I am tired. With this being my second day off from work in a row (never happens!), I decided I needed to work on some chin stuff. So, I went downstairs, cut, sanded, glued, and rubberbanded maybe 5 hidey houses. Cut and sanded another 3 more.
Got an email mid-day about one of our adoptive homes wanting to bring back two of the three rats they'd adopted. Apparently when they tried to introduce the rats to the cats (which I will not comment on), two of the rats went ballistic and started biting the owners and all. So, we have Cody and Jack back at the rescue. Sweet boys, no bites for me as I set up their cage and gave them food and all.
Washed a TON of stuff that was in my "wash" pile from the basement. Starting to be able to see the bottom - there's a large tub there, the drying racks we use for dying wood, like 4 cat carriers, a 10g tank with random crap in it... I could go on. But I'm getting there!
Didn't work on mending the cages today, by the time I got the hidey houses done, it was already way too late, but maybe tomorrow. They seem to be coming along great, we'll just have to see how well the cold weld holds once shelves are actually put in the cage. That will be the real test.
Almost out of wood, so I'll have to pick up some tomorrow after work, so I can continue to build the hidey houses for the expo and work on toys and stuff as well. My pile of scrap wood is growing, just gotta take some time to actually cut it down and sand it and make toys and all.
Packaged up an order for a porthole hidey house back from the 8th (whoops!). Dunno how I forgot about that one. Also have a custom order for hay holder and an order for a value pack, but for the value pack, I'm waiting to hear back which toy the people want.
As for the chins... I had people interested in Moch & Mycha and Willow, Lexi, and Jordyn.... but I haven't heard from either home for about a week now, so I sent them out the week emails saying "if I don't hear from you by such and such" date. I hope I do hear back, cause both of them seemed like good homes. I realize not everyone is online 24/7, but I feel like if you're discussing adopting a pet, it would be wise of you to check every so often to see if you have a message about it. Ah well. Hopefully I'll hear from one of them.
In the meantime, all the pets are doing fine. This week we have red romaine and baby carrots, which the g-pigs and the rabbit are devouring. My dad keeps saying the lettuce is going to go to waste, but if he saw how they eat it, it'll be gone in another day or so. And it's less than $2 anyway, even if a tiny piece did go bad... course, he would say "well if it was your $2....." Lol. But he offers to get it when he goes to get groceries. And it never goes to waste cause the g-pigs and rabbit are all pigs.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Patience - not a virtue I have
So, with the rescues we have, since our phone number is on the ads, we often get texts about the pets. That's fine. While I can't say that texts have led to a ton of adoptions, they can't hurt. But sometimes, texts, coupled with my short tolerance for stupid people who don't read, turns out bad.
Our ads say, "You can email us at amgajda@sbcglobal.net or call 219-789-0026 for more information or if you have any questions." The key there is "for more information." I do not feel like I should have to regurgitate the ad for you.
So today... here's how the texting goes:
THEM: I am interested in your rabbits
ME: Ok. We only have the one right now, the tri-color female, Cadbury
THEM: Will you send me a picture
ME: *sends picture*
THEM: How much?
ME: Her adoption fee is $20. She comes with 5 pounds of food, a toss toy, and a booklet rabbit care packet. If you're interested in her, you will need to read our rabbit care packet and fill out an adoption form. I can email those to you.
THEM: Ok.
ME: So if you let me know your email address I can get those to you.
THEM: Is she a 4h rabbit?
ME: I have no idea. She was dropped off at the rescue and the people didn't know much about her background
HER: Ok, I'll tell it to you tomorrow.
Now, what does that sound like? Oh yeah, me repeating like 90% of the ad. In fact, the only thing in the texts that was NOT in the ad was the question about the 4H part. I have no problem when people text wanting more information. My gripe is when people see an ad, don't even read the darn thing, and text wanting me to repeat the entire thing. I have a life, two jobs, and the rescue to run -- I feel like, if these people can't even read the ad for the basic information before they text me wanting to know things NOT COVERED by the ad... well, they're clearly not genuises.
/end rant.
Our ads say, "You can email us at amgajda@sbcglobal.net or call 219-789-0026 for more information or if you have any questions." The key there is "for more information." I do not feel like I should have to regurgitate the ad for you.
So today... here's how the texting goes:
THEM: I am interested in your rabbits
ME: Ok. We only have the one right now, the tri-color female, Cadbury
THEM: Will you send me a picture
ME: *sends picture*
THEM: How much?
ME: Her adoption fee is $20. She comes with 5 pounds of food, a toss toy, and a booklet rabbit care packet. If you're interested in her, you will need to read our rabbit care packet and fill out an adoption form. I can email those to you.
THEM: Ok.
ME: So if you let me know your email address I can get those to you.
THEM: Is she a 4h rabbit?
ME: I have no idea. She was dropped off at the rescue and the people didn't know much about her background
HER: Ok, I'll tell it to you tomorrow.
Now, what does that sound like? Oh yeah, me repeating like 90% of the ad. In fact, the only thing in the texts that was NOT in the ad was the question about the 4H part. I have no problem when people text wanting more information. My gripe is when people see an ad, don't even read the darn thing, and text wanting me to repeat the entire thing. I have a life, two jobs, and the rescue to run -- I feel like, if these people can't even read the ad for the basic information before they text me wanting to know things NOT COVERED by the ad... well, they're clearly not genuises.
/end rant.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
...and almost forgot
So, now that I have a few days off from grad school where I can think about things other than class, I finally got around to ordering some urns for when our chins pass away. Not to be morbid or anything, but some of the favorites are getting up there in years, or are within a few years of hitting double digits, and I'd rather just be prepared ahead of time. So ashestoashes.com has a ton of nice little urns for pets, and we'd already ordered a little plaque from there for when Cinder passed away... so I ordered like 6 urns and a plaque for JuneBug.
Thought about ordering one of the little stands/bases for the urns, but the prices are a bit more than I'd like to spend. I figure, I have the little plaque that says the name and all - I can take a piece of a 4x4, cut it to the size I want, sand it down, spray paint it black, stick the plaque to the front of it, and sit the urn on top. And voila! instant base.... without spending $35-50 per base. So that'll surely be on my to-do list for some time to come, but eventually it'll get done.
And right now, JuneBug's ashes are still in the white plastic container thing the crematory gave me, once the urns get in, I can actually put hers in one of them. :)
Thought about ordering one of the little stands/bases for the urns, but the prices are a bit more than I'd like to spend. I figure, I have the little plaque that says the name and all - I can take a piece of a 4x4, cut it to the size I want, sand it down, spray paint it black, stick the plaque to the front of it, and sit the urn on top. And voila! instant base.... without spending $35-50 per base. So that'll surely be on my to-do list for some time to come, but eventually it'll get done.
And right now, JuneBug's ashes are still in the white plastic container thing the crematory gave me, once the urns get in, I can actually put hers in one of them. :)
Busy busy busy!
I don't know where the time's gone! It seems like it was just the beginning of April and here it is almost the end! Well, lots has happened.
First, we got in three rescue chinchillas - Willow (beige), Jordyn (std), and Lexi (std). They are such sweeties. Jordyn and Lexi are Willow's babies so it's like the whole family is together. They've been out for playtime several times and really have enjoyed it. Will definitely have to bring the camera down there for the next time.
Found out from Frito's new home that he broke his leg. Wonder how that happened, but regardless, poor thing, so we're hoping that he has a quick recovery!
I suppose maybe the most interesting thing that's happened so far this month is we decided to add to our own pet family - 3 guinea pigs! These are really my mom's g-pigs, but we all know who will be feeding them and all. They're adorable, though they're still all scared of us. But they sure know me when I have the leafy greens! Going to make them a C&C cage when I get some spare time.
Also got in two male chins - Kicomo and Kocomo - at the rescue. Very sweet chins, already had some of our adoptive homes saying they wanted to "trade in" their chins for these two, haha. Nice boys, very sweet. LOVE their flying saucer.
So, we adopted out Foofy (grey male lionhead rabbit), always a good thing. He was adopted out to one of our previous adoptive homes -- they already have one of our rescue chinchillas, Chi-Chi (previously known as Wildwoman lol). So I know they'll be a good home and spoil Foofy to death.
So, that brings us about up to speed. Had a lot of interest in the chins and rescues lately... talking to someone about the female trio, talking to someone else about Moch and Mycha, had a few people call about Cadbury, and as with everything, just waiting to hear back from all of these people! None of the chins are ready to go right now (Cadbury and the gerbils are the only animals currently ready to go), but I still like for the future-adoptive homes to keep in touch until they actually take their pets home.
Since Foofy was adopted, I was able to clear off part of my work-station table. Moved Cadbury to Foofy's spot, and the g-pigs to Cadbury's table. That gives me a little room to work on orders and stuff.
Been trying to organize like nuts over the last day or so. There are way too many paper-ream boxes down there that weren't labeled, so I went and labeled them all, so no more opening up boxes to see what's in them.
Some of the cages we recently got in with chins have a lot of broken bars, so I've been working on that as well. One is a Critter Nation and the other is one of those purple/black cages that we sell. Well, I bought some... I'm not sure what it's called, but it's like liquid steel and hardener that you mix together and it's supposed to be "the best cold weld available" or something of the sort. So, it's gray, not the color of the cages at all, but if I can fix the bars, at least the purple/black cage can be sold as used, the other one can go with the girls if their new home needs a cage, otherwise it can stay here. Though, with that one, even if I get all the bars fixed, I may have to attempt to put up shelves and have chins in that cage for a period of time before I let that cage go anywhere, cause I would hate to adopt out chins with a cage and have the whole cage fall apart on the new home. So we'll have to see how that goes.
Theodore's not doing so hot. The URI isn't clearing up, and he's sleeping like 24/7. The vet thinks it may just be his time to go (he is like 3 years old, after all) so we'll see how he does in the next few days.
On a happier note, our other sanctuary rescue, Aries (white dwarf hamster) appears to be doing good. Had to clean a little gunk out of one of his ears today, but other than that, he's taking his meds good, and still active and definitely chowing down on his treats. Also gnawing the life out of the gloves I pick him up with, but at least it's the gloves and not my hand!
Been trying to do a better job keeping up with orders lately. Seems the second I get a batch sent out, I get more. And I'm not complaining, by any means, but I'm also trying to build things to take with me to the Lake County Pet Expo next month so I can't be selling every last item I make. I'm going to have to start putting things aside specifically for the expo so that I have stuff made when the time comes.
Been trying to go through the pile of stuff that needs to be washed. We have a gazillion water bottles and spare this and spare that, and it's like if only I knew what we had... so today I brought up a ton of stuff to wash. So far got some water bottles, food bowls, the two rabbit litter pans, and some misc. stuff washed, and there's still several of those plastic dust houses, random tupperware-type containers, and who-knows-what-else in that pile. Several carriers, that's for sure. Eventually it'll all get washed and the pile will go down to a reasonable size.
Oh, and today, Ghost's new family came over. They wanted to pick up the supplies so they could get his cage ready and everything all set for him ahead of time. They're going to come pick him up when they finish remodeling the room that he's going to be in. So they came over today, and they were over several times before to volunteer and stuff, so today I needed help moving cages and giving one of our chins some medication, so they helped with that, so that was awesome. Really helped me get those few things done a lot faster than I would have been able to otherwise.
First, we got in three rescue chinchillas - Willow (beige), Jordyn (std), and Lexi (std). They are such sweeties. Jordyn and Lexi are Willow's babies so it's like the whole family is together. They've been out for playtime several times and really have enjoyed it. Will definitely have to bring the camera down there for the next time.
Found out from Frito's new home that he broke his leg. Wonder how that happened, but regardless, poor thing, so we're hoping that he has a quick recovery!
I suppose maybe the most interesting thing that's happened so far this month is we decided to add to our own pet family - 3 guinea pigs! These are really my mom's g-pigs, but we all know who will be feeding them and all. They're adorable, though they're still all scared of us. But they sure know me when I have the leafy greens! Going to make them a C&C cage when I get some spare time.
Also got in two male chins - Kicomo and Kocomo - at the rescue. Very sweet chins, already had some of our adoptive homes saying they wanted to "trade in" their chins for these two, haha. Nice boys, very sweet. LOVE their flying saucer.
