wild rat companion?

Question

roof rat   QUESTION: I have been raising a male roof rat from babyhood (1 week or so) and he's about 8-9 weeks old now, sexually mature but still very small (about twice as big as an adult mouse).  I originally had him and a sibling, but the sibling died before their eyes opened.  I've had pet rats before, and this little roof rat seems to be very happy with domestic life - he's a bit more skittish and startles more easily than a domestic, but otherwise very similar.  He has a nice big accessorized cage and we give him LOTS of attention, but what he DOESN'T have is a rat companion!  He's very well socialized with humans, but he's only ever met another rat once - we introduced him to a young male domestic rat (younger than our rat, but at least 10x his size!) and they pretty much ignored each other.  We ended up not adopting that rat.  That was about three weeks ago.  I've since been in contact with someone locally who has a litter of domestic rats about three weeks old at this point, who will be ready to adopt out soon.  They have males and females available, who have been well socialized with humans and with other rats.

My question to you is:  do you have any experience with wild and domestic rats living together?  Do you think it would be  better for our rat to live alone, or to live with a companion, considering the circumstances (he's from wild stock, and sexually mature)?  Would it be better to get a male or a female, considering that they can't breed?

Thanks for any advice you have.  I've attached a picture of the little guy as proof that he's friendly with humans (he LOVES riding around on our shoulders and sharing our food.)

ANSWER: Dear Kim,
thank you for your question.
It would definitely be a good idea to get one or two rat companions for him. Wild rats can live with domestic rats, they are not really different in their behaviour towards each other. Other males can live with him, if you get females, they will breed for sure. You can neuter him, but it's not really necessary like it's with fancy mice.
He probabyl ignored the other rat because he hasn't had contact with other rats for almost all his life and he may need to re-learn the proper behaviour. So be patient and introduce them slowly.
If you can wait a few more days, I can look for literature on wild and halfwild rats kept as pets. I know that I have some articles on this in a rodent magazine at home, but I won't be able to look for it until Tuesday.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow, if you have time to look for that literature on wild rats as pets, I would really appreciate it!  I've read pretty much everything there is on the internets (the information at www.ratbehavior.org is especially useful) because I want to make the best life for the little guy that I can.

Answer
Hi,
I'm sorry, but I couldn't find the magazine with the article. I asked some people online who I know keep halfwild rats and they told me that they can live with domestic rats very well, it's usually not a problem and introductions are no more complicated than between domestic rats. It's possible that the wild rat will get more shy and skittish when hes older, but he may stay tha tame since he's handraised. All the halfwild rats the people I asked kept were raised by their rat mother and were never completely tame.
I hope this helps a bit. If I come across the magazine after all, I'll let you know.
Jennifer