Interest in chins comes in waves. It really does.
Ever since the one lady put China and Snickers on hold (and no, they don't get along, the person is getting a critter nation cage), I've had more people email about China and Snickers than ever before. One guy is set on coming and seeing them, and I told them, he can, and he can come and see all the others, but if this person actually completes their adoption and pays for the chins or puts down a deposit, I told him, I'm not having the conversation of, "well, how much would I have to pay to get them instead?" Cause believe me, it happens.
Well anyway, funny story, I just emailed the lady about China and Snickers, cause it'd almost been a week, and I hadn't heard back from her, and I was starting to wonder if she was no longer wanting to adopt. So I write her this long email about how I can't hold them forever, yadda yadda, and she has 5 more days to get back to me before I take em off hold, and so on and so forth. Literally the second I send her that email, an email pops up in my inbox from her, answering all my questions from the previous email and such. Naturally. So I email back to that one, saying to ignore the last email, and she's all set to adopt. Now, she wants those chins held for I think another 3 weeks? Which is fine, but I told her, she has to put down a deposit to do so. So, that's what I emailed about in this email, and she got back to me and said she'll mail a check. Since I have the ability to deposit checks right off my phone, that'll be fine.
Then, I had someone emailing yesterday about the beige male that I have for sale, the pedigreed one. They filled out their app, sent me a nice pic of their cage, and they're all set to adopt this Sunday.
Then over the last few days, I'd gotten a few calls from Iowa, and hadn't answered, because out of state calls are usually a waste of my time (hate to say, but if I'm not shipping, most of them aren't driving). Well, she left a message this morning, and I hadn't gotten around to listening to it yet, but I had checked my email, and same person emailed me wanting to get the pink white male and then asked if she could call me and when she listed the number, everything fell into place. So, we talked, she's set to come Monday to adopt him.
And the best part -- I was JUST going to lower the prices on those two chins. But I was like, let me list the other chins I have available first, because they're taking up more cage room in rescue cages than those two are taking in runs.... and I'm glad I left it alone.
Had someone else email about wanting to take the pink white male on a trial run. Told her, sorry, he's on hold, and her second choice was the beige male (go figure), and so she's decided to trial run Scampy. So she came and picked him up. Fingers crossed that goes well.
And then the person who was interested in Puff, and then Owl, and I told em where they could view the adoptable chins, now is wanting to take Maddie on a trial run. Working on setting that up.
So, I went and picked up some chin chow, and then when I got home, I pulled all of the FN cages forward and swept behind them, and vacuumed all sides of the cage. The first two cages on the left, I vacuumed out, sprayed down and wiped out the pan, and put in fresh (ahhhh) liners. And then took pics of those chins that were in those cages that weren't listed yet. Wrote up ads for Snowy / Hannah and Clive / Amethyst (the other chin pair, Chili and Chico, isn't ready yet, and the cage for the guinea pigs hasn't been cleaned yet, so no pics of them yet). So ads were posted on the website and elsewhere for the two pairs I did get pictured. And that's about where today ends, because I am tired and sore.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
People
People are interesting. First, in the last week or two, I've gotten three emails asking about Maddie. All three people, wait for it, cannot adopt for like three months. Which is fine and dandy and all, but...telling me now really is kind of pointless. I mean imagine going into a car dealership and saying, "I want to buy a car in three months. I don't want to get prequalified or anything, I just wanted to let you know." They're going to tell you to come back in 3 months. So why is this different? I told the people, when you're ready, let me know. But until then, she's up for grabs. And don't get me wrong, they all seem like nice people. But it's hard to get the average person to follow through with an adoption a week later, much less 3 months later....so I'll wait to hear back when one of them is actually ready.
Moving along. I got an email. Someone wanted to adopt Puff because "he" was so adorable. Not sure where they saw an add, cause there's not one up for her right now (which means they probably dug through Facebook pics) and clearly can't read either since Puff was female. And went to her new home a few months ago. Which I told em. Same person emailed asking if Owl was up for adoption. No. I told em, the adoptable chins are shown on the Available Chins page on the website and only those chins are available.
I've been making more of an effort lately to clean up the rescue and the basement in general. It's getting there. Few more days of cleaning / organizing and I hopefully will be able to find my paperwork on some of the most recent surrenders so I can see if they're potentially adoptable yet, and if they are, I can get them listed. Can't be adopted if no one knows they're available.
Moving along. I got an email. Someone wanted to adopt Puff because "he" was so adorable. Not sure where they saw an add, cause there's not one up for her right now (which means they probably dug through Facebook pics) and clearly can't read either since Puff was female. And went to her new home a few months ago. Which I told em. Same person emailed asking if Owl was up for adoption. No. I told em, the adoptable chins are shown on the Available Chins page on the website and only those chins are available.
I've been making more of an effort lately to clean up the rescue and the basement in general. It's getting there. Few more days of cleaning / organizing and I hopefully will be able to find my paperwork on some of the most recent surrenders so I can see if they're potentially adoptable yet, and if they are, I can get them listed. Can't be adopted if no one knows they're available.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Communcation and Adoptions
Communication and Adoptions. They go together. I do intend to write about them separately, but let's start with communication as it relates to adoptions. I receive all sorts. Phone calls. Emails. Texts. I prefer email, because it's not acceptable for me to call you back at 2 in the morning (though I can send you an email at that time!), but any of them are fine. But there's a few things that I guess people don't know, that are worth noting.
First, I cannot send you the care packet and an adoption form over text. There's just no way. They're Word files.
Second, because they are Word files, regardless of the type of phone you have, you will not be able to input info into them on your phone. You can open them, look at them, sure. But you won't be able to write into that form, save it as a Word file, and email it back. Just doesn't work that way.
Third, if you don't have a computer, I will no longer be mailing you an adoption form and care packet. If you want one, you can come by to pick it up, because every time I mail one, that's a $1.50+ that I spend in postage, and I have yet, since 2003, to see one of those people show up at the rescue to adopt or purchase anything.
Fourth, you people need to learn some patience. At least 90% of the people who contact me, I contact back within an hour or two. Of those 90%, at least half tell me "they've already found a chinchilla elsewhere." Really? Personally, if I email someone and ask questions about it, I give them at least some time to get back to me, and by "some time," I mean more than an hour or two. Same goes for the orders. If you put in an order, and email me literally 2 hours later asking, "so you've mailed it out, right? When am I going to receive it?" on an order that contains 6-made-to-order hidey houses plus other small stuff. I'm going to laugh at you and try to answer that email as nicely as I can. And I will note, that you clearly didn't read where it says hidey houses can take up to two weeks to ship.