So, we adopted out Foofy (grey male lionhead rabbit), always a good thing. He was adopted out to one of our previous adoptive homes -- they already have one of our rescue chinchillas, Chi-Chi (previously known as Wildwoman lol). So I know they'll be a good home and spoil Foofy to death.
So, that brings us about up to speed. Had a lot of interest in the chins and rescues lately... talking to someone about the female trio, talking to someone else about Moch and Mycha, had a few people call about Cadbury, and as with everything, just waiting to hear back from all of these people! None of the chins are ready to go right now (Cadbury and the gerbils are the only animals currently ready to go), but I still like for the future-adoptive homes to keep in touch until they actually take their pets home.
Since Foofy was adopted, I was able to clear off part of my work-station table. Moved Cadbury to Foofy's spot, and the g-pigs to Cadbury's table. That gives me a little room to work on orders and stuff.
Been trying to organize like nuts over the last day or so. There are way too many paper-ream boxes down there that weren't labeled, so I went and labeled them all, so no more opening up boxes to see what's in them.
Some of the cages we recently got in with chins have a lot of broken bars, so I've been working on that as well. One is a Critter Nation and the other is one of those purple/black cages that we sell. Well, I bought some... I'm not sure what it's called, but it's like liquid steel and hardener that you mix together and it's supposed to be "the best cold weld available" or something of the sort. So, it's gray, not the color of the cages at all, but if I can fix the bars, at least the purple/black cage can be sold as used, the other one can go with the girls if their new home needs a cage, otherwise it can stay here. Though, with that one, even if I get all the bars fixed, I may have to attempt to put up shelves and have chins in that cage for a period of time before I let that cage go anywhere, cause I would hate to adopt out chins with a cage and have the whole cage fall apart on the new home. So we'll have to see how that goes.
Theodore's not doing so hot. The URI isn't clearing up, and he's sleeping like 24/7. The vet thinks it may just be his time to go (he is like 3 years old, after all) so we'll see how he does in the next few days.
On a happier note, our other sanctuary rescue, Aries (white dwarf hamster) appears to be doing good. Had to clean a little gunk out of one of his ears today, but other than that, he's taking his meds good, and still active and definitely chowing down on his treats. Also gnawing the life out of the gloves I pick him up with, but at least it's the gloves and not my hand!
Been trying to do a better job keeping up with orders lately. Seems the second I get a batch sent out, I get more. And I'm not complaining, by any means, but I'm also trying to build things to take with me to the Lake County Pet Expo next month so I can't be selling every last item I make. I'm going to have to start putting things aside specifically for the expo so that I have stuff made when the time comes.
Been trying to go through the pile of stuff that needs to be washed. We have a gazillion water bottles and spare this and spare that, and it's like if only I knew what we had... so today I brought up a ton of stuff to wash. So far got some water bottles, food bowls, the two rabbit litter pans, and some misc. stuff washed, and there's still several of those plastic dust houses, random tupperware-type containers, and who-knows-what-else in that pile. Several carriers, that's for sure. Eventually it'll all get washed and the pile will go down to a reasonable size.
Oh, and today, Ghost's new family came over. They wanted to pick up the supplies so they could get his cage ready and everything all set for him ahead of time. They're going to come pick him up when they finish remodeling the room that he's going to be in. So they came over today, and they were over several times before to volunteer and stuff, so today I needed help moving cages and giving one of our chins some medication, so they helped with that, so that was awesome. Really helped me get those few things done a lot faster than I would have been able to otherwise.
Friday, April 6, 2012
...and the bad news (and some more good news)
So... we got in a rat, Theodore... he has a sinus infection. So he is being treated with antibiotics, but I can't say he's happy about it. And when his previous family said he bites...yeah, he bites. Owch.
On top of that, on the forum (CnH) there was someone asking if there were any rescues near Indianapolis and so I PMed her and said we're a few hours away. Well, apparently some people on the forum (who should be happy that I won't name them in this blog) had already told this lady -- hey, don't give your chins to that rescue, she takes rescues and breeds them. Really? This is a new one to me.
So of course, it's not true. But that doesn't mean it didn't get me riled up. The lady (with the chins needing to come to a rescue) actually had called me cause she said she looked at my website and thought it was odd that I had all these great guestbook signatures and great testimonials and all, yet this other person was saying I was like scum. So she called to make up her own decision. After talking to her, she decided that we do not, in fact, breed rescues (thank you for someone not believing everything they hear) and she said we would set a time to bring them over.
I did private message the person who was going around spreading these lies. I simply asked where she had heard that and said that I wanted to set it straight that we do not breed rescues and such. Of course, she never messaged me back. No, that would be too civil of her. And as a "buddy," I know she has been on the forum since that day and has seen my post and all.
Well, today, (I suppose this is good news), the people with the rescue chins came over and dropped them off here (without telling that other person until after the chins were here). The people dropping off the chins were very nice. I felt bad cause the kids were crying and the mom started tearing up... it's sad when people have to leave their pets. And you could tell they really cared for them. They did post on the forum after they dropped the chins off here (I'm not sure how readable this is going to be):
...and I thought that was nice of her. So I got the chins settled in in one of our empty FN's and I put together their CN after they left. I have to say, I like the way the old-fashioned FN's go together, with the screws. I wasn't loving the way the new FNs/CN just sort of slide together in various places. Like for example, the top piece of the cage has two prongs on each corner that slide down into the corners... yeah, not so much. I had two metal cable ties that I used on the front two corners, and I will need to go buy a few more so I can cable tie the back two corners down as well. I don't trust creative chins trying to get the top off of their cage. Other than that, the cage went together pretty easily... considering it was just me, and I guess I'm getting used to putting everything together myself.
Got the cage together, and started checking for the broken bars that I was warned about. Found a decent number of them, clipped them all with neon clothespins so I can find them later. I bought this liquid steel thing that's supposed to be almost like welding except... not. So I think this will be a good place to try it on. We'll see how it goes, I supposed I can't mess it up any more than it already is. Didn't have a chance to look through the stuff the people left with the chins yet, as they'll still be in the FN at least for a few more days until I have a chance to work with the CN, but it definitely looks like they had the girls spoiled while they were in their care.
So... realized at about 10 pm that I did not have my stuff ready to go for Storm's pickup tomorrow, so I had to rush and cut the wood and put together a hidey house (I know, I know, waaaay too last minute for a hidey house, it's gotta dry) and cut the wood and put together shelves and a cage. I didn't know if they wanted the cage set up or not, cause I forgot to ask, so I set it up... I figure if they don't want it set up, it'll only take a few mins to take apart, so no biggie. And she wanted a hammock and water bottle and several other things, so I got that all ready. She's coming tomorrow right around when I get home from work, and I think *fingers crossed* everything is ready now..
Oh! And we added some new permanent-resident members to our family - three guinea pigs. A brown and caramel abyssian male named Hershey, and two females (not yet named). They will eventually have a C&C cage, well, maybe a C&metal-pan cage (just not feeling the chloroplast) and I'll surely have to build a stand for that... but that time will come closer to back to school time when those Cube things are on sale. Right now, they're in the biggest rabbit cages we have, which are pretty large, they'd be like almost 2x5 cubes, so decent sizes. But their future cage (as seen in my head, haha) will be nice. I'll have to ask Bass how deep they can make pans, cause I think I could use more than just the usual 2".
Then, we had someone call today about the Luna and Darth (gerbils). Sounded good until they asked how far we were from Cincinnati (OH). About 4ish hours? So they called back and said sure they'd make the trip and then start talking about how it'd be 2 hours to get here... and I was like wait, no, there's no way they could get here in two hours. So, somehow they thought I said Muncie, even though I clearly said we're in the northwest corner of the state (and Muncie is, in no stretch of the imagination, in the northwest corner of the state). So they thought that when I said 4 hours, I meant roundtrip. Really? Interesting, cause when someone asks me how long it takes me to get to my mailbox, I don't say, 5 minutes... oh, well roundtrip. But anyway, I don't see them driving 4+ hours for gerbils, so I don't anticipate hearing from them again.
But... been playing phone tag with someone else. Someone in Valpo is selling a cage that seems rather large... who knows how well this lady's measuring skills are, but she says 5' long, 3' deep, and 5' high. Sounds like a Marshall Mansion to me. Can't say I'm in love with them, but for the right price... and she said she would lower the price cause we're a rescue (she originally called me and left a message). So I called her back, got her voicemail and I asked what the price was, the condition of the cage, where she was, and all that. Found out, she called back while I was at work and left a message which said - she's in Valpo, cage only had two chins in it, no rust, pretty much new, and they would reduce it to $50 for us. Sounds good! So I called back, got the voicemail (I said we were playing tag, eh?) and told her that it sounded good to me, but I just wondered if the cage folded up, because even though we have my blazer, it probably couldn't fit something like that inside. And I asked if she could wait until Monday cause Monday I'll be at the law office, and Hobart is in the direction of Valpo, so it's not like I'd just be driving all the way out there for the heck of it. So hopefully she'll call back tomorrow.
And I think that's it! It's been a busy few days. Ok, one more thing. Had someone call about Delilah right the day when she was adopted, so I called the guy back and told him about Moch and Mycha, who we just got in, but have the same Delilah-type personality, and so he said he wanted to fill out an application for them. So, as luck would have it, we've been having problems with our AT&T triple play thing, so we had no internet last night, so I wasn't able to email him the forms until today. While I was at work today, he called to say that he hadn't gotten the forms - good sign! He definitely seems interested! So I emailed him the forms today when I got home... hopefully he will get them and this will turn out good. :)
Since I got in Willow, Jordyn, and Lexi (the three from the whole CnH mess) today, and I had someone on my list looking for a young pair, I emailed them asking if they might have any interest in this trio. So we will see.
On top of that, on the forum (CnH) there was someone asking if there were any rescues near Indianapolis and so I PMed her and said we're a few hours away. Well, apparently some people on the forum (who should be happy that I won't name them in this blog) had already told this lady -- hey, don't give your chins to that rescue, she takes rescues and breeds them. Really? This is a new one to me.
So of course, it's not true. But that doesn't mean it didn't get me riled up. The lady (with the chins needing to come to a rescue) actually had called me cause she said she looked at my website and thought it was odd that I had all these great guestbook signatures and great testimonials and all, yet this other person was saying I was like scum. So she called to make up her own decision. After talking to her, she decided that we do not, in fact, breed rescues (thank you for someone not believing everything they hear) and she said we would set a time to bring them over.
I did private message the person who was going around spreading these lies. I simply asked where she had heard that and said that I wanted to set it straight that we do not breed rescues and such. Of course, she never messaged me back. No, that would be too civil of her. And as a "buddy," I know she has been on the forum since that day and has seen my post and all.
Well, today, (I suppose this is good news), the people with the rescue chins came over and dropped them off here (without telling that other person until after the chins were here). The people dropping off the chins were very nice. I felt bad cause the kids were crying and the mom started tearing up... it's sad when people have to leave their pets. And you could tell they really cared for them. They did post on the forum after they dropped the chins off here (I'm not sure how readable this is going to be):
...and I thought that was nice of her. So I got the chins settled in in one of our empty FN's and I put together their CN after they left. I have to say, I like the way the old-fashioned FN's go together, with the screws. I wasn't loving the way the new FNs/CN just sort of slide together in various places. Like for example, the top piece of the cage has two prongs on each corner that slide down into the corners... yeah, not so much. I had two metal cable ties that I used on the front two corners, and I will need to go buy a few more so I can cable tie the back two corners down as well. I don't trust creative chins trying to get the top off of their cage. Other than that, the cage went together pretty easily... considering it was just me, and I guess I'm getting used to putting everything together myself.
Got the cage together, and started checking for the broken bars that I was warned about. Found a decent number of them, clipped them all with neon clothespins so I can find them later. I bought this liquid steel thing that's supposed to be almost like welding except... not. So I think this will be a good place to try it on. We'll see how it goes, I supposed I can't mess it up any more than it already is. Didn't have a chance to look through the stuff the people left with the chins yet, as they'll still be in the FN at least for a few more days until I have a chance to work with the CN, but it definitely looks like they had the girls spoiled while they were in their care.
