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Can you keep a rat by itself?

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I'm thinking about getting a pet rat. If I did I would definitely want to get a male. Could I keep it by itself or is it better to get it a friend? I'm not sure if two males in the same cage would work so well.

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Get the rat a friend for sure! they are very social animals, and two male rats in one cage is fine!
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Rats are social, it's best to get them a friend unless you will spend a lot of time with it, it's best to get either two males or two females or you will have a lot of babies to worry about.Since rats are so social you probably can get one from a different litter and they be fine, I know this because I worked for petsmart for almost 3 years..I love rats they are so smart and fun, you can even teach them their own names...

Ps: they love apples and and oranges, which I would feend oranges on a daily basis it provides them with vitamin C which helps reduce uri (upper respitory infections) which rats get very easily. Never sweep or dust around them or put under a vent.. Good luck and have fun with your new pet they are awsome!
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You could keep a rat alone, but if you want your rat to be the happiest he can be, you NEED to get a pair.

They may be slightly happy if you provide a ton of attention, but not even close to the same level of happiness they have if they have you AND a cage mate to hang out with.

Two males do just fine in the same cage. I just introduced a new male to my own. Both were housed alone for 4 months, and they accepted each other with absolutely NO issues.

It's true that females are usually more accepting of new cage mates, but that does not mean that males never are.

There will be no issues, assuming you have an appropriate size cage for two adult males. I use the Super Pet My First Home For Exotics ($99. Dimensions: 30"L x 18" W x 30"H)

Find a cage with similar dimensions, if you cannot find the one above.
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They do suggest that you keep rats in pairs, they are very sociable animals. However I have a friend who owned one and he was perfectly fine on his own. She did give him a lot of attention though (someone was always holding him). If you do get two, it should really be the same s*x. They seem to get along better that way.
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yeah, but it won't be a happy rat!
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GET A FRIEND! it is even more easy to take care of! yes you will give as much attention as you can but he will have nobody to l**k him groom him and wrestle with him at night while you are asleep and he is most active! read this its great! :http://www.rmca.org/Resources/apair.txt

i only have one and he is very depressed and lonley and un-social! im trying to get my mom to get him afriend!
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You CAN keep a rat by itself, but It's much better for them to have a friend. They're very social and get depressed if they have to be alone. It's really no more work to keep two than one, and it's more fun to watch the two of them interacting, anyway!

They crave attention, like dogs, so if you do keep one alone, you will have to devote a lot of extra time to interacting with him yourself. Even so, it's really not a substitute for another rat buddy.
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