Fifth, getting back to me. For some reason, it's unacceptable if I don't respond absolutely immediately to a lot of people's communication. Ok. But it's perfectly acceptable for them to not respond to me. Most emails I reply to, I never get a response. A lot of people want custom stuff for orders, I tell them, shipping will probably be about this much, the house (or other custom item) will probably be about this much, and they give the go-ahead, knowing that I can't give them an exact quote until I've actually made it, weighed it, boxed it up. So then, I have it all boxed up and everything, and email the person, "ok, your total is this amount, the item was this, shipping was this, please let me know how you'd like to pay..." and I've actually started telling people, you have 5 days to get back to me (and then their order just moves to the end of the line). Or whatever. Cause either people take forever and a day to get back to me, or magically no longer have the money, or just don't get back at all. Which I mean, if they think it's too much, I'd rather they say so. I can still sell the item.
One last thing that I don't get though. Free shipping. The reason my houses are $15-25 is because shipping is not included. Go on some other websites, look at their houses. Why are they $50 for a small one? Because there's "free shipping." It's not really free, people, you're paying for it. And no, I won't "price match" free shipping. I emailed someone the other day about a custom house they wanted. House was about the size of the cottage house, with a few alterations. And my prices for custom houses start right around whatever size my normal house would be. So in this case, cottage house is $20, custom house around the size of that house would start at $20 and go up. It required a little more work, so I think I told her $21. Her response "oh that's with shipping, right?" No, it's not. Shipping for this house (which is waiting for her response, see above paragraph for complaint about that) is $12. So, I'd make $9 on a house that's slightly bigger and more complicated than the cottage house, because it's a custom house? I don't think so. I don't go nuts with my custom prices, because I don't churn out the normal houses like clockwork. They all take at least 1-2 hours to make, and custom ones do as well, so if I have to make a house anyway, it's really not a lot of extra effort to make something how someone wants (assuming it's possible)... but I just can't throw in free shipping unless people want all the prices jacked way way up. I mean, hammocks are $8.50. Costs about $3 to ship em (give or take). I, personally, would rather pay the $8.50 and shipping, than see a hammock for $11.50 with free shipping. Cause I'd look at that and say, yeah, it's free shipping, but every place else has them for $8.50.
Speaking of orders, a lot of them are going to go out today. Yay!!
Moving along to just talking about adoptions. Had someone text me the other day, and this is how it went:
Them: Hello, is your chinchilla china still for sale?
Me: She's on hold for someone right now
Them: Is Penelope as well?
Me: He's still available.
Me: If you're interested in adopting, there's a care packet you'll need to read, an adoption form to fill out, and then we require proof of cage. I can email you the care packet and adoption form if you'd like?
Them: Is this with all adoptions?
Me: Yes it is
...and naturally, that was the end of the conversation. I mean, really? No, it's just for the adoptions of the chins I like. Want a chin that I hate? Just come over and I'll hand it to you, no questions asked, and it's even better if you look like a serial killer. I mean, what do people expect from a rescue? You go to a humane society, you have to (in general), fill out a form, they want to know stuff, for you to adopt a dog or a cat. A dog or a cat. Mind you, animals that most people know how to care for. Versus a chinchilla, which is not so well known, and people screw up the care on all the time.
Alrighty, well I had someone else submit an app filled with "whatever you recommend," so I'm going to email them back and pack up some more orders to mail out before I leave, so that's going to be it for today.
First, I cannot send you the care packet and an adoption form over text. There's just no way. They're Word files.
Second, because they are Word files, regardless of the type of phone you have, you will not be able to input info into them on your phone. You can open them, look at them, sure. But you won't be able to write into that form, save it as a Word file, and email it back. Just doesn't work that way.
Third, if you don't have a computer, I will no longer be mailing you an adoption form and care packet. If you want one, you can come by to pick it up, because every time I mail one, that's a $1.50+ that I spend in postage, and I have yet, since 2003, to see one of those people show up at the rescue to adopt or purchase anything.
Fourth, you people need to learn some patience. At least 90% of the people who contact me, I contact back within an hour or two. Of those 90%, at least half tell me "they've already found a chinchilla elsewhere." Really? Personally, if I email someone and ask questions about it, I give them at least some time to get back to me, and by "some time," I mean more than an hour or two. Same goes for the orders. If you put in an order, and email me literally 2 hours later asking, "so you've mailed it out, right? When am I going to receive it?" on an order that contains 6-made-to-order hidey houses plus other small stuff. I'm going to laugh at you and try to answer that email as nicely as I can. And I will note, that you clearly didn't read where it says hidey houses can take up to two weeks to ship.
Fifth, getting back to me. For some reason, it's unacceptable if I don't respond absolutely immediately to a lot of people's communication. Ok. But it's perfectly acceptable for them to not respond to me. Most emails I reply to, I never get a response. A lot of people want custom stuff for orders, I tell them, shipping will probably be about this much, the house (or other custom item) will probably be about this much, and they give the go-ahead, knowing that I can't give them an exact quote until I've actually made it, weighed it, boxed it up. So then, I have it all boxed up and everything, and email the person, "ok, your total is this amount, the item was this, shipping was this, please let me know how you'd like to pay..." and I've actually started telling people, you have 5 days to get back to me (and then their order just moves to the end of the line). Or whatever. Cause either people take forever and a day to get back to me, or magically no longer have the money, or just don't get back at all. Which I mean, if they think it's too much, I'd rather they say so. I can still sell the item.
One last thing that I don't get though. Free shipping. The reason my houses are $15-25 is because shipping is not included. Go on some other websites, look at their houses. Why are they $50 for a small one? Because there's "free shipping." It's not really free, people, you're paying for it. And no, I won't "price match" free shipping. I emailed someone the other day about a custom house they wanted. House was about the size of the cottage house, with a few alterations. And my prices for custom houses start right around whatever size my normal house would be. So in this case, cottage house is $20, custom house around the size of that house would start at $20 and go up. It required a little more work, so I think I told her $21. Her response "oh that's with shipping, right?" No, it's not. Shipping for this house (which is waiting for her response, see above paragraph for complaint about that) is $12. So, I'd make $9 on a house that's slightly bigger and more complicated than the cottage house, because it's a custom house? I don't think so. I don't go nuts with my custom prices, because I don't churn out the normal houses like clockwork. They all take at least 1-2 hours to make, and custom ones do as well, so if I have to make a house anyway, it's really not a lot of extra effort to make something how someone wants (assuming it's possible)... but I just can't throw in free shipping unless people want all the prices jacked way way up. I mean, hammocks are $8.50. Costs about $3 to ship em (give or take). I, personally, would rather pay the $8.50 and shipping, than see a hammock for $11.50 with free shipping. Cause I'd look at that and say, yeah, it's free shipping, but every place else has them for $8.50.
