# Rats in the wild - not so social?



## rat-fiend (Mar 7, 2008)

The common consensus on internet forums is that rats are social animals and need companionship to be truly happy. However, I have observed a number of wild rats out and about doing their business and I notice that they are always alone. This includes the rats that I see by the River Torrens in South Australia and the rats that live in and around the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. There are actually quite a few rats that hang around the botanical gardens and they always appear to be independent. Likewise, I have had rats enter my home and those particular ones operated alone. Am I only seeing half the picture here or what?


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## Xerneas (Aug 6, 2013)

Well, look at it this way. In a family, do all the members of the family go out grocery shopping together? I don't know about other family customs (lol) but my family definitely doesn't. While someone else is out doing the shopping for food the rest of the family members stay at home to clean and do other work, etc. I imagine the same is for those colonies of rats.

There are exceptions to every rule of course, but another thing you commonly hear said to people that are distressed about rats are mice in their home is that "if you have one, there are more nearby". Rats in the wild are definitely social creatures. Seeing a rat near a river drinking water does not mean the rat lives there but usually in some other secluded place. Rats do make tunnels/burrows in the wild and if you see one nearby there are very well dozens nearby living in its home, whether it be in a burrow or in the bushes or in someone's basement. Rats have a great sense of smell and they know how to get back home. There has been quite a lot of research done on the sociality of rats and just about every source online states that rats certainly do live in groups, even if you only see one.


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## Daize (Jun 8, 2013)

I've also noticed that rats seem to be solitary animals in the wild. A friend of mine has large Bird Aviaries. From time to time we "de-rodent" them. Of all the times we've had to remove rodents over the years. The rats were solitary animals. Of course, the mice numbered in the hundreds. Rats, you'd only find 1 or even 2 if you were lucky.

These lone rats aren't just out looking for food either. They're living underground in the aviaries. We've even collapsed tunnels when walking inside the aviaries. When that happens, we know it's time to start digging up the floors to remove them. The first time the de-rodent was done, they removed about 500 mice of varying ages. There was 1 rat with a litter of 4 babies as well. Maybe mice and rats just don't like living in the same space, but I would think the rats would run the mice out and not the other way around. LOL. 

So, I know for sure that mice will choose live in "large" colonies, because I've seen it first hand. I can't say the same about rats. I've never seen a large or small rat colony. At least, not in the wild. LOL.


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## Xerneas (Aug 6, 2013)

Daize said:


> I've also noticed that rats seem to be solitary animals in the wild. A friend of mine has large Bird Aviaries. From time to time we "de-rodent" them. Of all the times we've had to remove rodents over the years. The rats were solitary animals. Of course, the mice numbered in the hundreds. Rats, you'd only find 1 or even 2 if you were lucky.
> 
> These lone rats aren't just out looking for food either. They're living underground in the aviaries. We've even collapsed tunnels when walking inside the aviaries. When that happens, we know it's time to start digging up the floors to remove them. The first time the de-rodent was done, they removed about 500 mice of varying ages. There was 1 rat with a litter of 4 babies as well. Maybe mice and rats just don't like living in the same space, but I would think the rats would run the mice out and not the other way around. LOL.
> 
> So, I know for sure that mice will choose live in "large" colonies, because I've seen it first hand. I can't say the same about rats. I've never seen a large or small rat colony. At least, not in the wild. LOL.


It's pretty interesting that you're seeing lone rats, even underground. Hmmm. Over here it's backwards and when we get a rat in the house, there are always more nearby. When we get a mouse we don't see any other ones. Since I've always seen rats together that's where my opinion stems from but I guess in other areas and different circumstances it would be different. 

Still, if we hadn't seen the evidence of rats living together in the wild, there wouldn't be the consensus that domesticated rats should always be kept in pairs. Maybe since wild rats are more concerned with hunting out food and water and escaping from predators rather than sleeping in hammocks and playing with toys, they take to living solitary better than a domesticated rat can. I don't know, just a thought.


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## TheZoo (Jun 20, 2013)

Maybe the lone rats are rats looking to start a colony of there own? I have seen a few rats "nest" in the wild with several adults and _many _babies.


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## dr.zapp (Dec 24, 2012)

http://www.ratbehavior.org/WildRats.htm


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