Saturday, June 30, 2012

Not much going on today

Well, today was a slow day.  Worked most of the day, went to church, went to my grandma's for her 87th birthday.... so for chin stuff... not all that much time.

Did get a few emails though -- the person who was supposed to come tomorrow to pick out two rats now is working and needs to reschedule... so I can sleep in and let her reschedule for sometime during the week.

The person picking up Tallie & Lilly tomorrow emailed me with directions she pulled off of mapquest or something like that.  Looked pretty good, I emailed her back with some hints and pointers to go along with the directions.

The person getting Ember's kit emailed me back that they're all set on their end to get the chin.  I checked, I don't have their adoption form, which they said they were going to mail on the 23rd.  I don't know if they actually did/didn't mail that form, so I emailed them back asking about that.  ]

Haven't heard from the person with the borrowed chin yet, so I assume things must not have gone horribly.  Course, the longer the chin's there, the more allergens will build up, so we'll see what her decision is at the end of the week. 

I have someone who wants to know what it'll cost for a shelf and shipping... so I need to cut the shelf, make it with poo guards and then weigh it and figure out shipping... I should do that tonight, but it's late and I'm tired... so tomorrow, after my Tallie/Lilly adoption is done with.


Friday, June 29, 2012

Not much luck today

So, went to Ace today to see if they had any more of those screws (for the FN).  Course, they didn't.  Finally convinced the guy I was talking to to actually put in an order for me, so he said someone will give me a call when the order comes in.  Hopefully, that'll be soon.

Then, I got another webstore order today, for a food bowl.  Packaged it up in a small box, with some of those air pocket things to keep it as light as possible.  Shipping ended up being $5.50.  My webstore charged her $2.50.  So the total for the entire order with shipping was $6.50 and $5.50 of that was shipping.  That food bowl cost me a lot more than the $1 I made on it!  Well, at least this alerted me to the fact that that food bowl needs a good sized hike in it's shipping on the webstore.  So for next time, I won't lose out so much money on shipping one item out.

On a happier note, the person coming to do a trial run with one of our chins came today.  Picked up the chin, food, cage, and all that, and we got it all loaded into her car.  So she's going to let me know how everything goes with the chin -- hopefully she won't be allergic with just the one.  Cause it's one thing to be at our place, with all the animals, and have an allergic reaction, versus to be at your own house with one extra animal.  So we'll see, she's going to let me know.

Haven't heard back from the people with the two prairie dogs.  Considering they'd said that they'd hope to hear from me soon, I would have thought I would have heard back, but I guess not.  When that kind of thing happens, it makes me wonder what happens to the pet.  Like probably only 20% of the people who email/call asking us to take in the pet actually bring over their pet.  So what about the other 80%?  Do they sell the pet?  Do they decide to keep the pet?  Who knows. 

Cleaning and more FN stuff and orders

So, came home, realized that it's gotten kind of messy downstairs.  Vaccuumed the tables, gave everyone food/water, and realized, hey, Ember's kit is getting quite huge.  Like she's probably 400-450 grams already she is BIG for how old she is (born 4/1).  She's going home on the 8th.  And then we'll hang onto Ember a bit longer to check she's not pregnant, and then she can be adopted out as well.  So, I moved the two of them to one of our empty QC's and cleaned their previous cage and put it by our other spare cages. 

Which reminded me that I needed to do those FN pans.  So, with a lot of scrubbing, I got one of the two pans I was working on completely done.  Sprayed the entire thing down with my simple green/vinegar mixture and wiped it down, and boy did the grime come off.  Flipped the pan over, and the entire thing was sticky and so I had to spray all of that and wipe all of that down as well. Ickkk.

For the second pan, got a good start on that corner... let the vinegar sit for awhile and scrubbed... but for some reason I didn't start on the 2nd pan til I had the first done so the vinegar didn't have enough time to penetrate and so I ended up leaving a rag soaked in fresh vinegar on the part that really needs some TLC. So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get the rest of that off, spray down that pan and wipe down all sides and back of it.

Which makes me think, I don't know if I did that for the pan that I put IN the FN.  While I scrubbed the deposits and stains mostly off, I don't know if I sprayed it down at the end or flipped it over to clean, so I should probably pull that out of the FN and clean that, just to be safe. With the condition (or lack of) that these cages were in, I wouldn't want to take any chances on the previous chins passing anything to ours. 

So, I have two people working on liners for me at the moment.  From CnH I have someone who made me me three sets -- two liners each (one with three... I'll explain), a hanging house w/ pillow, a pillow, a hammock, a corner hammock, and a fleece tube with cover.  So, for the one with three liners -- since we are going to have two extra pans and will be able to easily split 2 FN's if needed, I got an extra liner with no cut-out.  That way, if we split the FN, I will have two of the same liners, one for the top and one for the bottom.  And it's not like I couldn't have made the hammocks and pillows myself, but I wanted it all to match, and finding the exact same fabric... well... I just don't have the time to be sure I get the exact same thing, only to find out I didn't.  So the total for three sets with shipping ended up being $254 (and that's WITH a discount that the person was nice enough to give me).  Ouch.  But..... these are cages that are/will be used for the rescues, and we had a $250 donation earlier this year.  We'll just say the donation paid for that.  And the person making the liners said she threw in some various sticks for the chins, so they'll be happy for that.  The little extras are always welcome and appreciated.

So since I'm sure everyone's dying to see our new liners... some pics:















I emailed that person who has been working on my order since Feb. -- my other liners and stuff should be leopard print -- haven't heard back.

Then, Jean (of TJs) is making liners (guess we're gonna have an extra set if the leopard one ever gets here, cause we only have four FNs) for us as well.  They're going to be blue tie dye on top and blue merle on the bottom.  And of course I couldn't get liners and not get other stuff from her, so I've got a whole order there.. .which I keep adding to!  So she better hurry up and complete the order before I have one of everything as part of my order!  Lol.  So that's going to be a big dollar amount order as well.  But I think these will be some of my first major orders of this year, so not doing too too bad.

So then, I packaged up the small order for the one person - that's all ready to go.

The person coming Sunday to adopt Tallie & Lilly has a $230 order, and only $130 of that is chins, so I spent today getting most of that put aside for her.  Since my work table only has one cage on it right now (Aries' hamster cage) I actually had room to lay everything out... so I got her hammocks and cuddlebuddies ready, and so when she comes, I'll just have to remember to get her a 25 lb bag of food from our stack.  And so she'll come, pick out a cage, get allllllll of her stuff, and she'll be all set.  Very nice person.

Mixed up some more rat food.  I swear they eat it like it's going out of style or something.  I will have to pick up more cheerios, oatmeal squares, and pasta tomorrow after work.  And vinegar, cause my gallon is almost out, after having to work on those pans....

Had someone email about wanting to adopt two male rats today -- emailed them the care packet and adoption form -- I hope I hear back from them... that would significantly bring our rat number down.  Right now, we have 7 -- three females and four males.  Well, on the 7th, I have someone coming to pick out their rats.  If they choose females... I might have to suggest they get all three.  Just a suggestion.  Cause rats do like company.  Even if they didn't, that would bring us down to 1 female, and then say the other person got two males, then that'd bring is down to 2 males, so 3 rats total.  Our of our AWL rats.  We also have the two rats that came in with Lilly, but they're caged separately, so that's a different story.  And I think they might get adopted out if it wasn't for the fact that all our others are younger than them.  So once the younger ones have been adopted out, I think Spots and Princess will have a better chance of being adopted out. 

Got an email back from the people adopting Willow, Lexi, and Jordyn... said they want to come the 11th or 12th (I believe on their way to/from somewhere, where they'll pass this area).  I will be working both days, so I sent them an email, let them know.  Hopefully they'll be able to make it one of those days.  That would free up the other FN to be scrubbed down and readied for liners and new accessories. 

Have someone doing a trial run with a chinchilla for a week, they're picking up her and her stuff tomorrow (for a deposit, I haven't completely lost my mind).  Got everything she could possibly need together.  Cage, food bowl, water bottle, way too much food for a week, waay too much hay for a week, baggie of treats.. there are already hanging toys in the cage so I think she'll be set.  Oh and a carrier for the chin.  So that's all set up and ready to go, so I'll be seeing them tomorrow.