Speaking of orders, a lot of them are going to go out today. Yay!!
Moving along to just talking about adoptions. Had someone text me the other day, and this is how it went:
Them: Hello, is your chinchilla china still for sale?
Me: She's on hold for someone right now
Them: Is Penelope as well?
Me: He's still available.
Me: If you're interested in adopting, there's a care packet you'll need to read, an adoption form to fill out, and then we require proof of cage. I can email you the care packet and adoption form if you'd like?
Them: Is this with all adoptions?
Me: Yes it is
...and naturally, that was the end of the conversation. I mean, really? No, it's just for the adoptions of the chins I like. Want a chin that I hate? Just come over and I'll hand it to you, no questions asked, and it's even better if you look like a serial killer. I mean, what do people expect from a rescue? You go to a humane society, you have to (in general), fill out a form, they want to know stuff, for you to adopt a dog or a cat. A dog or a cat. Mind you, animals that most people know how to care for. Versus a chinchilla, which is not so well known, and people screw up the care on all the time.
Alrighty, well I had someone else submit an app filled with "whatever you recommend," so I'm going to email them back and pack up some more orders to mail out before I leave, so that's going to be it for today.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Patience, people, and supplement, and today
I have never run into such a bunch of impatient people as I do with the rescue and webstore.
Had someone send me an email yesterday, asking about the status of their order. I had intended to mail it out yesterday, but I went to the post office, it was a holiday, and the automated postal machine wasn't working (again). So, rather than email them back and say, "hey, intending to ship it tomorrow," I thought, I'll wait and mail it and then let them know so I'm not sending multiple emails. I should know better by now. This person literally didn't even give me a full day between sending the email and opening a dispute on paypal saying they haven't received their items. Note, it hasn't even been two weeks since the order was placed, so unless I got it out like that day, they still might have only received it just a day or so ago.
So here's the thing... I didn't actually notice this until I went to email them back and say, ok, shipped out your order, yadda yadda, here's your shipping refund. Oh wait... when they open a dispute, you can't refund the money, because paypal puts a freeze on that person's payment. And I sure am not sending the person someone else's money as a refund, as they're the stinker that opened the dispute in the first place.
By all means, I have no problem with someone emailing to ask where their order is. No problem whatsoever. I can update you, tell you if I'm still working on it, or whatever. But jeez, give me a second to respond before you go all nuts. I actually emailed this person back saying, in the future, if at all possible, please give more time to respond, as I have a full time job, and the rescue and webstore are just on the side, and come second to the job that pays the bills. I mean come on, these people can't think little $8 items are paying my mortgage and are going to ship out that day. And most items on the store are cheaper than that, anyway.
Anyway, so I told this person, normally, I'd refund your shipping overage. But... I can't because you opened a dispute, so I need you to close it so you can get your refund. Usually, when it's them that's holding up the show, they respond pretty quickly. But you know, I've had people before say, they're not closing the dispute until they receive the item, or I should refund the money out of the other money (rather than their frozen payment) -- I don't think so. They want to wait to get it, that's fine.
And I had another person, who literally put in an order like two days ago and wants to know why it hasn't arrived yet. I haven't even written out an invoice yet for her, because there's like 10 orders in front of hers. Sorry? I am ONE PERSON. Someone want to come here and work just on orders for free, by all means. But this is not my job, this does not pay anything, actually, it takes a lot of money from what I make at my real job, which is fine, but because of that, I can't take time off from my real job to work on orders. Sorry.
The age of "I want it now" is really getting old. It used to be just kids with candy bars at the checkout line, now it's "I ordered it, and it's been 5 minutes, why isn't it on my doorstep yet?" If I could make it and get it to you that quick, I would. Believe me. I have a folder in my email just for orders and I go through it and send out orders as quickly as I can. Depending on the order, that may be quick, or it may take a week or two (which I HARDLY think is unreasonable). But I do my best.
And... I'm honest about the shipping. Which, you'd be amazed how many companies / people are not. Not saying they shouldn't be, but I HATE paying $15 to ship something and I get it and you see right on the package, they paid $5.00 to ship it. $10 handling? Give me a break. And I can understand if a company or person overcharges to make sure there's enough and then refunds the excess (like I do), but no, I never get refunds for excessive shipping. Versus -- This one guy who I shipped a package to -- the webstore charged him $39.15 shipping. Actual shipping was $8.62, I'll bump that up to $9.45 (for a total shipping profit of a whopping $0.83 to pay for tape, bubble wrap, etc) and refund him $29.70. Most companies would keep that, and sometimes, I think, it would serve the customer right (the ones that are a pain, for being a pain). But see, this guy, who has an order dated only a day or two after the lady who opened the dispute... opened no dispute, didn't send me an email asking where the order is, wait for it... had.... wait for it... patience!!! But no, really, I refund excess shipping for everyone, patience or not (though the impatient ones have to cancel their disputes first). But it just kills me that I'm honest and nice and these people are cruds.
Anyway, today was a productive day. I have two custom houses that need shipping quotes, boxed and packaged those up, will figure out and email quotes tomorrow. Had an order that needed supplement, and I had none made. And by the time I dig out all the herbs to make it, it's not worth making just one, so I made several jars. And with all that out anyway, I made some of the healthy treat mixes as well. And cleaned part of the rescue -- mostly moving stuff where it went, but found stuff I didn't know I had (from surrenders that brought supplies with). I found a cricket duster in with a donation -- doesn't do any good for chins (and they weren't using it for chins, they just threw in some reptile stuff with their supplies), but I was considering buying one for my crickets (but they're like $14!), and now I don't have to!! Gotta be happy about the little things, cause you can't count on the big things. Put together an order that was two shelves, found a box, and packaged that up. Some of these were already paid for, so those I need to make the customer a copy of the invoice and seal up and label the box and hopefully mail it tomorrow, the others I need to email the people with a quote for shipping and go from there.