So... realized at about 10 pm that I did not have my stuff ready to go for Storm's pickup tomorrow, so I had to rush and cut the wood and put together a hidey house (I know, I know, waaaay too last minute for a hidey house, it's gotta dry) and cut the wood and put together shelves and a cage. I didn't know if they wanted the cage set up or not, cause I forgot to ask, so I set it up... I figure if they don't want it set up, it'll only take a few mins to take apart, so no biggie. And she wanted a hammock and water bottle and several other things, so I got that all ready. She's coming tomorrow right around when I get home from work, and I think *fingers crossed* everything is ready now..
Oh! And we added some new permanent-resident members to our family - three guinea pigs. A brown and caramel abyssian male named Hershey, and two females (not yet named). They will eventually have a C&C cage, well, maybe a C&metal-pan cage (just not feeling the chloroplast) and I'll surely have to build a stand for that... but that time will come closer to back to school time when those Cube things are on sale. Right now, they're in the biggest rabbit cages we have, which are pretty large, they'd be like almost 2x5 cubes, so decent sizes. But their future cage (as seen in my head, haha) will be nice. I'll have to ask Bass how deep they can make pans, cause I think I could use more than just the usual 2".
Then, we had someone call today about the Luna and Darth (gerbils). Sounded good until they asked how far we were from Cincinnati (OH). About 4ish hours? So they called back and said sure they'd make the trip and then start talking about how it'd be 2 hours to get here... and I was like wait, no, there's no way they could get here in two hours. So, somehow they thought I said Muncie, even though I clearly said we're in the northwest corner of the state (and Muncie is, in no stretch of the imagination, in the northwest corner of the state). So they thought that when I said 4 hours, I meant roundtrip. Really? Interesting, cause when someone asks me how long it takes me to get to my mailbox, I don't say, 5 minutes... oh, well roundtrip. But anyway, I don't see them driving 4+ hours for gerbils, so I don't anticipate hearing from them again.
But... been playing phone tag with someone else. Someone in Valpo is selling a cage that seems rather large... who knows how well this lady's measuring skills are, but she says 5' long, 3' deep, and 5' high. Sounds like a Marshall Mansion to me. Can't say I'm in love with them, but for the right price... and she said she would lower the price cause we're a rescue (she originally called me and left a message). So I called her back, got her voicemail and I asked what the price was, the condition of the cage, where she was, and all that. Found out, she called back while I was at work and left a message which said - she's in Valpo, cage only had two chins in it, no rust, pretty much new, and they would reduce it to $50 for us. Sounds good! So I called back, got the voicemail (I said we were playing tag, eh?) and told her that it sounded good to me, but I just wondered if the cage folded up, because even though we have my blazer, it probably couldn't fit something like that inside. And I asked if she could wait until Monday cause Monday I'll be at the law office, and Hobart is in the direction of Valpo, so it's not like I'd just be driving all the way out there for the heck of it. So hopefully she'll call back tomorrow.
And I think that's it! It's been a busy few days. Ok, one more thing. Had someone call about Delilah right the day when she was adopted, so I called the guy back and told him about Moch and Mycha, who we just got in, but have the same Delilah-type personality, and so he said he wanted to fill out an application for them. So, as luck would have it, we've been having problems with our AT&T triple play thing, so we had no internet last night, so I wasn't able to email him the forms until today. While I was at work today, he called to say that he hadn't gotten the forms - good sign! He definitely seems interested! So I emailed him the forms today when I got home... hopefully he will get them and this will turn out good. :)
Since I got in Willow, Jordyn, and Lexi (the three from the whole CnH mess) today, and I had someone on my list looking for a young pair, I emailed them asking if they might have any interest in this trio. So we will see.
Quick update from the last few days
So the last few days, I felt like I was swamped with chin orders. Not that I don't love ya all, but man, people sure know how to all email me the same day wanting tons of stuff.... and then email me the next day asking if it was shipped out yet. Uh... not quite. But today, I did ship out quite a few packages.
Waiting to hear back on several shipping quotes. I hate giving out shipping quotes, in a way, because I'd almost rather have the person tell me how much they are willing to pay for shipping. For example, I had someone want to know shipping for two 12" shelves, a circular perch, and a cottage hidey house. I believe I quoted them like $13 for shipping, as the box is like 8 lbs or so. Well, it's only been a day or so, so not long... but a lot of people will simply never email back if the shipping isn't to their liking. I'd rather have someone be like, ok well I only want this if it's going to cost me $5 to ship, cause then I don't have to go through the hassle of getting everything together, getting a box, weighing it, and so on and so forth.
Like the other day, I had someone email wanting to know why our cages aren't on the webstore. The short answer is because the webstore makes me set a flat rate shipping price for everything. So if I charge $10 shipping and you're in California.... I may lose like $10 when shipping is actually $20. Not to mention, the cages are heavy. So it turns out, she's interested in the large cage with shelves, and she's... across the country. So, to weigh this, I need to actually cut the shelves, baggie up the hardware (since that add significantly to the weight), throw that in the cage box and put it all on the scale. And well, it might just weigh enough that I might have to hop on the scale with and without the box to see the weight. And in the end... she may decide she doesn't want it cause shipping's too much. Which is fine, but a lot of times, if people were to tell me they will only pay if shipping is under "x", well, by now I have an idea how much certain things cost to ship, so I could tell them from the start, hey, just not gonna happen.
Ok, but onto good things. First, things first, Buttons went home! Buttons was our long haired black female lionhead rabbit. She went to the sweetest lady who's dad had built her rabbit condos. She was saying she liked our male too (separately, of course, she had two rabbits once, and two rabbit condos), so I have my fingers crossed that she may come back for him.
Picture of Buttons and her new "mom," Karen:
2nd good thing - Gigi went home! Her previous home gave her cage with her for her new home, and per the new home's instructions, we revamped her cage (a 1-story FN) so that it had more shelves and more chew-things for Gigi. Just today I emailed Gigi's new mom the email/phone of the previous home, and vice versa. With Gigi, the adoption was dependent on the fact that the new home had to keep in touch somewhat with the previous home. That's becoming more common (at least here) than it once was (that people want that). Maybe people just didn't think to ask for it before. But anyway, here's a pic of Gigi with her new family members Zach and Jennifer:
And a picture of Gigi's revised cage with some shelving, one of our hidey houses, some hanging chew toys, and one of our hammocks:
And last good thing, Daisy and Delilah went to a great home! Daisy and Delilah were some of the chins brought in by a girl with some medical problems. Their cagemates, Kona and Pompeii, already found a home and now it was these girls' turn. I'm sure they will be cared for very well. Here they are with their new family members, (from left to right), Jeremy, Robert, and Layla (Daisy on left, Delilah on right).
Waiting to hear back on several shipping quotes. I hate giving out shipping quotes, in a way, because I'd almost rather have the person tell me how much they are willing to pay for shipping. For example, I had someone want to know shipping for two 12" shelves, a circular perch, and a cottage hidey house. I believe I quoted them like $13 for shipping, as the box is like 8 lbs or so. Well, it's only been a day or so, so not long... but a lot of people will simply never email back if the shipping isn't to their liking. I'd rather have someone be like, ok well I only want this if it's going to cost me $5 to ship, cause then I don't have to go through the hassle of getting everything together, getting a box, weighing it, and so on and so forth.
Like the other day, I had someone email wanting to know why our cages aren't on the webstore. The short answer is because the webstore makes me set a flat rate shipping price for everything. So if I charge $10 shipping and you're in California.... I may lose like $10 when shipping is actually $20. Not to mention, the cages are heavy. So it turns out, she's interested in the large cage with shelves, and she's... across the country. So, to weigh this, I need to actually cut the shelves, baggie up the hardware (since that add significantly to the weight), throw that in the cage box and put it all on the scale. And well, it might just weigh enough that I might have to hop on the scale with and without the box to see the weight. And in the end... she may decide she doesn't want it cause shipping's too much. Which is fine, but a lot of times, if people were to tell me they will only pay if shipping is under "x", well, by now I have an idea how much certain things cost to ship, so I could tell them from the start, hey, just not gonna happen.
Ok, but onto good things. First, things first, Buttons went home! Buttons was our long haired black female lionhead rabbit. She went to the sweetest lady who's dad had built her rabbit condos. She was saying she liked our male too (separately, of course, she had two rabbits once, and two rabbit condos), so I have my fingers crossed that she may come back for him.
Picture of Buttons and her new "mom," Karen:
2nd good thing - Gigi went home! Her previous home gave her cage with her for her new home, and per the new home's instructions, we revamped her cage (a 1-story FN) so that it had more shelves and more chew-things for Gigi. Just today I emailed Gigi's new mom the email/phone of the previous home, and vice versa. With Gigi, the adoption was dependent on the fact that the new home had to keep in touch somewhat with the previous home. That's becoming more common (at least here) than it once was (that people want that). Maybe people just didn't think to ask for it before. But anyway, here's a pic of Gigi with her new family members Zach and Jennifer:
And a picture of Gigi's revised cage with some shelving, one of our hidey houses, some hanging chew toys, and one of our hammocks:
And last good thing, Daisy and Delilah went to a great home! Daisy and Delilah were some of the chins brought in by a girl with some medical problems. Their cagemates, Kona and Pompeii, already found a home and now it was these girls' turn. I'm sure they will be cared for very well. Here they are with their new family members, (from left to right), Jeremy, Robert, and Layla (Daisy on left, Delilah on right).
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Buttons
Had someone email about Buttons - it went to my junk mail folder of course. But the actual junk mail? Nope, that's in my inbox. Makes perfect sense. Anyway, they said they'd had dwarf rabbits before and missed them, so they were thinking Buttons would be great for them, so I was all set to email them back with the rabbit care packet and the rabbit adoption form... til I realized I didn't HAVE either of them. Makes me wonder what I had the people fill out when we adopted out Felix last year.
*mom in background, looking over shoulder* - "You just talked with them on the phone for the longest time, you didn't have them fill out anything other than the pickup form which you had them agree to and sign."
Oh. Ok, so today was the day. Took the time, sat down, and wrote out and edited my rabbit care packet (the final version will come out after it's proofread another day). And spent some time tweaking the adoption form so it was more rabbit-oriented. THEN sent the email to the person with those attachments. So I hope I hear back from her.
Oh, and since I said earlier that I'd post it, now that I'm home and have access to my files, here's the showbook ad that I sent to Mish for the MCBA Atlantic Chapter's Spring Show's show-book (got our ad in the book by donating a product [donated a chinny motorhome] to the show's raffle):
*mom in background, looking over shoulder* - "You just talked with them on the phone for the longest time, you didn't have them fill out anything other than the pickup form which you had them agree to and sign."
Oh. Ok, so today was the day. Took the time, sat down, and wrote out and edited my rabbit care packet (the final version will come out after it's proofread another day). And spent some time tweaking the adoption form so it was more rabbit-oriented. THEN sent the email to the person with those attachments. So I hope I hear back from her.
Oh, and since I said earlier that I'd post it, now that I'm home and have access to my files, here's the showbook ad that I sent to Mish for the MCBA Atlantic Chapter's Spring Show's show-book (got our ad in the book by donating a product [donated a chinny motorhome] to the show's raffle):
Hope no one needs to desperately get ahold of me....
So, I had a stupid moment today, and about, oh... 10 minutes after leaving the office realized that my phone... was still at the office. So... I really hope no one's in any dire need to get ahold of me tonight or tomorrow until about 5 pm. I'm hoping to call the office on a break at my other job and let them know I'm coming to pick it up, but I still won't have it between now and like 5 pm tomorrow (and god is that going to be a lot of wasted gas just to pick up a phone... but I sure can't wait until next Monday to get it!). Ugh. Course, it'll die in a few hours anyway, it was already well on its way, but that phone is like attached at the hip, so omg!
But onto chin stuff. Anyway, no responses to the bun bun ads. My ad on craigslist for the pair of female chins for $150 keeps getting flagged. Yet, no one's flagging the baby pink white chin in Lombard for $150. What the heck? Surely that's selling more so than two adult chins for $150... but I suppose people think they should be like $20 each, hence the flagging. Oh well, I will just keep posting. No interest whatsoever actually, it's been a quiet couple of days in terms of adopting out rescues.