I'm sure I did more chin-related stuff today, but it's not coming to mind.  Oh!  Besides taking the usual rescues out for playtime and socialization, Winx and Toby (separately) got to come out for awhile today.  Sadly, the pet chins are the last to come out when we have a ton of rescues.  Fixed a toy in Winx's cage -- he had this toy where it was like a horizontal bar and it had three toy things hanging down from it.  Well, it was just strung up by some safe rope stuff, which of course got chewed... so maybe a week or two ago I had re-strung (with wire this time) one of the pieces that had fallen down and re-hooked it up.  Well, then the other two pieces fell after I did that, so today, I pulled out more wire and made another hanging thing to attach to the horizontal thing and to balance out the weight.  So I put that up there and he was going all gaga over the new toy.  My adorable baby.

That's another thing.  I have so many toys and houses and various "things" on the side that are meant to go in the new FN's... once those are set up and are ready to be used (which will require the help of volunteers because we'll need to move tables, move cages around, and so on) the chins going into those cages (from other cages) are going to think they've hit the chinnie jackpot, cause those cages are going to be decked out.  Not like our other cages aren't, but there's just so much more room in the FN's to do that sort of stuff.   

Oh!  Forgot to mention this the other day.  Got Lola and Jessie in at the vet.  Got new antibiotics to try with Jessie.  For Lola... the vet ground down the one remaining tooth as low as she felt she could... still not even with the missing bottom tooth (well, obviously) but she said that all we can do is wait for them to start growing back in and THEN we can file them so they're even.  And actually, she's doing well.  She's eating enough on her own to maintain her weight.  Still giving her CC a few times a day when I can fit it in, but since she is eating on her own, I'm not so worried about her.  Jessie... we'll see how she takes to these antibiotics.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Funny picture, just noticed....


I know this picture is in the previous post, but I had to post it, enlarged, again, to show the funny-ness.  To me anyway.  Notice anything odd bout the pic?  About where the chins are?  Ok, so one on the wheel, one in the hammock (bottom level, you can see the beige), and one... levitating in the area where the chins can go from top to bottom.  Wonder how she's doing that....

FN's

So, since I realized there's no pictures of our FN's up on the regular website... since it still shows the pictures of the old setup before we ever got any... thought I'd post them here, before they make it up on the website (and when they do, they'll all be fleece-lined, so they'll look different anyhow).

Our one and only CN... with like 36829036 broken bar repairs that we had to do when we got it, and still have had to repair some since we've been using it.  Fun times.  I would worry too much if the cage left, people'd be breaking bars left and right, heck, we even broke some more since it came.  But I think we've got the shelves placed ok now and bolted enough times.  Decent cage, I mean I like the FN's, so other than the breaking bars, it's good... since we're keeping it, I wish it could support a wheel..... but if it can't even do shelves very well... I just don't think it's a good idea.  Our first chin, Winx (yes, a male), lives in this pink mansion.  Notice how he managed to not be in EITHER picture... he may be just a little embarrassed with all the pink.


FN #1 - this cage currently houses Tallie (white ebony) and Lilly (black velvet).  Lilly is a rescue, Tallie is one of our retired breeder chins - both are going to their new home this weekend, and then the cage will be scrubbed and cleaned and made ready for fleece items... that is... if the person I put in this liner order with ever gets the done (*goes off the blogging for a sec, sends person email*).  My order was for leopard print liners....to try to match (halfway match anyway) that hammock I made up top... yeah I paid for my order on Feb. 26.  Still waiting.


FN #2 - this cage currently houses Willow, Jordyn, & Lexi (Willow apparently didn't want to be in either picture).  They came in with the CN, and we did have them housed in it for awhile... but... I fixed all the broken bars before I put them in... put them in... more and more broken bars... so now they're in an FN.  Same amount of space, but Winx breaks less bars (in fact, I don't think he's broken any lately).  Apparently three chins that tend to hang out on shelves together is too much weight for the CN.  But Winx is a smaller chin and there's only one of him, so... though that one CN shelf does get that diving-board wobble when he uses it as a spring  board.  So that's gonna probably break too one day... but at the moment we're ok.  I may just need to brace up that shelf with something.  These three chins are rescues, and have a home lined up... they just need to get back to me with a pickup date.  



For anyone who's like, man those cages don't have many toys... there are toys and perches hanging on the doors as well, you can't see them in the pics.

Today

So, came home from work, had two voicemails on the cell phone.  The first was from a NY number, said they had seen the website and had some questions.  Called them back, they haven't called me back yet.

The other was... well, yesterday, it was a week since I'd called the home of Daisy and Delilah, and they had said someone would call me back in a day or two, and no one did... so I called up the Dad's cell phone and left a voicemail saying (nicely) that I was just wondering what was going on with the chins since they hadn't called, and my number was... so then today, I got a call from the mom.  When I called her back, she was very apologetic, she said that had she known they had signed a contract and all, she would have called me long before she put the ad up on craigslist (the dad said the daughter put up the ad).  She said she didn't even think about it -- and really, other than knowing the chins were adopted from a rescue (which she did say, typically have those kind of "must be returned to rescue" contracts), she wasn't there when the dad and kids adopted the chins, so she wouldn't have seen the papers and contract being signed.  No big deal, really, as long as the chins make it back here. 

So she said that apparently when the dad and the kids got the chins, they didn't tell her where they were going or anything, just showed up with the chins when they came back.  And it sounded like they had an agreement that the dad and daughter would care for the chins, but she said that just wasn't happening, and that the family had horses and donkeys and tons of other pets, and that if they didn't have all the other pets, it'd be one thing, but since they did, the chins were just something she didn't have the time to clean and deal with, if the people who wanted the chins weren't going to help.  In all fairness, I would be pissed if my husband/kids brought home a pet that they wanted and I ended up being the one caring for it and all.  So I do understand.

Well anyway, in looking back at their adoption form, they're out in Valpo, so we talked about drop-off and eventually came to the fact that since I work in Hobart 3 days of the week, she could meet me at my office after I get out of work to drop off the chins.  So, since I'm not working there again until Monday, I'll be seeing her Monday to get the chins.  So assuming that happens, this all worked out alright (though I would have preferred not having to call them so many times and bug them... but it is what it is).

So, got several emails today... one of our potential adoptive homes was wondering if they would be allergic to chins... so they came here (this was at least a week or two ago) and they were ok, but said they had a reaction when they went home.  So, we came to the agreement that they can do a trial run with a chin and one of our spare cages for a week.  So, they wanted to verify that we're still doing that, which we are, so they're picking up chin/supplies on Fri.

Then, had one of our repeat buyers ask about getting some shelves from us, wanting to do half of a FN, and wanting suggestions.  Well, all our FNs/CN have different shelving and are different inside, so I told her I'd get her pictures of ours and she could decide what she wanted.  Have yet to do that.  Well, I took the pictures, I have yet to email them.

I realized I never emailed back Lisa from the Calumet City Petco about their adoption days, and since I had asked her to verify that she actually was from Petco and not someone trying to pull my leg (hey, can't be too careful), she had given me a phone number and some days she worked where I could call in to verify.  So, I figured, I'll call and tell her we can come... so I called, and she actually answered the phone, which was highly convenient (I only have a first name, so I could see me saying "can I talk to Lisa?" and them being like "Lisa who?").  So I told her we can come and nailed down some questions I had and all, and so we'll be at the Cal City Petco on July 15th. 

Have that webstore order from last night... didn't work to fill it yet, I guess that'll be tomorrow.  I had another one of those "notification of payment received" emails today and I looked and one of our adoptive homes donated $1 to the rescue.  How nice.

I did cut the wood for and build one of our regular hidey houses -- for the rat guy that was here yesterday.  Got the entire thing put together, rubberbanded, and the top weighed down, so it'll be ready for pickup in like 2 days.  Got an email from him today with some pictures of his and the new rats in his play area... he said they're not getting along.  Hopefully that will change.

