They play together, wrestle, and love sleeping curled up together. Much like us, if they do not have companionship, they can become lonely, anxious, depressed, and stressed. Mice and rats have complex systems of communication. They can communicate by touch, by smell, and by sound at frequencies that we can't hear.
If your remaining rat is lonely, you may notice changes in appetite or activity level. Sleeping more and/or playing less can also be indications of lonesomeness. On the other hand, your lone rat could seem perfectly happy.
As rats are social animals, they can get depressed and develop abnormal behaviour if they live on their own.
Singleton rats can still live happy lives under the right circumstances, but all you have to do is watch a group of ratties play together, groom one another, and use each other as pillows, to understand the sheer joy they get from companionship.
Rats are extremely sociable and really thrive when they have the companionship of other rats. Lone rats crave this attention so will often become depressed or display aggressive or nervous behaviour.
Rats will not usually pine away and die simply from being kept alone - so if you are concerned simply with what rats need to stay alive, you can keep them alone. However, it is not fair to think only of what our pets need to keep them alive. We should also think about what they want to give them happy lives.
Do not kiss, nuzzle, or hold rats close to your face. This can startle your rats and also increase your chances of being bitten. Bites can spread germs and can make you sick. You don't have to touch pet rats to get sick from their germs.
Both mice and rats are also highly social animals. They become attached to each other, love their own families, and easily bond with their human guardians—returning as much affection as is given to them.
At times your furry apprentice will seem unruly, stubborn even. Don't bother getting angry. “You can't scold or punish them,” Harden says. “A rat does not understand discipline.”
Rats cry blood when stressed:
Rats have a Harderian gland behind their eyes which secretes a substance called porphyrin during times of stress [4]. It is a red or pink discharge that gives the appearance of a rat crying blood. Usually, a rat will produce small quantities of porphyrin and groom it away.
Rats can experience grief after the death of a companion just as humans can. Although rats may not have the intellectual ability to rationalize such a loss, it is clear that they recognize their companion is gone and they can show many of the same physical manifestations that we feel.
Rats make lifelong bonds with their owners Ask any rat owner, and he or she will tell you: Rats recognize their owners and respond to their sight and voice. They are very social and love to hang out with human family members on the couch or on peoples' shoulders or in their laps.
But they do need lots of attention, so you'll need lots of time to care for them. They'll need daily social interaction and at least an hour of exercise outside their cage every day, so it's important that everyone in the family is keen on the idea of keeping rats as pets.
Depression is induced in rats by subjecting them to several manipulations of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) over 5 weeks, as described in the protocol. A successful sucrose preference test confirmed the development of depression in the rats.
Rat Fact - The average IQ of a rat is 105.
Quivering/Vibrating
This behaviour is literally the rats feeling something too intensely for them to express. It can be a sign of nerves, but can also be a sign of intense excitement or apprehension. To try and judge what exactly your rat is feeling so intensely you have to look at it's overall body language.
They can only see a few feet at best and are relatively nearsighted critters, so if your pet rat is not reacting to your presence across a large room, it is because they cannot see you. This doesn't indicate they are losing their vision; it just was not that good, to begin with.
Nibbling On You
If your rat nibbles or licks you, he or she might be showing you affection by grooming you. Rats also have an excellent sense of smell, so your rat might nibble or lick your hand or smell you after you eat or prepare food.
Rat Are Social Animals
Pet rats enjoy being stroked by their owners and sometimes even enjoy a gentle massage, a scratch behind the ears, or a simple tickle. Rats have also been known to return the affection by "grooming" their owners.
Not only were the rats physically looking backward; they were also thinking about the choice they hadn't made. What's more, "just like humans," says Redish, the rats were more likely to take a "bad deal"—or wait longer than they normally would for their next piece of food—after a regretful decision.
According to a new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, rats can feel regret – a cognitive behavior once thought to be uniquely human. Rats show regret too.