I think that's about it for today. I guess it doesn't sound like I did a lot, but the supplement and, to a lesser extent, the healthy treat mix take some time. For the supplement, a ball jar is used, so those I just buy those new (unless anyone wants to donate some ball jars!), but then there's like 8-10? (would need to count, I have a list) herbs that go into it. And because different amounts of different herbs are safe, there's not the same amount of each herb in there. So it's not just, throw in a handful of marigold, handful of hawthorn berries, two handfuls of oatstraw, and I'm done. I actually sat down (when I was coming up with the supplement -- now I just keep a list with notes) and came up with, ok, for it to be a good supplement, I need so much of this and so much of this. And so, for some herbs, I'm putting in 1/2 ounce. Others are 1/4 ounce. Or so on so forth. And because some are considerably heavier than others (consider rosehips versus calendula), sometimes 1/4 ounce of one is more of that herb (size wise, not weight wise) than 1/2 ounce of another. Figure, a pound of hawthorn berries can probably fit in a quart-size baggie, versus a pound of marigold that would take 3 gallon size bags. Anyway. So, I put in the first herb. 1/2 ounce of whatever. Then, to avoid resetting the scale for every herb, I just add on. So, say next herb is 1/2 ounce... so then, when I have enough of that, the scale will read 1 ounce. And I use a digital scale, to (hopefully) be more dead-on with the weights. And so on and so forth.
So I add all the herbs into the mixing pan at their specific weights, and then hand mix everything. I can only mix one jar at a time, due to the fact that the heavier ingredients would settle in a large batch, so the first jar would be mostly light ingredients, and the last jar would be mostly heavy ingredients. So, one jar at a time it is. After hand mixing, I scoop all the supplement into a jar. Unfortunately, to keep the ounce weights at easy ones to use when adding them together (such as 1/2, 1/4, rather than like, 1/6 or 1/8), when I pack the supplement down, it is shy of actually filling the jar. And that's true of the healthy treat mix and herb sampler as well, cause I pack em down in the jars, and then overfill and stuff the lid on, so everyone gets their money's worth. So anyway, I'll mix up another jar, fill it, another jar, fill it, another jar, fill it... and then I will have multiple jars lined up that aren't quite full, so I'll mix one last batch and use that batch to fill up the jars. Now, before the lids go on, there's the NWI supplement label that goes on the to, and then I can put the lids and all on the jars and be done.
I've had people want to help with the supplement and herb sampler... and if you're here and I need them made and you seem to be able to add, reasonably, and you're a reasonable age, you may be able to help. For the supplement, the herbs do have qualities that affect the animals. Intentionally, that's why it's a supplement, versus a treat. The oat straw improves digestion. The hawthorn berries are chock full of antioxidants. The hibiscus helps with appetite. I don't know them all off of the top of my head, but please see here if you're curious what they all really do. Anyway, there can be too much of a good thing. Improving digestion is great... until you overdo it and cause diarrhea. The herbs I chose for the supplement are ones that aren't too easy to overdo, at least when they're given as a supplement mix. But because they can be overdone, that's why you will never see a 10 year old making the supplement (the difference between 1/4 and 1/2 ounce may not be much in weight, but matters in the supplement), and that's why some of the supplement herbs are not sold individually. Because moderation is not always all that well understood, in the real world.
Anyway, I think that's about it for today.
Had someone send me an email yesterday, asking about the status of their order. I had intended to mail it out yesterday, but I went to the post office, it was a holiday, and the automated postal machine wasn't working (again). So, rather than email them back and say, "hey, intending to ship it tomorrow," I thought, I'll wait and mail it and then let them know so I'm not sending multiple emails. I should know better by now. This person literally didn't even give me a full day between sending the email and opening a dispute on paypal saying they haven't received their items. Note, it hasn't even been two weeks since the order was placed, so unless I got it out like that day, they still might have only received it just a day or so ago.
So here's the thing... I didn't actually notice this until I went to email them back and say, ok, shipped out your order, yadda yadda, here's your shipping refund. Oh wait... when they open a dispute, you can't refund the money, because paypal puts a freeze on that person's payment. And I sure am not sending the person someone else's money as a refund, as they're the stinker that opened the dispute in the first place.
By all means, I have no problem with someone emailing to ask where their order is. No problem whatsoever. I can update you, tell you if I'm still working on it, or whatever. But jeez, give me a second to respond before you go all nuts. I actually emailed this person back saying, in the future, if at all possible, please give more time to respond, as I have a full time job, and the rescue and webstore are just on the side, and come second to the job that pays the bills. I mean come on, these people can't think little $8 items are paying my mortgage and are going to ship out that day. And most items on the store are cheaper than that, anyway.
Anyway, so I told this person, normally, I'd refund your shipping overage. But... I can't because you opened a dispute, so I need you to close it so you can get your refund. Usually, when it's them that's holding up the show, they respond pretty quickly. But you know, I've had people before say, they're not closing the dispute until they receive the item, or I should refund the money out of the other money (rather than their frozen payment) -- I don't think so. They want to wait to get it, that's fine.
And I had another person, who literally put in an order like two days ago and wants to know why it hasn't arrived yet. I haven't even written out an invoice yet for her, because there's like 10 orders in front of hers. Sorry? I am ONE PERSON. Someone want to come here and work just on orders for free, by all means. But this is not my job, this does not pay anything, actually, it takes a lot of money from what I make at my real job, which is fine, but because of that, I can't take time off from my real job to work on orders. Sorry.
The age of "I want it now" is really getting old. It used to be just kids with candy bars at the checkout line, now it's "I ordered it, and it's been 5 minutes, why isn't it on my doorstep yet?" If I could make it and get it to you that quick, I would. Believe me. I have a folder in my email just for orders and I go through it and send out orders as quickly as I can. Depending on the order, that may be quick, or it may take a week or two (which I HARDLY think is unreasonable). But I do my best.
And... I'm honest about the shipping. Which, you'd be amazed how many companies / people are not. Not saying they shouldn't be, but I HATE paying $15 to ship something and I get it and you see right on the package, they paid $5.00 to ship it. $10 handling? Give me a break. And I can understand if a company or person overcharges to make sure there's enough and then refunds the excess (like I do), but no, I never get refunds for excessive shipping. Versus -- This one guy who I shipped a package to -- the webstore charged him $39.15 shipping. Actual shipping was $8.62, I'll bump that up to $9.45 (for a total shipping profit of a whopping $0.83 to pay for tape, bubble wrap, etc) and refund him $29.70. Most companies would keep that, and sometimes, I think, it would serve the customer right (the ones that are a pain, for being a pain). But see, this guy, who has an order dated only a day or two after the lady who opened the dispute... opened no dispute, didn't send me an email asking where the order is, wait for it... had.... wait for it... patience!!! But no, really, I refund excess shipping for everyone, patience or not (though the impatient ones have to cancel their disputes first). But it just kills me that I'm honest and nice and these people are cruds.
