Hi,

I have an eight month pet rat. She is incredibly affectionate and we spend a lot of time together. I have read that it is borderline unethical to keep a solitary rat. I have been considering getting her a rat friend. I am just concerned that it is too late and she wouldn't adjust to the new addition.

I tried to introduce her to my friend's rat. This rat is a bit younger and also a female so I figured there should be no threat. We did it the right way - I think. We kept them in their independent cages next to each other for a few days but Spirit (my rat) was furious. She kept trying to attack Scout (my friend's rat) through the cage. At one point Spirit actually got to Scout and attacked her pretty viciously. There was blood. She was also very possessive of me. If she detected me holding Scout she would go nuts.

I don't want Spirit to be lonely but I also don't know if she would adjust to a second rat. I don't know if I was just doing introducing them the wrong way.. I don't know what the ethical action is at this point. She seems happy on her own and seems to enjoy being an only child. I'd like to get her a friend so she might live longer, etc... but I don't know if it's the right move considering her history with other rats.

Advice?

Others may have a different opinion but I have found that with most rodents, rats included, once they get used to being alone in their surroundings, introducing an outsider will not work. If you had put 2 rats together originally, they would have developed their pecking order and mostly would have been fine. Now your rat is used to being king/queen and any additional rat is considered a threat.

If you pay attention to your rat, it won't suffer from being lonely.

I question the use of the word "ethical" here.

At any rate rats have been known to fight to the death.

Obviously introducing another rat has not worked. I'd leave your rate by himself/herself with whatever attention it needs from you.