Then went to work on the FN's.  Well, that was probably earlier in the day, but whatever.  I had on my to-do list to take off the doors and clean the hinges (for the FN's that's fully assembled).  Well... three doors came off no problem, cleaned the hinges, put the doors back.  The fourth door... let's just say I had a rubber mallet and was hammering as hard as I could... the cage was lifting a little off of the ground, so I had to use one hand to put downward pressure on the cage and the other to hammer upwards on the bottom of the door... FINALLY got it off.  Probably sounded like I was trying to kill the cage, it took a lot of hammering with the rubber mallet to get that stinkin door off.  Cleaned the hinges as good as I could.  Door still doesn't swing freely, so depending on how much that annoys me when the cage is actually in use, I may end up taking it off again and WD-40'ing the hinges, but at the moment, it was at least clean, and not so miserable to get back on, so that was good.

.... and onto the pans.  Out of the four used ones, I had already cleaned the one, which I have in the set-up FN.  So I'd been cleaning the 2nd and 3rd ones... got both of them clean to the point where there's only one corner on each pan that still is grimy.  The ridiculous part is that I would scrub... let it sit... scrub... let it sit... for a good part of 3 hours and those corners still aren't anywhere near "done."  The one corner, like the grime is like several centimeters thick, an there's no scraping it off with the paint scraper, it is just thick.  And I was using full strength vinegar.  Usually for pans that need some vinegar action I'll use my Simple Green/vinegar mixure that I keep in a spray bottle to clean the tables downstairs... I was using straight up vinegar and it was STILL taking that long.  And we're talking like it's not like these corners are done.  I'm going to surely have at least another hour's work on both of them.  And the pan I've left for last is the worst pan (oh joy)....and really, I don't need ALL of them clean, because unless I'm splitting the FN's, I really only need 2 of the 4 pans scrubbed clean.  But... I'd rather do them all while I'm in the cleaning mood, or else I'd come to a point where I'd need to split the FN's and then I'd have the dirty pans and say, I don't want to put my nice clean fleece liners in those... so might as well do it now.

Spent some time emailing the  person who's taking home Tallie and Lilly this weekend, she sounds like she'll be a great home.  I need to get off my butt and start getting her order ready, cause I had to add quite a few rows to my invoice to accommodate the one-of-everything that she decided she's leaving with... which is fine, but I probably shouldn't wait until Sunday to start putting that order together.  But that'll be tomorrow.  After they leave... I probably have 2-3 people that I have saved their emails that wanted to know if their home fell through.  So once they leave on Sunday I can email all those people and be like, "well they went to their new adoptive home, but if you want a different pair, I have...."

Have had like NO interest in either of our standard pairs.  And I mean, where can you get two chins for $130?  Granted, they're all like 5 years old, but considering chins live 10-15 years, they could still have quite some time around here... 

Also got an email from someone saying they got some prairie dogs and they're not what they expected (which makes me ask, what did the expect? and what did they end up with?) and asking about the rescue taking them in and if we'd give them something for them.  So I need to email her back. 

That may be it for today.  For tomorrow -- more FN pan cleaning, I should work on the two chin orders... hopefully the one person on CnH will get me a total for all my fleece stuff that they made me so I can pay them, and at least get that one FN going with some stuff in it and all. 

That's another thing... when Tallie/Lilly are adopted out, that FN's getting pulled from use and getting cleaned and de-shaving'd so it can be changed over to fleece liners.  Same with the one that Willow, Lexi, and Jordyn are in.  And then once that's all done, and the other two FN's are all put together and have their accessories and liners in them, then will come the time when all the cages and tables are pulled away from the wall and everything will move around.  Ought to be interesting to see how the new layout turns out, when we eventually get there...

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Webstore order

Haven't gotten an order through the webstore in forever.  Makes me wonder if it's worth how much I pay for the website to keep that option up there (I have to have the highest package to be able to have that many items in the webstore). 

Just got an order in now, though, for a corner shelf, two bagels, an ounce of rosebuds, and 10 apple & oat treats.  For once nothing too complicated.  So I will likely get that together tomorrow.

And... when the rat guy came over today, he had originally wanted two of the porthole hidey houses, and I remember thinking, does he realize how big those are?  Cause we always get the comment that they're larger than people think, cause no one ever actually looks at the dimensions... and so when he got here and saw them, he was like ok maybe that's too big.  So he decided to switch and get our original hidey houses, which are considerably smaller (and half the price)... but we only had one made up.  So he said he'll come back for the other one, so I need to make that for him.  So maybe tomorrow I'll do that and get the webstore order ready.

Shorter day....

Ok, so not really a "shorter" day, but I'm tired and not spending 8 hours with the chins today.  We'll call today my "day off." 

So, got home, had someone come over to pick up their two on-hold rats.  So two more rats (a male and a female - they have a split FN with one section males, other females) went to their new home today.  And their owner says if he could find another CN for under $100 (hey, he did once, kudos to that, I can't even find FN's for $100) he would adopt more.  So I told him, if I see any I will let him know.  Anyway, here's Pudgy (male) and the female with their new "dad," Jim.


So, I suppose I was lucky I had this adoptive home coming over when they did.  I go downstairs with this guy, and immediately notice the CN door is open!  And Winx (my baby, of all cages to be open...) is just chillin in the cage.  Gooooooood boy for not running out.  So of course I close the door as quickly as possible before he thinks otherwise about his decision to stay in the cage... must have not closed it securely.  Very glad I was down there when I was.

Then, had someone stop over and pick up a few supplies, and donated $1 to the rescue.  That was nice. 

Checked on the baby chins today - all lost a few grams.  I feel like Lilly took her sweet time getting in milk the last time she had babies, so we'll see how they are tomorrow.

No work on the FN's today, too tired.  Maybe tomorrow.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Not enough hours in the day!

So, I came home from work, and I don't know where the night went.  Went downstairs and cut the last pieces of wood to finish up the two porthole hidey houses that are going home with the two rats tomorrow.  So that got done.

When I got home, noticed two huge boxes from Bass sitting on the front porch, so I went and brought those in.  Opened them right away to check that the pans weren't damaged (lately I've been reading on the forum that people have been getting damaged pans from them, but no, ours were fine).  Took the two custom pans and laid them on top of the cages they were set for -- had to have my eek-moment where I checked that they actually were going to fit the cages... which they did.  And if they didn't, I'd just be screwed cause Bass doesn't accept returns on custom pans (as would only make sense). 

Also opened up my two cutout FN pans from Bass, and those were good as well. 

So, now that I had the pans, I could write up the listings for two more cages, so I did that, and added 3 more cages (the one I was just kinda sitting around on, waiting until I could do the three at once) to the Used Cages for Sale page.  The custom pans fit the cages good and they look so much better (and so much more "useful" than the pans that had rusted all the way through).  So I got those listed.

Then, put the one cutout pan in the FN, and poured some vinegar into one of the bottom FN pans and scrubbed and let it sit... and scrubbed and let it sit... and scrubbed and let it sit.  Well, eventually I decided it was as good as I was going to get it, and put that in the FN.  So the one FN is completely together with the pans in it now.  No accessories or anything, that's for another day.  Started scrubbing and letting sit another one of the FN pans... the 2nd best pan out of the four that came with the cages... that one I spent forever on, and it still requires more elbow grease, but I ended up drying it out for the night and I can go back to it tomorrow, or another day.

Realized that the doors on the FN (the completed one) are a bit... stiff.  Like they don't swing freely, so I think I'm going to dig out a rubber mallet, get those doors off, clean and WD-40 the hinges, and *crosses fingers* get the doors back on.  Again, for another day though.

As for the chins -- well, I suppose this isn't the "rescue" - but one of our pedigreed chins, Lilly, FINALLY had her babies -- two mosaics (male/female) and a standard (female).  Very happy about that, mom looks good, babies all healthy.  The white boy looks like our Toby -- light gray around the eyes and base of the tail, but otherwise white.  He's the biggest, over 50 grams... the other two were 44 and 49 I believe.  Good weights. 

So I marked the babies down in our "chin birth records" file, they are MNWI B11-B13.  Bailey and Lilly's kits.  Some pictures:





Precious little things.  And that's day-one -- born eyes open, fully furred, ready to go.  Perfectly squeezable.

