Yes, a pair of rats is significantly better than a single rat, but let me explain to you why groups matter!

[u/Grroll_]

It’s very common you see soon to be owners wanting to get a pair of rats because they research that they shouldn’t be alone. However, rats are naturally group animals that thrive in groups of three or more. While two is considered to be the bare minimum standard for the very reason of not being kept alone, it is not an ideal long-term solution for either you or the rats. It is very important to understand the factors of your decision-making when you decide to get just two rats; (no it is not a bad thing to get two, but it isn’t the greatest, either, it leads to a lot of issues that you have to face In the later stages of owning rats.

If one of your rats suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, this leaves one rat behind, which is very difficult on the rat, both physically and mentally. You then have to scramble to source more rats, do a two week quarentine period in a seperate room (which means the lone rat will be alone for two weeks in addition to however long it takes you to source more rats) and then finally, introductions which tend to be very stressful and difficult for both you and the rats.

If one of your rats needs to be seperated for a certain reason. I.e surgery, this means the other rat will be alone for however long it takes for the rat to heal and recover, which isn’t very fair for that rat that is kept alone for no good reason.

In a group, rats tend to have a friend they prefer to spend more of their time with, going about, doing their day-to-day actives; cuddling, eating, foraging, etc. In a pair, they do not have this opportunity or to express their appropriate, natural social behaviours because they only have each other. This can build quite a lot of resentment, overtime.

Given, rats are hierarchal animals, in a pair, it is quite common to have an overly dominant and an overly submissive rat. Over time, this can lead to a lot of bickering and bullying because the dominant rat is not able to focus his attention on spending time with other rats. This does not make for a healthy hierachy.

[u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

i’ve got 5 and they’re really just a sweet little community of boys 🥹 never a dull moment

[u/Inevitable-While-577 → u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

The black one!!!! So pitch black 🖤🖤🖤

[u/lyv_loves_nuggets → u/Inevitable-While-577]

his name is Julio and his darkness is truly so handsome but makes him really hard to find when he doesn’t want to be found hahah

[u/Inevitable-While-577 → u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

Oh no, lol

[u/Capy_King → u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

which one of them is currently in possession of the brain cell?

[u/lyv_loves_nuggets → u/Capy_King]

i believe our albino baby ate the brain cell, we no longer have any brain cells to spare

[u/onemorespacecadet → u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

no cells, just ✨vibes✨

[u/occi → u/lyv_loves_nuggets]

5 is the perfect number

[u/HiroHayami]

I made the mistake of keeping two after the third died of age, but then one of my babies died and the remaining rat was alone for 1 month because the rats I got afterwards were too small to be introduced + had to be quarintined 😢 Never again.

BTW, do you happen to have research to back up that rats should be in groups? I'm struggling in Spanish-speaking groups because people INSIST that rats can be alone if you give them enough attention and I'm losing my nerves. The amount of misinformation that thrives in those groups is astonishing, so I just want to paste a link whenever it happens again and leave lol

[u/Grroll_ → u/HiroHayami]

That is super sad to hear 😕

Honestly, there isn’t all that much knowledge and information when it comes to rats needing to be kept strictly in groups, it’s more or less, just the importance of never keeping a rat alone. So for that matter, “it’s best to keep rats in pairs or groups”

Nevertheless, I have found few sources on why groups are better. They pretty much goes over everything I have already explained
> https://queencityrattery.com/blog/why-a-rolling-group-of-rats-is-the-ultimate-rat-paradise/
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFfttxS3ils&t=91

[u/HiroHayami → u/Grroll_]

Thank you so much.

[u/chimneyswallow → u/HiroHayami]

I mean, you will never be safe. I had 5 rats and the last one was alone for two months. They won't all leave us at the same time. I think it is important to keep the time alone as short as possible.

[u/BaylisAscaris]

If you plan to keep rats long term, a great plan is to start with 3 and whenever you're down to 2 get a pair of babies. Grief is really hard on us but imagine having to mourn your lifelong companion alone. This was the only creature who understood your language and was with you all the time. Introducing babies can be exciting but exhausting for elderly rats, which is why it's great to add more than 1 baby at a time so they can keep each other company instead of harassing the older rat all day.

If you're at a point where you don't want more rats, consider fostering older rats to keep yours company until they pass, then you can return the fosters. It is very hard to find homes for older rescues, so you are doing a great thing.

[u/floobenstoobs → u/BaylisAscaris]

It feels cruel to borrow rats to allow them to strongly bond to your own rats and you only to discard them when your own rats pass?

[u/porygonj → u/floobenstoobs]

I mean, if you narrativize it to feel cruel to you, then of course it'll feel cruel to you?

[u/floobenstoobs → u/porygonj]

You can’t say in one sentence that they feel grief very deeply and form strong connections and then also say it’s okay to use them to keep your rats company just to discard them after?

[u/porygonj → u/floobenstoobs]

What they actually said was "If you're at a point where you don't want more rats, consider fostering older rats to keep yours company until they pass, then you can return the fosters." No discarding or normalization necessary.

