So today, worked on getting more cages ready for my used cages page (which is now up - http://www.nwichinchillas.com/usedcagesforsale.htm). Got a few more ready, and mainly just cleaned up the basement. God only knows how it gets to be so messy down there in such a short period of time.
Had someone come over to drop off a rescue. Turns out, her daughter went on some trip and said she was going to bring something back... and brought a chinchilla back. Apparently this was some time in 2011 before Christmas (only leaves 11.9 months, eh?). So I guess they kept the chinchilla and it was first in the daughter's room and then in the son's room, and then the parents were getting divorced and they "had to find a place to take the chinchilla." I don't know if they were moving to a place where pets weren't allowed or what. I try not to judge, my goal is to take care of the rescues, not hound people about why they're rehoming them. Not my job. But anyway, they brought over the chin and his stuff. Excuse me, HER stuff, because it is a girl, not a boy. I asked about the name of the chinchilla, they said it didn't have one. So... my mom dubbed the chinchilla Sparkle, and so Sparkle she is. Put her in one of our cages and left her plastic-filled cage on the side. Will eventually get to that as I keep cleaning out cages. Sweet chin. Did great being held and petted.
But other than that, I just spent a lot of time cleaning and working on the cages and pictures and all that. Of course, that meant that several of the cages downstairs were moved around and in the middle of the one "aisle" and so there was only one way through downstairs. So my dad bitches to my mom that the chinchillas are taking over the basement. Really? Cause there's actually only ONE more cage down there now than there was 6 months ago. Like seriously, in the last 6 months, not counting that cage that came with the chin today, we've only gotten in ONE cage. Which is fine, not complaining about that, but my dad was saying there's cages everywhere, and it's like, ok there were those same cages here for the last few years, they were all just tucked away and stacked and taken apart or whatever, and now that they're all getting ready to sell, I have to dig them out... and like I cleared out one spot near one of the walls so I can get clear pictures of the cage, and so I have the cages ready to go all over in that area, as well as a table with the stuff on it that we're taking to the Expo. So that's getting added to by the day.... but it's not like cages are taking up every inch, come on already. So anyway, she told me what he said and I tucked back the remaining cages into the area they'd previously been tucked away in and tried to clean up the area where I had the already-ready-to-go cages so they're not taking up as much room. We do have a lot of spare cages, and I mean we already have 7 ready to go... not all chin cages, but we get in a variety of critters so some other critter cages... and it's getting to that point where I can say, ok these cages we're keeping, those can go. And if I really need more cages at some point, we still have like 4-6 extra runs standing on end. Not like those are great cages, but they'd work in a pinch if I got in a slew of chins and needed to order some cages. Since many of the ones we're selling are the exact same cages that we sell new... they're just ones we had and used for a few years and just aren't my absolute favorites. Nothing wrong with em, just have ones I now prefer to them. Can't keep em all.
Same with the animals. Cadbury seems to be taking well to her new cage, er, pen. I opened up one of our smaller playpens, took the bearings and back off the junko-wheel and filled it with shavings... figured if there's any way Caddy's gonna be potty trained, she needs the biggest pan I can manage and that's pretty big. So I got her in the pen with food/water, the pan, and everything. She went in the pan! Of course, it's got 4 "drip holes" cause of the previous bolts so I think tomorrow if I have time I'm going to empty it out, rinse it out, and try to cold weld those holes shut. In the meantime I have a towel under the litter pan but I would rather it just not drip through. But she seems to be doing well. Oh and today as I was walking around the playpen Caddy kept running up to the side I was on, which got me thinking, this 8 pound rabbit can probably open the pen if she wanted. So now the thing has like 5 pear clips holding the pen shut. It was sort of clipped shut the way some cages clip open, like into place, but now extra safeguards. So we'll see how she does tomorrow. Anyway... the point is, she wanted attention, so I got in the pen with her and I was petting her and petting her and she was just laying there enjoying the attention and I had that moment of, hey, I could keep her, she could stay in the pen and.....and then it's like, you know, if I kept her, then I'd have less room and less money, less whatever, for the other rescues. Which is also why we're adopting out Nike, Tallie, and some of our other previously resident-chins, because at the end of the day, I can't keep them all, and I have to keep the ones I absolutely can't live without.
