Cost of Items (part 1)

Hey all.  Just wanted to write a quick blog about this, since a few people have touched on this subject lately.  The one that comes to mind was someone who was here and used our bathroom, where we have one of our chinchilla soaps.  In case you're unfamiliar, these are our soaps:

The person commented that they were neat, to which I replied, they are for sale!  They asked how much, I responded ($5), and they said something along the lines of, "that's kind of a lot for a bar of soap, maybe next time."

Now, that's fine, we all choose what to spend our money on.  But I wanted to do a quick blog post talking about prices and whatnot, so you all can see how this goes.

The soap is $10 for 2 pounds.  Each pound of soap makes about 4ish chinchilla bars, as there is some waste (which we use to mold mini soaps, but unfortunately cannot use for my chin soap) as it's impossible to get exactly the right amount of soap melted.  We also use coloring and scent for these soaps.  The coloring is $8 for 3 teeny tiny bottles.  Those bottles will last for the 2 pounds of soap, and then some.  Then fragrance -- these little containers are $5-7 for another teeny tiny bottle, of one scent.  Finally, the soap mold.  The chinchilla soap mold costs about $22 with shipping.

So, to make 8ish bars:

$10 soap itself
$8 coloring
$6 (average) fragrance
$22 soap mold (obviously can be used again)
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$46
divided by 8
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$5.75 per bar

Now, of course I can use the soap mold again, and hopefully the fragrance lasts longer than 8 bars of soap (though, it may not, if I'm using the same one for that many bars in a row, it's going to go quicker than making various fragranced soaps).  Same goes for the coloring.... hopefully I still have some left after those 8 bars of soap, but I may not.

Even if we forget the cost of the soap mold (which... I mean... it's kinda necessary, but whatever)... we're then at $24 (cost) for me to make 8 bars.  That means each chin soap costs me $3 to make.  Each one of these requires cutting the soap, heating it, melting it, adding the correct amounts of color  and fragrance, pouring it, and then letting it cure for 1.5+ hours.  Then de-molding it, getting the flash off, and storing it / getting it ready for shipping or selling.  That's assuming I'm making $2 on each bar of soap.  I mean... is that really too much profit for a small business to make?

Baby Guinea Pigs!

You may have seen when we got in that group of guinea pigs awhile back...

Mom -- Coco Chanel

Dad -- Cinnamon Crunch

Daughter -- Cookies & Cream

Son -- Reeces Pieces

Well... all those pics were in the same cage.  So, we separated these into two cages, Coco & Cookie, and Cinnamon and Reeces.  Cinnamon and Reeces were available quicker, being males (so, no pregnancy watch), and got adopted relatively quickly.

Coco and Cookie are still chilling here, though Cookie has a pending adoption going on.  Well... turns out Coco was pregnant again before we got them in and separated them, and on 9/1, she delivered two bouncing babies!

Off the top of my head, I don't recall if these are males or females, but they are just now ready to find their new homes!  If you're interested, of course feel free to reach out, or watch our website for more pics and info!

Used Cages

So, as you may know, we often have used cages for sale.  In fact, we often have a LOT more used cages than what's literally listed on our website.

We've been slowly but surely listing cages on marketplace, and as those have sold, or heck, even as people have not read the ads, and then stated, oh the cage is too little....we have then suggested a bigger cage that we have, and still have sold a cage! 

Anyway, I guess the point is, we almost always have used cages.  Lately, some people have been messaging asking about what used cages we have that aren't listed, and I will tell them.  Depending on the amount of work needed to make the cage use-able, that usually gets added to the discussion as well.

For example, someone messaged me wanting a used critter nation.  At the time I had two -- a nice 3-level and a rusty-sitting-in-my-backyard 2-level.  Now, let me just say.... I take good care of my cages, so the fact that I left that CN in my backyard for a couple of weeks should suggest to you what condition it was in.  But, since someone asked about it, I mentioned that one as well, and specified that I could paint it and it would be very useable when painted.  It was just rusted on the surface, not rusted through.

For reference, this is the pic I sent, when asked for a pic:

The person wanted to come see it like within a couple days, and I told them, unfortunately I would not be able to get it painted quite that quickly.  I told her, she could either wait until I had it painted, or I'd be happy to send her home with the cage and a can of spray paint.  I actually kind of meant that as a joke, but, to be fair, there's nothing I can do to clean up a cage, that I can't explain, so someone else could also do at home.  She ended up agreeing to come get the cage and spray paint it at her place.

