Pet rats make fun loving, loyal and attentive companions. They are easy to care for and great fun to know and providing you take a few basic rules into account when setting up a home for your rats you will have a wonderful time together. I have been sharing my home with rats for over 15 years and everyday I learn something new about what wonderful little critters they are.

When I first started out as a rat mum there was very little information on rat care available to me. I had to learn the hard way and I made several mistakes with my first rat, including keeping him as a solitary rat. From that first experience my rats have taught my many of the rights and wrongs of rat care. Everything I now know about rats comes from years of loving and sharing my home with many different rats of all shapes and sizes.

Lone rats are unhappy rats

People who say that having a single rat makes them more loving towards humans are just being selfish. It is not possible for you to be with your rat 24 hours a day, and during the time you are at school, work or asleep you will have no choice but to leave your rat on its own. In the wild rats are social creatures and they communicate with each other in ways we cannot hear or understand. There is no way for a human, no matter how well intentioned, to replace the love and comfort a rat will find in having a companion of the same species.

Keeping two or three rats is no more hard work than keeping a single rat and the rewards are infinite. A group of rats will love nothing more than including you in their fun and teaching you how they like to play. Every group of rats you are lucky enough to know will show you something new about rats and how they interact. And when you're away you will not have to worry about your rat being on its own waiting for you, it will have a companion to play with, and be reassured by, until you get home.

Find out more about all aspects of rat care at my blog Rat Care Hints and Tips.

All photos used are of my own rats, both past and present, and are not to be copied or distributed without my permission.