Getting some young volunteers in on Thursday - one of my previous adopters and her kid are coming over to help. I'm sure I have some cages to clean or at least some litter pans to clean. Finally got Mish the ad I promised her for the Atlantic Chapter Showbook. Had a heck of a time doing it, because my regular laptop doesn't have Paint (the program that comes with the computer) so I had to download a drawing/photo editing program and it did not like me. But I finally got it! Will post it later if I think about it. I would say I could send it to myself from my phone and go from there... but..... yeah. No phone.
Still have a chin order or two to get out... it's sad how much I rely on my phone, my entire to-do list is on there... like crud, what am I supposed to do today again? Repost that one ad for sure, but what else? I do actually hate being that dependent on that phone, but I love it to death. Almost as much as I love chins and critters, but it's a different kind of love. It keeps me organized. Ah well, no organization for the next day or so..... but I bet you chin stuff will get done, cause I won't be playing with the phone, that's for sure!
But onto chin stuff. Anyway, no responses to the bun bun ads. My ad on craigslist for the pair of female chins for $150 keeps getting flagged. Yet, no one's flagging the baby pink white chin in Lombard for $150. What the heck? Surely that's selling more so than two adult chins for $150... but I suppose people think they should be like $20 each, hence the flagging. Oh well, I will just keep posting. No interest whatsoever actually, it's been a quiet couple of days in terms of adopting out rescues.
Getting some young volunteers in on Thursday - one of my previous adopters and her kid are coming over to help. I'm sure I have some cages to clean or at least some litter pans to clean. Finally got Mish the ad I promised her for the Atlantic Chapter Showbook. Had a heck of a time doing it, because my regular laptop doesn't have Paint (the program that comes with the computer) so I had to download a drawing/photo editing program and it did not like me. But I finally got it! Will post it later if I think about it. I would say I could send it to myself from my phone and go from there... but..... yeah. No phone.
Still have a chin order or two to get out... it's sad how much I rely on my phone, my entire to-do list is on there... like crud, what am I supposed to do today again? Repost that one ad for sure, but what else? I do actually hate being that dependent on that phone, but I love it to death. Almost as much as I love chins and critters, but it's a different kind of love. It keeps me organized. Ah well, no organization for the next day or so..... but I bet you chin stuff will get done, cause I won't be playing with the phone, that's for sure!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Nationals and more rescues!
So, we went to Nationals! Had fun, enjoyed the pool, had a nice dinner... wait, this is a chin blog. My bad. Groomed the chins the night before (well, again, that was not their first grooming) so that the following morning at the show wouldn't be as bad. So show day, grooming was quick and we got to sit back and relax once we were finished while everyone else groomed! Haha.
So the show went on, lots of great animals. My mom's chin was knocked off the table (no award) for having wavy fur... which I guess I did notice but somehow it never fazed me. Oops. We brought her, one of my 6Oakes females, and our own Myshkin. The 6 Oakes female, Jessie, got a 4th. I don't remember why off the top of my head, but it's in my showbook (too tired to look right now). Myshkin, on the other hand, got a 1st! And for him being a 3 year old, that is awesome!
Was looking for a beige or white (specifically, homo beige or pink white) female to take home. By halfway through the show I was hoping for even a nice, high placing standard female to take home. But no luck, there were hardly any females up for the auction, it was like 95% males and the females that were didn't do well enough for me to want them (or, there were like 2 of them that were all of 3 months old - not quite what I was looking for).
So, before we left, I talked to Dan Rolfe (the guy who brought the pelts to show) and ended up purchasing a pelt from him. Odd, maybe, but for illustration purposes it could be good to have one. Now that I got it home... I am trying my best to keep it as far away from the dog's reach as possible. Knowing her, it would become the next chew toy.
So... while at Nationals, the emails and phone calls did not stop. Those stop for nothing. So, I got a call the day before Nationals (Friday) from someone wanting to drop off two chins, said his kids lost interest in them. On Saturday, got two calls from the same person wanting to adopt our gerbils, got a call from someone else wanting to drop off chins cause their kid lost interest, and got two calls from someone in Delaware wanting to adopt one of our pairs of chins. Called everyone back -- got ahold of the gerbil people, who said they found gerbils by them. Sometimes, I swear, people need to give me a few hours to call them back before they go run out and get their pets elsewhere. But anyway. Got in touch with the second person about her wanting to surrender the chins - so she brought them over today, Moch and Mycha. Called the first guy wanting to drop off chins - got an email back today, and he also called again today, so we talked on the phone and I later emailed him back. I got a third call from the Delaware person about the chins today - called them pretty much right back, but only got voicemail - I left (on the message) that their call shows up as Delaware, and if they are really Delaware, well, we are Indiana, so.... so I haven't heard back.
While I was out, had someone pay for an order of chin food, so I need to get that out. Had another put in an order for some hay and some food, so I will be working on that as well. Also need to get cranking on getting Gigi's cage all ready to go, because she's ready to go to her new home... just as soon as I get the cage done!
Also had someone email about the gerbils - which, originally I emailed back saying hey, got someone else interested, I can let you know if they decide to not get them? Never did hear back, but then when the person told me that they had found other gerbils, I emailed again saying that they are back up for adoption. But... considering the same person called me twice from different numbers.. I'm half betting that email is from the same lady who already got gerbils. So I don't have much hope riding on hearing back from her.
Had someone email about Storm as a pet for their three year old. Someone who'd never had chins. I'm not a huge fan of chinchillas as pets for kids that young and I told her I thought that a better pet might be a rabbit or something that might hold still a little better... haven't heard back, but I was honest. But anyway, Storm is actually on hold for someone, seems like a good home, just got in the adoption form today. :)
What else... hmm.. oh, one of the people who bought some dust, treats, and whatnot a few weeks ago emailed me to let me know that she got her package. She was inquiring about adopting a chin to breed... so I informed her that she couldn't adopt a rescue and breed it, she'd need to purchase a pedigreed chin. And went on to say that usually the only pedigreed chins we have for sale are babies and she would have to wait until the baby was old enough to breed before putting it in with her male. I'm sure it's all in one ear out the other, but I can't help but help. Anyway, she asked how old the pedigreed ones were, so REALLY in one ear out the other, and I told her, we typically sell babies at 2-3 months and that's pretty much the ONLY pedigreed ones we have for sale, hence the me telling her she'd have to wait maybe a year before breeding. So we'll see. Can't say she's giving off the best impression so far, but at the same time, we don't even have any pedigreed females to sell, so I'm not exactly worried.
And I think that might be it..... got all the chins settled in the basement. My dad was here to check on the chins and all, but it's not the way I would, so I changed out some litter pans, cleaned Shiloh's cage, filled all the food bowls... all the stuff I do every night normally, but it seemed to take a bit longer cause it was like it wasn't done the way I woulda done it for the past day or two. But they all still had food and water so kudos to dad, they survived my absence.
As for the rescues we got in, Moch and Mycha. Supposedly a mom/daughter pair. They are standard grey, and at least at first glance they look exactly the same, lol. Came with one of those 24x24x41 cages that we sell. Has some broken bars, a bit chewed up, the shelves are horrendous! They can live in there until the next time I go down, and they will get moved to the empty FN. I'll fix up the cage with some wooden shelves and send it home with the girls if their home is looking for a used cage, but man. Hope that plastic was just chewed off and not ingested.
... and I see new products everyday. Of course, they came with a plastic wheel, dandelion drops, and an igloo, but they also came with this Vitamin C treats which consisted of rosehips, dried cranberries, and dried kiwi. Never seen anything like that before, hmmm. Obviously the dried cranberries and kiwi aren't good but the rosehips would be fine. Probably more of a g-pig treat than a chinny treat, but we've had a lot of people who think that chins may need that extra vitamin C in their diet as well, so maybe that was the case here.
Anyway, that was about it for the going-ons this week. I put up ads for Buttons and Foofy tonight, so we'll see if there's any interest in them. Still trying to figure out what's up with Caddy (Cadbury) so she can wait. I even put on the ads something about "rabbits are not an easter present, they are a lifetime commitment" and a statement to the effect of, if you tell us you want the rabbit for your kid for easter, your application will be denied. No doubt we'll still get some of that, but hopefully the good homes will come through.
Going to bed now.
So the show went on, lots of great animals. My mom's chin was knocked off the table (no award) for having wavy fur... which I guess I did notice but somehow it never fazed me. Oops. We brought her, one of my 6Oakes females, and our own Myshkin. The 6 Oakes female, Jessie, got a 4th. I don't remember why off the top of my head, but it's in my showbook (too tired to look right now). Myshkin, on the other hand, got a 1st! And for him being a 3 year old, that is awesome!
Was looking for a beige or white (specifically, homo beige or pink white) female to take home. By halfway through the show I was hoping for even a nice, high placing standard female to take home. But no luck, there were hardly any females up for the auction, it was like 95% males and the females that were didn't do well enough for me to want them (or, there were like 2 of them that were all of 3 months old - not quite what I was looking for).
So, before we left, I talked to Dan Rolfe (the guy who brought the pelts to show) and ended up purchasing a pelt from him. Odd, maybe, but for illustration purposes it could be good to have one. Now that I got it home... I am trying my best to keep it as far away from the dog's reach as possible. Knowing her, it would become the next chew toy.
So... while at Nationals, the emails and phone calls did not stop. Those stop for nothing. So, I got a call the day before Nationals (Friday) from someone wanting to drop off two chins, said his kids lost interest in them. On Saturday, got two calls from the same person wanting to adopt our gerbils, got a call from someone else wanting to drop off chins cause their kid lost interest, and got two calls from someone in Delaware wanting to adopt one of our pairs of chins. Called everyone back -- got ahold of the gerbil people, who said they found gerbils by them. Sometimes, I swear, people need to give me a few hours to call them back before they go run out and get their pets elsewhere. But anyway. Got in touch with the second person about her wanting to surrender the chins - so she brought them over today, Moch and Mycha. Called the first guy wanting to drop off chins - got an email back today, and he also called again today, so we talked on the phone and I later emailed him back. I got a third call from the Delaware person about the chins today - called them pretty much right back, but only got voicemail - I left (on the message) that their call shows up as Delaware, and if they are really Delaware, well, we are Indiana, so.... so I haven't heard back.
While I was out, had someone pay for an order of chin food, so I need to get that out. Had another put in an order for some hay and some food, so I will be working on that as well. Also need to get cranking on getting Gigi's cage all ready to go, because she's ready to go to her new home... just as soon as I get the cage done!
Also had someone email about the gerbils - which, originally I emailed back saying hey, got someone else interested, I can let you know if they decide to not get them? Never did hear back, but then when the person told me that they had found other gerbils, I emailed again saying that they are back up for adoption. But... considering the same person called me twice from different numbers.. I'm half betting that email is from the same lady who already got gerbils. So I don't have much hope riding on hearing back from her.
Had someone email about Storm as a pet for their three year old. Someone who'd never had chins. I'm not a huge fan of chinchillas as pets for kids that young and I told her I thought that a better pet might be a rabbit or something that might hold still a little better... haven't heard back, but I was honest. But anyway, Storm is actually on hold for someone, seems like a good home, just got in the adoption form today. :)
What else... hmm.. oh, one of the people who bought some dust, treats, and whatnot a few weeks ago emailed me to let me know that she got her package. She was inquiring about adopting a chin to breed... so I informed her that she couldn't adopt a rescue and breed it, she'd need to purchase a pedigreed chin. And went on to say that usually the only pedigreed chins we have for sale are babies and she would have to wait until the baby was old enough to breed before putting it in with her male. I'm sure it's all in one ear out the other, but I can't help but help. Anyway, she asked how old the pedigreed ones were, so REALLY in one ear out the other, and I told her, we typically sell babies at 2-3 months and that's pretty much the ONLY pedigreed ones we have for sale, hence the me telling her she'd have to wait maybe a year before breeding. So we'll see. Can't say she's giving off the best impression so far, but at the same time, we don't even have any pedigreed females to sell, so I'm not exactly worried.
And I think that might be it..... got all the chins settled in the basement. My dad was here to check on the chins and all, but it's not the way I would, so I changed out some litter pans, cleaned Shiloh's cage, filled all the food bowls... all the stuff I do every night normally, but it seemed to take a bit longer cause it was like it wasn't done the way I woulda done it for the past day or two. But they all still had food and water so kudos to dad, they survived my absence.