Anyway, today was a productive day. I have two custom houses that need shipping quotes, boxed and packaged those up, will figure out and email quotes tomorrow. Had an order that needed supplement, and I had none made. And by the time I dig out all the herbs to make it, it's not worth making just one, so I made several jars. And with all that out anyway, I made some of the healthy treat mixes as well. And cleaned part of the rescue -- mostly moving stuff where it went, but found stuff I didn't know I had (from surrenders that brought supplies with). I found a cricket duster in with a donation -- doesn't do any good for chins (and they weren't using it for chins, they just threw in some reptile stuff with their supplies), but I was considering buying one for my crickets (but they're like $14!), and now I don't have to!! Gotta be happy about the little things, cause you can't count on the big things. Put together an order that was two shelves, found a box, and packaged that up. Some of these were already paid for, so those I need to make the customer a copy of the invoice and seal up and label the box and hopefully mail it tomorrow, the others I need to email the people with a quote for shipping and go from there.
I think that's about it for today. I guess it doesn't sound like I did a lot, but the supplement and, to a lesser extent, the healthy treat mix take some time. For the supplement, a ball jar is used, so those I just buy those new (unless anyone wants to donate some ball jars!), but then there's like 8-10? (would need to count, I have a list) herbs that go into it. And because different amounts of different herbs are safe, there's not the same amount of each herb in there. So it's not just, throw in a handful of marigold, handful of hawthorn berries, two handfuls of oatstraw, and I'm done. I actually sat down (when I was coming up with the supplement -- now I just keep a list with notes) and came up with, ok, for it to be a good supplement, I need so much of this and so much of this. And so, for some herbs, I'm putting in 1/2 ounce. Others are 1/4 ounce. Or so on so forth. And because some are considerably heavier than others (consider rosehips versus calendula), sometimes 1/4 ounce of one is more of that herb (size wise, not weight wise) than 1/2 ounce of another. Figure, a pound of hawthorn berries can probably fit in a quart-size baggie, versus a pound of marigold that would take 3 gallon size bags. Anyway. So, I put in the first herb. 1/2 ounce of whatever. Then, to avoid resetting the scale for every herb, I just add on. So, say next herb is 1/2 ounce... so then, when I have enough of that, the scale will read 1 ounce. And I use a digital scale, to (hopefully) be more dead-on with the weights. And so on and so forth.
So I add all the herbs into the mixing pan at their specific weights, and then hand mix everything. I can only mix one jar at a time, due to the fact that the heavier ingredients would settle in a large batch, so the first jar would be mostly light ingredients, and the last jar would be mostly heavy ingredients. So, one jar at a time it is. After hand mixing, I scoop all the supplement into a jar. Unfortunately, to keep the ounce weights at easy ones to use when adding them together (such as 1/2, 1/4, rather than like, 1/6 or 1/8), when I pack the supplement down, it is shy of actually filling the jar. And that's true of the healthy treat mix and herb sampler as well, cause I pack em down in the jars, and then overfill and stuff the lid on, so everyone gets their money's worth. So anyway, I'll mix up another jar, fill it, another jar, fill it, another jar, fill it... and then I will have multiple jars lined up that aren't quite full, so I'll mix one last batch and use that batch to fill up the jars. Now, before the lids go on, there's the NWI supplement label that goes on the to, and then I can put the lids and all on the jars and be done.
I've had people want to help with the supplement and herb sampler... and if you're here and I need them made and you seem to be able to add, reasonably, and you're a reasonable age, you may be able to help. For the supplement, the herbs do have qualities that affect the animals. Intentionally, that's why it's a supplement, versus a treat. The oat straw improves digestion. The hawthorn berries are chock full of antioxidants. The hibiscus helps with appetite. I don't know them all off of the top of my head, but please see here if you're curious what they all really do. Anyway, there can be too much of a good thing. Improving digestion is great... until you overdo it and cause diarrhea. The herbs I chose for the supplement are ones that aren't too easy to overdo, at least when they're given as a supplement mix. But because they can be overdone, that's why you will never see a 10 year old making the supplement (the difference between 1/4 and 1/2 ounce may not be much in weight, but matters in the supplement), and that's why some of the supplement herbs are not sold individually. Because moderation is not always all that well understood, in the real world.
Anyway, I think that's about it for today.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
It's been the usual.
So, it's been slow. A lot of the usual. Which, if you read this blog with any regularity, you know means people not getting back to me.
That lady that was dead set on adopting Maddie for her kid, and swore up and down she knew chin care, and I told her, go read my care packet and fill out the adoption form and get that back to me? Yeah, never heard from her.
That guy that came into work with his parents that were looking to adopt Snickers and told me, they'd let me know, but wanted her on hold when they decided? Yeah, haven't seen em. They thought I was going to be in there Friday, and I wasn't, so I guess I missed that opportunity, but they live right in town, so couldn't they have stopped in, just to say, hey, this is my decision? Or even just, if they did come in Friday (which I don't know either way), tell someone else, hey, tell Ashley....
Then, I got a text from someone interested in one of the chins. I was at work, so it took me an hour or two to respond to her. Told her, care packet, adoption form, the works. Get a text back, they found someone getting rid of theirs, and they're gonna get that one instead. Which is fine, but, I dunno, I guess I see it differently cause it's a live animal. If I contact someone about an animal and ask if it's available, I'll at least give them a day to get back to me before I start going and looking elsewhere. But these people don't do that. Not even this one specifically, I routinely have people where I call them back, and they say, "oh, which one are you? Oh, NWI Chinchilla Rescue. Oh. And what chins do you have available? Oh, a lot, ok, well can you tell me about each one? Oh, which one was I interested in? Oh, well I dunno, I must have emailed and phoned 20 people about different chinchillas today." *boom* <-- head explodes
Now, the people who did get back to me were the people who had bought some guinea pigs from me as babies and needed to return them. They got back to me, and brought over the piggies, the cage, their stuff. As usual, I asked them to sign the surrender form and all that, and they said that they had written down the info in a card they wrote to me. Still had em fill out the form, thought nothing of the card, til I opened it the next day and they had donated $40. Which is just awesome, every little bit helps.
And then a few days ago I get this email:
I am interested in your chinchilla. I am hoping to have a coat made for my wife for valentines day.
And that is a troll... and in case you're not on the internet enough to know what that means, a troll is someone who posts something or emails something with the intention of causing a ruckus. Some people would go "omg!!! I can't believe that!! Let me write a 10 page email back on how horrible that is!!" Now, first off, because I'm a member of the MCBA, I can't publicly put down pelting. It's in their by-laws. Doesn't mean I couldn't email someone. But the thing is, this person isn't really going to have a coat made. There's a lot of effort that goes into it, and all those people who say they "save" the pet store chinchillas from being coats... no, they don't. That's just not how it works. Same with saving any chinchilla. Short of buying a chinchilla, as a baby, from a large breeder, there is no "preventing it from being a coat." Let me tell you why. The people that are pelting these chinchillas to make them into coats aren't using people's rejected pets. Or petstore chins. Or anything like that. They're raising the animals themselves and pelting their own animals. And chances are, if they think it'll make a good pelt, you'll never even get a crack at buying it.