She got here, looked at the cage, took it home, sprayed it and fixed it up, and then came back and got some chins.

Anyway, the point is... there's often cages here that are not listed, not anything.  But if someone reaches out and says what they're looking for, often we have what that person is looking for, and can either clean it up for them, or sell it at a discount if it's taken as is.  So if you're ever looking for something, don't be afraid to ask!  You never know what we might have!

Passing It Forward

So, we get a reasonable amount of donations, and sometimes oddball stuff... people often ask what we do with the stuff we get donated. 

Obviously, much of it we use.  When things like bedding, food, hay, etc are donated, those are usually pretty much immediately used for the animals in our care.

But what about when we get in blankets, towels, etc?  People really do bring a little of everything!  Sometimes we give stuff away, sometimes we sell stuff.  It really depends on what it is, and who needs it, but it all goes to good causes!

I know of someone in rat rescue who always needs wheels for their rats.  The rats constantly destroy them, and we have practically a never ending supply of people surrendering their chins with wheels that are unsafe for chins, but are just fine for rats.  Many of them head the way of that rat rescue.  The other day, we had someone adopting some rats, and they mentioned wanting to get a safe wheel for their rats.  I went and got one of our donated wheels and gave it to them, so they would have a safe one for their new additions.

A few days ago, my parents had a garage sale.  Much of our "random" stuff ended up there.  For example, we had some blankets, bed sheets, cat litter scoops... among the regular, small animal items.  A lot of that stuff sold, and of course, the money goes right back into the rescue to help care for the resident animals.  We even had a 1/5 full bottle of ferret shampoo that we put in the garage sale for $0.25.  Someone bought it, and that's $0.25 more for the rescue!

For some stuff that I know has more value and is more easily sell-able, I will list it on marketplace or craigslist.  Lately we've had a lot of luck selling things on marketplace, and have sold at least 5 guinea pig cages, umpteen cat / small animal carriers, 4+ crittertrail cages, and more! 

And lastly, some stuff gets donated.  We had someone awhile back donate a bunch of towels, washcloths, bedsheets, etc.  You read above what happened to some of that.  Some of the towels (smaller ones) we kept for our own use, some of the really crappy, ripped up ones, we cut into rags.  The bigger towels though, we have less use for, as far as the rescue goes.

So, we packed up three shopping bags full of them (this is what was washed at the time... we have more for our next trip!), and donated them to the vet that we use for our dogs, Beecher Veterinary.  When we came in with our Roxy all wrapped in a towel because her wounds were oozing (story for a different day, if you don't already know it), the vets at Beecher sent us home with a clean towel.  Now, they will have a TON of towels!

So, no matter what's donated, we find some use for it, and if we can't use it, we will get it to someone who can!

Holding Chins Without a Deposit -- Why This is NOT a Thing

So, as you may know, we only hold chins with a deposit.  About the ONLY exception would be in a situation where the person calls, wants to come over, specifies which chin, and is coming over later that day... should someone else arrive before them, I will likely try to steer the first people away from buying that chin (though, to be fair... sometimes the second person doesn't show, and this is not to my advantage).  But in general, the grand grand grand majority of the times...we require a deposit to hold.

I get people all the time asking if we'll hold "until the next expo" or whatever, without a deposit.  Sorry, but no.  Perfect example that I wanted to share with you.

We had someone contact us, two expos ago, asking about chins.  Told them we'd be at the expo, even brought a cage for them and whatnot.  They initially were supposed to get a chin at the expo.  I don't know if somehow they changed their mind or something... they initially were looking at a standard grey (age irrelevant), but then at the expo, they really liked this one white male we had.

Now, you may or may not know, at the expos, we usually have the chins marked down a bit, so hopefully we find homes for a few, and can actually pay our booth fee.  The chin they were looking at was a $200 chin, marked down to $150.  I can't actually think of the last time I had a white chin down to $150, but this particular one had already been at the rescue a month or two and wasn't generating interest, so I figured I'd drop his price a bit.  So that was the one they liked, and they asked if we'd be bringing him to the next show.  I told them, if he hasn't sold and is in good health at the next show, we likely would... I also advised them, though, that they could put down a deposit and secure him for themselves, so FOR SURE he would be at the next show and FOR SURE they could get him.  Despite their love for him, they did not put down a deposit.