And, also not the "rescue" per se, but I also realized I said that Pixie (g-pig) had her pups but I never posted pics of them either... was reminded when someone asked about them today and I was thinking, "did I tell her that Pixie had her babies?" and then I thought, "it's probably in the blog."   Two appear to be Abyssinian and the other looks to be your regular short-hair...but has one curl on its back.




The last picture isn't the greatest, but it's good for size comparison -- note the size of Truffles' head/nose compared to the size of the baby.  I need to get some pictures of our adults... I'm not even sure they're listed on the "our pets" page.  Need to get on that.  Not enough hours in the day.

And I could have stayed downstairs scrubbing the FN pans, fixing the doors for the cage, and playing with all the babies... but there's work in the morning, so... gotta pay for the rescue somehow.

I ran across this article today that talked about how people say they "rescued" a dog if they bought one from the pet store, cause they were "saving" it from the puppy mill or whatever, and was saying how that's such a misconception.... well, anyway, the article itself wasn't important, but I thought it drew an interesting distinction between rescues and pet stores.  Said something like:

A rescue is an organization that is trying it's hardest to put itself out of business.

A pet store is an organization trying its hardest to stay in business.

...and when you think about it, isn't that the truth?  As a rescue, we/other rescues take in sick animals that non one wants which require a lot of care, time, and perhaps, most importantly, money, and adopt them out for nowhere near what we've spent on them.  Have to pay for good toys, good food, and so on.  We filter our water for the rescues.  We have a good portion of our basement devoted to the rescue.  We have to cool/heat that area to keep the rescues happy/healthy.  It all costs money, and in the end, the rescue ends up losing out.  Which is why we started selling supplies and used cages and started carrying new cages to sell and all of that, because we were always so far in the negative that there was just no way to keep the rescue open.  My bank account just isn't that big, even with a $9/hour job and a $10/hour job (and the difference between the $9/hour and $10/hour jobs?  The $10/hour job required 7 years of education, the $9/hour job -- no education needed).  Oh yeah, I'm not a millionaire, did I mention that?  The rescue actually has its own bank account, our "Fuzzy Fund," and it is in the positive now, and has been (thankfully) since we started seriously carrying supplies and looking into selling just about everything someone might need to go with a chin.  We have had some great people help us out, pointing us to cheaper places to get some stuff wholesale and just otherwise good places to get things at a more reasonable price than others.  We've had volunteers come over and help us clean cages, sand down shelves/toys, and whatever else is needed.  We've had people drive out to an owner's home, pick up rescues, and bring us the rescues the once when I was off from work for a month because of illness and couldn't drive out to get them myself.  We've had a lot of people donate things -- money, cages, whatnot.  One of our volunteers donated our two rabbit/guinea pig cages.  They're probably $100/each cages and nothing wrong with them.  The people that donated money -- well, I know I've talked about how much those FN's have been costing me to buy replacement parts for and fix up -- that money is somewhat coming from donations.  A lot of people have contributed to what we are today, and for that, we are thankful.  Couldn't do it alltogether on my own, and while the donations and help don't make up quite the amount of difference that the supply sales do, they are actually probably more important, because it shows that people care about what we do and are willing to help us out.  That's something.

... on that note, speaking of people helping us out... we may be at the Cal City Petco in the middle of the month at one of their adoption days.  I know, right, someone told me I should contact the Petco's/Petsmart's and ask them about participating in their adoption days, and I thought, eh, it's not like we're the humane society, they could say no... but they contacted me!  So we're working on figuring that out, but hopefully we'll be able to be there and have some chins showcased.  Working that out... is for another day.  Yet again, not enough hours.

Also had someone who wanted to be added to our waiting list today... have their email flagged at the moment so I make sure to go back to it... cause it's like 1:30 in the morning and I have to be up at like 7:30... have a few emails flagged actually.  And haven't called the people back about Daisy/Delilah yet... tomorrow.  Cause I think last week I called them Tuesday, so it'll be a week if I call them tomorrow.  Er, today.  Later. 

Ok, so I really have to go to bed now, so that's it for today.





Sunday, June 24, 2012

In other news...

So other than the chin spin drama, the past few days have been going pretty well.  Yesterday we had two people show up for their appointments and pick out three rats (all females) who went to their new homes.  Very nice people, very friendly. 

Pics of the adoptive homes:



Then today, I woke up from my nap to find I had a call from someone about the rats.  Well, me and my mom were going to the local carnival for a bit, and it was closing early cause it was the last night, so I figured I'd call the lady back when I got home.  Well, this person was DETERMINED to get ahold of me... by the time I'd started making the trek back to the car (we parked omg so far away), I had like five calls from this person, two with voicemails.  So, it was almost 9 pm, but I figured, she's calling this much, I can call her back (usually I try to call before 9, and before, I mean not 8:59... and it was about there).  So I called her back and, as it turned out, she'd found this baby mole outside and had been feeding it and it eventually opened its eyes and was really friendly and all... and died of course, and someone told her she should get rats... and then she saw our ad.  So of course she had to come TONIGHT.  I don't think she even showed up until like 9:30-9:45, but I'm up til the crack of dawn (hence, "nights at the chinchilla rescue"), so she came here, filled out the adoption form, picked out her rats, and left at like 10:15. She brought her kid with her, and maybe she had no one to leave him with, but it was kinda surprising, cause I so often hear, "well, 7 pm's too late cause the kids have to be in bed by 8"... yet she had the kid.  But anyway, she checked out and filled out the form and we talked about rat care and she read our care packet and all, so that was two more rats (males this time) to a good home.  Pic:


So then, the FN drama.  My mother was the one to notice that the threads were smaller on the FN screws than one the ones I bought, so I headed back to Home Depot with the right screw.  Tried it in their screw-sizer thing and it was a 1/4 inch screw... but it was 1/4 fine (which is 1/4-28), not 1/4 coarse (1/4-20).  So, as my luck would have it, Home Depot doesn't carry any 1/4-28 screws.  But, it took like 10 different people being asked to tell me that.  The last one finally said try Ace.

On a side note -- why in the world would a cage company choose a screw that hardly any place carries?  I mean, I had every person I asked ask what in the world I needed such a "specialized" screw for (a pet cage, no doubt).  Wouldn't it have been easier to just use the 1/4-20 screws, which are abundantly available?

So I went to Ace.  They did have them, but only 16 of them.  The guy was right, though, that they had quite the selection in specialty stuff.  Now, I knew I'd need more than that and I ALMOST told the guy to order them... and then I thought... what if I'm wrong about the size again (somehow).  So I was thinking I'd take the 16 home and if those worked, then I could always order or get more or whatever.  So I get home, and those 16 worked!  So then I went to the Ace in Munster (first went to the one in Dyer) and picked up another 10.  Now that I've cleared out both stores I'll have to wait until they get more in...and if that seems to be taking awhile, I guess I'll have to put in an order... but I'll give them a week and go back, and we'll see.  Turns out, it takes 24 screws per cage.  At 40 cents per screw, that's almost $10 per cage in screws.  So I still need 20ish screws for the second cage.

As for the screw holes, I did need to use the tap and die kit on all of the holes.  So it was good I bought that (thanks Jamie & husband!), cause even with the right size screws... they were not going in without the holes re-threaded.  So, as I was putting together the first cage, one of the pieces...the part that should have "received" the screw... the metal part where it should have received it (with the round, threaded hole for the screw to go in), that part must have completely rusted off cause all I had was an open-ended tube.  So that had me scratching my head for a minute, then I realized that I could just take metal cable ties and use two of them to hold that corner together.  So that's what I did.  That was on the stand part of the cage.  Had to do the same thing higher up for one of the side panels cause I'd had to drill out (titanium drill bits rock!) a screw that was stuck in one of the holes.  So of course, my new hole was too big....but the cable ties will hold it just fine.  LOVE the metal ones.  Expensive, but this is exactly when they are needed, regardless of the cost.

So, the first cage is together.  I don't have the pans in it yet, still waiting for the one pan from Bass, and I realized with some vinegar and elbow grease I may be able to get the bottom pan cleaner, but I haven't started on that yet.  But soon.

So, for the second FN, I got most of the stand together, lacking one screw to completely screw it together.  Out of the "pole" pieces, I should have had four with holes and four without... well, I had 3 with holes and 5 without.  So, that could have been a problem.  But then, I have my heavy duty drill and titanium drill bits.  So, I drilled holes into the third one where I needed them (LOVE those drill bits, and got them on clearance at Meijer), so that part worked itself out.  

Since I don't have more screws, I really can't progress any further until I do, but I took the tap and die kit and re-did all the holes on all of the panels and pieces of the second FN.  That way, when I do have the screws, I'll be able to put it together a bit easier.  I think I will need some more of the metal cable ties on this one, so far, no, but I think once we get further up we will.  

I really need to clean out those pans.  I thought about doing what I usually do with the plastic cages - put vinegar and water in them and let them sit for a few days, out of the way... but since they're metal and already starting to rust... I'm thinking sitting water wouldn't be the greatest idea.  I figure one day when I'm down there and plan to be down there for a while, I'll put some vinegar in and tilt the pan so it gets the "bad spots" and scrub it... let it sit and scrub it some more and empty it before I go back up.  Cause they're not bad enough that I feel the need to take em outside and scrub em to death, but I will clearly need vinegar to get certain spots off -- spots that I know will come off with enough scrubbing.  But that's for another day.

But today... since the guy who has rats on hold is coming on Tuesday to pick up his rats, and wanted two port-hole hidey houses, I kinda had to start on those if I wanted them dry by Tuesday.  So, since I had some shelves that were removed from cages that sold either without shelves, or as ferret cages with plastic shelves, I removed the bolts and cut down those pieces to make the hidey houses.  Still need to cut another piece or two, cause my wood isn't wide enough for the top, so the top has to be two pieces.  But I have everything together except that last part of the "roof."  But everything else is glued and rubber-banded and drying.  So tomorrow I'll cut those last roof pieces and attach those, and the hidey houses will have an additional day to dry before their new owner comes for them.  

Let's see, what else... had one of the "regulars" email saying she needed some food (well, a few days ago), and I got it packaged up and she paid, so that should go out with tomorrow's stuff, if I remember to take it with me to work so I can take it to the post office on my lunch...

Had someone email about a house with a chin chiller on top, I emailed back asking for more details... I can give it a shot, once they get back to me, see how it turns out...

Also had someone email (again, few days ago, but I'm behind) about the rescue attending an adoption event at the Calumet City, IL Petco.  Not to be paranoid, but it was just from some random regular email, not like @ petco or anything and so I asked, how do I know you're really from Petco?  I tried to word it as nice as possible, cause if they really were, I didn't want to offend them or anything.  So I got an email back saying I could call Petco and talk to her on such and such days... so I think I will.  Granted, I believe that if she gave me the number and what times she'll be there, I imagine she really WILL be there when I call, but I'll call anyway...

Then... had someone inquire the other day about one of our smaller cages.  Asked if it'd fit a wheel and a hammock.  Definitely could fit a hammock, but a wheel would take up too much of the cage.  Didn't hear back for a few days, til today when I  got an email asking how much for the Marshall Mansion, with no shelves, shipped.  Yes, SHIPPED.  So I looked up the weight of the cage (60 lbs), figured out how big a box it'd likely take, added a few pounds on for packaging and all... the cage would cost her $100 without shelves, but another $65 to ship.  Holy shit that's a lot, right?  And this person is only in Chicago, so I told her, it'd likely be considerably cheaper for her to drive here and pick it up rather than for me to ship it to her.  And in all reality, even if she wanted to pay the $65.. that'd be hell to ship.

Well, that may actually be it.  Ok, nope, wrong.  Now that I'm completely out of the peppermint cookies (and not getting more, cause there's corn in them, high on the list -- the replacement is the apple & oat treats), I revised my "included in your treats & chews" list and made up some new goodie bags.  So now we'll have some for when chins get adopted out.  

OK, I really think that's it now.  Going to bed now. 


Deal vs. ripoff

So, I saw a used chin spin for $40 (deal!) on craigslist but it was like an hour or two away from here.  Not so great.  So I emailed the person asking if they'd ship.  Here's how the convo went:

HerYeah i would be willing to ship it.  That is not aproblem.

Me**I give her my address and ask how she would like to pay, and I ask for her to let me me know the total with shipping**

HerDo pay pal Please.  Shipping will be $18.  **and she gives me the paypal address**

MeCan you pack it lighter or something?  I'm not paying $18 for shipping.  A package the size of a chin spin weighing 20 pounds (and I know it's only about half that) should cost less than $13 from me to you, parcel post. I have no problem paying actual shipping, but that's not $18.

HerIt's standord flat rate.  I can do the normal shipping.  I just tend to do flat rate. Its easier.  But ok.  I justsen out 10 lb of woo in a box that would fit a chin spin that cost 14.

------ok, let's pause for a moment.  It depends WHERE in the US you are sending 10 lbs of wood.  If you're sending it to the next state, it may be $10, sending it to California may be $20.  So just cause it's 10 lbs doesn't mean it's automatically going to cost a certain amount, unless you're talking about sending a package to the exact same location.  Ok, back to the convo------

MeIt may be easier to do flat rate, but at the point it's $18, I could buy a brand new silver surfer and ship it here for almost the same price and not need to worry about it being used or what condition it's in.  I have never paid over $12 to ship a chin spin here, and I've bought them used from much farther away than Illinois.  If "normal shipping" is $12, I will pay that, but I ship things out all the time, and USPS's postage calculator (which I use all the time and is spot on) tells me that you could ship a box that is 25x25x15 and weighs 20 pounds from Pekin to Munster for $12.33.  That's much bigger than the box you will need and 10pounds heavier.  And it's still barely over $12.  I believe in charging people actual shipping, and I feel like I deserve the same.

------quick pause again.  A chin spin is 15" so the usual box you get one in is around 16 x 16 x 10.  Which means my "example box" was almost 10 inches bigger on two dimensions and 5 inches bigger on width.  The box size makes a difference with shipping, as does the weight.  Also, note that a chin spin does actually weigh 10 pounds, and say packaging adds another pound or two, making it $12.  I used the postage calculator using 20 pounds.  So for a box significantly bigger AND heavier, it was still only $12-ish, meaning that a box that ACTUALLY weighed 10-12 pounds and was the right size... should cost roughly $9-10 to ship.  So at $12 shipping, she would still be making $2-3 just for her time packaging it up.  Which isn't bad, but I sure am not paying $18 so that she makes $8-9 for packaging it up.  Ok, so here's the response:------

HerDont worry about it.  I have plenty of other people intrested close by who dont need shipping.  Have a good day maybe you should just get a silver sufer

------Couldn't help but add one last email:------

MeSuit yourself.  I don't feel like padding your wallet just cause you feel like charging extra for shipping.  At least your local people will get it for a deal.

------------end convo---------------

Ok, so that's not me in one of my super nice, best moods ever, but I refuse to pay someone almost DOUBLE what shipping should cost.  Now THAT is a rip-off.  I have paid for chin spins and saucers to get sent here before, but it's always been at a reasonable cost that's very close to actual shipping.  And I don't mind paying a little extra, I understand the concept of "handling charges."  We have to pay for tape and labels and whatever else too, so a few bucks, no big deal.  But not $8-9 extra. 

And... all these people she says she has interested?  The ad is still up and the chin spin is still on there.  I bet you there's no one else interested. 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

In other news....

In other news today, cage #1 went to its new home. 

Here's the funny part.  I knew yesterday that cage 1 was sold, so I took it off the website and went through to the various other places I have the cages posted and took the picture of that cage down.  So then today, I get an email from someone saying they want cage 1.  Awesome, except... don't have cage 1.  But they linked to the craigslist ad, so I thought, ok, maybe I missed one.  I open the ad... there is no "cage 1" on the craigslist ad.  Wtf?  Maybe they saw it before it updated or something.

Then, Luigi (Dreamz' white male kit) went to his new home today.  So now poor Winx is all by his lonesome self again. 

Got paid for that huge order from yesterday, but had people here until about the time the post office closed, so I will need to mail that tomorrow. 

Got in our new chin-chillers.  They are GORGEOUS black granite.  Very pretty and very reflective.  They will be for sale for $5 once I get a picture up and get everything amended.

So frustrated.....but sort of good news.

So, went to Lowe's to get the tap and die kit.  Got that, came home, used it on one of the holes, tried to screw the screw in -- nothing.  I was like omfg.  So I get out the heavy duty drill, and even with that, nothing.  So I don't know what made me go to one of my actual FN's, but I decided, I was going to unscrew one of those screws and screw in my new screws.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  Yup, the new screw would NOT screw into the FN. 

Now, I swear when I was at the hardware store, I screwed that rusted-to-hell screw into one of those things that tell you what size it was, and I swear it was a 1/4 screw.  Well, apparently not.  So I dig through my crap, cause I save everything, and I find the original rusted-out-screw that they gave me with the FN's.  I think, ok, I'm going to see if THIS one screws into the re-tapped holes.  And of course, it did.  Not entirely smoothly, but definitely worked. 

So, I apparently bought the wrong screws.  Jamie, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're laughing hysterically.  It is funny but I could shoot myself for all the misery I've caused myself with this.  But, in all fairness, I probably will need that tap and die kit cause the screw-holes are rusted to shit, so it's probably good I have that.  Now, just to get the right screws.  Which will involve yet ANOTHER trip to the hardware store.

Still can't find that missing caster.  How the hell did I lose a caster?  I mean, the FN pieces have only been in 1 or 2 places in the basement, and I remember right where I had them when I was first messing with the casters... checked all around that area... no missing caster.  Like what did it do?  Decide it didn't want to go on the cage and hide?  Ugh.  Here's hoping it shows up cause those things were like $5-6/set. 

But, in good news, it looks like once I have the right screws, the FN's should go together relatively easily, once all the holes are re-tapped. 

But you would not believe how frustrating it is to have to go, yet AGAIN, to the hardware store.  That'll be tomorrow, after the post office, I guess.

For my frustration, I have a nice bleeding gouge in my hand due to trying to force the screw with the heavy duty drill... which of course just stripped the screw and went straight into my hand.  Ow.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Could be more productive...

I must be out of the groove or something, I'm getting nothing done lately.

Came home today, called up the person with the kit on hold, they didn't answer.  Went upstairs, left phone downstairs... they called back.  Well, I didn't hear it, didn't answer.  Came downstairs, saw the missed call, called back... they didn't answer.  Put the phone in my pocket.  About 2 hours later it rings and as I'm taking it out of my pocket, I somehow hit "end call."  REALLY?!?  So I call them several times in a row until I finally get the person, and we set up a time (tomorrow) for her to come get the chin.

In the meantime.. we had Lola dropped off, a chin with some teeth issues.  And by teeth issues, I mean, mostly vet-caused teeth issues.  So, the owners said something was going on with her and she was drooling, so they took her to the vet.  The vet filed down the top teeth, and *mumble mumble* (they literally mumbled) about what the vet did to the bottom teeth.  Now, by "filed down the top teeth" I mean this - there are no teeth sticking out above the gum line.  I mean how STUPID of a vet did they have?  Since I don't know what the vet did to the bottom teeth, I can only partly comment on that, but get this, they tell me, oh one of the bottom teeth fell out today.  What?  Sure as shit, this chin has one long bottom tooth and that's it.  Didn't get this way overnight.

Now, I have to say, these were the nicest people and clearly wanted the best for their chin, they just said they couldn't spend any more at the vet, and weren't sure they wanted to, after how much they'd spent, and they recognized that their vet had messed up.  The vet clearly shouldn't have been working on chins.  They felt really bad they hadn't noticed the problem sooner, but we all know, chins hide things well, so they probably took her in as soon as they could.  They said they had noticed she didn't want to eat her treats, and they thought maybe she didn't like them, but then they saw the drooling and figured something was wrong...

So... she'll be going in to our vet, see what she says.  In the meantime, Lola is skin and bones.  She weighed 305 grams when we got her in today.  Pulled out the Critical Care, Lifeline, ground up hay... she ate a decent amount, was up to 335?  Something like that.  In one feeding, that was pretty good.  Put her back in her cage with her pellets and she did go to her food bowl... and I did notice poos later on, so that's positive.

I know the teeth will grow back, but I don't know how long that takes or how well she'll do in the meantime... not to mention... it could have been her front teeth that were causing problems, but it also could have been the back, we don't know, so there could be more problems than just the front.  Though that bottom front tooth is looooooong so I'm betting that there were front teeth problems.  And white as chalk, so calcium problems as well.  Darn it, I forgot to use the calcium supplement with the CC.  Tomorrow.  Last time when I couldn't find the calcium supplement I stuck some Tums in the coffee grinder and gave it that way.  Worked just as well. 

So we've got some work ahead of us with Lola.  She is... tiny.  Looks like a dwarf to me.  Besides actually being skin-n-bones, she is just a small chin.  I asked how old she was - 1.5 years.  She looks like she could be a few months old... big head, sort of odd proportions... I would say dwarf. 

I'm usually good with getting my rescue-info-sheet filled out with all of the where-did-you-get-the-chin, likes/dislikes, food, etc etc but I knew ahead of time that we were getting in a non-healthy chin, so I really didn't get much info on Lola.  Doesn't matter where they got her if her health problems will be her demise, eh?  I do have the people's email (I am horrible with phone calls, I don't like calling people) so I suppose if it turns out that she pulls through all of this and is adoptable at the end of the day, I can ask all I want.  But at this point it really doesn't matter, she needs to try to get better and we'll hopefully get her there.

She did want to eat.  She was very happy for the Critical Care, which was a surprise cause usually chins that haven't been previously introduced to the CC require ridiculous amounts of burrito-ing at least the first couple of times, but she took it like a champ.  Must've been hungry.

So, as for her treats, they had dried bananas and some dried carrots things for her.  Kill her with kindness.  So I threw those treats in the guinea pig box and gave them a few (which they devoured), and gave Lola some sticks.  Don't know if she chewed them, it was already getting late, and I had to work on an order that I'd put off for like 3 weeks.

So, cut the wood for the order and packaged everything up in one big box.  Big order too, four 24" shelves, 4 piano shelves, 3 porthole hidey houses, and 4 circular perches.  With S&H order totaled $169.  I hope she expected it'd be that expensive... though the box does weigh about 35 pounds, so she couldn't expect shipping to be $5 (it's $25ish).  So now that that's all packaged up, I still have to make two porthole hidey houses for when we have a rat pickup next week, and then I have someone who wants 10 lbs of Mazuri shipped to them....and that may be it at the moment.

Had someone email about Moch & Mycha... emailed back saying about the care packet and the form, so we'll see if I hear back from them.  It'd be nice, that'd be the first person who's emailed about them since that one guy never emailed me back after saying he'd get me the deposit and all that... yeah.  Grr..  Oh well.  Just not the right home yet.

And the people with Daisy and Delilah didn't call today.  Yet another frustration.  I will give them til Monday and if I don't hear from them, I will call them yet again...I hate to be a pest, but honest to god, you don't want the pet, fine, bring it back, don't make me bug you.

And I haven't heard from the person interested in Annabelle either.  She has til the end of the day tomorrow to get back to me, otherwise the other people will hear from me letting them know she's back up for grabs.  And I thought she was a "poor thing" chin - compared to Lola, Annabelle is healthy as a cow.  She could still use to gain weight, but that's the only thing that she needs, she's doing great and is active and is eating and no longer has the odd poos in reaction to hay.  So she just needs a good home to keep feeding her good food and she can go home. 

Well, that may be it for today.  Oh - so my one person for the rats set a time for this Saturday.. the other person that wanted to come Saturday still hasn't emailed me back.  It's only been two days, but to me, Saturday's practically here, so I emailed her and let her know that the other person's set for 6, so she can come before/after, just let me know.  So hopefully I'll hear back from her.  She's already got in her adoption form and all, but she just seems to take forever (or maybe it just seems that way) to email me back. And I could call, but I really do hate bugging people, and I REALLY hate calling.  Like especially calling those people with Daisy and Delilah... that is like pulling teeth to get me to call them, but I want them back at the rescue, so I will grit my teeth and bear it.  But I much prefer email. 

Ok, so that's not it.  My resident hay guy (who I haven't heard from in awhile, maybe he found hay elsewhere) texted me about some cage clips and some name plates.  I told him I'd get back to him.. yeah that was Monday.  So... lil behind on that, but I checked the cage clips today.   He wanted 2 sets and I do have two sets... for the name plates, he wanted 10 and I don't think I have 10.  He can get what I have, and he can get more when I have more cages in, but I know I don't have 10.... but by the time I went digging for this stuff, it was already much too late at night for me to text him.  Wanted to cut the wood for the two porthole hidey houses I need to make for the rat guy, but again, it was already like 10:30 at night, and I'm not the only one in the house, so I couldn't.  That'll have to be tomorrow, squeezed in between a supply pickup, a chin pickup, and tons of errands.  Suppose I should at least write out those pedigrees tonight so that I'm not scrambling tomorrow, eh?  That'll be the last thing before I go to bed.

Ok, and I really do think that's it for the day.  


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

FN's from hell... and volunteers

So, today, we had some volunteers come over.  That was good, got the two rat tables cleaned off and the four rat cages cleaned.  Very happy bout that.  Was intending to put together the FN's, but as it turns out, all the screw holes are messed up.  Just wonderful, eh?  So my volunteer is going home to talk to her husband about some sort of re-threading drill bit or something like that.  Cause these cages ARE going together, one way or another.  Oh, and I got in the pieces I was missing today from Midwest, so if I have to superglue the cages, they are all going to go together.  Ugh.

Oh!  And Pixie (gp) had three babies!  Two that are chocolate/caramel colored and a third that's white/chocolate/caramel.  The two look like dad, abysnnians, the other looks sort of like mom, but it's got like one or two curls so we'll have to see if it turns out abysinnian or just your regular short hair.  Can't tell the sex yet, I don't think, I see a lot of gp sites that say wait until 3 weeks and you can tell a lot better, so we'll wait.  Not 3 weeks, but I'll give it a few days so they'll be a tad bigger.

Oh and Gin (Dreamz' standard male baby, MNWI B9) went home today.  So that's one down.  I feel like, right now, I have a million people scheduled to come, to look, pickup, whatever, but everyone's coming like so far in the future, no one's coming NOW.  It's almost frustrating cause it's like there's a zillion chins but not that many up for adoption.  And rat people are starting to show up now (like, email me) so hopefully some of those will get adopted soon. 

Having some drama go on due to a post I made advertising the rats on one of the rat forums.  Go figure.  I learned a new thing or two, so it's not all bad, but a lot of bickering over some things.

Oh!  So I hadn't heard from the people with Daisy and Delilah, so I looked up the adoption form in my phone (if emailed to me, I save them in the chin folder) and called the number on there.  Got the step dad, who is the one I originally talked to when the chins were being adopted.  Turns out, the story the daughter said, about the dad bringing home the chins without telling mom wasn't true.  As it turns out, the kid didn't actually want to clean their cage or do anything in the realm of actually caring for them, and so an older kid was doing the caring for them, but the parents had said, if she wasn't going to care for them, like if she didn't want them, she had to call us up and bring them back.  Course, since when do the actual owners call us up?  Almost never, it's almost always the parents or whatever... anyway, the step dad said someone would call us today/tomorrow about bringing them back.  No call today, so hopefully tomorrow.

On that note, sent the person who had expressed interest in Annabelle a 2-day email.  Should've been yesterday, but oh well.  Emailed saying she has til Thursday night to get back to me and if she doesn't, I'm moving onto the next person.  Cause you know, can't wait forever.  So we'll see how that goes.  Hopefully if the first person doesn't get back to me, the second will actually want her.  It somehow seems to often work out that the first doesn't want them and the second falls off the face of the earth... but whatcha gonna do.  Hopefully that won't be the case this time. 

Got a call from someone in Chicago about the rats, wanting to know if we were really in Munster (as the ad says) or in Chicago (as the headline said).  I explained that we can't change our outward location to say Munster, that the website they were looking at picks Chicago cause it's close to us, and they were ready to say, well thanks for calling, but I said, hey, we're not THAT far from Chicago, where are you?  So she said she would talk it over with her husband and call back - and she did, saying they'd make the drive.  I sent them the forms, and just got them back like a minute ago - blank.  Lol.  I think someone forgot to hit save.  So here's hoping they get the filled out forms back to me soon.

Oh, and I got the form (well, I think it was yesterday, but going to bed early meant I didn't do much in terms of anything yesterday) from the people wanting to adopt our trio of girls (Willow, Jordyn, & Lexi) so that's promising.  Just need to get a date/time set with them and we'll be good.  '

And then another of the rat people (who we already got the adoption form for) got back to me saying they wanted to come this Saturday, so I told them what times will work for me, and now I'm just waiting for them to get back to me with a time, and so here's hoping the first set of rats will go home this upcoming weekend!  And then we have someone coming the 26th to pick up their rats, another person coming the 1st to pick up Lilly/Tallie (chins), then another on the 7th coming to see the rats, then someone on the 8th to pick up a chinchilla... see what I mean about I have all these scheduled things but none right now?  That's why there's so many rescues right now, cause the homes aren't able to come get them yet.  A lot of the to-be-homes are far away... one of the rat homes will be in Crystal Lake, Tallie/Lilly's home is almost 6 hours away... it always amazes me how far people drive for these things.  I guess that's saying something though.  :D

Well, I think that might be all for today.  Oh, got in some fleece that I ordered, so that was nice.  Gotta find some spare time to make hammocks, and I still have that one outstanding wood order that I NEED to get working on.  Tomorrow though, I'm tired today. 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

...few more things about the previous post...

So, they adopted April 4.  Here it is, July 16.  Barely 2 months.  Oy. 

Best part - the ad says that "dad" brought the chins home without asking "mom" about it, and "mom" does not want to clean any more cages.  Um, excuse me, there are TWO grown children living in this household.  Both over 18.  And mom and dad.  Why should mom get stuck cleaning the cage, if dad and the kids were the ones that wanted the chins?  See, this is why chins get rehomed.  No communication among the family, and everyone expecting someone else to do the work.  I could see if these were like 6 year olds expecting "mom" to clean the cage, but two adult children AND dad get the chins and think that mom's gonna clean the cage?  For their pet?  Really? 

And I used to think that when we adopt out to families with kids where the kids mainly want the pets, those homes would be the problems.  But those usually end up working out fine, cause the parents are on board and understand the kid can't do everything.  Yet this here is adults.  Oy.

...and this is why I check Craigslist...

So, was putting off working on my exam, figured I'd do my usual craigslist search for chins.  And what pops up, but Daisy and Delilah.  Now, it's not uncommon for chins to have same names, so I looked at our Happy Customers page - they went to their new home in Valpo - ad says Valpo.  They went to their new home with one of the people named Layla - ad says Layla.... yeah.  So I called them up, got one of the (older) kids, and said, hey, you guys adopted these chins from us, and signed something saying if you couldn't keep them, you would bring them back to us.  "Oh, maybe we did."  Yeah.  So she said she'd tell her mom/dad that I called and they'd call me back later when they got home.

I don't like having to call people up when I see an ad for chins like this, and I know they're our chins... but these people do sign a contract that says they will bring them back to us if they cannot keep them, so it's not like I'm asking for something they didn't know about.  Well, I hope I hear back from them, cause I really don't want to have to get all pesty for this kinda thing.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Weird phone call

So today, I was at work and got a call from someone wanting to know what type of chinchilla supplies we had.  So I waited til I was out of work and called her back up, well, she said she'd already gone to the store to get a cage.  I guess people call and think I can call them back, right that minute.  Anyway, so she asked me what other supplies we have, and I told her, food, dust, hammocks, cages, and so on and so forth, and she said that she thought she might get another chinchilla because chins are social animals, and so if she did, she might call me for a cage.  Ok.  So I had to ask, what did she keep the chinchilla in for the two weeks that she didn't have a cage?  Oh, she kept it in a laundry basket.  Really? 

So anyway, it sounded like they bought the chin a cage, but nothing else, and she didn't want to talk to me about the supplies and she didn't act like she wanted to get any supplies... so I hope she bought more than just the cage.  Hopefully she also got some chews and something for the chin to amuse itself with. 