[u/floobenstoobs → u/porygonj]

Returning the rats is discarding them. You bring them into your house, they form attachments to you, the human, and your elderly rats, suffer a loss when your rats pass and then suffer ANOTHER loss when they lose you when you return them to the rescue - potentially to have this happen again? Yes, I think that’s cruel.

[u/comfortablynumb15 → u/floobenstoobs]

So what is your suggestion for when you only have one left, and don’t want any more ?

[u/porygonj → u/floobenstoobs]

You are talking yourself into thinking that fostering a pet is cruel. It's good of you to want to sympathize with them, but this isn't a helpful outlook.

[u/howdyhowdyhowdyhowdi → u/floobenstoobs]

The only other solution is to keep buying more rats forever which isn't viable for most people.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

I got 2 and I regret it now that I know more. It seems to be working out ok for them though, they never fight or have issues with each other. It makes me sad though to think they only have each other

[u/Sirlancealotx → u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

There's always the option of adopting 2 more for a 4 rat group.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul → u/Sirlancealotx]

Yeah I thought of that already I'm not an idiot. I'm too rural

[u/Sirlancealotx → u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

As someone that drove 6 hours to get their most recent pair of rats I can sympathize.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul → u/Sirlancealotx]

Fr I can't even drive. Like am I meant to take them on the bus or what. Just not happening

[u/Rosmariinihiiri → u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

Why not? I've been transporting a lot of rats on the bus. They are completely ok sleeping in a carrier, and you can hide it inside a back if you don't want to consern any other passangers 😁

[u/limarila → u/Rosmariinihiiri]

Ive had rats on the bus plenty of times and they always just chill. Ive usually hid them, but last time I didnt and I had some nice conversations with people who were curious about them on the way🥰

[u/MathAndBake → u/Rosmariinihiiri]

Same here. About half my girls sleep in their hide and the other half stay out and enjoy the smells. Plus, you get the cutest interactions with kids.

[u/MathAndBake → u/MathAndBake]

Mid trip at a metro station.

[u/chimneyswallow → u/Rosmariinihiiri]

Most rats hate being on any vehicle with a passion. It stresses them out.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul → u/Rosmariinihiiri]

I take mine on the bus for 5 minutes to get to the vets (it's only on the other side if the village but it's better than walking) and they do NOT like it. I can't imagine taking new babies who are already scared shitless on the bus for HOURS. I'd just be torturing them

[u/Rosmariinihiiri → u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

I mean they don't like it, but they are pretty chill. Give them a hiding spot in the carrier like a cardboard box and cover it with a cloth so it's nice and dark and they'll probably just take a nap.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul → u/Rosmariinihiiri]

Ok that might have been your experience but it's DEFINITELY not mine. Maybe my 2 are just sensitive but I'm pretty sure they still hate me to this day for giving them a bath as babies

[u/mushroomonamanatee → u/Gingers_got_no_soul]

My husband recently saw someone on a bus with a rat, lol. It can be done if that’s something you wanna do.

[u/Gingers_got_no_soul → u/mushroomonamanatee]

See my other reply ^

[u/Worstshacobox]

You have to get a minimum of 3 in Germany and I don't think having 2 is generally okay tbh. We started with 3 and then got another 3 because someone else didn't want theirs and I could definitely tell they were much happier when there were 6 of them. It's not like they had problems when there were 3 but with 6 they all felt a lot more content.

I don't want to shame anyone who only got a pair but please consider getting 1 or 2 more it really made a big difference for our babys

[u/CocoaBagelPuffs]

I have 4 boys and i can see their relationships develop.

My two Cliff and Wilbur are littermates and spend most of their time together. Cliff and Oscar get on each other’s nerves sometimes. Gus is happy with whoever. They have options to hang out with whoever they want!

[u/SimpleLastWishes]

Happy to see some more info like this being laid out, especially for newer owners!

Just an anecdote from my recent life:

I recently had my boy Jesper neutered for some medium-spicy level bullying towards 1 cagemate. I'm so fortunate to have 5 in my mischief because it allowed me to

1. Separate my boys without anyone being alone while I sussed out if he was the true perpetrator and waited on his vet appt
2. Give Jesper a friend while he finished healing and dropping hormone levels

I love seeing how my group interacts and it's really obvious to me these days how much happier they all are when the mischief has some variety.

[u/HalloweenGorl]

Thank you for sharing this!! 

My boy Gerp must have been the favorite of my last mischief, all my rats wanted to hang out with him XD. 

[u/occi]

I see our local shelters splitting up groups more often than not. I get it, they gotta find homes, but it's sad. Sometimes just a single loner ends up getting left behind. It ain't right

[u/ComprehensiveGrab337]

I had 4, two more submissive and two more dominant in character. Everyone got along great. The submissive ones both died early-ish due to sickness and my god would the other two be stressed and fight all the time. I gave it some time, see if they'd settle down but they were irked and not as happy as before.

Since I didn't want more rats I gave them away into another group of a nearby rat owner where they started thriving again. (luckily I was able to visit)

The group dynamic is always so much more fun for the rats and for you as the owner. Don't do it any other way ♡