It is not clear from your question whether you want to use %to replace strings or %for remainder.
, mathsy, ints, :
>>> val = None
>>> while val is None:
... try:
... val = int(raw_input("Type your number please: "))
... except ValueError:
... pass
...
Type your number please: potato
Type your number please: 27
>>> print 'The first digit is {}'.format(val // 10)
The first digit is 2
>>> print 'The second digit is {}'.format(val % 10)
The second digit is 7