As for the rescues we got in, Moch and Mycha. Supposedly a mom/daughter pair. They are standard grey, and at least at first glance they look exactly the same, lol. Came with one of those 24x24x41 cages that we sell. Has some broken bars, a bit chewed up, the shelves are horrendous! They can live in there until the next time I go down, and they will get moved to the empty FN. I'll fix up the cage with some wooden shelves and send it home with the girls if their home is looking for a used cage, but man. Hope that plastic was just chewed off and not ingested.
... and I see new products everyday. Of course, they came with a plastic wheel, dandelion drops, and an igloo, but they also came with this Vitamin C treats which consisted of rosehips, dried cranberries, and dried kiwi. Never seen anything like that before, hmmm. Obviously the dried cranberries and kiwi aren't good but the rosehips would be fine. Probably more of a g-pig treat than a chinny treat, but we've had a lot of people who think that chins may need that extra vitamin C in their diet as well, so maybe that was the case here.
Anyway, that was about it for the going-ons this week. I put up ads for Buttons and Foofy tonight, so we'll see if there's any interest in them. Still trying to figure out what's up with Caddy (Cadbury) so she can wait. I even put on the ads something about "rabbits are not an easter present, they are a lifetime commitment" and a statement to the effect of, if you tell us you want the rabbit for your kid for easter, your application will be denied. No doubt we'll still get some of that, but hopefully the good homes will come through.
Going to bed now.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Inquiries galore
So I get to work and see the first email being someone wanting to adopt Frito. Course, I thought I took down all his ads, but it's not uncommon for people to somehow run across an ad that I took down that is still showing up for some reason. But... not this time, no, I actually forgot to take down one. So I emailed her saying that he'd already gone to his new home but that we had another chinchilla (Storm) up for adoption. So we'll see.
Had several people today email about Ghost. He's already on hold for someone who adopted some gerbils from us the other week - and I have him on hold on the website, but you know, people see an ad and immediately call. Got one who said they wouldn't drive the 2 hours to come get him, so I told them we had another for adoption, but if they wouldn't drive... so I suppose I won't hear back from them, and then had someone call and say they were four hours away in Michigan and wanted to know if there was a way to get him transported up there... um, what? Since when do you not have to go to the physical location of the Humane Society to adopt a dog? You can't pull the "it's too far" and have them drive to you. How is this any different? Anyway, called them up and told them that he's on hold and that we had Storm available... but who knows. I don't see them driving four hours to pick him up, but who am I to judge. We've had people drive 6 hours to drop off a chin, so anything is possible. But... the people who do that don't even question the drive... versus the ones who say there's "no way they can drive x hours" typically don't want to drive even 5 minutes. And I'm sorry, but we don't meet and we won't deliver. I have more than enough on my plate with two jobs, the chin rescue, and grad school to be driving to deliver a chin. Cause it's not only 2 hours there, it's two hours back.
And as for meeting... it's not that I don't want people to adopt chins or anything... but think about it. Someone wants to meet to pick up a chin. Where you going to meet? The Walmart parking lot? Cause that chin gets loose out there and you can forget ever seeing it again. One gets loose in our basement, it may give us a heck of a chase, but we will catch it and you can still take it home.
Had several people today email about Ghost. He's already on hold for someone who adopted some gerbils from us the other week - and I have him on hold on the website, but you know, people see an ad and immediately call. Got one who said they wouldn't drive the 2 hours to come get him, so I told them we had another for adoption, but if they wouldn't drive... so I suppose I won't hear back from them, and then had someone call and say they were four hours away in Michigan and wanted to know if there was a way to get him transported up there... um, what? Since when do you not have to go to the physical location of the Humane Society to adopt a dog? You can't pull the "it's too far" and have them drive to you. How is this any different? Anyway, called them up and told them that he's on hold and that we had Storm available... but who knows. I don't see them driving four hours to pick him up, but who am I to judge. We've had people drive 6 hours to drop off a chin, so anything is possible. But... the people who do that don't even question the drive... versus the ones who say there's "no way they can drive x hours" typically don't want to drive even 5 minutes. And I'm sorry, but we don't meet and we won't deliver. I have more than enough on my plate with two jobs, the chin rescue, and grad school to be driving to deliver a chin. Cause it's not only 2 hours there, it's two hours back.
And as for meeting... it's not that I don't want people to adopt chins or anything... but think about it. Someone wants to meet to pick up a chin. Where you going to meet? The Walmart parking lot? Cause that chin gets loose out there and you can forget ever seeing it again. One gets loose in our basement, it may give us a heck of a chase, but we will catch it and you can still take it home.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Hangin in there...
Well, Lilly is still hanging in there. I hadn't gotten a chance to check on her this morning cause I was running late for work, but when I got home, she was still breathing and alive. Not much of an improvement (if any) over last night. If forced to move, she wobbles and shakes badly. The shakes are like shivers that go through her entire body. If she's just left to sit, she will move now and then... but mostly just sits in one spot with her eyes closed. Her breathing is normal, so she's not struggling in that area. I doubt she ate or drank anything over the course of the night (though she did move to a different spot in the cage), so when I got home I injected her with sub-q fluids with electrolytes added. This should help keep her hydrated in case she's not drinking right now. It was sad to give her the injection - most chins will squeal or move away when you get them with the needle, but she just sat there. I didn't even have to use my other hand (or another person - which is usually necessary) to hold her steady for the shot, I just lifted the fur pocket and gave her the shot with her sitting quietly on the table. The poor girl.
Still changing out the chin-chillers, but I think after tonight's change, we're good. I'm still going to keep them in the cage, but she's definitely cooled off by now, and the damage is done. It's looking like she's got neurological damage as a result of the heatstroke. If she lives through the next few days, time will tell if the neurological damage is permanent or not. Some chins can live through heatstroke, even with neuro-damage, and just need to be kept in a one-level cage for the rest of their lives. But... she has to eat and drink on her own for that to occur. I can give her more sub-q shots of fluid and I can feed her CC if needed... but if she's going to stay this bad off and not eat/drink on her own, we'd do a disservice to her to keep her here and keep her suffering. But... time will tell how things go. I wish I was more hopeful, but it's sad to put her back in her cage and pet her a few times and watch her close her eyes and just sit there. You get used to chins hopping off your hands to get back in their cages as quick as they can, and to have one that you can just place down and have it stay there... it's sad. And I remember these girls bouncing around like little fuzzballs.
They were only 6 months old when they came to the rescue with Shiloh (our now-resident prairie dog). One of the owner's children had developed some sort of seizure disorder (not epilepsy) that was puzzling the doctors. It had nothing to do with the pets, but because of the time spent on the kids, they needed to rehome the pets. So we got two chins (Tic and Tac - now Lulu and Lilly) and a prairie dog (Shiloh). Initially, Tic and Tac were adopted out to a family in Indy. When we adopted them out was right around the time we first had our adoption form, and the family swindled their way out of filling it out, and we realized too late that they never had actually given us a completed form. They seemed like a good home, but I guess hard times came upon them, because I saw the chins on craigslist later on. Now, had they filled out our adoption form, they would have signed that the chins had to be returned to us... but since they didn't, they refused to talk to me and said that only if I paid them could I get the chins back to the rescue. Well, through the help of some friends, we drove down to Indy (about 2.5-3 hours from here) one weekend to pick them up. I did pay for them, because it was important to me that they come back to the rescue and not be sold to the first person out there with some cash. They were at the rescue about four months before they were adopted by their most recent adoptive home. Great adoptive home, great family. Unfortunately, the chins kept her up at night and with starting college, she needed her sleep, so she told us that she would be bringing them back to us... this was about 6 months after they were adopted. And so she did, on an uncharacteristically hot day (86 degrees - Indiana weather, go figure) in March -- a day or so ago. Lulu passed shortly after being dropped off (she'll always be "Tic" to us), and Lilly ("Tac") isn't faring much better, though she is still hanging on.
They're so much bigger than I remember them. I suppose I still think of them as the little 6-month-olds I got in while living in Indy. They're grown up, and I'm sad to say that I have down that they were born in March 2010 - barely 2 years old. The sad part is that this was preventable. No one thought it would be that hot the other day - heck, most years it's still snowing here in March - it's no one's fault. But I remember when we adopted out Whisky - her adoptive mom (who's an angel, btw - and has always shown up with treats for our dog, or something for the chins) wanted to come on a day that was about 85 degrees out. She wanted to come late at night, like 9 pm, but the low for the day was around 80, and it still hadn't even cooled down to that temperature by 8 pm. I remember her saying something about how her car didn't have air conditioning, and I told her, as nicely as I could, that I couldn't be responsible for what might happen to the chin if she took Whisky out in the 80+ degree heat for the 45+ minute drive to Valpo. Thank god, she was able to beg/borrow a suv which had air. Whisky's in her new home doing fine. But this just goes to show what can happen if the air stops working... and it doesn't even take long for a chin to get heatstroke. That fur holds in a lot of heat and can toast them up pretty quickly. All our cars have working air conditioning, thankfully, but I can't imagine what I'd do if they didn't and we needed to take them to the vet or something. This is horrible to watch, and it makes me glad that I have the question "do you have air conditioning" as one of the questions on the adoption form. We have had people before that have never had air in their homes in their lives go out and buy an air conditioning unit because we have denied their applications (I think that's the only thing we've ever denied applications for). This is why. Without air... well, depending on the actual temp, the chin may simply be uncomfortable rather than get heatstroke, but with high enough temps, they can get heatstroke and die. Even if they don't die, the effects of heatstroke are usually neurological damage, with the damage being more severe if the heatstroke is more severe. Some chins don't recover. Some chins recover enough to live in a one-level cage for the rest of their lives. But the sad fact is, heatstroke is almost always preventable - just make sure there's working air and you're safe.
We'll see how Lilly is tomorrow.
Still changing out the chin-chillers, but I think after tonight's change, we're good. I'm still going to keep them in the cage, but she's definitely cooled off by now, and the damage is done. It's looking like she's got neurological damage as a result of the heatstroke. If she lives through the next few days, time will tell if the neurological damage is permanent or not. Some chins can live through heatstroke, even with neuro-damage, and just need to be kept in a one-level cage for the rest of their lives. But... she has to eat and drink on her own for that to occur. I can give her more sub-q shots of fluid and I can feed her CC if needed... but if she's going to stay this bad off and not eat/drink on her own, we'd do a disservice to her to keep her here and keep her suffering. But... time will tell how things go. I wish I was more hopeful, but it's sad to put her back in her cage and pet her a few times and watch her close her eyes and just sit there. You get used to chins hopping off your hands to get back in their cages as quick as they can, and to have one that you can just place down and have it stay there... it's sad. And I remember these girls bouncing around like little fuzzballs.
They were only 6 months old when they came to the rescue with Shiloh (our now-resident prairie dog). One of the owner's children had developed some sort of seizure disorder (not epilepsy) that was puzzling the doctors. It had nothing to do with the pets, but because of the time spent on the kids, they needed to rehome the pets. So we got two chins (Tic and Tac - now Lulu and Lilly) and a prairie dog (Shiloh). Initially, Tic and Tac were adopted out to a family in Indy. When we adopted them out was right around the time we first had our adoption form, and the family swindled their way out of filling it out, and we realized too late that they never had actually given us a completed form. They seemed like a good home, but I guess hard times came upon them, because I saw the chins on craigslist later on. Now, had they filled out our adoption form, they would have signed that the chins had to be returned to us... but since they didn't, they refused to talk to me and said that only if I paid them could I get the chins back to the rescue. Well, through the help of some friends, we drove down to Indy (about 2.5-3 hours from here) one weekend to pick them up. I did pay for them, because it was important to me that they come back to the rescue and not be sold to the first person out there with some cash. They were at the rescue about four months before they were adopted by their most recent adoptive home. Great adoptive home, great family. Unfortunately, the chins kept her up at night and with starting college, she needed her sleep, so she told us that she would be bringing them back to us... this was about 6 months after they were adopted. And so she did, on an uncharacteristically hot day (86 degrees - Indiana weather, go figure) in March -- a day or so ago. Lulu passed shortly after being dropped off (she'll always be "Tic" to us), and Lilly ("Tac") isn't faring much better, though she is still hanging on.
