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OK - so Dervel is the star of the show. It was never intended to be this way. Originally, if you look at the very first cartoon, you can see that I was prepping it so that Snitch would be the main character. Snitch is evil, and evil is so much fun to play with. But, in the gap between drawing the first cartoon and the second cartoon (Dervel's Hammock) I had re-honed my stories quite considerably. I'd also started reading them to one of my year-7 classes at the school where I was teaching, and reaction to Dervel was the most positive. They loved him. Bit by bit I realised that Dervel's innate silliness meant I could get away with being generally more stupid, and that was fun too!Hell - you can't argue with market research!
Dervel the Rat
Name: Derfel
Nicknames: Derfelicious, Polar Bear
Variety: Pink-eyed Champagne Fancy Rat.
D.O.B. : December 2003
Date of Death: 1st July 2005
We miss Derfel. Derfel was an absolutely awesome rat - a pet shop rat, mind you. He had a brother who was a pink-eyed white and we often wish we had bought him as well. We got Derfel when he was about 11 weeks old as a complete and utter impulse buy! Naughty us! He came from the Big H pet-store in Plymouth.
Derfel was named after Derfel Cadern from the Bernard Cornwall 'Arthur' series. It's pronounced 'Dervel' as you can probably work out. Our vet couldn't quite reconcile the spelling with the pronounciation so, in homage to this, he was renamed 'Dervel' for the stories.
Derfel lived on his own for a few months until he'd been castrated and had gone through the safe period. When he was well enough, he moved in with Smurf, Stitch and Smurf's sister Bronte. He adored Smurf and Bronte, who immediately fell in love with him and welcomed him into the cage like a long-lost friend. Not so with Stitch. Stitch was furious that she had to share the cage with a smelly hairy boy, and, being the dominant female, she pounded him. Again and again and again. For 4 days she wouldn't let Derfel come down from the shelf, and we had to install an extra food-bowl and water bottle on the top-shelf. Smurf protected him, but Stitch would attack when Smurf was otherwise occupied.
Eventually Snitch let Derfel settle in, but Derfel never got over his fear of her, and they were never the best of friends. When Smurf died he became very reliant on Bronte for friendship. After he got sick, we realised that his fraught friendship with Stitch wasn't helping his health, so he moved in with some other male rats we had bought after Smurf's death - Hobbes, Baldrick, Mallow and Snaggle. He was incredibly happy, and it was then that we saw our first ever boggle. Boggles from pink-eyed rats are very impressive.
Derfel was always Si's rat. Si adored him, and the feeling was mutual. He had a great head-swaying habit, which we used to say was his way of communing with the spirits. Si also taught Derfel his one and only trick - jumping from the sofa onto his lap. Derfel (perhaps because of Snitch) was always very nervous though, and when free-ranging would always find a cushion to hide under.
Being a pet-shop rat, Derfel was prone to illnesses. When he was about 18 months he had an operation to remove a lump in his leg. Unfortunately it triggered a re-curring lung infection and it was this that eventually claimed his life, 6 weeks later. He was put to sleep with Stitch on 1st July 2005. Just before they died, they made up their differences and had a long, loving cuddle.
We don't have many pictures of Dervel as he lived with us in a pre-digital-camera age.
A young Derfel shares a cuddle with Dad.
Refusing point-blank to kiss mum - why's she in that scary get-up?
A bigger boy now - Derfel develops his 'Ming the Merciless' hairstyle.
He could be a great shoulder-rat...mostly because he could hardly see what was going on.
Stripping him of his dignity - our last pic of Derfel, six weeks before he died and wearing the latest in fashion accessories.
Derfel
Dervel the 'Character'
As I've mentioned before, Dervel is probably the most popular of the 3 rodent rebels. His innocence is a very endearing characteristic, and you've always got to have a thickie in any group of three. However, there's more to the character of Dervel than can just been seen in the cartoons...
Name: DervelNicknames: Sir Dervelicious, Polar Bear.Age: 6 months.Best friend: Smurt.Arch nemesis: SnitchPets/Children:Dermot the Ferret, Puff the Arctic Mouse,Squelch the duck.Childhood Dream: To be a samurai.Likes: Sandwiches (particularly traingle cut chocolate spread ones).Dislikes: Jelly (it's too wobbly).Hero: Freddie Mercury.
Cartoons Dervel takes a lead role in:
