I feel like we just talked about this, but location is such a big issue. I get people all the time, one in particular that made me think to write this, where we're several emails deep into the conversation of the chin they want and them getting it and whatnot... and then they spring it on me... they're in another country.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.
I don't know if maybe people think that getting animals from one country to another is less difficult than, you know, GOING to another country, but it's not. Remember the last time you went to another country? Even for Mexico / Canada (for those of us in the US), you need a passport. If I want to take chins over, I need a passport, vet certificates, etc etc etc. I'm not 100% sure on exactly all that is needed, but what I do know is that it's complicated. To drive an animal into another country isn't super bad, but to ship one in requires certain permits and whatnot... which I don't have.
So, when we're waist deep in a conversation about what chins someone is getting, and everything else, and then it comes out that they're in another country... that conversation was for nothing. Sometimes, depending on the country, I can refer them to a more local breeder, or at least, one in their country. Sometimes not. But for sure, I can't get them the chinchilla.
I guess it comes back to... how do they not think this is important? It's another country! If I have to explain why this is a vital piece of information, well... it is. Sorry, but I cannot get chins (or any animals) out of the country.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Monday, October 8, 2018
"Quality" and Pricing
This is one of those buzzwords that drives me insane. Not necessarily the word, I suppose, but the way people are with it.
For example. I get a lot of people emailing who want "good quality chinchillas," and some even specify, they'd specifically like "show quality." That's fine and dandy and all, but in reality... every chinchilla can be shown. I've shown rescues before, because they looked nice, and heck, why not. Doesn't hurt anything.
However... that's the thing. "Show quality." What does that really mean? I can assume, that means they want a nice chin, sure. How nice, though? Because a chin that's show quality, in my opinion, might get a 1st place, or a 2nd place... or heck, might get 1A, 1B, Class Champion, Phase Champion, Color Section Champion, Grand Show Champion... all these are "show quality" -- so which one do they want? And further, that Grand Show Champ at a Claiming Day may only be a 2nd Place at Nationals, when the competition is much stiffer.
So, I try to narrow it down. I've found out, this is an apparently stupid way of doing it, judging by responses, but I've asked people, ok, what is their price range. Lord almighty, that is apparently a stupid question. Either that, or a ridiculously difficult one, as NO ONE can seem to answer it.
Let's step back a second. I'm not asking because I want to charge at the top of their price range. I'm asking because I want to stay IN their price range. If someone wants a show quality chinchilla, and wants to spend $150, chances are (depending on the show of course, see above) that chinchilla will be a 1st or 2nd place animal (read: probably not a champion) and is going to have some more obvious faults. Maybe the fur is laying down in one area. Maybe it has a pinched neck. Maybe it's got a halo / incomplete veiling. Certain faults will bring down the price of a still "show quality" animal... while of course, the animal is still definitely show quality, but would need to be paired to a super nice, complimentary chin, in order to better the breed in the next generation.
In comparison, if someone wants to spend $200, the animal will be better. $250, even better. $300... you get the idea. Champions are worth more, grand show champs are worth even more. I've paid $500-600 for some grand show champs before. At some point, we run out of "better," but the idea is that the better animals cost more. This isn't a new concept, I mean, this is how life is. Want the better computer? Probably going to cost more money.
Again, I ask, because I want to know at what level of quality we are talking about. If someone tells me they want to spend a certain amount and want it nice quality, I will look for the best quality animal at that price range. That's where the difficulty comes in. If someone tells me that they want super nice quality, without a price range... "super nice quality" is $$$ in my mind (and that's fine, if the person thinks so too). So then, let's say I come back with an animal that is $$$ but also super nice... and the person is like, "oh well I wanted to spend only $"... chances are, there's a nice animal with that quality... but likely not the super nice, $$$ animal that I picked. That's why I ask. I want to match the best animal, quality wise, whatever wise, with what the person is able to spend. I'm sure there's the right animal out there for everyone, but finding it requires some idea of pricing, at least to me (at least, without the person saying, I want one that could be Grand Show... which no one says either).
I have someone right now that gave me a list of criteria. There were 3-4 colors that would work for her, she wanted a smaller chin (not the super beefy like we tend to see), but gorgeous fur, smaller ears, smaller face, so on and so forth. And she even gave me a price range. I found a chin that matched the look she wanted and the price range and showed her, and she was happy with it. See, that is considerably easier than just saying "good quality" at least to me. That's why I ask questions, not to make it difficult or be an ass, but so I can get the person the best chin possible that matches what they're looking for, and matches their budget. That is all.
For example. I get a lot of people emailing who want "good quality chinchillas," and some even specify, they'd specifically like "show quality." That's fine and dandy and all, but in reality... every chinchilla can be shown. I've shown rescues before, because they looked nice, and heck, why not. Doesn't hurt anything.
However... that's the thing. "Show quality." What does that really mean? I can assume, that means they want a nice chin, sure. How nice, though? Because a chin that's show quality, in my opinion, might get a 1st place, or a 2nd place... or heck, might get 1A, 1B, Class Champion, Phase Champion, Color Section Champion, Grand Show Champion... all these are "show quality" -- so which one do they want? And further, that Grand Show Champ at a Claiming Day may only be a 2nd Place at Nationals, when the competition is much stiffer.
So, I try to narrow it down. I've found out, this is an apparently stupid way of doing it, judging by responses, but I've asked people, ok, what is their price range. Lord almighty, that is apparently a stupid question. Either that, or a ridiculously difficult one, as NO ONE can seem to answer it.
Let's step back a second. I'm not asking because I want to charge at the top of their price range. I'm asking because I want to stay IN their price range. If someone wants a show quality chinchilla, and wants to spend $150, chances are (depending on the show of course, see above) that chinchilla will be a 1st or 2nd place animal (read: probably not a champion) and is going to have some more obvious faults. Maybe the fur is laying down in one area. Maybe it has a pinched neck. Maybe it's got a halo / incomplete veiling. Certain faults will bring down the price of a still "show quality" animal... while of course, the animal is still definitely show quality, but would need to be paired to a super nice, complimentary chin, in order to better the breed in the next generation.
In comparison, if someone wants to spend $200, the animal will be better. $250, even better. $300... you get the idea. Champions are worth more, grand show champs are worth even more. I've paid $500-600 for some grand show champs before. At some point, we run out of "better," but the idea is that the better animals cost more. This isn't a new concept, I mean, this is how life is. Want the better computer? Probably going to cost more money.
Again, I ask, because I want to know at what level of quality we are talking about. If someone tells me they want to spend a certain amount and want it nice quality, I will look for the best quality animal at that price range. That's where the difficulty comes in. If someone tells me that they want super nice quality, without a price range... "super nice quality" is $$$ in my mind (and that's fine, if the person thinks so too). So then, let's say I come back with an animal that is $$$ but also super nice... and the person is like, "oh well I wanted to spend only $"... chances are, there's a nice animal with that quality... but likely not the super nice, $$$ animal that I picked. That's why I ask. I want to match the best animal, quality wise, whatever wise, with what the person is able to spend. I'm sure there's the right animal out there for everyone, but finding it requires some idea of pricing, at least to me (at least, without the person saying, I want one that could be Grand Show... which no one says either).
I have someone right now that gave me a list of criteria. There were 3-4 colors that would work for her, she wanted a smaller chin (not the super beefy like we tend to see), but gorgeous fur, smaller ears, smaller face, so on and so forth. And she even gave me a price range. I found a chin that matched the look she wanted and the price range and showed her, and she was happy with it. See, that is considerably easier than just saying "good quality" at least to me. That's why I ask questions, not to make it difficult or be an ass, but so I can get the person the best chin possible that matches what they're looking for, and matches their budget. That is all.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Flat Rate Shipping
Why do I push flat rate shipping? I know people are probably always wondering why I tell them, they're better off ordering the flat rate boxes of food and dust, rather than ordering a pound here or there (when it's being shipped, anyway).
Let me give you an example.
Someone from Florida ordered two pounds of Tradition. I packed that up in a bag, set that bag in a tiny box (see pic below) and weighed it. Just over 2 pounds, the box is 8" x 5" x 4". Small (especially compared to the packages I normally ship).
Care to guess the shipping? The DISCOUNTED rate that I get through PayPal... USPS GROUND (so, ABSOLUTE cheapest)... is $12.15. That's actual cost, not even with any handling figured in (I usually add about $1 for paper, tape, packaging, etc).
The shopping cart charged this person $10 for shipping, which I thought would be plenty, but nope! Still over $2 short!! I emailed her, giving her some options to either refund, or maybe add more poundage and bump up $4 to that shipping cost so I can ship flat rate (and then, 10+ pounds for that shipping cost)... so we shall see what she wants to do.
But notice, $12(!!) shipping for 2 freaking pounds!! Versus my flat rate boxes on the webstore are 11 pounds and I can usually cram more like 13ish pounds in there (depending on what else is ordered) and get it anywhere in the country for $14.75 shipping. INSANITY. So yes, this is why I suggest people buy the flat rate boxes. Because anything else just doesn't make sense.
Let me give you an example.
Someone from Florida ordered two pounds of Tradition. I packed that up in a bag, set that bag in a tiny box (see pic below) and weighed it. Just over 2 pounds, the box is 8" x 5" x 4". Small (especially compared to the packages I normally ship).
Care to guess the shipping? The DISCOUNTED rate that I get through PayPal... USPS GROUND (so, ABSOLUTE cheapest)... is $12.15. That's actual cost, not even with any handling figured in (I usually add about $1 for paper, tape, packaging, etc).
The shopping cart charged this person $10 for shipping, which I thought would be plenty, but nope! Still over $2 short!! I emailed her, giving her some options to either refund, or maybe add more poundage and bump up $4 to that shipping cost so I can ship flat rate (and then, 10+ pounds for that shipping cost)... so we shall see what she wants to do.
But notice, $12(!!) shipping for 2 freaking pounds!! Versus my flat rate boxes on the webstore are 11 pounds and I can usually cram more like 13ish pounds in there (depending on what else is ordered) and get it anywhere in the country for $14.75 shipping. INSANITY. So yes, this is why I suggest people buy the flat rate boxes. Because anything else just doesn't make sense.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Those Poor Chinchillas...
I wasn't even sure what to title this, I'm still sort of in shock from this whole thing. Let me start at the beginning.
I had this family, mom and two kids, come to adopt a chin... maybe a month or two ago now. They took home a standard grey female. When she was here, she was super sweet, super nice chinchilla. Nice even, level personality, no biting / spraying, nothing. Calm chin, good for a family with kids. The family came and adopted her, family seemed great.
Later that day, I get a call from the older of the two boys (maybe 9-10 years old), telling me that the chinchilla had bitten his brother and drawn blood, and they wanted to exchange the chinchilla for another one. As they hadn't had the chinchilla for more than a few hours at that point, I told them to let her settle in for a bit and to not pester her for a few days, and see how it goes. I told them, if things didn't improve, I would swap her out for another one.
Now, let me say that occasionally this sort of thing does happen. Sometimes it's just not a good fit, the animal doesn't get along with the adoptive family, and they return, swap out for another, and usually, they are super happy with the second. This has happened maybe... 5ish times in 15 years. So, not super common, but it does happen now and then. No red flags, yet.
Time passes, and the female chin progresses to then start spraying in addition to the biting. Eventually, we talk again and they bring her back.
This is what she looked like when they brought her back (and you may recognize, this is the currently listed 3 year old female that doesn't get along with kids):
Does her body condition look kind of off to you? I thought so as well (these were pics from shortly after re-intake). At the time (and this is what it currently says in her ad), I assumed that when they were going to catch her to bring her back, she slipped a bunch of fur, and I didn't think much of it. Also, she was a heck of a lot skinnier than when she was adopted out, when she came back. But again, I figured, well, if she was stressed out enough to be biting and spraying, she may also have been stressed out enough to not be eating all that well. It happens. Giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Moving along.
I swap her out for this gorgeous show quality standard grey male adult, as they wanted a super calm one and super nice one. He was what I had that best matched what they were looking for, and I actually felt kind of bad that they'd had a bad experience with the first one, as the kid had been telling me about how he was trying to do everything right and how he wasn't sure if it was something he did, or whatnot, and he was telling me how he cleaned the cage and was trying to make the chin happy and whatnot...so I wanted him to be happy. So, he went home with a super nice chin.
They take home the second chin, the really nice male. My health guarantee is for 7 days... day 8, I get a text from the mom, I need to call her, the chin is really sick and needs to go to the vet. I call her, and her "story" was that they changed the bedding on the chinchilla and their guinea pig, and almost immediately, both had labored breathing and weren't doing well. Now, she said that this is what her sons told her... she did not have first-hand experience of this, other than seeing the chin not doing well. In her words, she rushed the chinchilla to the vet, still alive, but they couldn't save it despite trying for some time. According to her, they told her that it was the horrible pine shavings and they told her to NEVER use them with small animals, and said that that was what caused the death. This is all important later, remember this.
I told her, pine shavings aren't the devil, and that even if there was something wrong in the shavings, it wouldn't cause immediate labored breathing and death. But of course, I wasn't trying to be mean, and they did just have a chin die after all, so even though it was after my health guarantee was over and even though it wasn't just like the chin randomly died, I told her I would replace it. Again.
Of course, they wanted another one that was just as sweet and cuddly and awesome as that one. At the time, I didn't have any other standard males that were nice (you know, rescues are often rescues for a reason), so I told her, check back in a week or so. The kid called and texted several times, for about a month, all while I told them, I didn't have a chin for them yet (and legitimately, I didn't). Then I got in a nice 5 year old culled breeder. Very similar to the previous one they'd had, SUPER nice, super calm, super chill. We set up an appointment for them to come by.
They adopted the third chin 9/30. They told me, they were going to name him Chow Chow. They said, oh this is the one!! They even asked if the first chinchilla (the female) was still here, and I said that she was, and they went over to her and said hi. They left all happy. Nothing seemed unusual.
You can imagine my surprise when 10/1, barely 24 hours later, I got a call from one of the local vet's office telling me that a chinchilla named Chow Chow had been surrendered. They were calling me because the family had told them that they had adopted him from my facility.
Oh but it gets worse. Much much worse.
My first thought, upon hearing the chin was surrendered, was that it bit them or something and they didn't want to face me again, so they dropped it off there. Oh, it couldn't have been that nice of a situation. No. He was brought to the vet, examined, the vet talked with the family, and the family decided they didn't want to mess with trying to treat his injuries, and so the vet suggested surrendering him, which they did.
I should mention... it was the actual vet that called. Not the secretary, not a tech, the VET. That's NEVER a good sign.
In reality... the vet suspected abuse. Chow Chow has several vertebral dislocations. As of the time I write this (10/3), he is currently dragging his rear legs, has hind-end-paralysis, and has a weird kink at the base of his tail. That kink is swollen, hot, and sensitive to touch. The vet said this is clearly a super recent injury, and x-rays were done, which is what showed fractures and dislocations.
The family's excuse? HE FELL. *cough* bullshit *cough* Even the vet thought so. They did say, if a chin did somehow fall hard enough to cause these injuries, the injuries would not be limited to this one area, and the entire impact area would have fractures / breaks...and yet, the injuries were localized in the vertebrae / spine / base of tail. So, I asked, what was the more likely reason for this diagnosis? The vet said, the chinchilla was most likely swung around by his tail, causing the vertebral dislocations.
According to the vet, they don't have high hopes of Chow Chow pulling through, though he IS eating Critical Care and is peeing a bit. Though again, all signs point to abuse.
But it still gets worse. Remember that second chin that came into the vet? Unlike what I was told (about them bringing it in, the vet spending all this time trying to save it), the vet said that the chinchilla was dead upon arrival. Upon examination, the vet said the cause of death was severe trauma... upon hearing this, the family RAN OUT. So, when the family came back with this chin, the whole vet's office was like "it's THEM!!!"
I told the vet how the family had told me, oh the vet had said it was the shavings that caused the death. The vet said they never told the family pine shavings were bad, and said it was definitely severe trauma that caused the death, not anything to do with shavings.
The vet had called me because, with knowing the chin came from here, and figuring the previous one had as well, they wanted me to be aware of what was going on with the family (so as to not adopt to them in the future) and to let me know what was going on with the chinchilla in their care. They said that if Chow Chow did pull through, they potentially had a staff member who wanted to take him home, but wanted to check with me that if that did not work out, if I would be able to take him back. Of course. (of course, this all hinges on him significantly improving)
He's currently still at the vet and as far as I know, still being treated. They are supposed to update me with what happens with him, whether he passes or improves, or whatever. Should anyone want to donate to his care (they didn't ask for it, but as they clearly are saints...), he is at Glenwood Village Pet Hospital, and their phone number is 708-782-4573.
Now, it makes sense why the first chin was so worse for wear looking when she came back into the rescue. With their 2nd chin dying as a result of severe trauma, and the third chin currently not having the greatest outlook, there's a high presumption that they weren't any "nicer" to the first chinchilla. I should note, when she came back, I made a note on her card that she bit and sprayed them, and I left her alone for a week or two to let her settle back in. She has NEVER bitten or sprayed anyone here, and is again, nice as a cupcake. Heck, even the first day they brought her back, when the one kid said, "oh careful she might bite you"... I was able to reach into the carrier and get her out with no problem, no spraying, no biting. If nothing else, that suggests hostility towards certain people who weren't nice to her, not just hostility in general. She doesn't know it, but by being a little furry asshole to them, she basically escaped with her life.
I still have her listed as not going to a family with kids (and that won't change), as I believe that whatever happened to these chins, it was the kids that did it. I won't put this girl through having to live with any kids again, nice or not, as she's been through enough. Heck, she's lucky to be alive. No need to further stress her out.
Those poor, poor chinchillas.
I had this family, mom and two kids, come to adopt a chin... maybe a month or two ago now. They took home a standard grey female. When she was here, she was super sweet, super nice chinchilla. Nice even, level personality, no biting / spraying, nothing. Calm chin, good for a family with kids. The family came and adopted her, family seemed great.
Later that day, I get a call from the older of the two boys (maybe 9-10 years old), telling me that the chinchilla had bitten his brother and drawn blood, and they wanted to exchange the chinchilla for another one. As they hadn't had the chinchilla for more than a few hours at that point, I told them to let her settle in for a bit and to not pester her for a few days, and see how it goes. I told them, if things didn't improve, I would swap her out for another one.
Now, let me say that occasionally this sort of thing does happen. Sometimes it's just not a good fit, the animal doesn't get along with the adoptive family, and they return, swap out for another, and usually, they are super happy with the second. This has happened maybe... 5ish times in 15 years. So, not super common, but it does happen now and then. No red flags, yet.
Time passes, and the female chin progresses to then start spraying in addition to the biting. Eventually, we talk again and they bring her back.
This is what she looked like when they brought her back (and you may recognize, this is the currently listed 3 year old female that doesn't get along with kids):
Moving along.
They take home the second chin, the really nice male. My health guarantee is for 7 days... day 8, I get a text from the mom, I need to call her, the chin is really sick and needs to go to the vet. I call her, and her "story" was that they changed the bedding on the chinchilla and their guinea pig, and almost immediately, both had labored breathing and weren't doing well. Now, she said that this is what her sons told her... she did not have first-hand experience of this, other than seeing the chin not doing well. In her words, she rushed the chinchilla to the vet, still alive, but they couldn't save it despite trying for some time. According to her, they told her that it was the horrible pine shavings and they told her to NEVER use them with small animals, and said that that was what caused the death. This is all important later, remember this.
I told her, pine shavings aren't the devil, and that even if there was something wrong in the shavings, it wouldn't cause immediate labored breathing and death. But of course, I wasn't trying to be mean, and they did just have a chin die after all, so even though it was after my health guarantee was over and even though it wasn't just like the chin randomly died, I told her I would replace it. Again.
Of course, they wanted another one that was just as sweet and cuddly and awesome as that one. At the time, I didn't have any other standard males that were nice (you know, rescues are often rescues for a reason), so I told her, check back in a week or so. The kid called and texted several times, for about a month, all while I told them, I didn't have a chin for them yet (and legitimately, I didn't). Then I got in a nice 5 year old culled breeder. Very similar to the previous one they'd had, SUPER nice, super calm, super chill. We set up an appointment for them to come by.
They adopted the third chin 9/30. They told me, they were going to name him Chow Chow. They said, oh this is the one!! They even asked if the first chinchilla (the female) was still here, and I said that she was, and they went over to her and said hi. They left all happy. Nothing seemed unusual.
You can imagine my surprise when 10/1, barely 24 hours later, I got a call from one of the local vet's office telling me that a chinchilla named Chow Chow had been surrendered. They were calling me because the family had told them that they had adopted him from my facility.
Oh but it gets worse. Much much worse.
My first thought, upon hearing the chin was surrendered, was that it bit them or something and they didn't want to face me again, so they dropped it off there. Oh, it couldn't have been that nice of a situation. No. He was brought to the vet, examined, the vet talked with the family, and the family decided they didn't want to mess with trying to treat his injuries, and so the vet suggested surrendering him, which they did.
I should mention... it was the actual vet that called. Not the secretary, not a tech, the VET. That's NEVER a good sign.
In reality... the vet suspected abuse. Chow Chow has several vertebral dislocations. As of the time I write this (10/3), he is currently dragging his rear legs, has hind-end-paralysis, and has a weird kink at the base of his tail. That kink is swollen, hot, and sensitive to touch. The vet said this is clearly a super recent injury, and x-rays were done, which is what showed fractures and dislocations.
The family's excuse? HE FELL. *cough* bullshit *cough* Even the vet thought so. They did say, if a chin did somehow fall hard enough to cause these injuries, the injuries would not be limited to this one area, and the entire impact area would have fractures / breaks...and yet, the injuries were localized in the vertebrae / spine / base of tail. So, I asked, what was the more likely reason for this diagnosis? The vet said, the chinchilla was most likely swung around by his tail, causing the vertebral dislocations.
According to the vet, they don't have high hopes of Chow Chow pulling through, though he IS eating Critical Care and is peeing a bit. Though again, all signs point to abuse.
But it still gets worse. Remember that second chin that came into the vet? Unlike what I was told (about them bringing it in, the vet spending all this time trying to save it), the vet said that the chinchilla was dead upon arrival. Upon examination, the vet said the cause of death was severe trauma... upon hearing this, the family RAN OUT. So, when the family came back with this chin, the whole vet's office was like "it's THEM!!!"
I told the vet how the family had told me, oh the vet had said it was the shavings that caused the death. The vet said they never told the family pine shavings were bad, and said it was definitely severe trauma that caused the death, not anything to do with shavings.
The vet had called me because, with knowing the chin came from here, and figuring the previous one had as well, they wanted me to be aware of what was going on with the family (so as to not adopt to them in the future) and to let me know what was going on with the chinchilla in their care. They said that if Chow Chow did pull through, they potentially had a staff member who wanted to take him home, but wanted to check with me that if that did not work out, if I would be able to take him back. Of course. (of course, this all hinges on him significantly improving)
He's currently still at the vet and as far as I know, still being treated. They are supposed to update me with what happens with him, whether he passes or improves, or whatever. Should anyone want to donate to his care (they didn't ask for it, but as they clearly are saints...), he is at Glenwood Village Pet Hospital, and their phone number is 708-782-4573.
Now, it makes sense why the first chin was so worse for wear looking when she came back into the rescue. With their 2nd chin dying as a result of severe trauma, and the third chin currently not having the greatest outlook, there's a high presumption that they weren't any "nicer" to the first chinchilla. I should note, when she came back, I made a note on her card that she bit and sprayed them, and I left her alone for a week or two to let her settle back in. She has NEVER bitten or sprayed anyone here, and is again, nice as a cupcake. Heck, even the first day they brought her back, when the one kid said, "oh careful she might bite you"... I was able to reach into the carrier and get her out with no problem, no spraying, no biting. If nothing else, that suggests hostility towards certain people who weren't nice to her, not just hostility in general. She doesn't know it, but by being a little furry asshole to them, she basically escaped with her life.
I still have her listed as not going to a family with kids (and that won't change), as I believe that whatever happened to these chins, it was the kids that did it. I won't put this girl through having to live with any kids again, nice or not, as she's been through enough. Heck, she's lucky to be alive. No need to further stress her out.
Those poor, poor chinchillas.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Have You Met Lulu?
Meet Lulu:
Lulu is a standard grey female chinchilla. We don't know her exact age, other than to say that she's an adult female.
Lulu came to the rescue about a month ago. She was brought here by the manager of an apartment complex. How she came to her... well...
There was an apartment in the complex where the owners were several months late on rent and were set to be evicted. When the manager got the keys and was all set to go into the apartment and basically kick the people out... she opened the door to an empty apartment... except for a box in the middle of the floor. In the box, was Lulu (as the manager named her). No note, no food, no nothing, just a box with a chinchilla in it, on the floor. How people can be like that, I will never understand.
Thankfully, the manager had a soul, and contacted us and brought Lulu here. Lulu has now been here over a month and has maintained her weight and been doing well, so she's now available for adoption... to someone with a cage, appropriate chin-supplies, and all the love they can give.
As far as Lulu's personality... she's not quite the cuddly type. She's more of an active chinchilla, and her goal just isn't to be your cuddlebuddy. She would probably really enjoy playtime, though not necessarily with kids. She gets irritated if you poke her through the cage or even poke her sides while she's in the cage (we scoop up from the bottom), which may suggest that she was in a family with kids that pestered her. If you poke her enough, and she gets irritated, she will turn and nip. As a result, she's not suited to go to a family with little kids. Lulu definitely can be handled and petted, but she is more on the active (read: squirmy) side and doesn't want to sit still for long. ADHD chin, imagine that!
Lulu is available for adoption to an approved home (adoption form required) for $75.
Lulu is a standard grey female chinchilla. We don't know her exact age, other than to say that she's an adult female.
Lulu came to the rescue about a month ago. She was brought here by the manager of an apartment complex. How she came to her... well...
There was an apartment in the complex where the owners were several months late on rent and were set to be evicted. When the manager got the keys and was all set to go into the apartment and basically kick the people out... she opened the door to an empty apartment... except for a box in the middle of the floor. In the box, was Lulu (as the manager named her). No note, no food, no nothing, just a box with a chinchilla in it, on the floor. How people can be like that, I will never understand.
Thankfully, the manager had a soul, and contacted us and brought Lulu here. Lulu has now been here over a month and has maintained her weight and been doing well, so she's now available for adoption... to someone with a cage, appropriate chin-supplies, and all the love they can give.
As far as Lulu's personality... she's not quite the cuddly type. She's more of an active chinchilla, and her goal just isn't to be your cuddlebuddy. She would probably really enjoy playtime, though not necessarily with kids. She gets irritated if you poke her through the cage or even poke her sides while she's in the cage (we scoop up from the bottom), which may suggest that she was in a family with kids that pestered her. If you poke her enough, and she gets irritated, she will turn and nip. As a result, she's not suited to go to a family with little kids. Lulu definitely can be handled and petted, but she is more on the active (read: squirmy) side and doesn't want to sit still for long. ADHD chin, imagine that!
Lulu is available for adoption to an approved home (adoption form required) for $75.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Deposits
I know we talk about this over and over and over. But this post about deposits is slightly different.
Sometimes deposits go smoothly. I tell people, ok, I can only hold the chinchilla for like a day or so for them without a deposit. If they want to put down a deposit, they paypal money or call or whatever to give me credit card info.
But lately... I've had a slew of people where I explain how the deposit works, I give them options for how they can pay the deposit, they choose an option... like they actually will tell me, ok they're going to do paypal or a credit card or whatever... and then they fall off the face of the earth.
That's fine, people can change their mind. But, what doesn't change, is this -- me holding that chinchilla (or whatever animal).
I've started telling people -- especially people who are asking about an animal that's not yet listed and I'm waiting to list -- they have until a certain day to get back to me about that animal. If they don't, then I will list the animal. Often, I will even possibly offer the animal at a lower price to that person (usually for the $$$ animals, don't get excited that you're gonna get a huge discount on a $100 chin)... if I list that animal, that cheaper price no longer is on the table.
So, when I'm talking about a deposit with someone, and (for example) they have my paypal email, so they could send payment if they wanted, and they have an email / text / whatever from me that says, should they want an invoice, let me know and I will send them one (this would be more for facebook, where I don't have their email and need them to provide it to me)... and a day or two goes by with no contact, no payment, no nothing... that chin gets listed. I'd hope people don't think I'm endlessly holding the animal for them, though honestly this really does confuse me, as why get to the point of asking how to pay the deposit... and then vanish? *scratches head* Really not sure on that one. But anyway, I guess the point is, if we've talked about a deposit and you've had several days to pay it or respond to my message and haven't, you shouldn't expect that the animal is still here for you, with me waiting for you, twiddling my thumbs. Sorry not sorry.
Sometimes deposits go smoothly. I tell people, ok, I can only hold the chinchilla for like a day or so for them without a deposit. If they want to put down a deposit, they paypal money or call or whatever to give me credit card info.
But lately... I've had a slew of people where I explain how the deposit works, I give them options for how they can pay the deposit, they choose an option... like they actually will tell me, ok they're going to do paypal or a credit card or whatever... and then they fall off the face of the earth.
That's fine, people can change their mind. But, what doesn't change, is this -- me holding that chinchilla (or whatever animal).
I've started telling people -- especially people who are asking about an animal that's not yet listed and I'm waiting to list -- they have until a certain day to get back to me about that animal. If they don't, then I will list the animal. Often, I will even possibly offer the animal at a lower price to that person (usually for the $$$ animals, don't get excited that you're gonna get a huge discount on a $100 chin)... if I list that animal, that cheaper price no longer is on the table.
So, when I'm talking about a deposit with someone, and (for example) they have my paypal email, so they could send payment if they wanted, and they have an email / text / whatever from me that says, should they want an invoice, let me know and I will send them one (this would be more for facebook, where I don't have their email and need them to provide it to me)... and a day or two goes by with no contact, no payment, no nothing... that chin gets listed. I'd hope people don't think I'm endlessly holding the animal for them, though honestly this really does confuse me, as why get to the point of asking how to pay the deposit... and then vanish? *scratches head* Really not sure on that one. But anyway, I guess the point is, if we've talked about a deposit and you've had several days to pay it or respond to my message and haven't, you shouldn't expect that the animal is still here for you, with me waiting for you, twiddling my thumbs. Sorry not sorry.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Adoption Form Answers -- "Don't Know Yet"
I get this a lot -- an adoption form filled out, and all of the relevant questions (such as what food are they going to feed, what sort of hay, what sort of dust, what cage, etc) are all answered with "not sure yet" or "I don't know" or something of that nature.
Now, let me start by saying, I am perfectly happy to help if someone needs suggestions or thoughts or whatever, on picking what is right for their new pet.
That said... when I get adoption forms like this, usually, about all that is filled out with concrete answers is their name, address, whether they own/rent, whether they have air conditioning... etc... the thing is... I can't approve someone to adopt based on just those things. The questions that get the "I don't know" answers are the ones that are crucial to chinchilla ownership. If you feed the wrong food, they can get sick and die. If you have an inappropriate cage, it may be dangerous for the chinchilla and could potentially result in injury. This may be a surprise, but I really am not that interested in your address. Over 75% of the time, I don't even notice where the people put down that they live. Oh, don't get me wrong, I glance at it, but if the person is within a few hours distance of here, I move on. I need the answers to those other questions to know if the person will be a good home or not.
I'm not saying don't submit forms. But maybe, before you submit a form that is 90% "not sure yet"s, just maybe... ask some questions or read some care sheets first. Because either way, we will have a long discussion about care.
Now, let me start by saying, I am perfectly happy to help if someone needs suggestions or thoughts or whatever, on picking what is right for their new pet.
That said... when I get adoption forms like this, usually, about all that is filled out with concrete answers is their name, address, whether they own/rent, whether they have air conditioning... etc... the thing is... I can't approve someone to adopt based on just those things. The questions that get the "I don't know" answers are the ones that are crucial to chinchilla ownership. If you feed the wrong food, they can get sick and die. If you have an inappropriate cage, it may be dangerous for the chinchilla and could potentially result in injury. This may be a surprise, but I really am not that interested in your address. Over 75% of the time, I don't even notice where the people put down that they live. Oh, don't get me wrong, I glance at it, but if the person is within a few hours distance of here, I move on. I need the answers to those other questions to know if the person will be a good home or not.
I'm not saying don't submit forms. But maybe, before you submit a form that is 90% "not sure yet"s, just maybe... ask some questions or read some care sheets first. Because either way, we will have a long discussion about care.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Yelp
I'm sure I've talked before about how annoying Yelp can be if you ever add your own "free" page. Yes, the page is free, but their incessant bugging makes you wonder if it's worth it.
I almost forgot about this from the other day, but I got an email today that reminded me... it started off, "In September, you had 8 views to your Yelp Business Page." Who-hoo, a whopping 8 views.
Let's backtrack a moment. I got a call the other day from a nice lady at Yelp, and I suppose they choose their employees based on how pushy they are, because you can never get them off the phone, and no matter WHAT you say, they tell you how much you NEED their business.
They're always telling me, oh I had so many clicks. So, the lady the other day told me that my business page was really busy! Lots of activity! She wanted me to log onto my business page (surprise surprise, I didn't want to), and I told her, please just give me a number. You're gonna love this. I had 98 views on my business page in the last 12 months. Let me repeat that. I had 98 views in the last 12 months.
Let's compare to the website, shall we?
I realize that pic is showing up way way huge and may look kinda funky, but I want you to be able to see / read the important parts. Note, on the top right, it shows that these are the statistics for the "nwichins" site, for the "last 28 days." Let me repeat. Last 28 days.
Notice, in the last 28 days, there have been 2,272 visitors. Let's say that was an awesome month, to give Yelp some leeway, and say that in a month, there were only 2,000 visitors. That still means, in a year, that's 24,000 visitors (I don't have the premium version of Clicky / statistics, so I'm limited to what I can view), and that would likely be on the low end. Now, come again, Yelp, with that whopping 98 visitors to the page in the last year?
Every time they call, they want me to upgrade my profile. Oh it's ONLY $300 a month. This time they called, it was ONLY $3/day. Well, that's still ~ $100/month, and that's $100/month too much for me. I do my best to wait for there to be a "sale" to renew my website, but even without the sale price, I looked at my billing, and I have paid between $200-400 for two years of my website, since I have had it. Even at $400 for two years, that's $16.67/month, or around 50 cents per day. And again, it gets ~2,000+ visitors per month. But totally, I'm going to pay Yelp exponentially more, when they haven't showed me that they're worth it.
Honestly, if I wanted to dump another $100/month into advertising, I'd probably do it on facebook. Where everyone is. I actually like yelp as far as finding a restaurant and that sort of thing... but for this... no.
I almost forgot about this from the other day, but I got an email today that reminded me... it started off, "In September, you had 8 views to your Yelp Business Page." Who-hoo, a whopping 8 views.
Let's backtrack a moment. I got a call the other day from a nice lady at Yelp, and I suppose they choose their employees based on how pushy they are, because you can never get them off the phone, and no matter WHAT you say, they tell you how much you NEED their business.
They're always telling me, oh I had so many clicks. So, the lady the other day told me that my business page was really busy! Lots of activity! She wanted me to log onto my business page (surprise surprise, I didn't want to), and I told her, please just give me a number. You're gonna love this. I had 98 views on my business page in the last 12 months. Let me repeat that. I had 98 views in the last 12 months.
Let's compare to the website, shall we?
I realize that pic is showing up way way huge and may look kinda funky, but I want you to be able to see / read the important parts. Note, on the top right, it shows that these are the statistics for the "nwichins" site, for the "last 28 days." Let me repeat. Last 28 days.
Notice, in the last 28 days, there have been 2,272 visitors. Let's say that was an awesome month, to give Yelp some leeway, and say that in a month, there were only 2,000 visitors. That still means, in a year, that's 24,000 visitors (I don't have the premium version of Clicky / statistics, so I'm limited to what I can view), and that would likely be on the low end. Now, come again, Yelp, with that whopping 98 visitors to the page in the last year?
Every time they call, they want me to upgrade my profile. Oh it's ONLY $300 a month. This time they called, it was ONLY $3/day. Well, that's still ~ $100/month, and that's $100/month too much for me. I do my best to wait for there to be a "sale" to renew my website, but even without the sale price, I looked at my billing, and I have paid between $200-400 for two years of my website, since I have had it. Even at $400 for two years, that's $16.67/month, or around 50 cents per day. And again, it gets ~2,000+ visitors per month. But totally, I'm going to pay Yelp exponentially more, when they haven't showed me that they're worth it.
Honestly, if I wanted to dump another $100/month into advertising, I'd probably do it on facebook. Where everyone is. I actually like yelp as far as finding a restaurant and that sort of thing... but for this... no.
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Donation of Excess Shipping Money
Wanted to share with you all. We had someone last week who submitted an order on our webstore for a house, chinny mobile, and a few more little things. Shortly after receiving the order, I received an email from them. Often, if I get an email following an order, it's due to the wrong shipping address being on the order or whatnot, but this was different.
This person had noticed where it says on our webtore about how shipping prices are impossible to calculate ahead of time, and that we refund excess shipping costs when the order ships. She had emailed to say that any shipping overages for her order, we could keep as a donation. How nice!
I finished her order and it went out the other day, but I hadn't processed the paperwork for it until today. When I did it today, it turned out that the excess shipping (which would have been refunded back) was a whopping $28! Thanks to Amy L. for her donation!
This person had noticed where it says on our webtore about how shipping prices are impossible to calculate ahead of time, and that we refund excess shipping costs when the order ships. She had emailed to say that any shipping overages for her order, we could keep as a donation. How nice!
I finished her order and it went out the other day, but I hadn't processed the paperwork for it until today. When I did it today, it turned out that the excess shipping (which would have been refunded back) was a whopping $28! Thanks to Amy L. for her donation!
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Communication After Adoption
So, when people adopt, and I'm caught up on paperwork (ha.. hahahahahahahahahaha), I try to send out emails / texts to people asking if everything's going alright, if they have any questions, and so on, maybe a week or two after adoption.
Since I'm so far behind in paperwork (though catching up!), I haven't gotten to that lately, but occasionally, people will text with questions / concerns / etc.
For example, we had a pair of baby guinea pigs that were adopted out. Long story short (without going into it, I know *gasp* I'm going to by-pass telling a story within a story), they were returned a few days later due to not getting along with the lady's current guinea pig. When they were returned, the lady returning them wanted to point out some gunk that had gotten into the one's fur. I mention this, because she wasn't clear about which one had gunk in it's fur, so I closely looked both guinea pigs completely over. They went into a clean cage, and had a potential adopter within a day or so. She came to look at them, and she and her husband and two kids both held and cuddled the guinea pigs for quite some time. She asked about the health guarantee and I explained it (simply, the pet dies, without it being the new owner's fault, in the first 7 days, we replace). I asked if there was a reason she was asking, nope, just curious. She put down a deposit, came back a few days later to adopt the guinea pigs. Again, held for some time, didn't notice anything odd (nor did I).
Few hours later, I get a text that the guinea pig has some sort of mites or bugs or something. She wanted to know what they were. She said they were little white bugs, and I've only seen black / red mites / fleas, etc. I told her, white bugs, that I dunno, but I explained to give him a bath with blue Dawn dish soap, let it sit on him while lathered up for 5 mins, and then rinse and it should be good. I explained that while I didn't know what the bugs were, that's a common treatment for dogs with fleas, rabbits with mites, etc etc, so there was no reason it shouldn't work, regardless of the type of bug.
I checked the cages here that the guinea pigs were in, couldn't find one bug or anything amiss. Cleaned and completely sterilized the cages just in case. Checked all the other guinea pigs here, none had any bugs or anything. Treated them all with ivermectin as a preventative, anyway. Ivermectin will kill lice, mites, and other small parasitic bugs on animals, so regardless of the type of bug, we should be good. I have also since checked the pigs, and no bugs.
I googled white small bugs, and it turns out, they may have been lice (that's something you now know, lice tend to be a light greyish color). Turns out, lice are species specific. That means, if you have lice, it is human lice. Versus if your guinea pig has lice, they are guinea pig lice. Or if your dog has lice, they are dog lice. These different types of lice cannot go to different species, so your dog's lice cannot become guinea pig lice.
If I had to make an educated guess about all of this, this would be my take -- since I did not find lice (or whatever bugs) on any of my guinea pigs or in their cages, and lice need to be on a living organism to survive due to needing to eat / reproduce (and can't live longer than 24 hours without a host... they didn't come in on shavings or something like that)... my guess would be that the first adopter (who returned the pigs when they didn't get along with hers) may have had lice on her guinea pig, which then laid lice eggs on these guinea pigs... and the timing may have been just right for the new eggs to have hatched, and lice to appear when they went to their new home. That's my guess anyway. Anyway, on the whole communication point of this post...
Next day, I send this person a message, asking how the bath went and how the guinea pig is doing. This was about a week or so ago now, and I have never heard back. This is actually pretty typical. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect all adopters to become my best friend after adoption, but even when I do send out the emails / texts that ask if the person has questions / concerns, I only maybe receive responses from 10-25% of people. That's it.
Do people really want to adopt and be completely done with where they got the animal from? I mean, maybe so, I guess I'm different in that I would like to keep in touch, if possible. I'd like to share updates on how the animal is doing, and ask questions if needed. But I'm personally amazed how few people will even answer a simple message or email...and I know their email / messages are working, since they used those to contact me not long ago prior to that!
When I reach out after an adoption, I'm only trying to be helpful. If someone does have a question, I really would like to answer it and help out, and make sure they have the correct answer to their question, not just the most popular one found by google. In the case of the guinea pigs, I still wonder how he's doing. I would assume they gave the bath and the guinea pigs are doing fine, mainly because... since the lady mentioned the health guarantee, I feel like I would have been contacted, had the guinea pig died or something (though that would be quite the extreme response to lice). So, I assume the guinea pig is doing well, but unfortunately, the adopter didn't take the time to message me back... so I don't know. And I actually do care about the animals, so it's actually upsetting that she didn't respond. I just wish people would think about this sort of thing when they wouldn't respond... because here it is quite a bit of time later... and I'm still thinking about that guinea pig.
Since I'm so far behind in paperwork (though catching up!), I haven't gotten to that lately, but occasionally, people will text with questions / concerns / etc.
For example, we had a pair of baby guinea pigs that were adopted out. Long story short (without going into it, I know *gasp* I'm going to by-pass telling a story within a story), they were returned a few days later due to not getting along with the lady's current guinea pig. When they were returned, the lady returning them wanted to point out some gunk that had gotten into the one's fur. I mention this, because she wasn't clear about which one had gunk in it's fur, so I closely looked both guinea pigs completely over. They went into a clean cage, and had a potential adopter within a day or so. She came to look at them, and she and her husband and two kids both held and cuddled the guinea pigs for quite some time. She asked about the health guarantee and I explained it (simply, the pet dies, without it being the new owner's fault, in the first 7 days, we replace). I asked if there was a reason she was asking, nope, just curious. She put down a deposit, came back a few days later to adopt the guinea pigs. Again, held for some time, didn't notice anything odd (nor did I).
Few hours later, I get a text that the guinea pig has some sort of mites or bugs or something. She wanted to know what they were. She said they were little white bugs, and I've only seen black / red mites / fleas, etc. I told her, white bugs, that I dunno, but I explained to give him a bath with blue Dawn dish soap, let it sit on him while lathered up for 5 mins, and then rinse and it should be good. I explained that while I didn't know what the bugs were, that's a common treatment for dogs with fleas, rabbits with mites, etc etc, so there was no reason it shouldn't work, regardless of the type of bug.
I checked the cages here that the guinea pigs were in, couldn't find one bug or anything amiss. Cleaned and completely sterilized the cages just in case. Checked all the other guinea pigs here, none had any bugs or anything. Treated them all with ivermectin as a preventative, anyway. Ivermectin will kill lice, mites, and other small parasitic bugs on animals, so regardless of the type of bug, we should be good. I have also since checked the pigs, and no bugs.
I googled white small bugs, and it turns out, they may have been lice (that's something you now know, lice tend to be a light greyish color). Turns out, lice are species specific. That means, if you have lice, it is human lice. Versus if your guinea pig has lice, they are guinea pig lice. Or if your dog has lice, they are dog lice. These different types of lice cannot go to different species, so your dog's lice cannot become guinea pig lice.
If I had to make an educated guess about all of this, this would be my take -- since I did not find lice (or whatever bugs) on any of my guinea pigs or in their cages, and lice need to be on a living organism to survive due to needing to eat / reproduce (and can't live longer than 24 hours without a host... they didn't come in on shavings or something like that)... my guess would be that the first adopter (who returned the pigs when they didn't get along with hers) may have had lice on her guinea pig, which then laid lice eggs on these guinea pigs... and the timing may have been just right for the new eggs to have hatched, and lice to appear when they went to their new home. That's my guess anyway. Anyway, on the whole communication point of this post...
Next day, I send this person a message, asking how the bath went and how the guinea pig is doing. This was about a week or so ago now, and I have never heard back. This is actually pretty typical. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect all adopters to become my best friend after adoption, but even when I do send out the emails / texts that ask if the person has questions / concerns, I only maybe receive responses from 10-25% of people. That's it.
Do people really want to adopt and be completely done with where they got the animal from? I mean, maybe so, I guess I'm different in that I would like to keep in touch, if possible. I'd like to share updates on how the animal is doing, and ask questions if needed. But I'm personally amazed how few people will even answer a simple message or email...and I know their email / messages are working, since they used those to contact me not long ago prior to that!
When I reach out after an adoption, I'm only trying to be helpful. If someone does have a question, I really would like to answer it and help out, and make sure they have the correct answer to their question, not just the most popular one found by google. In the case of the guinea pigs, I still wonder how he's doing. I would assume they gave the bath and the guinea pigs are doing fine, mainly because... since the lady mentioned the health guarantee, I feel like I would have been contacted, had the guinea pig died or something (though that would be quite the extreme response to lice). So, I assume the guinea pig is doing well, but unfortunately, the adopter didn't take the time to message me back... so I don't know. And I actually do care about the animals, so it's actually upsetting that she didn't respond. I just wish people would think about this sort of thing when they wouldn't respond... because here it is quite a bit of time later... and I'm still thinking about that guinea pig.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Spaying / Neutering to Prevent Unwanted Litters
So, I normally read this sort of thing on the dog facebook pages that I belong to, about spaying early to prevent unwanted litters. But then I've noticed, more frequently, people are asking this about chins.
Now, some people choose to only have one gender. All males or all females. In that case, it is literally impossible for there to be an oops litter, because the right parts can't possibly match up. So, no oops litters there.
There are also people who choose to have some males and some females, without the intention of breeding. Just turns out, they like the looks or personality of this one chin, and it happens to be a male, and then later, they like the looks and personality of this other chin, and it happens to be a female. So, they have two separate cages and separate playtimes and all. No breeding intentions.
Here's where it gets interesting sometimes. Often those people, who don't want to breed, ask about getting one or both of the chins spayed or neutered. I usually would then ask, are they wanting to house them together (as a reason for doing the surgery). No, they just want to prevent unintentional litters.
I'm starting to think maybe people aren't sure how litters come about? As long as the chins are kept apart, in separate cages, separate play times, no together-time... there's actually no way for babies to happen. I've actually asked people, are the cages close together (as in, close enough to breed through the bars)? Half the times, they're across the room from each other, or even in separate rooms (like, one in each kid's room). Ok, so they couldn't breed through the cages if the cages aren't next to each other. Then I ask, joint play times? Or, is that the goal (when one is fixed)? No, they don't think the chins would get along, so they don't want to let them out together.
Ok, so... maybe someone can explain this to me. How are these chins supposed to magically breed, creating an oops litter, which spaying / neutering is going to prevent?
I honestly feel the same about the posts in the dog groups. I just read a post in one of the dog facebook groups, where someone asked, what age is appropriate to spay a female. Some people said 6 months, some said wait until the dog is older. Then one person said, as young as possible, to prevent unwanted litters. Now, I didn't respond because I didn't want to get into it, but... if you're not letting your dog run loose, unsupervised... no unwanted litters. Alternatively, if you don't nave an opposite-sex un-fixed dog in the house that the female will be around when she's in heat... no unwanted litters. Is this sort of thing that difficult to comprehend? Maybe it's just me.
Now, some people choose to only have one gender. All males or all females. In that case, it is literally impossible for there to be an oops litter, because the right parts can't possibly match up. So, no oops litters there.
There are also people who choose to have some males and some females, without the intention of breeding. Just turns out, they like the looks or personality of this one chin, and it happens to be a male, and then later, they like the looks and personality of this other chin, and it happens to be a female. So, they have two separate cages and separate playtimes and all. No breeding intentions.
Here's where it gets interesting sometimes. Often those people, who don't want to breed, ask about getting one or both of the chins spayed or neutered. I usually would then ask, are they wanting to house them together (as a reason for doing the surgery). No, they just want to prevent unintentional litters.
I'm starting to think maybe people aren't sure how litters come about? As long as the chins are kept apart, in separate cages, separate play times, no together-time... there's actually no way for babies to happen. I've actually asked people, are the cages close together (as in, close enough to breed through the bars)? Half the times, they're across the room from each other, or even in separate rooms (like, one in each kid's room). Ok, so they couldn't breed through the cages if the cages aren't next to each other. Then I ask, joint play times? Or, is that the goal (when one is fixed)? No, they don't think the chins would get along, so they don't want to let them out together.
Ok, so... maybe someone can explain this to me. How are these chins supposed to magically breed, creating an oops litter, which spaying / neutering is going to prevent?
