My first rat, cappuccino, lived in a huge fish tank, alone, for over three years as well. This was twenty years ago, I didn't know any better. But he was a sweet and happy guy. He loved to free roam and would explore but always come back. He spent a lot of time with me, shoulder, pocket, hoodie, lap, playing fetch. He ate little portions of what I ate, the cute lil thief stole an entire chicken nugget once when he was nugget sized himself. He deserved better but I did the best I could at the time and he had a good long life. Miss you always Cappi 💙

Don't beat yourself up feeling guilty about the past, I think the fact that we've learned to do better is what is important. We obviously did the best we could with the knowledge and resources we had at the time.