[Everglow.]

So Tuesday morning I woke up to find one of my beautiful little ratties had died in his sleep. He was an old man, at least 2 and a half, and had otherwise always been really healthy. The problem is, I have two other rats who have lost their brother.

One of them is more or less acting normally, but the other has slowed down a bit more and isn't eating as much or playing as much. I know rats are really social animals, so I'm worried that this is going to get harder for him. I'm also worried because if he passes away too, I'll have one rat on his own. I'm not able to introduce new rats as I live with my parents and they have said I can't have any more, and I work 4 days a week and for various reasons none of them were ever hand tamed, so I don't know that human interaction will be enough if I have just one rat.

I don't know what I'm asking here, but I've never dealt with this before. I've always had lone animals, so never had to worry about how they would react to someone dying.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for how I can help them through this, and, for when the time comes, how I can keep a single rat occupied when people aren't around all day to play with him?

I feel super guilty because I didn't think this through and it's breaking my heart a little bit every time I see them both cuddling up together without their brother there too.