But back to the point. Because I know it's a troll, I'm not going to feed the troll (as the saying goes), and they won't get what they want. So there.
Moving along.
Well, sort of on the same note I guess. The part about rescuing a chin or adopting a chin. I hear so often "I adopted a chin from Petsmart." No, you purchased a chin from petsmart. Petsmart does not adopt, they get in animals which they sell. Versus a rescue, or humane society / organization, where you do, legitimately, adopt, an animal. It's not the same. And you buying it only continues the cycle. Let me explain why with an example. I work at a pet store, and we have small animals there. One of my co-workers, who I love dearly and who totally has the same bleeding heart for animals as I do, has taken home multiple animals from the store. Now, don't get me wrong, she's making a difference to those animals. One gerbil was pregnant, she took it home so it could have babies not in the store, and she will be keeping the babies. One of our rats got pregnant, she bought it and took it home. And for those animals, yes, they will have a better life. Her thing was, she didn't want the baby rats going as feeders (which they would have, had they remained in the store), and also, our other rat (priced at $9.99 because it's supposed to be a "fancy pet rat") was sold as a feeder that day. So she didn't want the other rat going as a feeder (pregnant or not). Well, here's the thing. When we sell those animals, we have to keep those cages full. Whether I decide to get in a rat or a gerbil or hamster or whatever, something is going back in those cages. So whatever animal she buys, we replace with something else. And it may happen again, we may end up with more pregnant critters (we try our best to avoid that, but sometimes it seems they come in that way), and she may take them home again. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that... but by buying them, the owner of the store is like "oooh look the hamsters and gerbils are selling, let's get more!!!" Rather than if they didn't sell, and the owner might decide, hey, scrap the animals (which legitimately was a thought at one point). Same goes with anything, whether it's a chinchilla or birds or whatever. At the store, we had birds just sitting there. Owner said, once they sell, not getting any more. Well, I dunno if it was parakeet week on discovery channel or something, but all of a sudden, we sold all our parakeets in like 5 days. Well shit, owner goes, "wait!! I can make money!! Let's get more birds!!" You see what happened? The animal went home, we got more (and actually, way more, cause now we have oodles of birds).
The thing is, if you want to take home a pet store animal, by all means. I see and interact with them just about daily, and they deserve love and care and a good home just as much as any animal. But just don't tell people (especially a rescue, cause it's not only me it irks) that you "rescued" the animal from the pet store.
That lady that was dead set on adopting Maddie for her kid, and swore up and down she knew chin care, and I told her, go read my care packet and fill out the adoption form and get that back to me? Yeah, never heard from her.
That guy that came into work with his parents that were looking to adopt Snickers and told me, they'd let me know, but wanted her on hold when they decided? Yeah, haven't seen em. They thought I was going to be in there Friday, and I wasn't, so I guess I missed that opportunity, but they live right in town, so couldn't they have stopped in, just to say, hey, this is my decision? Or even just, if they did come in Friday (which I don't know either way), tell someone else, hey, tell Ashley....
Then, I got a text from someone interested in one of the chins. I was at work, so it took me an hour or two to respond to her. Told her, care packet, adoption form, the works. Get a text back, they found someone getting rid of theirs, and they're gonna get that one instead. Which is fine, but, I dunno, I guess I see it differently cause it's a live animal. If I contact someone about an animal and ask if it's available, I'll at least give them a day to get back to me before I start going and looking elsewhere. But these people don't do that. Not even this one specifically, I routinely have people where I call them back, and they say, "oh, which one are you? Oh, NWI Chinchilla Rescue. Oh. And what chins do you have available? Oh, a lot, ok, well can you tell me about each one? Oh, which one was I interested in? Oh, well I dunno, I must have emailed and phoned 20 people about different chinchillas today." *boom* <-- head explodes
Now, the people who did get back to me were the people who had bought some guinea pigs from me as babies and needed to return them. They got back to me, and brought over the piggies, the cage, their stuff. As usual, I asked them to sign the surrender form and all that, and they said that they had written down the info in a card they wrote to me. Still had em fill out the form, thought nothing of the card, til I opened it the next day and they had donated $40. Which is just awesome, every little bit helps.
And then a few days ago I get this email:
I am interested in your chinchilla. I am hoping to have a coat made for my wife for valentines day.
Obviously this will require many of the little rats. Do you happen to have any more?
I have three at present, but a coat for a woman the size of my wife will require substantially more.
-Thanks!
And that is a troll... and in case you're not on the internet enough to know what that means, a troll is someone who posts something or emails something with the intention of causing a ruckus. Some people would go "omg!!! I can't believe that!! Let me write a 10 page email back on how horrible that is!!" Now, first off, because I'm a member of the MCBA, I can't publicly put down pelting. It's in their by-laws. Doesn't mean I couldn't email someone. But the thing is, this person isn't really going to have a coat made. There's a lot of effort that goes into it, and all those people who say they "save" the pet store chinchillas from being coats... no, they don't. That's just not how it works. Same with saving any chinchilla. Short of buying a chinchilla, as a baby, from a large breeder, there is no "preventing it from being a coat." Let me tell you why. The people that are pelting these chinchillas to make them into coats aren't using people's rejected pets. Or petstore chins. Or anything like that. They're raising the animals themselves and pelting their own animals. And chances are, if they think it'll make a good pelt, you'll never even get a crack at buying it.
But back to the point. Because I know it's a troll, I'm not going to feed the troll (as the saying goes), and they won't get what they want. So there.
Moving along.