They're so much bigger than I remember them. I suppose I still think of them as the little 6-month-olds I got in while living in Indy. They're grown up, and I'm sad to say that I have down that they were born in March 2010 - barely 2 years old. The sad part is that this was preventable. No one thought it would be that hot the other day - heck, most years it's still snowing here in March - it's no one's fault. But I remember when we adopted out Whisky - her adoptive mom (who's an angel, btw - and has always shown up with treats for our dog, or something for the chins) wanted to come on a day that was about 85 degrees out. She wanted to come late at night, like 9 pm, but the low for the day was around 80, and it still hadn't even cooled down to that temperature by 8 pm. I remember her saying something about how her car didn't have air conditioning, and I told her, as nicely as I could, that I couldn't be responsible for what might happen to the chin if she took Whisky out in the 80+ degree heat for the 45+ minute drive to Valpo. Thank god, she was able to beg/borrow a suv which had air. Whisky's in her new home doing fine. But this just goes to show what can happen if the air stops working... and it doesn't even take long for a chin to get heatstroke. That fur holds in a lot of heat and can toast them up pretty quickly. All our cars have working air conditioning, thankfully, but I can't imagine what I'd do if they didn't and we needed to take them to the vet or something. This is horrible to watch, and it makes me glad that I have the question "do you have air conditioning" as one of the questions on the adoption form. We have had people before that have never had air in their homes in their lives go out and buy an air conditioning unit because we have denied their applications (I think that's the only thing we've ever denied applications for). This is why. Without air... well, depending on the actual temp, the chin may simply be uncomfortable rather than get heatstroke, but with high enough temps, they can get heatstroke and die. Even if they don't die, the effects of heatstroke are usually neurological damage, with the damage being more severe if the heatstroke is more severe. Some chins don't recover. Some chins recover enough to live in a one-level cage for the rest of their lives. But the sad fact is, heatstroke is almost always preventable - just make sure there's working air and you're safe.
We'll see how Lilly is tomorrow.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
.... on a less positive note...
... on a more somber note in fact... Lulu and Lilly (formerly Tic and Tac) have returned to the rescue. Unfortunately, their owners had some problems with air conditioning in their vehicle... and honestly, come on, who would think you'd even need air conditioning in March to keep the car cooler than the forecasted 86 degrees? But that's Indiana weather for you.
Well, their owners did the best they could, taking the chins out of the carrier and holding them while trying to have the air on and keep the chins as cool as possible... but the chins came here not looking the best from the get-go. Their owners said maybe they were just tired, and I'd have liked to believe that, but even they acknowledged that they hoped the heat wasn't too much for them.
The chins were put in a cage and immediately put on chilled chin-chillers. Lilly was sitting up, but Lulu would only lay down for us. Within a short time, Lulu passed. The chin-chillers were replaced with newly chilled ones, Lulu was removed, and Lilly was placed atop the chilled chin-chillers. Still not sure if she's going to make it, but if she is, there's definitely neurological damage. When I left her, she was moving really slowly and sort of wobbling around, rather than hopping.
The chins were in the top of a FN142, but once Lulu passed (and I came to my senses), I took a tile and blocked off the hole so that Lilly cannot fall to the bottom of the cage. We'll see how she is in the morning.
Well, their owners did the best they could, taking the chins out of the carrier and holding them while trying to have the air on and keep the chins as cool as possible... but the chins came here not looking the best from the get-go. Their owners said maybe they were just tired, and I'd have liked to believe that, but even they acknowledged that they hoped the heat wasn't too much for them.
The chins were put in a cage and immediately put on chilled chin-chillers. Lilly was sitting up, but Lulu would only lay down for us. Within a short time, Lulu passed. The chin-chillers were replaced with newly chilled ones, Lulu was removed, and Lilly was placed atop the chilled chin-chillers. Still not sure if she's going to make it, but if she is, there's definitely neurological damage. When I left her, she was moving really slowly and sort of wobbling around, rather than hopping.
The chins were in the top of a FN142, but once Lulu passed (and I came to my senses), I took a tile and blocked off the hole so that Lilly cannot fall to the bottom of the cage. We'll see how she is in the morning.
Frito has left the building!
So, today, Frito went to his new home! Yaaaay!!! Erin and her boyfriend(?) came here today and were looking at Frito. They had him out of his cage and were holding him, between the two of them, for a good hour. He was sitting so nicely for them for most of the time! And of course squirming for the rest, but being a good boy. He did nip a few times, which had turned some people off from him in the past, but these two didn't seem fazed a bit. They said they really liked him, and they ended up taking him home! And so they have a cage with wooden shelves for him and they picked out a chew toy for him and he was sent home with a checkered flag hammock, cause he's always loved his hammocks. So I'm so happy he's finally gone home! I hope these people take awesome care of him. I think they will, they seemed like great people and like they really liked him, so I'm happy for him. :) <3 Frito.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
3/14/12 morning
Woke up and realized that the people wanting to adopt Kona and Pompeii and pick up this Fri/Sat still haven't emailed me back with a time or responded to my last email at all... so I emailed them again.
Never did receive a response from that girl who emailed me back at Ryersons about their chins. Emailed Hummel Chins yesterday, we'll see if they're gracious enough to respond to my email. I feel like the least they could do is say, no, we don't have what you're looking for, but that apparently seems a lot to ask these days.
Never did receive a response from that girl who emailed me back at Ryersons about their chins. Emailed Hummel Chins yesterday, we'll see if they're gracious enough to respond to my email. I feel like the least they could do is say, no, we don't have what you're looking for, but that apparently seems a lot to ask these days.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Frito, they love and leave you
Well, unsurprisingly, the person that said they'd call the next day (Monday) about coming to see Frito... never did. And two people who emailed me asking for the care packet and forms... never got back to me and it's been awhile now on both of them. But hope is not lost! Got a new email today about someone wanting Frito. Someone emailed saying they saw his pics and fell in love with him. Of course they wanted more pics - I hate to be an ass, but there's 5 pics on his ad, that's more than I put up for most chins... but I did send them more pics. Don't know if they saw the part about the adoption form or not cause they didn't mention it, but I emailed it to them along with the pics. Said they'd "stop by" this weekend or next... leading me to say that we have hours by appointment only. I think I may need to put that on our website, as we get a lot of people who want to tell me they'll "stop by" later and it's like well hold on, I may not be home later if I don't know someone's coming.
As for the chins, cleaned the runs yesterday with the bag of fluffy shavings that someone brought here. The chins are loving it, I'm sure, cause it's so much softer... but the darn stuff sucks up wetness like a dehydrated horse (it gets wet and stinky really quick) so I'll have to change those quicker than usual, but in the meantime, the chins will enjoy nice fluffyness.
Need to work on some chins ads and stuff... but at the moment I just need to work on getting my sleep schedule back on track, and that'll never happen with me staying up all hours to write chin ads. It can wait until tomorrow, it's already after 11. Will need to put up ads for Ghost and Storm soon... and I believe we are getting back Lulu and Lola (Tic and Tac) this weekend so that will be something as well. But we'll see, nothing final yet.
No emails on the last gerbil pair yet, but now that they're actually "ready" to go home, I will update the ads saying so and we'll see if that doesn't drum up some business.
As for the chins, cleaned the runs yesterday with the bag of fluffy shavings that someone brought here. The chins are loving it, I'm sure, cause it's so much softer... but the darn stuff sucks up wetness like a dehydrated horse (it gets wet and stinky really quick) so I'll have to change those quicker than usual, but in the meantime, the chins will enjoy nice fluffyness.
Need to work on some chins ads and stuff... but at the moment I just need to work on getting my sleep schedule back on track, and that'll never happen with me staying up all hours to write chin ads. It can wait until tomorrow, it's already after 11. Will need to put up ads for Ghost and Storm soon... and I believe we are getting back Lulu and Lola (Tic and Tac) this weekend so that will be something as well. But we'll see, nothing final yet.
No emails on the last gerbil pair yet, but now that they're actually "ready" to go home, I will update the ads saying so and we'll see if that doesn't drum up some business.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
days fly by
I don't actually know what I did all day, but man did today fly by.
Started out the day with an 11 am visit from some people looking for a pigeon and some rats. It had actually turned out that before I ever got in the pigeon, I put up an ad on craigslist looking for a cage that would be suitable for a pigeon. Of course, no one responded, but I did have someone text me asking if I was going to adopt out the pigeon (must have said I was a rescue in the listing somewhere). I told them yes I would and got their email. Well, maybe a week or so ago, I tried emailing these people and the email came back undeliverable. No big deal, so I went and texted them. First, a bit late at night, and no reply. So I thought, ok, I'll try again during the day. So I did and still no reply. So I was feeling a bit bad thinking well, I had no way to get in contact with these people that really wanted the pigeon... and so I listed the pigeon saying she'd be ready on such and such day. Well, got a text the next day, from those same people, saying they'd changed their email and phone number (what timing, you know?) but that they saw the pigeon ad and contacted me!
So they filled out the forms for the pigeon, and the lady asked me if we had rats too. Now, we hadn't had much interest with the rats short of the person who was supposed to adopt the rats... and ended up bringing us the pigeon instead. So I told her, yeah, we have the trio of rats, have to go together, $20 adoption fee. So she wanted the form for them as well so I sent her the care packet and form. Turns out, she said it was her daughter's birthday today (3/11) and she wanted to get her the rats as a birthday present. Now normally I'm not super crazy about that kind of thing, but apparently this daughter had been wanting to get rats again (she'd had them when she was younger) for awhile, and this was just the perfect time. And she wasn't a kid either, I believe she was in college, so old enough for me to not worry (as much) about her getting a pet as a b-day gift
So they came today, and let me tell you, she was so happy to hear she would be getting all three! And of course, me, I was excited they'd all be going home! The family seemed like they'd all be a great home, so no worries about the b-day gift, she was just so excited to have rats again. :) So they adopted the pigeon and the rats. :)
So that was this morning. Then, I was supposed to have someone come on their way home from IUN to look at the gerbils. They came and brought their adoption form with them - looked good - and they were holding the gerbils. They decided they wanted the two males - Obi and Yoda - and they are scheduled to come back on Wednesday to pick them up. Very nice people. The gerbils really seemed to like them - the son (can't remember his name) was sitting down by their cage and putting his hand in, and Obi kept running up his hand and up his shoulder onto his back - it was cute! So they really liked the gerbils, and will be returning for them. They wanted to make sure they get the cage set up and everything ready ahead of time.
After that... well, before those previous people even came, I got a call from my third person of the day saying they were already in town (originally I was supposed to call them and let them know what time to come) and they asked if they could come now. Well, my first gerbil people hadn't come yet, so they ended up stopping at a park to play for a bit, and by some magical timing, the first people had picked out their gerbils and were on their way out when the second gerbil people showed up. Very nice people, very helpful. Through slippery hands and squirmy gerbils, the mom must have gotten away from us like 5 times. And everyone in the family got down on the floor to help catch her. Little stinker, I tell you, but we got her!
So those people got the choice between Darth (the mom - black) and Luna (lilac) and the two black girls (Hannah and Anna). They ended up deciding on the two black girls, and ended up taking them home today. Very nice family. These gerbils are being adopted out with the notion that the new families will keep in touch with the original owner, so I emailed both the original owner and the new family the contact info of each other, so hopefully they'll get to that soon. I'm sure they will, they seemed very nice and like they'd be a very good family for the gerbs.
So then somewhere amid all these people, I received a phone call asking about Frito and wanting to come see him. Well, I told her I'd call her after all the people left, so I did, and she originally said she'd be here in about an hour... but that hour passed and I didn't see her, and I finally checked my phone - had a voicemail. She'd called about 30 mins after we talked saying something had come up and she couldn't come out today, but would give me a call tomorrow. So we will see if she does. Seemed nice and all, so we'll see.
Hmm what else. Cleaned up the basement a bit. Since the rats were gone and the bird was gone, cleaned those cages and put those in the stack of clean ready-to-go cages. Moved some cages around now that one of the gerbil tanks was empty. Washed some stuff in my ever-increasing "to-be-washed" pile.
