[Plantoutofplace]

I only have one rat right now(Jingle), I'm in the process of finding a buddy for her but I've spent hours searching online and can't find any rescue female rats anywhere near me. I don't want to get one from a pet store though, the reason I have only one is I've gotten 3 rats from pet stores and 2 of them died within a month of buying them.

Any tips on how to care for a single rat? I don't want her to be lonely or bored, but I'm new to rat ownership and she isn't really bonded to me (long story- technically belongs to my sister but through many Circumstances I'm taking care of Jingle for about a year).

I've been working on bonding with her, but any tips on how to keep a rat from feeling lonely would be so helpful!

 

[Rats4All]

Hide her food and treats to keep her entertained. Give her extra toys. Give her extra free-roam time. (If possible.) Simply talk to her through the bars so she knows she isn't alone. (Tell her secrets, how your day is going, ect.) (If possible) Try to train her.

 

[MyBoyRatPulledaMulan]

Similar-ish situation. I adopted two "boys" and one turned out to be a girl and got pregnant. For now, the girl is with her babies but the boy is by himself until the babies are old enough and I figure out re-homing.

But until then, I scatter feed the boy so he has to dig for his food. I watch YouTube videos on trust training (I recommend this playlist:

). With COVID I'm home mostly, so I check in 2-3 times a during the day to give him a small treat (like a piece of broccoli, a pine nut, healthy stuff like that). If he's half asleep, I scratch his ear until he wakes up. Once he is awake he remembers that he "doesn't like me" and takes his treat and backs away (lol). Don't do that if your rat is prone to biting you. I'm fortunate in my boy clearly wants to interact with me, he's just not confident enough to do so. The video I linked above really helped me help build his confidence. Once he's no longer on edge being around me I plan on tucking him in my hoodie when I go about my day around the house.

Until then, healthy treats a few times a day when I can't interact for very long. One session a night on weeknights where he's out of the cage and we're trust training (he's in my jacket or we're in a dry bath tub together). Sometimes I put on Netflix for him if I can't take him out at our normal time. Just so he has "human noises" at the same time every day, and then I'll take him out once I'm able to. I've found routine helps, as he'll be at the cage door waiting for me. Even though he doesn't trust me enough to let me touch him lol.