Well, sort of on the same note I guess. The part about rescuing a chin or adopting a chin. I hear so often "I adopted a chin from Petsmart." No, you purchased a chin from petsmart. Petsmart does not adopt, they get in animals which they sell. Versus a rescue, or humane society / organization, where you do, legitimately, adopt, an animal. It's not the same. And you buying it only continues the cycle. Let me explain why with an example. I work at a pet store, and we have small animals there. One of my co-workers, who I love dearly and who totally has the same bleeding heart for animals as I do, has taken home multiple animals from the store. Now, don't get me wrong, she's making a difference to those animals. One gerbil was pregnant, she took it home so it could have babies not in the store, and she will be keeping the babies. One of our rats got pregnant, she bought it and took it home. And for those animals, yes, they will have a better life. Her thing was, she didn't want the baby rats going as feeders (which they would have, had they remained in the store), and also, our other rat (priced at $9.99 because it's supposed to be a "fancy pet rat") was sold as a feeder that day. So she didn't want the other rat going as a feeder (pregnant or not). Well, here's the thing. When we sell those animals, we have to keep those cages full. Whether I decide to get in a rat or a gerbil or hamster or whatever, something is going back in those cages. So whatever animal she buys, we replace with something else. And it may happen again, we may end up with more pregnant critters (we try our best to avoid that, but sometimes it seems they come in that way), and she may take them home again. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that... but by buying them, the owner of the store is like "oooh look the hamsters and gerbils are selling, let's get more!!!" Rather than if they didn't sell, and the owner might decide, hey, scrap the animals (which legitimately was a thought at one point). Same goes with anything, whether it's a chinchilla or birds or whatever. At the store, we had birds just sitting there. Owner said, once they sell, not getting any more. Well, I dunno if it was parakeet week on discovery channel or something, but all of a sudden, we sold all our parakeets in like 5 days. Well shit, owner goes, "wait!! I can make money!! Let's get more birds!!" You see what happened? The animal went home, we got more (and actually, way more, cause now we have oodles of birds).
The thing is, if you want to take home a pet store animal, by all means. I see and interact with them just about daily, and they deserve love and care and a good home just as much as any animal. But just don't tell people (especially a rescue, cause it's not only me it irks) that you "rescued" the animal from the pet store.
Friday, February 6, 2015
So I realize I never posted....
So I realize I never posted about the rescue christmas tree at Hearts
in Motion! Well, I did mention setting it up, but I never mentioned
the outcome or anything about it.
In case I forgot to mention, this year I splurged and spent money on a new tree stand. The old one just wasn't cutting it and was creating waaaaay too much frustration (and we all know the rescue creates a lot of that for me, as it is), so $17ish later, new tree stand, and we stood the tree up in the stand in less than 2 minutes. Versus 25 last year, with it falling over multiple times.
And... this year went way better! Last year, we made $30 total from ornament sales. Which isn't bad, considering effort put in. But this year we did even better! -- we made $56.16! (I'm going to assume we must have had a 15 cent ornament in there....). My mom went to take down the ornaments and pick up the cash (thank you, thank you -- though I did have to go lug the tree itself home, so no one thinks I did nothing lol), and the workers said our rescue tree sold the most out of all the trees! Yay!!
Thank you to the people who donated ornaments for us to sell. There were very few of you, but we did sell a lot of your ornaments, and they made our tree look different! I tend to buy the same type of cheap ornaments that we can mark up to sell if we're getting low (let's be honest, the cheap ornaments from the dollar store and walmart all sort of have the same "look" to them), so donations of ornaments always help! And of course, thanks to everyone who bought ornaments!
In other news, the donation boxes at the store got around ~$45 for January! Who-hoo!!
Went to feed and water the critters today, and poor Shani (prairie dog) was back to her moving around all of the bedding. She wouldn't come to me, so I pulled her out, and she must have been upset cause she started doing the prairie dog warning call. So I petted her and scratched her butt (she loves that) until she calmed down and stopped.... and then she went back to moving her bedding around when I put her back in the cage. Yeah she's gotten a little obsessive, so she'll be getting a buddy come spring. I just need to call up the exotics place and put down a deposit to reserve one.
In other news, lots of people calling, not a lot of people adopting. Had one guy, emailed wanting to adopt, hadn't gotten a chance to respond by the time he called, and we talked for awhile about appropriate chin care and chin items. So he tells me, he's already got a cage and all the items, he just ordered them, but could send them back if they're not right. So I tell him, ok, screenshot me pictures of your order and I'll tell you. Well... lots of stuff needed to be changed. Now, in all fairness, not his fault, because he told me, he read a chinchilla book and he purchased the recommended products. I suggested others, mentioned why the bad ones were bad, and so on and so forth, and he ended up cancelling his appointment and saying they decided to wait, that he wants to make sure that the chinchilla isn't something they pay attention to for a week and then lose interest in. Which may very well be the case, but I sort of wonder if he wasn't like, god she's pesty about having the right things, and just getting one elsewhere. Cause I mean, he did have a lot of stuff, he had a nice cage (with plastic shelves), a plastic litterbox, a plastic food/hay holder, oxbow food (good), junk treats, etc etc. I mean, it's definitely worth people doing it right, that's the problem though with there being so much wrong info out there. Like I feel like, had he run across my site, or some of the good facebook groups, he would have purchased the correct items from the start, but as it was....
Anyway, moving along. Played phone tag with someone for a few days regarding them getting a chin. People were fully set to come down tomorrow or Sunday, and I asked them if they'd read the care packet or seen the adoption form (since they said they'd looked at my website multiple times, but never mentioned it). Oh, they said, they know how to care for chins. They did their research for their first chin. Which died suddenly not very long after they got it. Now, that may be completely unrelated, and I may just be assuming... but... I really hate it when people just are like "oh I know how to care for them." Don't get me wrong, some people really do know correct chinchilla care. Those people are out there. But for every 1 of those, there's 500 that "think" they know how to care for a chin, until I tell them "no raisins" and they're like "but everyplace says I can give 10 per day!!!!!" Yeah ok. Anyway, I told em, get me back the adoption form first, because they're not from around here, and I told em, I don't want them coming all this way and not leaving with a chin, so they said they would. So, we will see.
Had someone else email about a chin. I emailed back, no response, was at a seminar today, and was going through emails, and I texted them. Whole family is sick, so chin-adopting is being put on hold. Understandable.
Had someone else email asking about a few chins and asking if they're social and would do well with other chins. Both chins they mentioned had had cagemates in the past, but I told her... unfortunately, that's not always a predictor of the future. Would be nice, but not always. Toby used to live with cagemates, and then randomly beat up Winx one day. And I tried pairing him with other chins over the years, he's not having it. So I told the person, they can always bring their chin with, and we can see how things go. So, we'll see where that goes.
Oh and then I got a call from someone who adopted guinea pigs around this time in 2013, that is unable to keep them. They're going to bring them back with cage and everything, sometime soon. I believe it's two of the males that were born here, if I'm remembering these people right, but I didn't ask (because it really doesn't matter....), so we'll see when they get here.
I think that's it for the moment.
In case I forgot to mention, this year I splurged and spent money on a new tree stand. The old one just wasn't cutting it and was creating waaaaay too much frustration (and we all know the rescue creates a lot of that for me, as it is), so $17ish later, new tree stand, and we stood the tree up in the stand in less than 2 minutes. Versus 25 last year, with it falling over multiple times.
