Friend for my ferret

Should I get a friend for my ferret? My ferret is almost 5 years old and I'm not sure if he would take well to another ferret, when I got him I had another little boy with him who was either his brother or close relative but sadly he ran away years ago and now that I'm at college a lot of the time I worry about him being lonely. Also If I were to start looking for a friend for him would male or female work better?