Lonliness in rats

Question
Hi,

Last night i lost my little fuzzy buddy Monty [Age approximatly 2 1/2]. He was a white hooded rat full of character and personality. I suspect that he choked on a piece of rat museli, I am going to miss him greatly, however i am also concerned about my wifes' rat Rex, Monty's cagemate. Monty was always the alpha rat, being bigger and stronger, but Rex seemed to accept this as the natural order of things. I am worried how Rex will cope now without his little friend. Rex has always been a more timid than Monty, and hasn't been well recently with a large cyst on his side, and a small one on his head ,he's had treatment but his hair is extremely thin and his balance isn't as good as it once was.

They have been sharing a super size cage, apparently big enough for 10 rats, and i'm worried that this will be to big for poor old Rex to get around on his own, and also that he'll be lonely on his own. I plan to put him into a smaller cage, so its not quite as big, and also so there isn't a smell of death.

But i can already see him looking around for Monty, is there anything i can do to help him, i don't think i'll be ready to replace Monty for a while, but is there anything that my wife and I can do to help Rex whilst he gets used to being on his own?

Also is there a risk that he might pass due to loneliness?

Answer
I am sorry for your loss. ITs so heartbreaking. I just lost one of my beloved boys 2 weeks ago and I am also worried about his brother but so far he seems ok.

What I do know is rats can mourn, and yes, they can mourn themselves sick. What occurs is the rat is so stressed due to their loss that their immune system is compromised.   Have you ever heard people say that when they have two rats and one dies, the other dies soon after?  This seems to be true in some cases because the lone rat mourns himself till he is stressed and illness sets in.

What I am doing with Santana is keeping him really busy. Everytime he is awake I take him out, even just to hold him and carry him around the house for a bit and we have longer play time sessions to the point he gets bored and either goes back to his cage to snooze or falls asleep by me because I sit inside his play area with him. I have two other male rats that do not live with him but they are super grumpy and set in their ways and actually it is Santana that would cause trouble since he is always climbing the other rats cage, poking in at them etc....so at least he has some interaction with other rats, even if it means he gets poufy, walks sideways, brushing against their cage, hisses and spits at them and all the while the older rats just turn their backs on him and sleep. They are about 4 months shy of their 3rd birthday and he is    not even 2 yet so you see the difference there.  Santana seems to enjoy causing havoc with them though so this seems to help some. I have lost several males to unexplained illness chalked up to stress related after the passing of their cagemates so I am indeed worried about Santana. I just may end up buying two younger males for him...not sure yet.

ANyhow sorry so long.  I just wanted to explain everything in detail for you. I cannot say that Rex will end up in a depression or not, but just know that it can happen.  Rats really bond with their cagemate and also with their owner....if you do plan on another rat, I would do it soon because you still have a 3 week quarantine when you bring in new rats around existing rats so Rex still has more time to be alone yet.

Hope this helps

Sandy