I honestly feel the same about the posts in the dog groups. I just read a post in one of the dog facebook groups, where someone asked, what age is appropriate to spay a female. Some people said 6 months, some said wait until the dog is older. Then one person said, as young as possible, to prevent unwanted litters. Now, I didn't respond because I didn't want to get into it, but... if you're not letting your dog run loose, unsupervised... no unwanted litters. Alternatively, if you don't nave an opposite-sex un-fixed dog in the house that the female will be around when she's in heat... no unwanted litters. Is this sort of thing that difficult to comprehend? Maybe it's just me.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Feeding Pellets
So, this has come up a few times lately, so I wanted to touch on this, as a bit of an educational post, as a nice break from me talking about what goes on here all the time.
For a lot of animals, we limit their food. Think about it. Dogs often get a meal or two a day, portion controlled. My older dog Kailey is free fed, because she picks at her food. Misty... well, she's currently being free-fed because of the pups, but normally Misty and Sky are on about 3/4 cup per day of kibble, plus all the pooches get some canned food.
With rabbits and guinea pigs, you often hear of limiting the pellets, as they should eat more hay and greens. Obviously, this is different with chins, because they don't eat the greens. However, people often look at how rabbits and guinea pigs have their pellets restricted in favor of their other foods, and think it should be the same with chinchillas.
For chinchillas, the thing you seem to read about, the magic number, as it were, seems to be 2 tablespoons. Where that magic amount came from, I don't know. They may very well eat that much... but they also may eat more or less. They're all tiny little furry individuals. Just like people, some are pigs, some are skinnier. Some are couch potatoes, some are marathon runners.
The thing is, there's no magic amount. At least, not for chinchillas. The super convenient thing is, chinchillas won't overeat! Of course, if you give them a food chock full of treats and goodies, they're going to pig out on that, but if you give them a healthy pellet-only (as in, no extra goodies mixed into the pellets) diet, like Tradition / Oxbow / Mazuri / Nutrena / Manna Pro / etc etc etc... they will not overeat.
So, there is no need to restrict your chinchilla's pellets. No need to portion control. Just fill up the bowl, and refill when it's getting low. Simple as that. Now you know. :)
For a lot of animals, we limit their food. Think about it. Dogs often get a meal or two a day, portion controlled. My older dog Kailey is free fed, because she picks at her food. Misty... well, she's currently being free-fed because of the pups, but normally Misty and Sky are on about 3/4 cup per day of kibble, plus all the pooches get some canned food.
With rabbits and guinea pigs, you often hear of limiting the pellets, as they should eat more hay and greens. Obviously, this is different with chins, because they don't eat the greens. However, people often look at how rabbits and guinea pigs have their pellets restricted in favor of their other foods, and think it should be the same with chinchillas.
For chinchillas, the thing you seem to read about, the magic number, as it were, seems to be 2 tablespoons. Where that magic amount came from, I don't know. They may very well eat that much... but they also may eat more or less. They're all tiny little furry individuals. Just like people, some are pigs, some are skinnier. Some are couch potatoes, some are marathon runners.
The thing is, there's no magic amount. At least, not for chinchillas. The super convenient thing is, chinchillas won't overeat! Of course, if you give them a food chock full of treats and goodies, they're going to pig out on that, but if you give them a healthy pellet-only (as in, no extra goodies mixed into the pellets) diet, like Tradition / Oxbow / Mazuri / Nutrena / Manna Pro / etc etc etc... they will not overeat.
So, there is no need to restrict your chinchilla's pellets. No need to portion control. Just fill up the bowl, and refill when it's getting low. Simple as that. Now you know. :)
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Making Appointments
I guess I thought this was more or less common sense, but this week has shown me that's not the case.
Let me ask you a question. Let's say we're talking about possible appointments, and I tell respond with this:
And I end the message asking when works?
Now, here's the question. If you respond back and pick a time... do you, or do you not, wait for a confirmation before you just show up?
For me, personally, if I got an email like that, I would likely respond, how about Wednesday at 3? And then I would wait for a response, that would basically tell me, yes that will work, or no that will no work. I suppose maybe the reason I think this way is because I understand that these appointments / availability may fill up / change by the time I respond.
I have come to learn that many people (several in the last few days in fact), just pick a time and show up. In fact, I had one email back and say, ok this time works... I never saw that email... so then the sent another that said, oh could I come at this other time instead? Never saw that email either, as it was a busy weekend. So, they just showed up at the time they specified in the second email. I wasn't home.
Now, this is another one of those things I suppose you can take multiple ways. Should I stay so on top of my email that I get nothing else done? Maybe you think so, maybe you don't. Of course, I do my best, but like this past weekend, we had two expos, one on each day, and that puts everything else on hold for a moment as there's a lot of prep, packing, and set up time.
I suppose another consideration, something else you might view two ways... I said I was available at that time. Did that mean, because I said that, even without knowing someone wanted to come... should I have stayed home? My view on that, personally, is that without knowing I have someone coming (which is why I set appointments as opposed to having hours of operation), I am not required to be here. I set appointments so I know when people are coming, and they can ensure that when they come, I will be here. Mutual benefit. They don't waste a trip when no one's home, and I don't sit around waiting for people who I don't know are possibly coming.
For those curious -- they ended up calling me from my doorstep, and came by later that evening when I was home. No big deal.
The reason I mention this though, is because I find this insanely important as far as appointments. Let me repeat what I said earlier, again. I make them, to ensure I will be home when someone wants to come by. I know that I have an appointment at 5, I will be sure to be home by / before 5 pm. If I have no appointments set for all day and someone shows up... I may be home... but I may not. It depends on the day. But just because I give a list of available times that are possible (keyword: possible) for appointments, that doesn't necessarily mean I will just be sitting home at all of those times, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for people. Rather, they as possibilities. If you would like to come at one of those times, you need to ask, does a certain time work, and I will confirm, yes it does, or no it doesn't. Most likely, unless someone already has an appointment at that time, I do my best to work around people's schedules, so it's not hard to make an appointment. Just... one does need to be made... and confirmed. That is all.
Let me ask you a question. Let's say we're talking about possible appointments, and I tell respond with this:
Friday (today) -- 7 pm or later
Saturday -- 6 or 6:30 pm or 8:15 pm
Sunday -- sorry no availability
Monday -- Available 12:30 and later
Tuesday -- not sure yet
Wednesday -- available all day
Thursday -- available earlier than 12 noon
And I end the message asking when works?
Now, here's the question. If you respond back and pick a time... do you, or do you not, wait for a confirmation before you just show up?
For me, personally, if I got an email like that, I would likely respond, how about Wednesday at 3? And then I would wait for a response, that would basically tell me, yes that will work, or no that will no work. I suppose maybe the reason I think this way is because I understand that these appointments / availability may fill up / change by the time I respond.
I have come to learn that many people (several in the last few days in fact), just pick a time and show up. In fact, I had one email back and say, ok this time works... I never saw that email... so then the sent another that said, oh could I come at this other time instead? Never saw that email either, as it was a busy weekend. So, they just showed up at the time they specified in the second email. I wasn't home.
Now, this is another one of those things I suppose you can take multiple ways. Should I stay so on top of my email that I get nothing else done? Maybe you think so, maybe you don't. Of course, I do my best, but like this past weekend, we had two expos, one on each day, and that puts everything else on hold for a moment as there's a lot of prep, packing, and set up time.
I suppose another consideration, something else you might view two ways... I said I was available at that time. Did that mean, because I said that, even without knowing someone wanted to come... should I have stayed home? My view on that, personally, is that without knowing I have someone coming (which is why I set appointments as opposed to having hours of operation), I am not required to be here. I set appointments so I know when people are coming, and they can ensure that when they come, I will be here. Mutual benefit. They don't waste a trip when no one's home, and I don't sit around waiting for people who I don't know are possibly coming.
For those curious -- they ended up calling me from my doorstep, and came by later that evening when I was home. No big deal.
The reason I mention this though, is because I find this insanely important as far as appointments. Let me repeat what I said earlier, again. I make them, to ensure I will be home when someone wants to come by. I know that I have an appointment at 5, I will be sure to be home by / before 5 pm. If I have no appointments set for all day and someone shows up... I may be home... but I may not. It depends on the day. But just because I give a list of available times that are possible (keyword: possible) for appointments, that doesn't necessarily mean I will just be sitting home at all of those times, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for people. Rather, they as possibilities. If you would like to come at one of those times, you need to ask, does a certain time work, and I will confirm, yes it does, or no it doesn't. Most likely, unless someone already has an appointment at that time, I do my best to work around people's schedules, so it's not hard to make an appointment. Just... one does need to be made... and confirmed. That is all.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
"I Can Pick Up Today" & Other "Offers" With Lower Prices
Let me share with you a short convo I had with someone the other day:
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Them: How much total for Duke?
Me: His adoption fee is $100.
Them: Possible to be any lower? $50. I'm coming way from Waukegan
Me: Sorry no
Them: I could pick up today if $50 but ok
Me: That makes absolutely no difference. This is a chinchilla rescue not a flea market. I'm not dying to sell them as quickly as possible to the lowest bidder, sorry
----------------------------------------------------
Let me make it very clear. I don't freaking care if you can pick up in 5 minutes. My prices are my prices. ESPECIALLY on the cheaper chins. If I have one for $600 and you offer me $550, we may discuss it. You offer me HALF on a $100 chinchilla? Oh hell no. I don't care if you can teleport to my house right now to get it. Nope, no how, no way.
Do these people go to Walmart and haggle? Hell no!!! So why do they do it here? Oh it's a small business. Guess it's ok for Walmart to make money, but not for the small business, that, you know, actually cares about it's customers? Oh heavens no. Pardon the small business from making any money, but the billioniare corporation, oh we can't question their prices!!!
People like this, I honestly want to tell them where they can shove their money.
It gets old, really old, when people constantly question how cheap they can get everything. Since I have a lot of chins, I should just hand them out like Halloween candy, eh? I think not.
Now, I'm sure some of you out there are like, hey, how do you know these people aren't good homes and just want to save a few bucks? They may very well be. However, I have sales, they can wait for them. And... wait for it... these are LIVE ANIMALS. We're not talking about a tchotchke that they can haggle down from $1 at a garage sale. You can't then haggle down pet food. Or vet care. So if someone is going to try to haggle down the price of the chinchilla (and mind you, not by simply asking, hey, are there any discounts...that's fine... but by the way they ask about it and the way they try to convince that I should take their lower price)... I don't want them adopting anyway. They can be a good home to another chin somewhere else.