Weighed the mosaic boys... they're almost ready to go home, but now they just need a few days of weight gain. I can tell you that their new owner is chomping at the bit to get them home.. but gotta make sure they're gaining and doing well before they leave. Well, yesterday was the first day they were separated from mom. And they gained weight then, but today they lost weight. So the 3 days starts over. So I gave them some hay today. I don't give all the chins hay daily because most of them won't finish what I give them in a day, but with babies, sometimes the hay will help with weight gain right at the beginning. Maybe they like it more than the pellets? I dunno. But I gave them hay and I will continue to give them hay daily and we'll see if they start gaining. They're getting big (already both around 350g at 8 weeks!) and definitely would be ready to go home... just need that weight gain.
Started out the day with an 11 am visit from some people looking for a pigeon and some rats. It had actually turned out that before I ever got in the pigeon, I put up an ad on craigslist looking for a cage that would be suitable for a pigeon. Of course, no one responded, but I did have someone text me asking if I was going to adopt out the pigeon (must have said I was a rescue in the listing somewhere). I told them yes I would and got their email. Well, maybe a week or so ago, I tried emailing these people and the email came back undeliverable. No big deal, so I went and texted them. First, a bit late at night, and no reply. So I thought, ok, I'll try again during the day. So I did and still no reply. So I was feeling a bit bad thinking well, I had no way to get in contact with these people that really wanted the pigeon... and so I listed the pigeon saying she'd be ready on such and such day. Well, got a text the next day, from those same people, saying they'd changed their email and phone number (what timing, you know?) but that they saw the pigeon ad and contacted me!
So they filled out the forms for the pigeon, and the lady asked me if we had rats too. Now, we hadn't had much interest with the rats short of the person who was supposed to adopt the rats... and ended up bringing us the pigeon instead. So I told her, yeah, we have the trio of rats, have to go together, $20 adoption fee. So she wanted the form for them as well so I sent her the care packet and form. Turns out, she said it was her daughter's birthday today (3/11) and she wanted to get her the rats as a birthday present. Now normally I'm not super crazy about that kind of thing, but apparently this daughter had been wanting to get rats again (she'd had them when she was younger) for awhile, and this was just the perfect time. And she wasn't a kid either, I believe she was in college, so old enough for me to not worry (as much) about her getting a pet as a b-day gift
So they came today, and let me tell you, she was so happy to hear she would be getting all three! And of course, me, I was excited they'd all be going home! The family seemed like they'd all be a great home, so no worries about the b-day gift, she was just so excited to have rats again. :) So they adopted the pigeon and the rats. :)
So that was this morning. Then, I was supposed to have someone come on their way home from IUN to look at the gerbils. They came and brought their adoption form with them - looked good - and they were holding the gerbils. They decided they wanted the two males - Obi and Yoda - and they are scheduled to come back on Wednesday to pick them up. Very nice people. The gerbils really seemed to like them - the son (can't remember his name) was sitting down by their cage and putting his hand in, and Obi kept running up his hand and up his shoulder onto his back - it was cute! So they really liked the gerbils, and will be returning for them. They wanted to make sure they get the cage set up and everything ready ahead of time.
After that... well, before those previous people even came, I got a call from my third person of the day saying they were already in town (originally I was supposed to call them and let them know what time to come) and they asked if they could come now. Well, my first gerbil people hadn't come yet, so they ended up stopping at a park to play for a bit, and by some magical timing, the first people had picked out their gerbils and were on their way out when the second gerbil people showed up. Very nice people, very helpful. Through slippery hands and squirmy gerbils, the mom must have gotten away from us like 5 times. And everyone in the family got down on the floor to help catch her. Little stinker, I tell you, but we got her!
So those people got the choice between Darth (the mom - black) and Luna (lilac) and the two black girls (Hannah and Anna). They ended up deciding on the two black girls, and ended up taking them home today. Very nice family. These gerbils are being adopted out with the notion that the new families will keep in touch with the original owner, so I emailed both the original owner and the new family the contact info of each other, so hopefully they'll get to that soon. I'm sure they will, they seemed very nice and like they'd be a very good family for the gerbs.
So then somewhere amid all these people, I received a phone call asking about Frito and wanting to come see him. Well, I told her I'd call her after all the people left, so I did, and she originally said she'd be here in about an hour... but that hour passed and I didn't see her, and I finally checked my phone - had a voicemail. She'd called about 30 mins after we talked saying something had come up and she couldn't come out today, but would give me a call tomorrow. So we will see if she does. Seemed nice and all, so we'll see.
Hmm what else. Cleaned up the basement a bit. Since the rats were gone and the bird was gone, cleaned those cages and put those in the stack of clean ready-to-go cages. Moved some cages around now that one of the gerbil tanks was empty. Washed some stuff in my ever-increasing "to-be-washed" pile.
Weighed the mosaic boys... they're almost ready to go home, but now they just need a few days of weight gain. I can tell you that their new owner is chomping at the bit to get them home.. but gotta make sure they're gaining and doing well before they leave. Well, yesterday was the first day they were separated from mom. And they gained weight then, but today they lost weight. So the 3 days starts over. So I gave them some hay today. I don't give all the chins hay daily because most of them won't finish what I give them in a day, but with babies, sometimes the hay will help with weight gain right at the beginning. Maybe they like it more than the pellets? I dunno. But I gave them hay and I will continue to give them hay daily and we'll see if they start gaining. They're getting big (already both around 350g at 8 weeks!) and definitely would be ready to go home... just need that weight gain.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
3/10/12
Got some more inquiries today... another person interested in the gerbils. Gave me a little background info on themselves and their family, so I emailed back saying I could send them the forms and everything.. Hopefully I'll hear back from them.
The person who called a few days ago about Kona and Pompeii emailed me back today with a list of the things they want and some questions... emailed them back...
... and then. Well, I just recently added adoptapet.com as one of the websites we list our pets on... and today I got an inquiry about Frito! Really short email, just said they wanted to start the adoption process to adopt Frito, but who knows! So I sent them the forms and stuff. Hopefully I'll hear back.
The person who called a few days ago about Kona and Pompeii emailed me back today with a list of the things they want and some questions... emailed them back...
... and then. Well, I just recently added adoptapet.com as one of the websites we list our pets on... and today I got an inquiry about Frito! Really short email, just said they wanted to start the adoption process to adopt Frito, but who knows! So I sent them the forms and stuff. Hopefully I'll hear back.
Friday, March 9, 2012
More rabbits!
So, last night I got an email from someone wanting to drop off two rabbits. So today, we became the proud new owners (er, temporary caregivers) of two lionhead bunnies. A black female and a gray male. Very nice buns.
Today... man I don't even know what took me so long but I was down in the basement with the rescues for hours. One of our adoptive homes (soon to purchase two more fluffballs from us) wants some custom shelves (cut at angles) and some hidey houses and stuff, so I was putting those together today. Table saw chucked some wood at me, so that was fun times. Just got my hand, but man that wood went sailing across the room. Luckily there's nothing breakable in that area.
So, I was really stressing out that I had all the empty chinchilla cages cause my rescue area was looking crowded but several cages had nothing in them... so I cleared out a spot over by my parents' stuff (shh! don't tell them) and completely cleaned out 4-5 unused cages and stuck them over there. So that's my current spot for cages that are "ready" to be used, like have shelves in them and hammocks and all. I still have a few other spots for cages - one spot for the smaller cages and another for the cages that still need to be cleaned from their old homes and have shelves added and prepped and all that... who knows when I'll get around to that, but since I moved those other cages, I was able to re-organize the cages I currently have pets in, and I don't feel as stressed now.
Finally gave up trying to litter train Caddy (Cadbury). Poor girl would poo in the litterbox and pee everywhere else, and every day I'd have to dry her off and clean the cage. I finally just put shavings over the entire bottom and took the litter box out. She'll still probably pee only in that one corner, so I can spot clean every day or every other day but the litter box is clearly out. That's plenty of time she's had and not catching on any more than she was the first day. And man does she pee! I forgot how much water rabbits drink!
Finally got my order in with my cuddlecups and gerbil food and kabobs and... whatever else I ordered, I don't even remember. Gave Shiloh another cuddlecup on a higher level. Hasn't gone in it yet, but he DID start going into the cat condo I got him. I don't know if that's what it's called but I got him something like this --> http://www.meijer.com/s/beatrise-pet-products-cat-condo/_/R-33503 (his is more beige-y but you get the idea) and for a few days he left it alone but now he's been going in it. It just BARELY fit in the largest door of his cage. And of course not up a ramp or anything, so it's on the bottom level. Today I saw him snoozing in it! He's such an awesome pet, love him to death.
What else... lots of emails today. Got sent three adoption forms - one for the rats, one for the pigeon, and one for Kona & Pompeii (I think - I asked them to verify that's the pair they want). Also got an email about one of the gerbil pairs, I think they're going to come Sunday to check them out.
Also got an email about a possible shelf order, will need to check on shipping for that, and I started packaging up an order from last week today. It's going to fit in a small box so I should be able to refund a decent amount of shipping.
Today... man I don't even know what took me so long but I was down in the basement with the rescues for hours. One of our adoptive homes (soon to purchase two more fluffballs from us) wants some custom shelves (cut at angles) and some hidey houses and stuff, so I was putting those together today. Table saw chucked some wood at me, so that was fun times. Just got my hand, but man that wood went sailing across the room. Luckily there's nothing breakable in that area.
So, I was really stressing out that I had all the empty chinchilla cages cause my rescue area was looking crowded but several cages had nothing in them... so I cleared out a spot over by my parents' stuff (shh! don't tell them) and completely cleaned out 4-5 unused cages and stuck them over there. So that's my current spot for cages that are "ready" to be used, like have shelves in them and hammocks and all. I still have a few other spots for cages - one spot for the smaller cages and another for the cages that still need to be cleaned from their old homes and have shelves added and prepped and all that... who knows when I'll get around to that, but since I moved those other cages, I was able to re-organize the cages I currently have pets in, and I don't feel as stressed now.
Finally gave up trying to litter train Caddy (Cadbury). Poor girl would poo in the litterbox and pee everywhere else, and every day I'd have to dry her off and clean the cage. I finally just put shavings over the entire bottom and took the litter box out. She'll still probably pee only in that one corner, so I can spot clean every day or every other day but the litter box is clearly out. That's plenty of time she's had and not catching on any more than she was the first day. And man does she pee! I forgot how much water rabbits drink!
Finally got my order in with my cuddlecups and gerbil food and kabobs and... whatever else I ordered, I don't even remember. Gave Shiloh another cuddlecup on a higher level. Hasn't gone in it yet, but he DID start going into the cat condo I got him. I don't know if that's what it's called but I got him something like this --> http://www.meijer.com/s/beatrise-pet-products-cat-condo/_/R-33503 (his is more beige-y but you get the idea) and for a few days he left it alone but now he's been going in it. It just BARELY fit in the largest door of his cage. And of course not up a ramp or anything, so it's on the bottom level. Today I saw him snoozing in it! He's such an awesome pet, love him to death.
What else... lots of emails today. Got sent three adoption forms - one for the rats, one for the pigeon, and one for Kona & Pompeii (I think - I asked them to verify that's the pair they want). Also got an email about one of the gerbil pairs, I think they're going to come Sunday to check them out.
Also got an email about a possible shelf order, will need to check on shipping for that, and I started packaging up an order from last week today. It's going to fit in a small box so I should be able to refund a decent amount of shipping.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
time's a changing....
So tonight was the night I separated the gerbils. Didn't have too terrible a time figuring out the males/females, and they're so sweet the way they will climb onto your hand. Will need to get photos of each of the groups, but for now, they're separated into a male cage, and two female cages. Adorable little critters.
Weighed all the chins today. Our fluctuating chin finally seems alright, and her loose poos are gone. I guess the Mazuri was doing it, cause the second we switched her to Oxbow, *poof!* regular poos. So, she will have to be fed Oxbow for life, but that's alright, at least we found something that works for her. As she's already on hold (and has been since like forever), I emailed her new home and let them know that she is finally ready to go home!
For Joker's babies... one of the three people is coming over tomorrow to bring a cage, see what I think of it, and (I think) have me make shelves (if the cage is alright). The other two I emailed and sent pics to today, letting them know that the babies are gaining and seem to be doing well. So maybe this weekend we will have some pick-ups.