Like Winx. Winx graduated to his new cage today (well, it's not new, but we got it used and fixed it up) and it's the biggest cage he's ever been in, and for the moment he's just by himself in there. When we get in another chill male rescue he can have a buddy again. He seems to love it. And I walked by the cage twice and just had to pull him out and give him some lovin'. And that's what I mean, like he's my baby. But Nike? Tallie? Some of the others? Don't get me wrong, I love em all, but Nike - it's more the fact that he's an extreme mosaic that kept him here. Tallie's older and wasn't breeding. Not like I don't love my oldies, but she's really a chin that likes attention and would do awesome in a pet home. Same with the others. There's nothing "bad" about them, they're chins I would keep if I didn't have the rescue, if I just had x amount of chins. But at the end of the day, there's only so many chins I can manage and I would rather have less of my own chins and more room for rescue chins, without needing to add more and more cages because my own chins take up so many cages.
Like on that note... Winx is housed separately. Moki has Tallie as a cagemate at the moment, but for the most part, she's housed separately. Toby beat up Winx awhile back so he's housed separately. Now, Winx and Moki are friendly chins and can have cagemates, so they don't "have" to be separate, they can have buddies if we get in friendly rescues. But right there, that's 3 cages that permanently have a "fixture" chin in them. I go back and forth on this all the time, but I think when my "pet" chins die, I won't be replacing them. That probably sounds horrible, and it's NOT cause they're taking up cage space, but I guess I just feel like somehow my own pets are the ones that suffer when I have a million rescues cause even though they're all spoiled the same, if I get in a rescue that needs a lot of time devoted to it, my own pet chins kind of take the back seat. Not like the breeder chins get a ton more attention either, but at least they're contained in a bit smaller areas... but again, when they pass, or when we adopt them out as retired breeders... whatever the case, I feel like I won't be getting as many replacements. I will get some - I will never have "no" chins of my own, but I feel like I'll be a bit more picky about what I get and how that all goes down. I got a lot of my current chins in a herd sale. And it's not that I'm not happy with them, but I think next-go-round I'm going to pick and choose. The herd sale was good cause I got a lot of supplies and a lot of stuff that I was able to sell and make money for the rescue, but I kept a lot of chins simply because they were chins that did well, or whatever, whether or not I like them. Heck, Dreamz is still here, and I still can't fathom why she's named that! She is the most pissed-off chin ever. Doesn't bite but just barks up a storm and is the biggest crab-ass chin. I love her to death. She's like my Moki #2 (they have the biting/barking switched up). Dreamz is one of our pedigreed breeder chins and has had some nice babies, and the babies do NOT inherit her attitude (thank god), or else she'd probably be gone too.
Ember's going to be going as well. I was telling someone, I feel like it's a "back to basics" sale, like you hear in the stores, cause I'm going back to fewer breeding chins, almost no pet chins except three out of my original four chins (the fourth is Bailey - who is one of our two breeding males) and Myshkin, and Myshkin's kinda just sitting here for the moment. He did well at Nationals but we don't have any girls for him so... he's just kinda chillin. And that's fine, he can enjoy his wheel and big cage and all. But I feel like selling so many of the used cages and adopting out some of our resident chins, it's like ok somewhere I got too attached and it's time to let go. Don't need all the pets, don't need all the cages.
On that note, sanctuary animals are obviously not replaced. Rex? (our pacman frog). Love him to death... but he won't eat on his own, so per vet's orders, we open up his mouth twice a week, get him to eat two fuzzies, and move on. Great frog, doesn't complain a bit (haha). Already older, doesn't eat on his own, not adoptable = sanctuary animal. But once he's gone, no more frogs. Aries, our sanctuary hamster. We don't even take in hamsters, but he was from a good friend. Couldn't say no to that. Sweet hamster, hates me to death and wants to bite off my fingers when I give him his meds (gloves are the lifesaver), but he's very cute and loves his cage and wheel. Nice pet, but already 2-3 years and I wouldn't want a critter to pass shortly after adopting it out (that, and I did say I'd just keep him til he passed). Once they're gone, their stuff will be sold or pitched or whatever the case. And they're not "pets" so it's not like I'm in any hurry to get rid of them or anything... but at one point, I might have been able to adopt out Rex, and then I said, no, we're keeping him here as a sanctuary animal. That's fine. But again, back to basics. I guess it's more like I'd rather help people find their new pets rather than have a ton of pets of my own that are spoiled to death but aren't getting as much attention as I would like them to get. With a rescue... there's not a ton of time for other things. I mean, I have time to go out with friends, have some fun, but at the end of the night I have to check water bottles, feed critters... and I'm not complaining, I love it! But there's always something to do. That's the nature of it, I guess, and that's fine... but for me, that simply means not having a million pets/breeders of my own.
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