By the way, these tend to be the same people who point out to me that there's chin on craigslist for $100 with cage and all accessories. How come mine is $100 for just the chin? Oh, well, it has a health guarantee, will replace if it dies within the first week, you have a lifetime of support, yadda yadda. But, oh, I can't throw in a cage and everything with it, for the price of the chin? No, sorry. And guess what? If I tell them, well, if it's such a great deal, why don't you go get the craigslist chin? The answer never fails to be some variation of -- well, yours looks healthier / better cared for / etc etc. Amazing -- you get what you pay for! Imagine that.
I'm never going to get rich off these furballs and selling supplies. Some people are like hey you sold that one chin for $200!! Yes, but each parent likely cost at least that, so they need to have a handful of babies just to recoup costs of parents (and some of those babies will hopefully be held back for show and to put back into the herd), and then of course... maintenance costs. My new basement AC this year was almost $700. My AC bills have ranged between $300-450 per month all summer. Sure, some of the chins sell for a lot, but the bills and expenses are also a lot, and eat up a lot of the money brought in. The reason I mention this -- I'm clearly never going to become a millionaire selling chinchillas... and that's fine. But the place has to stay running in order to keep rescuing and keep providing people with safe chinchilla supplies. To do that requires money, and requires not accepting the lowest bidder on everything. So, sorry not sorry, but lowball offers are insulting and I will not entertain them.
----------------------------------------------------
Them: How much total for Duke?
Me: His adoption fee is $100.
Them: Possible to be any lower? $50. I'm coming way from Waukegan
Me: Sorry no
Them: I could pick up today if $50 but ok
Me: That makes absolutely no difference. This is a chinchilla rescue not a flea market. I'm not dying to sell them as quickly as possible to the lowest bidder, sorry
----------------------------------------------------
Let me make it very clear. I don't freaking care if you can pick up in 5 minutes. My prices are my prices. ESPECIALLY on the cheaper chins. If I have one for $600 and you offer me $550, we may discuss it. You offer me HALF on a $100 chinchilla? Oh hell no. I don't care if you can teleport to my house right now to get it. Nope, no how, no way.
Do these people go to Walmart and haggle? Hell no!!! So why do they do it here? Oh it's a small business. Guess it's ok for Walmart to make money, but not for the small business, that, you know, actually cares about it's customers? Oh heavens no. Pardon the small business from making any money, but the billioniare corporation, oh we can't question their prices!!!
People like this, I honestly want to tell them where they can shove their money.
It gets old, really old, when people constantly question how cheap they can get everything. Since I have a lot of chins, I should just hand them out like Halloween candy, eh? I think not.
Now, I'm sure some of you out there are like, hey, how do you know these people aren't good homes and just want to save a few bucks? They may very well be. However, I have sales, they can wait for them. And... wait for it... these are LIVE ANIMALS. We're not talking about a tchotchke that they can haggle down from $1 at a garage sale. You can't then haggle down pet food. Or vet care. So if someone is going to try to haggle down the price of the chinchilla (and mind you, not by simply asking, hey, are there any discounts...that's fine... but by the way they ask about it and the way they try to convince that I should take their lower price)... I don't want them adopting anyway. They can be a good home to another chin somewhere else.
By the way, these tend to be the same people who point out to me that there's chin on craigslist for $100 with cage and all accessories. How come mine is $100 for just the chin? Oh, well, it has a health guarantee, will replace if it dies within the first week, you have a lifetime of support, yadda yadda. But, oh, I can't throw in a cage and everything with it, for the price of the chin? No, sorry. And guess what? If I tell them, well, if it's such a great deal, why don't you go get the craigslist chin? The answer never fails to be some variation of -- well, yours looks healthier / better cared for / etc etc. Amazing -- you get what you pay for! Imagine that.
I'm never going to get rich off these furballs and selling supplies. Some people are like hey you sold that one chin for $200!! Yes, but each parent likely cost at least that, so they need to have a handful of babies just to recoup costs of parents (and some of those babies will hopefully be held back for show and to put back into the herd), and then of course... maintenance costs. My new basement AC this year was almost $700. My AC bills have ranged between $300-450 per month all summer. Sure, some of the chins sell for a lot, but the bills and expenses are also a lot, and eat up a lot of the money brought in. The reason I mention this -- I'm clearly never going to become a millionaire selling chinchillas... and that's fine. But the place has to stay running in order to keep rescuing and keep providing people with safe chinchilla supplies. To do that requires money, and requires not accepting the lowest bidder on everything. So, sorry not sorry, but lowball offers are insulting and I will not entertain them.
Monday, September 17, 2018
Keeping Appointments
So, I won't go into the one no-show appointment yet (that'll be a story for another day), but for the sake of this post, all you really need to know is that the one morning a few days ago, I had several appointments set for the evening, including a 5 pm appointment.
The 5 pm appointment was actually someone I sort of knew, who was supposed to pick up pre-arranged stuff (and that is all I will say at the moment), so I didn't anticipate them being a no-show.
So, when someone who I'd talked to about appointments contacted me later in the day and asked if 5 pm would work for me, I told her, sorry, no, but that my entire evening was booked up, and that the next time I would have available was a day or two later, after the weekend.
Probably needless to say, you wouldn't be reading this, had my 5 pm showed up.
However, since I didn't know they weren't coming, I told that person they would not be able to come at that time slot, and they said they would have to get back to me with other times that would work for them. Now, they still may... but it's been a few days... so I'm not holding my breath. See, most people that really want to come by, keep in good contact and don't wait days upon days between email / phone responses. So, I don't anticipate hearing from her.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that that 5 pm may think that not showing up for her appointment doesn't really affect anything other than her appointment (well, it does, but again, another post for another day). But in reality, it does. See, had I known she wasn't coming, I could have scheduled the other person for that time slot, and potentially adopted out a chinchilla and maybe even sold some supplies, and possibly even educated someone more on chinchillas and there care. But, as I did not know that my 5 pm wasn't going to show up, I told the other person that I was booked, and ended up sitting around for 60+ minutes, twiddling my thumbs while waiting for a text back.
So, this is just a friendly reminder that people need to remember that if they can't make their appointment, for whatever reason, it is considerably better to let me (or wherever you're going) know, so we can adjust accordingly. So that not only do you make us miss out on your appointment, but we also don't miss out on others, that we might have filled your slot with.
That is all.... for now.
The 5 pm appointment was actually someone I sort of knew, who was supposed to pick up pre-arranged stuff (and that is all I will say at the moment), so I didn't anticipate them being a no-show.
So, when someone who I'd talked to about appointments contacted me later in the day and asked if 5 pm would work for me, I told her, sorry, no, but that my entire evening was booked up, and that the next time I would have available was a day or two later, after the weekend.
Probably needless to say, you wouldn't be reading this, had my 5 pm showed up.
However, since I didn't know they weren't coming, I told that person they would not be able to come at that time slot, and they said they would have to get back to me with other times that would work for them. Now, they still may... but it's been a few days... so I'm not holding my breath. See, most people that really want to come by, keep in good contact and don't wait days upon days between email / phone responses. So, I don't anticipate hearing from her.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that that 5 pm may think that not showing up for her appointment doesn't really affect anything other than her appointment (well, it does, but again, another post for another day). But in reality, it does. See, had I known she wasn't coming, I could have scheduled the other person for that time slot, and potentially adopted out a chinchilla and maybe even sold some supplies, and possibly even educated someone more on chinchillas and there care. But, as I did not know that my 5 pm wasn't going to show up, I told the other person that I was booked, and ended up sitting around for 60+ minutes, twiddling my thumbs while waiting for a text back.
So, this is just a friendly reminder that people need to remember that if they can't make their appointment, for whatever reason, it is considerably better to let me (or wherever you're going) know, so we can adjust accordingly. So that not only do you make us miss out on your appointment, but we also don't miss out on others, that we might have filled your slot with.
That is all.... for now.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Ask Questions!
I feel, personally, this goes without saying...but if you want info and it's not there... feel free to ask!
I had someone last week, email me about putting down a deposit on a chin. Little did they know, the chin (which wasn't listed yet, and still isn't), is $600. Needless to say, when I emailed back and said how much the deposit would be (their question, along with wanting to see pics) and sent pics, I never heard back. If there's no price listed, ask. If it doesn't say whether a chin gets along with other chins or not, ask. I may not know, but it can't hurt to ask. If I didn't post the back story about how a chin came to the rescue and that's a pondering of yours, ask. Again, I may not know (a lot of people say they can't care for it anymore or don't have time... and leave it at that), but you can ask! About the only thing I don't want you to ask for is a discount (see previous blog post), and that's more out of respect than anything.
I try to post whatever info I have on the chins. I've even tried, lately, to include what back story I have, if I have one. Sure, for some chins, it's "the kids got tired of them," or "developed allergies," or whatnot, but if you read Ash's backstory, there's quite the story there. Not all relating directly to him, specifically, but it's about how his family came upon getting chins, and how they were intentionally misinformed, and so on.
But try as I might, I can't include everything. Undoubtedly, someone will wonder if the chin is good with cats or kids or dogs or whatever. I try to put in all the listings if the chin would or would not make a good first chin. However, I don't re-write each ad from scratch (I know, how dare I try to save time), so if the ad I use didn't have it, I may forget to add it back in. That's where, if you're wondering something and it's not there, a quick email asking a question never hurts!
I'm always happy to answer questions and give advice and help out where I can. But I don't know that you have the questions if you don't ask them!
I had someone last week, email me about putting down a deposit on a chin. Little did they know, the chin (which wasn't listed yet, and still isn't), is $600. Needless to say, when I emailed back and said how much the deposit would be (their question, along with wanting to see pics) and sent pics, I never heard back. If there's no price listed, ask. If it doesn't say whether a chin gets along with other chins or not, ask. I may not know, but it can't hurt to ask. If I didn't post the back story about how a chin came to the rescue and that's a pondering of yours, ask. Again, I may not know (a lot of people say they can't care for it anymore or don't have time... and leave it at that), but you can ask! About the only thing I don't want you to ask for is a discount (see previous blog post), and that's more out of respect than anything.