I'm sure I'll never hear from her again, but who knows?  Course, she talked about how the cages at the pet store are so expensive... can't say that mine are all THAT much cheaper -- they are cheaper, but once you add in the pine shelves, it becomes almost pet store prices... though considerably safer than pet store cages... so I don't know what she thinks we might have that's cheaper than pet store.  Maybe one of the used cages.  But anyway, just an odd phone call.  Like wanted to know what I sold, but then was like ok thanks!  Odd.

Ordering is DONE! for now

So, I was home early enough today to call up Bass and order the pans.  Turns out, for two cutout FN pans and two custom pans, shipped, it was about $122.  Holy cow.  The funny part was that the lady didn't even tell me the total before hanging up.  Just thank you for your information, goodbye *click*.   Had to go onto my bank website to find the total.  Funny that.

Since two of the pans are for cages that we intend to sell, I hope there's an actual invoice in with the pans so I can see how much each one was... so when I'm figuring out the cost of the cages, I can accurately add in the new pans as part of that.

So, I emailed Jean (TJs) yesterday asking if she'd gotten my order questions that I'd facebook messaged her.  Well, she hadn't, and I know not everyone's as anal about checking email and facebook and all that as I am, so I emailed it to her.  On the list of stuff I wanted was three liners and two hammocks.  The email I got back was hilarious.  The general tone was "I don't want to sew it all, you sew it!"  Haha.  That's why I'm buying liners rather than making them - I don't want to sew them either! 

Weighed everyone today, everyone's doing good.  Lilly's up to around 1044 grams now.  Beached whale, I tell ya.  Pixie and Lacey (gp's) are also starting to look rounder, so we may have mini gp's in the future.  Still iffy on whether Ember's pregnant or not.  Still gaining, but lost a little (wouldn't hurt if I could keep the water bottle filled -- but this time it was their fault, they got it open and it all drained overnight), so we'll see how it goes.

As for Ember's kit - one of the people on my waiting list is on the list for a bv... and the person emails me periodically to check how things are going and to see if I've had any bv's born... well, we've only ever had one bv born here, so it's not like it's everyday.  Darn slow breeders.  But anyway, so she emailed me yesterday and asked how things were, and I told her that we had a kit for sale... not a bv kit, but I thought I'd let her know anyway, since I'd also talked to her father who'd told me that depending on the wait, they might go with something other than a bv.  So, apparently first the parents said maybe and changed that to a yes, so now the kit is on hold for them.  Still waiting on the adoption form from them, they asked me how they should get it to me, I emailed them back, so we'll see.

Did get the adoption forms for both people who have kits that will be soon ready to go.  The one looked good, the other one wrote they didn't know what type of food they feed, so I will be telling them about good brands vs. bad brands when I call them up to set up a date for pickup, but otherwise everything looked good.

Cleaned the runs today, cleaned the gp cage today.  Should have cleaned before garbage day instead of the day garbage was picked up, after the fact, but oh well. 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Slow week and more FN "drama"

So, its been a bit of a slow week(s).  Not much activity as far as inquiries, just the usual people who email/call and are interested and I email the stuff to and never hear back.

Did sell two of the used cages though - some people got a lionhead rabbit and wanted two of the smaller rabbit cages so that was a nice easy $50.  I told them to come at 6 and I get a text at 5:30 that they're at the Meijer gas station (like 2 mins from my house).  Well... I had gotten off work late cause of a client, so I rushed home, got home by like 6:10... was texting them during, so they'd wait and they did, thankfully, so that was $50.

And it was a $50 already spent, because I hadn't heard back from the people that sold me the FN's about if they had ever gotten around to checking again if they had the parts I was missing.  Well, I called up Midwest today (manufacturer of the FN's).  They were really nice, I tried to explain what parts I was missing, eventually realized we weren't communicating well and the lady asked me to pull up an instruction manual and tell her what parts off of there.  Lot easier that way.  So then she told me she would have to call the warehouse and see if they had extras of those parts, because while they sell the casters and smaller stuff by itself, it's not everyday someone misplaces four 2x3 grids.  Oops.  Well, I didn't lose them, but anyway.  So she called back a while later, said they did have them that they could sell me (yay!).  So, the bottom grids were $8 each, the middle grids $10 each, the caster-holder-thingies $4 each.  Got two of everything cause that's what I was missing.  Came to a total of $44 --> $58.75 with shipping, and $62.87 with tax.  Holy shit.  It seems cheap when we're talking about $8 items, but it all ads up.  Well, they said I should have them in 7-10 days.  The nice part is that since I'm selling cages at the same time I'm working on fixing these and getting these up to snuff, the ones I'm selling are paying for the new ones.

Well, sorta.  In all reality, I almost could have had new cages, especially since I'm having to pay so much for new parts that I was missing.  I paid $200 for two used FN's with missing parts, and four rectangular bass pans.  Paid another $35-ish for casters and screws to use with the FN's.  Just paid another $63 for the pieces I'm missing to complete the FN's.  To complete all of this, I still need two cut-out pans from Bass (that will be tomorrow's lunch hour phone call), which are $32.75 each (and I'll need two) plus around $20 in shipping.  So that will come to a total of $383.50 for the cages and pans.  Makes it $191.75 each -- not nearly as a good a deal as $200 for two.  Like they say, if it's too good to be true.....usually is.  New, this would have cost me $580-ish ($440 for the FN's; $113 for the pans; $25ish for shipping) so it's not like $383 is horrible.  But in looking at this as "I get two FN's with the pans I need for $200!" not nearly quite that good of a deal.  But, can't do anything about it now.  If I didn't buy the missing parts the cages would be useless, so I was ultimately stuck coughing up the money to make the cages what they should have been.  At least I got the cages, I am happy about that, and they will be good cages once they're all fixed up and put together and all, so I am happy.  I just wish I was happier about the money part and I wish the chin account hadn't taken quite such a large hit from this.  $200 - one thing.  $383 for two cages?  Not such a positive.  But oh well.  In retrospect, I should be thrilled the people lowered the price from $250 for the two cages, cause then this'd be even more ridiculous.

But I have sold several used cages in the meantime.  Sold #2 for $90, #5 for $80, another cage that I lent out to someone -- I ultimately emailed the person and said they could buy the cage if they wanted (they originally asked about buying it awhile ago and I said no, because we didn't have another comparable cage, but now we have one that I would keep in substitute for that one) for $20; then today #6 for $25 and #9 for $25.  So so far sold a total of $240 in used cages sold.  Not too shabby and we still have plenty more to sell, and another few we can sell once we order new pans and get out the powerwasher and spray down a few.  So only $143 more to sell in used cages to pay for the two FN's.

But we can't forget about accessories!  The FN's won't be any good themselves without some things in them, so I need to get some wood.  Have some orders that need to be filled as well, so REALLY need to get some wood. I literally have like a foot of wood down there so I really need to get my butt out to the hardware store. Later today.  Or so I tell myself.  Anyway, so I ordered some fleece stuff from Fuzzies Kingdom, a bed and a tunnel I believe.  Need to order some fleece liners from Jean, I believe she has some that will match the Fuzzies Kingdoms stuff pretty well.  Need to see if I need anything else in the meantime (it's in the to-do list).  So then, asked someone on the forum about making fleece liners for the FN's.  Well, I said I wanted the zebra fabric and she (I think it's a she?) thought I meant the zebra print... well, I actually meant the literal zebra fabric -- like this:


So... she says she has some premade zebra stuff and it's a little different than the new zebra fabric (cause she had to order more for my order) and I realize... she meant literal zebra print, like zebra stripes.  But hey, the zebra stripes did look good so I told her I'd take that and asked her if she had some of the pink zebra left so she could make me a second set of everything in that pattern.  Hopefully she does, since that was my original choice, but if not, I do like the other zebra.  Hey, I will need to wash the liners eventually so I'll need spares, eh? 

Well, I just got home, just ran downstairs to grab those cages for those people, updated all the cage ads to remove those, and been sitting here typing this up.  So now it's time to change, check that all the pets are good to go for a little bit, and head out to the store to pick up some wood and other necessities.  Maybe some chin updates later.