Today

So, today.  Started out the day heading out to the East Chicago train station to meet one of my adoptive homes.  They'd adopted prior to this, and wanted to get another rat, but he had since sold his car since he moved to Chicago.  So he signed the papers, got the rat, and I came home.

Went to the laundromat to wash liners.  Swapped out the guinea pig liner for a clean one.  Will swap out the rest of them tomorrow.

And now... people are aggravating me.  I got a response to my degu listing on craigslist... all it said was "Call them whatever you want -- they're RODENTS!"

Ok.....SO?  Does the fact that they're rodents mean they're not degus.  No, rodents is just the larger classification.  Hate to break it to people, but guinea pigs, prairie dogs, chinchillas, mice, gerbils, rats, and so on... they're all rodents.  I still wouldn't say we're a rodent rescue, we are a chinchilla rescue.  Because we specialize in one type of rodent.  That's like saying that people are mammals.  Sure, they are, but is there a point to doing so?  I mean, lots of animals are mammals.  I think people just email for the hell of it to rile me up.

Moving onto positive things, we had a phone call today about Lilly.  Had some people come over to see her, and they decided they wanted to get everything settled for her before bringing her home.  So, they bought a cage and some other necessary items, and they say they're going to come back and get Lilly soon.

Also, got an email from someone wanting to adopt Linny.  They got me their paperwork today and we're working out (in email) for them to come by tomorrow. 

And then, I think one of my volunteers is going to come by tomorrow!  Which would be awesome cause I sure have a lot of cages that could use a cleaning.

Oh!  Almost forgot.  Had some people come over today, groomed their three chins and they got some food.  That was a relatively easy $15 (for the 3 chins grooming) for the rescue, so that was good.  Can always use a few extra dollars in the rescue account.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting Amber (of Wheeker's Guinea Pig Rescue) in Merrillville.  She is adopting Darwin, our rescue coronet cream & white guinea pig.  She is also adopting Aries, our sanctuary hamster who has been here for quite some time now.  As we don't actually take in hamsters at the rescue, most people don't even notice he's here (he's on a side table where I work on orders).  Amber likes hamsters and actually breeds hairless hamsters, and she is actually a hamster person.  Which I totally am not (hence, we don't take in hamsters -- my rationale is I've never met a friendly one and I could not adopt out hamsters that bite everything in sight... which is just about all hamsters I've ever dealt with).  So, we're basically just doing a transfer of ownership for him.  He's already almost 3 years old, so he's up there in age, and he's on meds.  So she's going to get him, his cage, his playthings and all, and she'll probably love on him way more than I do.  It's not that I don't let him out or anything, but he's not my favorite critter and he'll have it better there than he does here.

I actually gave away a chin awhile back as well, Lola.  She had had some tooth trauma prior to coming here, and was originally thought to be a malo chin.  Except, once we had her one remaining bottom tooth filed down... her teeth just never grew back.  Her top teeth stayed at the gumline and her bottom teeth stayed short.  It was right when she hit 6 months of being here, and had no change in her teeth situation (and no drooling whatsoever), that I was talking with a friend about potentially putting her up for adoption, but with no health guarantee, as it's hard to predict the future of a chin in her situation.  My friend said she wanted her, so off she went.

Mind you, before everyone starts asking for a free chin or free critter, both of these were sanctuary critters -- ones deemed unadoptable because other people aren't willing to adopt a chin with potential unknown future health problems,  or, in the case of Aries, ones that bite to the point that no one would adopt them.  Right now, with the two degus we have -- Honeynut is a sweetie, but with Trixie's failing vision, she's turned into a biting machine.  The only thing that has prevented her from becoming a sanctuary critter herself is that degus are social creatures and need to remain together so they don't get depressed.  In that sense, someone will (eventually) adopt both of them, and let Trixie do her own thing, while they enjoy Honeynut.  But, if Trixie was by herself, she would also be the equivalent of "free to a good home."  While I don't mind having sanctuary animals here, I would actually rather they be somewhere else, if someone really does want a "problem animal," as the case may be.  With them being here, they may be taking up a cage that would otherwise go to another animal.  Obviously, that's not the case with Aries, as he's in his own cage and we don't take hamsters, but for Lola, she was in a cage by herself, which is now being used by another chin, and if the sanctuary animals can find homes (and it does take quite a special person to want to take in one  of them), then I have more room to take in a rescue that can be rehomed.  Lola could have probably stayed here forever.  She gets along with other chins, and is currently living with some chins in her new home.  Here, she could have stayed in the one cage that typically has several chins in it at once.  She was accepting of other chins and not dominant.  Unfortunately, that's not typically the case with the sanctuary critters.  Usually, for one reason or another, they require their own cage and specialized attention.  So, once Aries goes to his new home, we will be "out" of sanctuary critters currently.

As posted on the website and our facebook page, our store is currently closed, and we're not taking in any additional animals at this time (except for if we've already given you the ok and are just waiting for you to bring yours in).  At this point, we are way over capacity.  Been way over capacity for awhile now, but after talking with with some people recently, it's become obvious to me that I need to take a break and recoup.  Lately, every time I make a house, someone buys it, and I need a little time to replenish supplies and get down to a reasonable amount of critters.  The problem is related to me hanging onto waaaay too many cages.  I have a variety of them for sale, but I kept saying, "oh, I need this guinea pig cage," and "oh, if I hang onto this, I can take in another guinea pig....".... yeah, it's turned into... now I have a ton of guinea pig cages and they're all filled with guinea pigs and rabbits.  I need to sell all but the favorite ones, and sell some of my playpens as well.  I don't need five playpens.  I have used them to house litter trained rabbits, but at the end of the day, they just allow me to take in more pets once my cages are filled.  The house that is housing the rescue right now is huge... when I move out, I'm not going to have a house this big to house the rescue in.  Which is fine, because I do need to scale down, but now's a good time to start.  It's not going to get any easier to scale down if it keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Going to stop the enlargement before it's impossible.  Doesn't mean I'll stop taking in other animals, but I need to make it so that I don't have a gazillion other cages for other animals, when this is primarily a chinchilla rescue.  I love me my rats, I have my rat stack.  Maybe that (it's a stack of 3 cages) and one other cage, and that should be enough.  For the pigs, I have my C&C-imitation cage, another large cage, and then a stack of pig cages.  The top cage in my pig stack is awkward to reach into, so I think my pig-stack is going to turn into a stack of two cages instead of a stack of three.  I also have a FN and CN that I'm debating selling.  Either I keep them and replace current cages with them, or I sell them.... because I sure am not expanding the rescue.

In the month I spent dating someone this past year, I realized the rescue is taking up too much of my time.  I love it and I love the animals.  I don't want to close it, but we're at the point where I can't keep it how it is and have any sort of life.... and I'm at the point where I want some sort of life.  So, the rescue's gotta get back down to a reasonable size for that to happen. 

That's why the rescue is closed to incoming critters at the moment -- because once a guinea pig or rabbit gets adopted, I want to be able to clean its cage and put the cage up for sale, rather than immediately fill the cage with another animal, which is what's been happening more and more lately.