for now to use for the transition.

I look forward to seeing pictures and hearing about the new family members!

I picked them up last night. The black dumbo is Gus and the splotchy back one has no name yet. Right now they are in a separate cage beside my old guy. But the old guy seems to be excited and intrigued. So we'll see how it goes.

They look so sweet! The little black one reminds me of one of my little girls. She was a doll. I just love black rats. ❤️

very sweet babies and good that your boy is interested

Make sure that no one can reach the other cage, because rats will injure or kill unfamiliar rats (etc) through the cage bars if they can reach
good luck

So all the rats are in the same cage. The babies are still adjusting to their environment but everyone is getting along.

very rarely does that happen .....
you really need to follow the intro steps .......
I know of people that put rats together, they seemed to be getting along so they put them in the cage together .... and the adults killed the babies
- sometimes it can be ok but it usually isn't

I hope you will remove the babies and follow a proper intro, to ensure that your rats are not harmed or killed

I didn't just put the rats together. They started out in seperate cages. Both rats showed intrigue and no sign of aggression after a full day. Then I started them separated in the bath tub which is a neutral area and introduced them. I sat there for about an hour and there was no aggression. I did that another 2 times. Then cleaned the cage and rearranged it to look new put the babies in first for an hour then introduced the older guy. He showed no signs of aggressions. So far in the cage they seem to be ignoring each other but curious.

I could seperate them again and do a longer intro process...

Everyone took a little group nap yesterday while letting them get to know each other in the playpen.

Aww... [emoji7]

So cute glad to hear thing are going well

That's wonderful!!! They are adorable together.