As it's almost the end of the month, I weighed the chins all today. All either maintained or gained (few of our breeders gained a bit). Never did get an email back from the original owner of the four girls asking about whether or not they'd been in with a male... but all of them dropped a little in weight this week, making me think they were gorging themselves the first part of the month and now they're eating more leisurely, knowing the food bowl will be filled when it's empty. Makes me wonder what was going on at that previous home.
Cadbury went from not liking her food to downing the entire bowl in 2 days! I suppose that's good, but I was surprised to go down there and not see a single pellet in sight!
And the other day, I noticed she had peed all in one corner, so I put all the wet shavings in her litterbox and moved the box to that corner... and today I noticed.... *drumroll* most of the poos and wet spots are in the litterbox! There are still shavings throughout the cage for the moment, but we seem on the way to a potty-trained bun. Oh, and Cadbury gained about a half a pound (she now weighs 7.5 pounds).
Oh, and had to pick up some shavings and hay cubes the other day, so we now have our hay cubes back in stock. And we are going to start selling Apples 'n Oats cookies - I'm thinking 10 cookies - $1.50, 25 cookies - $3.00. These are horse cookies, so for a chin, they do need to be broken up in to several pieces, rather than the whole thing given at once, so 10 cookies will last more than 10-treat-times.
My phone keeps messing up voicemails, so I wonder what types of voicemails I'm missing... hmmmm. Hopefully not chin-related ones.
Having no luck finding the chins we're looking for to get delivered to Nationals. Contacted one large breeder - they don't have them, contacted another who said she will check (I guess they have a broker sell their chins?) when she goes there once a week, but she wasn't sure... and really, there's no one I know to ask personally about specific chins... so I posted on the forum saying what I'm looking for (show quality females, pink white and homo beige, 1st or better (if shown) or can hold their weight on the show table if not, good color, clarity, density, and whatnot)... course no one is posting. But then, almost no one is posting replying to threads on chins wanted, so I don't know what's up with that. Like if no one's selling well-placing adult chins, then how do these people supposedly start up their herds buying good quality adults if no one's selling them? Just a thought. Course, I am asking for a bit harder to find colors, so maybe that's it. I might just have to hope to find some at the show and see how that goes. Ah well.
Weighed all the chins today. Our fluctuating chin finally seems alright, and her loose poos are gone. I guess the Mazuri was doing it, cause the second we switched her to Oxbow, *poof!* regular poos. So, she will have to be fed Oxbow for life, but that's alright, at least we found something that works for her. As she's already on hold (and has been since like forever), I emailed her new home and let them know that she is finally ready to go home!
For Joker's babies... one of the three people is coming over tomorrow to bring a cage, see what I think of it, and (I think) have me make shelves (if the cage is alright). The other two I emailed and sent pics to today, letting them know that the babies are gaining and seem to be doing well. So maybe this weekend we will have some pick-ups.
As it's almost the end of the month, I weighed the chins all today. All either maintained or gained (few of our breeders gained a bit). Never did get an email back from the original owner of the four girls asking about whether or not they'd been in with a male... but all of them dropped a little in weight this week, making me think they were gorging themselves the first part of the month and now they're eating more leisurely, knowing the food bowl will be filled when it's empty. Makes me wonder what was going on at that previous home.
Cadbury went from not liking her food to downing the entire bowl in 2 days! I suppose that's good, but I was surprised to go down there and not see a single pellet in sight!
And the other day, I noticed she had peed all in one corner, so I put all the wet shavings in her litterbox and moved the box to that corner... and today I noticed.... *drumroll* most of the poos and wet spots are in the litterbox! There are still shavings throughout the cage for the moment, but we seem on the way to a potty-trained bun. Oh, and Cadbury gained about a half a pound (she now weighs 7.5 pounds).
Oh, and had to pick up some shavings and hay cubes the other day, so we now have our hay cubes back in stock. And we are going to start selling Apples 'n Oats cookies - I'm thinking 10 cookies - $1.50, 25 cookies - $3.00. These are horse cookies, so for a chin, they do need to be broken up in to several pieces, rather than the whole thing given at once, so 10 cookies will last more than 10-treat-times.
My phone keeps messing up voicemails, so I wonder what types of voicemails I'm missing... hmmmm. Hopefully not chin-related ones.
Having no luck finding the chins we're looking for to get delivered to Nationals. Contacted one large breeder - they don't have them, contacted another who said she will check (I guess they have a broker sell their chins?) when she goes there once a week, but she wasn't sure... and really, there's no one I know to ask personally about specific chins... so I posted on the forum saying what I'm looking for (show quality females, pink white and homo beige, 1st or better (if shown) or can hold their weight on the show table if not, good color, clarity, density, and whatnot)... course no one is posting. But then, almost no one is posting replying to threads on chins wanted, so I don't know what's up with that. Like if no one's selling well-placing adult chins, then how do these people supposedly start up their herds buying good quality adults if no one's selling them? Just a thought. Course, I am asking for a bit harder to find colors, so maybe that's it. I might just have to hope to find some at the show and see how that goes. Ah well.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Treats, toys, and packages
So today, I finally packaged up all of the stuff for the chin orders that have been waiting to go out. Also packaged up some Amazon orders. So tomorrow should be a busy day - work, then post office, bank, show, few other things... gotta cancel an appointment... but anyway.
Today was fun. Today was my day off so it was nice to sleep in and get some stuff done. Was down with the chins for awhile today... cleaning as usual. Cadbury's starting to pee in one corner, so even though we were having litterbox issues, I scooped up all the wet shavings, put them in her litterbox and put it in the corner. She was grunting at me, of course, but I am SET on getting this bun to litterbox train. The cage is waaaaay too big for shavings everywhere.
Let's see... oh! I contacted Ryersons and they will be bringing 5 bags of dust to Nationals for me, so that's awesome.
Tried contacting my breeder-of-choice to get some chins for the herd, but they didn't have what I was looking for, so I posted a wanted ad on CnH. So we'll see.
Filled up alllllll the toys in the chin cages today. Some of the chins were practically ready to snatch the toys from me as I was hanging them back up in the cages. Little turds.
I realized that (1) I am completely out of haycubes, and (2) I have no business cards down in the chin-room. So I need to get some haycubes and put business cards down there.
The way I realized both was that I was putting together someone's order for when they come to pick up their rats at the end of the week, and I was on my last goodie bag. So I figured I'd make some more. So I started putting everything together and I realized the only hay cubes I had only about halfway filled a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Uh-oh lol. So I made enough goodie bags to fill my container and went onto my kit bags (goodie bags with kit-safe chews in them, no treats). Started filling them and got to bag #3 when I ran out of hay cubes. So that was a "darn!" moment as we're going to have three kit sales soon and some of them want more than one bag. So I will need to get some hay cubes asap.
And as I was getting the order ready, I thought I'd put everything on the side, the care packet, the stuff she's getting with the rats, the hammocks, and I realized, no business cards. So that's on the to-do list as well.
Went around filling everyone's water... I swear they have all turned into little camels lately! Like I swear I just filled some of those bottles recently! Ah well. Still need to fill the rabbit's before I go to bed. I think I'm going to hang a second bottle for him, cause even though his bottle is huge, I really am filling it ridiculously often.
Separated Joker's kits from her today... a day early because they're all good weights and doing well. So now, just waiting to see if they all gain weight in the next few days and if they do and continue to, they'll be ready to go home soon. All their homes are biting at the bits, so everyone will be happy. And then I think our bv female that had the loose poos, that cleared up with a food change (Mazuri --> Oxbow) so as long as her weight has held steady since the last time, she will also be ready to go home, and her mom will be SOOOO happy cause she's waited like at least 3 months for this chin's issues and problems to clear up and she's finally looking like she's ready to go!
The rats are their usual friendly selves. Changed all their ads to include the phrase "these rats do NOT come with a cage" today because apparently everyone who wants them is only concerned about that. I've had emails that ask only that about the rats, no interest in them. I may reduce their fee to $20 when I re-do the ads at the beginning of March, maybe people think $25 is too much for three 1-yr old rats? I mean, they're at least $15 each in the petstore, so it would cost $45 for three... but then, these are 1 year olds... but they're like... pre-owned, cause they're already social and great rats, so I don't want to undersell them or get them too low, so that I get idiots wanting them for snake food either, you know? I don't feel like $25 is all that much for three rats, but then, I don't adopt out rats all the time, so it's hard to say. But we did adopt out Harvey (1 yr old rat) for $10, so going with that, three for $25... well, maybe people just don't want three. But that's how they come, and that's all there is to it.
Gave all the chins some sticks to chew on today, a few of them snatched away the stick and gave me glares like as if I was going to take it back! Hahaha.
Need to get ready for the people picking up in the upcoming weeks, seems like everyone picking up wants quite a few things that need to be made from scratch... so I should get on that! But for now, I have work in the morning, so on to bed....
Today was fun. Today was my day off so it was nice to sleep in and get some stuff done. Was down with the chins for awhile today... cleaning as usual. Cadbury's starting to pee in one corner, so even though we were having litterbox issues, I scooped up all the wet shavings, put them in her litterbox and put it in the corner. She was grunting at me, of course, but I am SET on getting this bun to litterbox train. The cage is waaaaay too big for shavings everywhere.
Let's see... oh! I contacted Ryersons and they will be bringing 5 bags of dust to Nationals for me, so that's awesome.
Tried contacting my breeder-of-choice to get some chins for the herd, but they didn't have what I was looking for, so I posted a wanted ad on CnH. So we'll see.
Filled up alllllll the toys in the chin cages today. Some of the chins were practically ready to snatch the toys from me as I was hanging them back up in the cages. Little turds.
I realized that (1) I am completely out of haycubes, and (2) I have no business cards down in the chin-room. So I need to get some haycubes and put business cards down there.
The way I realized both was that I was putting together someone's order for when they come to pick up their rats at the end of the week, and I was on my last goodie bag. So I figured I'd make some more. So I started putting everything together and I realized the only hay cubes I had only about halfway filled a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Uh-oh lol. So I made enough goodie bags to fill my container and went onto my kit bags (goodie bags with kit-safe chews in them, no treats). Started filling them and got to bag #3 when I ran out of hay cubes. So that was a "darn!" moment as we're going to have three kit sales soon and some of them want more than one bag. So I will need to get some hay cubes asap.
And as I was getting the order ready, I thought I'd put everything on the side, the care packet, the stuff she's getting with the rats, the hammocks, and I realized, no business cards. So that's on the to-do list as well.
Went around filling everyone's water... I swear they have all turned into little camels lately! Like I swear I just filled some of those bottles recently! Ah well. Still need to fill the rabbit's before I go to bed. I think I'm going to hang a second bottle for him, cause even though his bottle is huge, I really am filling it ridiculously often.
Separated Joker's kits from her today... a day early because they're all good weights and doing well. So now, just waiting to see if they all gain weight in the next few days and if they do and continue to, they'll be ready to go home soon. All their homes are biting at the bits, so everyone will be happy. And then I think our bv female that had the loose poos, that cleared up with a food change (Mazuri --> Oxbow) so as long as her weight has held steady since the last time, she will also be ready to go home, and her mom will be SOOOO happy cause she's waited like at least 3 months for this chin's issues and problems to clear up and she's finally looking like she's ready to go!
The rats are their usual friendly selves. Changed all their ads to include the phrase "these rats do NOT come with a cage" today because apparently everyone who wants them is only concerned about that. I've had emails that ask only that about the rats, no interest in them. I may reduce their fee to $20 when I re-do the ads at the beginning of March, maybe people think $25 is too much for three 1-yr old rats? I mean, they're at least $15 each in the petstore, so it would cost $45 for three... but then, these are 1 year olds... but they're like... pre-owned, cause they're already social and great rats, so I don't want to undersell them or get them too low, so that I get idiots wanting them for snake food either, you know? I don't feel like $25 is all that much for three rats, but then, I don't adopt out rats all the time, so it's hard to say. But we did adopt out Harvey (1 yr old rat) for $10, so going with that, three for $25... well, maybe people just don't want three. But that's how they come, and that's all there is to it.
Gave all the chins some sticks to chew on today, a few of them snatched away the stick and gave me glares like as if I was going to take it back! Hahaha.
Need to get ready for the people picking up in the upcoming weeks, seems like everyone picking up wants quite a few things that need to be made from scratch... so I should get on that! But for now, I have work in the morning, so on to bed....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)