These are my two rats, Charlie and Norbert. As an Animal Behavior major, I took a class called Animal Learning & Behavior in the fall semester of 2020. Due to COVID restrictions, and the space constraints in the classroom, our groups were comprised of three people who met on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. In this class, we trained lab rats to press a lever in order to receive a food reward. As we continued in the class, we trained the rats to be able to wait longer after pressing the lever for a reward.

After the class was over, the different groups had the opportunity to adopt the rat that their group worked with. Some groups did not have anyone to take their rat, so I was allowed to adopt two. Something that not many people seem to know about rats is that they are pack animals. What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means that rats should not be alone. If someone is adopting or purchasing a rat, it needs at least one friend. Because of all of the research that I had done on rats, I knew that I wanted to take two of them home with me. Despite being our laboratory instructor and having several years’ experience working with rodents, my professor put up a fight in regards to me taking more than one male rat home.

Rats (especially males) are susceptible to something called hormonal aggression, which comes out more if they are not spayed or neutered. However, if you introduce rats properly over a span of time, they will often bond with the other rat with no issues. My professor was too worried that two males would fight and kill each other- even though scores of people have adopted multiple rats with little to no issues.

In the end, I took responsibility for “whatever may happen” with my boys, and I got to take both of them home. After introducing them properly with only a small scuffle, they will now sleep in the same space together. I believe they were actually from the same litter in the lab, so that also helped significantly. All rats will wrestle and play together, and my boys are no exception. They light up my days, and I am so glad that I was able to adopt both of them.

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