I try to post whatever info I have on the chins. I've even tried, lately, to include what back story I have, if I have one. Sure, for some chins, it's "the kids got tired of them," or "developed allergies," or whatnot, but if you read Ash's backstory, there's quite the story there. Not all relating directly to him, specifically, but it's about how his family came upon getting chins, and how they were intentionally misinformed, and so on.
But try as I might, I can't include everything. Undoubtedly, someone will wonder if the chin is good with cats or kids or dogs or whatever. I try to put in all the listings if the chin would or would not make a good first chin. However, I don't re-write each ad from scratch (I know, how dare I try to save time), so if the ad I use didn't have it, I may forget to add it back in. That's where, if you're wondering something and it's not there, a quick email asking a question never hurts!
I'm always happy to answer questions and give advice and help out where I can. But I don't know that you have the questions if you don't ask them!
Friday, August 31, 2018
Discounts
People are getting really bold, and, honestly, if it keeps up, no one's getting no discounts anymore.
Now, you may know, I have sales periodically, so the chins do go on sale, and they're slightly discounted at that point, usually between $10-50 off, depending on the price. Obviously, the cheaper chins are $10 off, the higher, $50 off. Sometimes at the beginning of the year, I'll have a percentage sale, like for 2014, I had 14% off for January.
Other than these sales, I usually will give a $25 discount off of two chins, plus an extra $25 for every additional chin. So, get 2 chins, $25 off. Get 3 chins, $50 off.
Honestly, I think this is all pretty nice. Not to pat my own back, you understand, but I have pretty regular sales (one every spring, one every fall, one every summer, usually one first of the year), whereas many breeders don't have them all the time, and many private rescues NEVER reduce adoption fees. My prices are also lower than the competitors...I sell my whites for $200-250 (and if it's $250, it's really something special), the next closest breeder starts their whites at $300. So, I kind of feel like, ok I'm cheaper to start with, and then I have sales... pretty good deal.
So lately, I've had two people who've asked what discount they will get if they get two chinchillas. My response is $25 off. The response, both times, has been basically, "that's it??" My response back, that's what everyone gets.
Don't think that's a good enough discount / sale price? Let's do an example. There's a breeder who occasionally does buy-one-get-one-half-off on her chins. Their whites start at $350 and greys usually $100. Versus my whites (even an expensive one) $250, and greys $135. So, for their buy-one-get-one-half-off, you're looking at $400 ($350 + $50) for the two chins. People can whine all they want that they have that sale and I don't... but I mean, even at my REGULAR prices ($250 + $135 = $385... and really it'd be $360 because of the $25 off), I'm STILL cheaper than their sale prices. But yes, it totally makes sense to whine that I don't have good sales.
It says nothing on my website, anywhere, about getting a discount for getting two chins. I offer that because I try to be nice. I understand that people want to save money, get a discount. I get it But guess what, I have bills to pay too, and if you wouldn't go into walmart and ask for a lower price, please don't do it here. If someone thinks my prices are too high, that's fine. They're welcome to go elsewhere. I'm sure they can find a nice backyard-bred chin on craigslist for somewhat less than my prices. The prices are what they are. If someone wants a better price, they're welcome to wait for a sale... of course, can't guarantee that the fancy colors and whatnot will be here when the sales roll around, but they might be. Just a gamble that ya gotta take if the prices are normally too high.
I don't say this all to be a bitch. But believe me, it gets really old when people question prices and ask for discounts, and then your fellow breeders tell you that that same person bought chins from them at higher prices and didn't blink an eye. Just because we have rescue chins doesn't make this a garage sale. They are all living, breathing critters, and deserve nice homes (and not to the lowest bidder). That is all.
Now, you may know, I have sales periodically, so the chins do go on sale, and they're slightly discounted at that point, usually between $10-50 off, depending on the price. Obviously, the cheaper chins are $10 off, the higher, $50 off. Sometimes at the beginning of the year, I'll have a percentage sale, like for 2014, I had 14% off for January.
Other than these sales, I usually will give a $25 discount off of two chins, plus an extra $25 for every additional chin. So, get 2 chins, $25 off. Get 3 chins, $50 off.
Honestly, I think this is all pretty nice. Not to pat my own back, you understand, but I have pretty regular sales (one every spring, one every fall, one every summer, usually one first of the year), whereas many breeders don't have them all the time, and many private rescues NEVER reduce adoption fees. My prices are also lower than the competitors...I sell my whites for $200-250 (and if it's $250, it's really something special), the next closest breeder starts their whites at $300. So, I kind of feel like, ok I'm cheaper to start with, and then I have sales... pretty good deal.
So lately, I've had two people who've asked what discount they will get if they get two chinchillas. My response is $25 off. The response, both times, has been basically, "that's it??" My response back, that's what everyone gets.
Don't think that's a good enough discount / sale price? Let's do an example. There's a breeder who occasionally does buy-one-get-one-half-off on her chins. Their whites start at $350 and greys usually $100. Versus my whites (even an expensive one) $250, and greys $135. So, for their buy-one-get-one-half-off, you're looking at $400 ($350 + $50) for the two chins. People can whine all they want that they have that sale and I don't... but I mean, even at my REGULAR prices ($250 + $135 = $385... and really it'd be $360 because of the $25 off), I'm STILL cheaper than their sale prices. But yes, it totally makes sense to whine that I don't have good sales.
It says nothing on my website, anywhere, about getting a discount for getting two chins. I offer that because I try to be nice. I understand that people want to save money, get a discount. I get it But guess what, I have bills to pay too, and if you wouldn't go into walmart and ask for a lower price, please don't do it here. If someone thinks my prices are too high, that's fine. They're welcome to go elsewhere. I'm sure they can find a nice backyard-bred chin on craigslist for somewhat less than my prices. The prices are what they are. If someone wants a better price, they're welcome to wait for a sale... of course, can't guarantee that the fancy colors and whatnot will be here when the sales roll around, but they might be. Just a gamble that ya gotta take if the prices are normally too high.
I don't say this all to be a bitch. But believe me, it gets really old when people question prices and ask for discounts, and then your fellow breeders tell you that that same person bought chins from them at higher prices and didn't blink an eye. Just because we have rescue chins doesn't make this a garage sale. They are all living, breathing critters, and deserve nice homes (and not to the lowest bidder). That is all.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
"He's Only 12 Pounds!"
So, I get a lot, and I mean a LOT of calls for me to take in dogs and cats. People don't look at where they are calling, they just see the word rescue, and call.
I specify, we take in small caged pets, like guinea pigs, chinchillas, etc etc.
I had a guy tell me the other day that we he had a miniature pinscher that he needed to give up.
So I repeated, we only take in small caged pets, gave examples, and then even went as far to say, we don't take in any dogs or cats.
The response? "He's only 12 pounds."
Now tell me. If you have a miniature pinscher and you go to the pet store.... do you go to the small animal section? Heck no. So don't be calling a small animal rescue about your small dogs and cats. It's that simple. Really.
I specify, we take in small caged pets, like guinea pigs, chinchillas, etc etc.
I had a guy tell me the other day that we he had a miniature pinscher that he needed to give up.
So I repeated, we only take in small caged pets, gave examples, and then even went as far to say, we don't take in any dogs or cats.
The response? "He's only 12 pounds."
Now tell me. If you have a miniature pinscher and you go to the pet store.... do you go to the small animal section? Heck no. So don't be calling a small animal rescue about your small dogs and cats. It's that simple. Really.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Rosebuds
Rosebuds are one of our top selling herbs.... so you know, as if they weren't expensive enough, the supplier raised the price almost $5 per pound!
We have low profit margins on our items, with the goal being to pass along the savings to the customers, making chinchilla supplies affordable for them, while still bringing in a little for the rescue. With the low profit margins... I can't eat the cost of another ~ $5.00 per pound, unless I want to sell them for less than what I'm paying for them. Unfortunately, that means I have to pass the cost increase along to my customers.
Rosebuds were $2.50 per ounce, now they will be $3.00 for one ounce.
The larger package was $7.00 for three ounces, which was a savings of 50 cents off the normal cost of 3 ounces... now the larger package will be $8.50 for 3 ounces, still a 50 cents savings off the normal cost.
We have low profit margins on our items, with the goal being to pass along the savings to the customers, making chinchilla supplies affordable for them, while still bringing in a little for the rescue. With the low profit margins... I can't eat the cost of another ~ $5.00 per pound, unless I want to sell them for less than what I'm paying for them. Unfortunately, that means I have to pass the cost increase along to my customers.
Rosebuds were $2.50 per ounce, now they will be $3.00 for one ounce.
The larger package was $7.00 for three ounces, which was a savings of 50 cents off the normal cost of 3 ounces... now the larger package will be $8.50 for 3 ounces, still a 50 cents savings off the normal cost.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Shipping... "But It's Not That Far"
I know I've talked about shipping before, but it seems that now that I've posted several times saying I can't ship, now I'm getting these messages saying, well, am I sure I can't ship? It's not that far.
Distance has NOTHING to do with it. It costs just as much for me to ship a chinchilla to the Indianapolis airport as it does to ship one to the Seattle, Washington airport. This isn't like booking a human flight, where farther is more... it's flat rate for animals.
And, as mentioned before, it's $400+ to ship one. So, not cost effective for the buyer, and not worth my time to spend all that money (even with getting it paid back) to make the cost of one adoption fee.
Not to mention, even if someone wanted to pay the money, plus throw in an extra $$$ for me to make it worth my effort... it's like 90 out. Waaaaaay too hot. So, I couldn't ship, even if I wanted to. Sorry.
Distance has NOTHING to do with it. It costs just as much for me to ship a chinchilla to the Indianapolis airport as it does to ship one to the Seattle, Washington airport. This isn't like booking a human flight, where farther is more... it's flat rate for animals.
And, as mentioned before, it's $400+ to ship one. So, not cost effective for the buyer, and not worth my time to spend all that money (even with getting it paid back) to make the cost of one adoption fee.
Not to mention, even if someone wanted to pay the money, plus throw in an extra $$$ for me to make it worth my effort... it's like 90 out. Waaaaaay too hot. So, I couldn't ship, even if I wanted to. Sorry.
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