Pet Rats – About Ronnie & Derek
About Ronnie & Derek
Ronnie and Derek are Pink-Eyed White (Albino) rats, born in early December 2018. They moved to their new home in Chelmsford, England on 30th January 2019.
The website domain – ratta.co.uk – is derived from ‘råtta’, which is Swedish for rat!
Ronnie: December 2018 – 28th October 2020
Sadly, lovely little Ronnie was put to sleep on 28th October 2020. He’d been unwell with a respiratory infection for a few days and the vet suspected there may have been other complications, such as cancer, as he wasn’t responding well to any treatment. Letting him go was a very sad, difficult decision, but the right one to ensure he didn’t suffer.
He was a wonderful, funny rat who gave a lot of love & joy to his humans. There are plenty of memories, photos and videos of Ronnie and he’ll never be forgotten.
Derek will no doubt miss Ronnie, but he’s a strong little rat who enjoys human company and he’ll be fine.
Names
It was clear from the start that Derek is a bit shyer than Ronnie, so he was named after the shy, dithering 1990s Coronation Street character Derek Wilton. Ronnie was named after a few energetic and entertaining Ronnies – Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker… and of course BBC local radio’s Ronnie Barbour.
Appearance
Derek has a slightly darker coloured coat than Ronnie, but apart from that, there’s not much difference in their appearance.
Personalities
Ronnie was a bit more adventurous and livelier than Derek when they were young, but Derek quickly came out of his shell, possibly after seeing Ronnie trying new things first.
Derek’s more agile and climbs the inside of the cage in a more elegant way than Ronnie, who always seemed slightly clumsy!