And... this year went way better! Last year, we made $30 total from ornament sales. Which isn't bad, considering effort put in. But this year we did even better! -- we made $56.16! (I'm going to assume we must have had a 15 cent ornament in there....). My mom went to take down the ornaments and pick up the cash (thank you, thank you -- though I did have to go lug the tree itself home, so no one thinks I did nothing lol), and the workers said our rescue tree sold the most out of all the trees! Yay!!
Thank you to the people who donated ornaments for us to sell. There were very few of you, but we did sell a lot of your ornaments, and they made our tree look different! I tend to buy the same type of cheap ornaments that we can mark up to sell if we're getting low (let's be honest, the cheap ornaments from the dollar store and walmart all sort of have the same "look" to them), so donations of ornaments always help! And of course, thanks to everyone who bought ornaments!
In other news, the donation boxes at the store got around ~$45 for January! Who-hoo!!
Went to feed and water the critters today, and poor Shani (prairie dog) was back to her moving around all of the bedding. She wouldn't come to me, so I pulled her out, and she must have been upset cause she started doing the prairie dog warning call. So I petted her and scratched her butt (she loves that) until she calmed down and stopped.... and then she went back to moving her bedding around when I put her back in the cage. Yeah she's gotten a little obsessive, so she'll be getting a buddy come spring. I just need to call up the exotics place and put down a deposit to reserve one.
In other news, lots of people calling, not a lot of people adopting. Had one guy, emailed wanting to adopt, hadn't gotten a chance to respond by the time he called, and we talked for awhile about appropriate chin care and chin items. So he tells me, he's already got a cage and all the items, he just ordered them, but could send them back if they're not right. So I tell him, ok, screenshot me pictures of your order and I'll tell you. Well... lots of stuff needed to be changed. Now, in all fairness, not his fault, because he told me, he read a chinchilla book and he purchased the recommended products. I suggested others, mentioned why the bad ones were bad, and so on and so forth, and he ended up cancelling his appointment and saying they decided to wait, that he wants to make sure that the chinchilla isn't something they pay attention to for a week and then lose interest in. Which may very well be the case, but I sort of wonder if he wasn't like, god she's pesty about having the right things, and just getting one elsewhere. Cause I mean, he did have a lot of stuff, he had a nice cage (with plastic shelves), a plastic litterbox, a plastic food/hay holder, oxbow food (good), junk treats, etc etc. I mean, it's definitely worth people doing it right, that's the problem though with there being so much wrong info out there. Like I feel like, had he run across my site, or some of the good facebook groups, he would have purchased the correct items from the start, but as it was....
Anyway, moving along. Played phone tag with someone for a few days regarding them getting a chin. People were fully set to come down tomorrow or Sunday, and I asked them if they'd read the care packet or seen the adoption form (since they said they'd looked at my website multiple times, but never mentioned it). Oh, they said, they know how to care for chins. They did their research for their first chin. Which died suddenly not very long after they got it. Now, that may be completely unrelated, and I may just be assuming... but... I really hate it when people just are like "oh I know how to care for them." Don't get me wrong, some people really do know correct chinchilla care. Those people are out there. But for every 1 of those, there's 500 that "think" they know how to care for a chin, until I tell them "no raisins" and they're like "but everyplace says I can give 10 per day!!!!!" Yeah ok. Anyway, I told em, get me back the adoption form first, because they're not from around here, and I told em, I don't want them coming all this way and not leaving with a chin, so they said they would. So, we will see.
Had someone else email about a chin. I emailed back, no response, was at a seminar today, and was going through emails, and I texted them. Whole family is sick, so chin-adopting is being put on hold. Understandable.
Had someone else email asking about a few chins and asking if they're social and would do well with other chins. Both chins they mentioned had had cagemates in the past, but I told her... unfortunately, that's not always a predictor of the future. Would be nice, but not always. Toby used to live with cagemates, and then randomly beat up Winx one day. And I tried pairing him with other chins over the years, he's not having it. So I told the person, they can always bring their chin with, and we can see how things go. So, we'll see where that goes.
Oh and then I got a call from someone who adopted guinea pigs around this time in 2013, that is unable to keep them. They're going to bring them back with cage and everything, sometime soon. I believe it's two of the males that were born here, if I'm remembering these people right, but I didn't ask (because it really doesn't matter....), so we'll see when they get here.
I think that's it for the moment.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Proof of cage
You want to know why I do proof of cage? Let me share.
I asked someone today, who'd gotten to the "proof of cage" part in the adoption process, to send me pics of their cages. Here's a screenshot of what I got (cage 1):
And here's a screenshot of part of Whimy's Menagerie's page with their used cages for sale:
.....that's funny, they're the EXACT SAME PICTURE.
Oh, wait, hold on, their second picture....
...and a page from Forever Feisty chinchilla rescue (picture on the right)....
....AMAZING!!!
And their third picture...
...and an ad on a reptile forum for ferrets and a cage... (in multiple pieces since it's a large ad)
...yeah nope. Not dealing with these lowlifes that think they can lie and pass off others cages as their own and get away with it. NOPE!!! Chances are, that's not the ONLY thing they're being dishonest about....
See, and it's working. Because before this, I would have just taken her word that the cage she described was her cage, and we would have been done. Well, probably not, since she said her cage was 10 FOOT x 10 FOOT and was "in her room" even I have a hard fucking time believing that bullshit, unless she lives in some freaking mansion. Cause my BEDROOM is 10' x 14'.
Anyway, point is, it's working. This "proof of cage" is doing exactly what it's supposed to -- weeding out the people who would otherwise try to pull one past me. Tough shit for them!!
I asked someone today, who'd gotten to the "proof of cage" part in the adoption process, to send me pics of their cages. Here's a screenshot of what I got (cage 1):
And here's a screenshot of part of Whimy's Menagerie's page with their used cages for sale:
.....that's funny, they're the EXACT SAME PICTURE.
Oh, wait, hold on, their second picture....
...and a page from Forever Feisty chinchilla rescue (picture on the right)....
....AMAZING!!!
And their third picture...
...and an ad on a reptile forum for ferrets and a cage... (in multiple pieces since it's a large ad)
...yeah nope. Not dealing with these lowlifes that think they can lie and pass off others cages as their own and get away with it. NOPE!!! Chances are, that's not the ONLY thing they're being dishonest about....
See, and it's working. Because before this, I would have just taken her word that the cage she described was her cage, and we would have been done. Well, probably not, since she said her cage was 10 FOOT x 10 FOOT and was "in her room" even I have a hard fucking time believing that bullshit, unless she lives in some freaking mansion. Cause my BEDROOM is 10' x 14'.
Anyway, point is, it's working. This "proof of cage" is doing exactly what it's supposed to -- weeding out the people who would otherwise try to pull one past me. Tough shit for them!!
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