Should I get one, or two rats?

Question

I got a rat about 3 days ago, and I need information from people who have had rats to help me explain to my mom that I need 2 rats. Pros and Cons are appriciated. How important is it to get two. And if I go to school from 5 AM to 3 PM, is this enough to have to get a second rat? How much better is if for the rat if I get two in this situation?

Answer 1

Rats are companion animals. They litterly NEED the company of another rat to live. Rats will feellonely if they do not have companionship of another rat. I had a friend who had 1 rat and her rat died a year after she got it and started acting funny about a month after she got it. I have always had 2 rats and they are well into thier 3rd year of life.

Answer 2

GET NONE, DEM NASTY

Answer 3

Get two rats! Good luck with your little cuties!

Answer 4

You can get one rat  but it's not there isn't really a good reason for doing that. It is better to get two rats because they in joy playing with each other and they will entertain each other when you are not playing with them. This will take a little bit of the pressure to play with them off. Even though they have each other you should still play with them an hour a day. You should also play with them separately so they can bond you better.

Answer 5

Ratties are social little creatures and no matter how much time you can spend with one, you cannot replace their little fellow friendships. Some ratties can become very neurotic and get some bad habits if they are lonely. With two ratties they get stimulation all day from each other and then get to have a special relationship with you when you get home from school. They will also play together like lil puppy dogs during their exercise time. Two rats are like owning one rat, except no body gets lonely. Just be sure that your cage is big enough for two to live comfortably. It is much healthier for the rattie to have a little buddy.

Answer 6

You should get two rats.  Rats are very social animals and if you can't spend a lot of your time with one rat, it would be best to get a playmate.  And just keeping one rat is only not providing one of its important needs.  But a rat need at lest an hour out of their cage-a day-for exercise.  So you can just take them out of their cage when you get back from school.  If you only have one rat, it could get depressed.  It takes longer to get just one rat living alone to get to trust you, then it takes from more than one rat living together to trust you.  I hope you get a playmate for your little friend!

Answer 7

Get two rats because they are very social creatures and they need a little companion of their own.

Answer 8

There are no pros to having a single rat. At all.

Rats are social animals. This means that living and interacting with other rats is part of their living requirements. Having at least two rats is comparible to how important it is to have a proper cage, or food for it. Keeping a single rat is giving it only substantial care, and depriving it of one of its needs.

Scientifically, there have been a few tests which confirmed that single rats are a lot more prone to boredom, aggression, destructive behaviour, illnesses, and a shorter life span. There is a huge difference whether or not an animal is alone for around 20 hours each day, or never alone.

The pros to you of having multiple rats is that they will be a lot happier and more trusting. A single rat takes longer to trust you than those living with other rats, since a single rat is more unsure of everything. Also, if your rat ever gets sick, it will have a quicker healing process if it had other rats with it. If it lived alone, and was sick, it could very well just go downhill without recovering.

Have a read through these sites: http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm...

If you go back to the same place you got this one from, you can get a same sexed rat that lived with it in its cage and already know eachother, so you don't need the quarantine or full introduction process.

Answer 9

yes 2 rats is good i have 2 one is Charmer and the other is Mr.Smiles & and i tihnk it would be good for 2 rats to be together mine r happy wiht each other . and i got them from diffrent places they are awesome! just take them out whne u get back from school

Answer 10

Rats do a lot better in pairs, they are extremelly intelligant animals and very social.

Answer 11

Two.  They get lonely and depressed rather easily.  If you aren't going to devote your time to your one rat 24/7, you should get it a companion.