After the expo, I received a text from these people, asking if he was still available.  My first thought was that now, they wanted to put down a deposit.  I told them that yes, he was still available, and they asked if I'd take $125 for him.  Sorry, no. 

They again asked if he'd be at the next expo and I again told them, if he doesn't sell in the meantime, and as long as he's still doing well, most likely yes.

The following day, someone came to the rescue to look at chins, and picked out that mosaic male and a violet male, we got them intro'd and living together, and the person put down a deposit on the two of them.

Fast forward to the day before the expo.  I get a text from the person asking about the white male, asking if we're still going to the expo.  I tell her yes we are, and also specify that that specific white male has sold.  She asks if we'll be bringing more white males, and I told her yes, we would.

She never showed up.

Mind you, that's fine... they can get a chin now, later, from me, from someone else, whatever, what have you.  That's not the point.  The point I wanted to make is, this sort of thing is what I see all the time.  People want me to hold a chin for a week for them, and say they'll come pick it up on a certain day... and then don't show.  I have an almost identical story from a week or two prior to this, where someone wanted a standard grey chinchilla, and wanted to be able to pick from a few... so we brought a couple to the expo (as in, more standard greys than usual, so they'd have some choice)... they never showed.  So, to avoid time waster and tire kickers... we only hold chinchillas (or any animal, for that matter) with paid deposits.  Thank you for your understanding.

Waiting List

So, I've gotten a lot of emails from people lately... people who are on the waiting list, asking if we have room.  Now, I totally realize, they don't know how things go on here, and they don't know if I'm on top of things or not (and let's be honest... that depends what "things" we're talking about, lol!), so there's never any harm in asking.

Though there is one thing I will tell you, and that is this -- the waiting list is something that I am typically very on top of, because I understand what it's like to be on a list, and waiting around for someone to get back to you.  I get it!  You sit there and wonder, did they forget?  Are you still on the list?

And I think it's even worse with our list, because there's no set time frame.  Like if you're waiting for a puppy, well, you know when the puppies are anticipated to be born and you know hey you should be getting a call soon after that.  With our list, well, it's all dependent on adoptions.  If a ton happen, the waiting list can move quickly... if they don't, it moves slowly.

It's actually been almost amusing, because I heard from 3 people on the list... the people numbered 1, 2, 3, in that order, actually.  And unfortunately at the moment, I don't have room for them.  We don't have any open cages, and right now we have a lot here in terms of rats and other animals that are taking up spare cages and spare floor room as well.  Did you know we have 9 rats here right now?  We do!  We also have all our guinea pig cages full, and one of those was a pregnant female that had some babies!  So, we've got our hands full!

This year, also, I am doing my absolute best to not get overwhelmed.  With a lot of people wanting to surrender animals and a lot of people on the waiting list, I can practically feel the weight of people wanting to bring their animals in.  And I get it, they want help finding their animals homes, because they don't think they are the best thing for them at the moment.  I get it.  I want to help.  But... I also cannot do what I've done so many times in the past, and get in way over my head, with animals in every nook and cranny downstairs... it has to be reasonable.  Even with help, there's still only so many hours in the day and so much to do.  I've before made it so that there were so many cages downstairs that you couldn't easily move around, we couldn't easily get the cart around.  Should some emergency arise, I'm not saying I wouldn't help out, if I could.  But for the average person that just needs to surrender their chins cause they don't have time... it can wait.  And if it can't, well, then that person can explore their other options (which I'm happy to provide them with names of other rescues), but I can't overload myself.  It's not good for me, or the animals. 

You may have noticed, we've been listing a wider variety of used cages for sale and actually a lot of random stuff for sale -- this is also intentional, with the not overwhelming thing.  When we get in a lot of animals, it gets cluttered very easily downstairs.  It's great, like GREAT to get stuff in with the animals, but also, when there's a lot of animals and a lot of stuff, the clutter can become a bit much too... it all has to go somewhere!  So, before we even think of setting up additional cages, or allowing for someone with a cage to bring their chin, we are clearing out some of the currently used space here.  Having less clutter creates for a better environment for all of us.

So, I know this post has gone on and on a bit... but the general gist if you've been skimming is this -- we will call when we have room -- don't ever worry that we've forgotten you, if you're on our waiting list -- but if we have not called, likely we do not have room.  Though of course you are welcome to check.