How Many Rats?

Rats are social colony animals. In the wild they live in vast family warrens which can stretch for miles of tunnels and branches, and can include hundreds of members, each one known and recognized by the others! No matter how much daily time you spend interacting with your rat, you simply cannot make up for the simply pleasures of interacting with another of their own kind. No one wants to be a hermit!

Some people believe that getting your rat a same-species buddy will cause them not to bond properly to you. It is not true! In fact, rats kept in isolation often become neurotic and strange, and may not want any company at all - including yours! Single rats can turn to self-mutilation, repetitive obsessive behaviors, and even become aggressive! When a rat has the opportunity to interact in a healthy way with others of its own kind, it becomes a better-socialized creature with more empathy, and the more mental stimulation your rat has, the smarter and more alert and playful they are.

Rats need, at minimum, a single cagemate. Unlike other rodents, rats live very happily in same-sex groups, and should never be housed together in mixed-sex groups unless one or both genders are neutered. A cagemate will provide them with social grooming, a warm sleeping buddy, someone to play with, and even someone to "talk" with - rats communicate with one another in frequencies too high for human ears to detect!

However, the most stable rat colony should consist of 3 or more rats. Some rats simply don't enjoy one another's company very much - I'm sure you know lots of folks you like, but wouldn't want to live with! It's nice to have a choice in their social interactions. Additionally, some rats, especially when isolated in a single pair, will pair bond extremely tightly, to the point where when one of the rats dies, the other will simply pine away. If they have other cagemates to mourn with them and continue to force interaction on them, it will be easier for them to go on when a cagemate dies.

New babies should be introduced to a colony in pairs, simply because sometimes a baby is just too rambunctious for the energy levels of older rats - having another youngster to romp with can help maintain a peaceful cage, with the babies playing together while the older rats relax in the hammock.

Remember that your rats still need enough space for themselves, to get away from a rat they are disagreeing with, for their toys, hammocks and enrichment materials, a wheel for extercise, and room to romp around, so the more rats you have, the bigger cage you need!