I only stopped after my last rat, Pestis, died, because I had become allergic;
I'm sorry to hear that you became allergic. My ex and sons keep some rats. She was fine with the previous ones, but is having trouble with the current ones. Not sure if this is an overall rat allergy, or something specific to the breeds they have now. Their current rats are "Vincent" (missing an ear) and "Tolouse." Did your rat have a mate named "Yersinia"?
Uh-oh. I've been outed!

No, my rat didn't have a mate named Yersinia,
buuuutttt.... Yersinia happens to be my actual online name everyplace else but here! Pestis's last cagemate was named Locutus, actually; he died only a month before Pestis did.
Yeah, I really wish I wasn't allergic, but alas I am. It didn't matter what kind of rats I had (everything from various types of hooded and blues to rexes to solid colored ones to "plain" white lab rats), and, I'm also allergic to cats and dogs. I don't mind being allergic to dogs because I don't like them anyway, but the rat allergy tears me up and the cat allergy bothers me (I know people with cats, I
like cats, but I can't pet them or let them near me unless I'm in the mood for
nonstop sneezing, hives and itchy runny eyes). Oh, and on that note -- I have never once asked the owners of those cats to lock them up or get rid of them for the duration of my visits, and they always clean/vacuum when they've invited me over, so I'm OK allergy-wise as long as I don't play with the cats or let them climb on me/sit on my lap (they try, maybe they sense that I do actually like them, even if I can't show it; I get up and move, or me or my friends shoo them gently away).