Just in case any of our parents are reading, earlier today we didn't go to the RSPCA. We didn't get 2 degus and bring them home. We didn't put them in an enormous cage which Emma didn't buy and which doesn't take up most of the living room.

We haven't called them Remy and Emile, after the rats in the film Ratatouille.

Remy (with Emile in the background)

Emile

The Degus had originally been confiscated from a pet shop in the Birmingham area. They had been kept in overcrowded conditions and there had been some fighting. This is probably how Emile lost the tip of his tail.

Remy sometimes sits very still and acts as if he can't see you. The staff at the RSPCA thought he might be blind but most of the time he seems ok. It's as if he has occasional absence seizures which stop if you pick him up.