Goos are fabulous pets - at one point we had 7 but sadly we are now down to just the one old guy Digby who we got from the RSPCA via Becky on here - he is fab. They are great characters - and I agree totally not smelly but they can be naughty - our others used to throw poos at me when they wanted out of the cage, if I was watching TV and ignoring them!

Thanks for that. I Would never, ever buy an animal from a petshop. Can't bare the places! Saying that I am now considering a breeder as rescue rats are quite difficult to locate it would seem. Shunamite I think they were called, ring any bells?

My dogs aren't rabbit friendly, my cat could only just tolerate the regular pestering from them. More importantly though I'm not particularly rabbit friendly either it would seem. I had a couple when I was a kid and both of them hated me. Scratched me to pieces all their lives and I even had one of them from being teeny tiny! Thanks for the suggestion though.

I've heard of Degus, aren't they like giant gerbils or something? Might look into that, they sound interesting. I'm guessing they couldn't live in a tall cage like the one I had in mind though, right?

Oooh I'm liking the look of Degus, very cute! Wonder how much chance there would be of finding a small group looking for a new home though? They seem quite "rare" still?

Loads of Degus in rescue if you look - one of the reasons is they live a lot longer than most rodents, so people get fed up with them a lot sooner. (Although arguably, they aren't really rodents but Octodons).

Loads of degus in rescue - I kept a group of 4 in the exact cage you showed

Thanks for that, will do a bit more reading but I'm already liking the sound of Degu's.

It'll probably be after Xmas now due to finances, but hopefully I'll have some new small furries joining the gang in the New Year.

I kept rats for 10 years, absolutely fabulous beasties, but they just don't live long enough. 3 years just isn't long enough with them. The heartbreak every couple of years is just awful.

This is the trouble isn't it? I've had many Gerbils and Hamsters etc, but the two loviest small furries I had were two Russian Dwarf Hamsters - Zig and Zag!

They were trained to come to their names and used to enjoy sitting on your knee in the evening and watching TV. I was lucky that they lived quite a long time, one died at about 3 years old and the other was about 4.

Blimey, you're a born rat person... just wait til you get them....

Other little furries just don't have the same appeal, ferrets come close but not quite there IMO