Thanks everyone for all the advice!
I've been posting on a few forums and everyone keeps saying rats rats rats! So they are looking to be the right choice, possibly not as cute as degu, but their personalities and interraction definetly seem to be what I'm after!

Does anyone know any good breeders in/near wiltshire?

Does anyone know how to convince a person "scared of tails" how not to be?hehe

what are people's views on castration and do you know how much it costs? I'm quite precautionary and would prefer to get it done when they're younger and aparently safer, than wait to find out if they will become aggressive etc! Is it a risky operation? is it painfull for the little guys?

Thanks