Case in point. I have a dark ebony female here with a pedigree if someone wanted it. She's about 5 months old, and I was going to sell her as a pet, most likely. Well, someone emails asking about a dark ebony female for breeding, and I asked them what age they're looking for. Well, 5 months or older. Ok, so I mention her. So, this is literally October 1st. So, we go back and forth, she wants to know about the parents, colors, weights, ranch brands, what's in their lines. Don't get me wrong, this stuff is important if you're going to breed.
However, what is also important is my time and my policies here.
Including the policy that we only hold for 7 days without a deposit. Well, that passed way at the beginning, when she was still asking questions about the pedigrees. Fine, I thought, ok, well she's going to come get the chin, and I hadn't listed the chin yet, so that saves me effort if she buys one I haven't had to list or anything yet.
Until she starts taking about a week and a half to respond to my emails. On October 17th, she tells me that, after I've told her everything under the sun about this chin, that she's very interested but she's unsure if she's going to be able to make the trip, and not sure she wants to put down a deposit because she's not sure she can make it here in 30 days. Which I feel is fair and honest, so I tell her, the 30 days is flexible (which it is, to an extent), but I would need to have some idea of when she's coming to get the chin. So she waits 9 days to email me back (26th) and finally says, she has to talk to her husband. What was she doing for the 9 days???
My patience has worn out, as this chin still hasn't been listed, and is now a month older (and harder to find a home for, the older they get), and she's no closer to adopting. She also mentions, in this email:
I am very interested in a
good size female. The male I would want to eventually pair her with is
only about 600 grams. He is young and may get a tad bit bigger but he
won't be huge.
He's a tov white and I am hoping to put him with a nice dark eb female.
I may also be looking for a nice mosaic female soon to pair with a dark eb male I have.
... which I feel is a crock of shit because we've already gone over how large this girl is, how large the parents are, and all that... and then she says this. So this was my response:
I mean
no offense, but I need to hear back from you with a firm decision in
the next, let's say 5 days -- so by the end of the day on the 1st.
Since your original email at the end of September, I've hung onto this
chin because I kept telling myself that you were going to get back to me
and come here to adopt her. As time's gone on, more time as passed
between getting emails back from you, and really, I do my best to be
fair. We only hold chinchillas for 7 days without a deposit. I tell
that to people all the time, so why I've hung onto her this long (I told
you about her on October 1st, so 26 days), is a good question. But
what it ends up coming down to is this -- most people I sell chinchillas
to are pet people. Sure, the ones that do well at shows, those tend to
go to breeding homes with other breeders, but many of them sell as
youngsters, and the older they get, the more difficult that is. Right
now, I'm between jobs and selling quite a bit of chinchillas that I
might otherwise keep, and the older she gets, and the longer I hang onto
her for you, the harder she will be to find a home for if you don't end
up getting her, which is why I feel like I have to set a firm time
frame on this. I've already been more than lenient on that 7 day hold, I
just feel like I can't continue this forever.
As
far as your email -- the only way to know a chinchilla's adult size is
to buy an adult. Sometimes you put two large chinchillas together and
get a small one. Sometimes you put two small chinchillas together and
get a large one. Somewhat it is the genes, but it's also the individual
chin. The guy I work for breeds chinchillas, and when he weans them,
he often marks babies with notations for red, small, lacking veiling.
It's amazing how many he marks small, when weaning, that end up being
huge later on. But the thing is, you don't know until they're full
grown, exactly how they're going to turn out.... which is why you often
see people buying chinchillas to breed at a show, or after a show, when
the chinchillas is at least 8-10 months old, usually full size or
almost, and already having been evaluated.
Another
note on size is this -- weight isn't everything. I have a chinchilla
here who looks like she might easily be 1000 grams. She's more like
650. While you definitely don't want to breed a small chinchilla, as
that's not the breed standard and definitely don't want to run into
problems with birthing, most of the show chins are in the 600-800 range,
and the fur is what makes them look "large." I used to buy chinchillas
at a show and think, omg it's huge! and come home and weigh it... and
it would be 600-700 grams. Not saying they're all that way, but some of
what goes into them looking large (and on the show table, it's how they
look, not how much they weigh) is their conformation and how long their
fur is.
For
males, 600 grams is plenty. Could go bigger, but don't want HUGE. Most breeders will tell you, you don't
want a huge male, because the huge ones tend not to breed. Most people
use males that are smaller than, or the same size as, the females,
because you also don't want a huge male impregnating a female and then
having her unable to pass overly large kits.
...which is the truth. You want one that you FOR SURE know is going to be exactly what you want, especially for something like breeding, buy an ADULT. I could see this person turning into one of those who would get a chin now, and then complain later when it doesn't mature into the right size or right build or whatever. I could just see it.
-----Moving along to my next case in point-----
I have another chin here, Hershey, and a critter nation cage that are on hold for someone. This person originally emailed me in the middle of September and decided they wanted to put down a hold on Hershey and this cage, and I received their money order for the deposit on October 1st. They were set to come get him and the cage somewhere in there, and ended up having to back out. They're from WI and had been planning on coming to see some friends in Chicago and I guess that didn't work out.
Well, I tell her on the 1st that I get the money order, and ask if I missed any emails, cause I hadn't heard from her about pickup. Nope, I didn't. So, I have the money order for the hold for 30 days, so not a big deal, but I don't hear from her for a bit, so on the 15th, I send her an email asking about when she's planning to pick up, and reminding her she only has 30 days total to do so. I get an email two days later, saying they basically haven't been able to work out this Chicago trip with their friends, and that maybe they'll just come down and stay in a hotel. And so then they ask me what hotels are around, and ask about coming November 1st.
First, I am not Travelocity, if you're able to find me, surely you can find hotels near me? I emailed her a few that are around here, but specified that I don't know what they're like because I've always lived in this area, so I've never stayed at any that are close to my home. And then thought, why am I looking up hotels? Can't she make the effort? She's the one adopting. Anyway...
So moving along, I emailed her back that day to let her know that the 1st would work, but is filling up with appointments, so we need to set a time asap. Today is the 26th and I have yet to hear back. So today, I called her AND emailed her. On the phone I left a message saying I need her to call me back, as her 30 days is almost up, and I told her I'd send her an email as well. Mentioned that I will extend the 30 days by another 10, until the 11th, because I understand things come up, but that's it.
When people put down the deposit, I ALWAYS specify that you have 30 days. Can't make it in 30 days? You don't need to put down a deposit and you don't need that specific chin. There are almost no occasions when I feel like hanging onto a chin for months and months while you get your act together to get over here. There's just not. I can have that chin listed and someone can come and adopt it in the meantime. Same with that cage she wants -- I could have had it sold 10x over in the past month if she didn't want it. No problem whatsoever. And she wants to look at a used wheel I have so that's been sitting around waiting for her to come by as well.
I told her, if she isn't able to come by to adopt, by the 11th, she can still adopt, she'll just have to put down another deposit to hold the chin / cage (if even here) for more than 7 days. And she'll have forfeited the 1st deposit. Don't like it? Tough cookies. Even before I revised the sales policy, this 30 days with non-refundable deposit has been this way forever.
...and the thing is, all these people are taking advantage. The first person has been taking advantage of me being nice and hanging onto the chin without a deposit and (in my eyes, potentially) dragging everything out so she has more time. Nope, come the 1st, that chin gets listed if I haven't heard from her and don't have a deposit. Same with Hershey and the cage on the 11th. A humane society wouldn't hold for freaking 1 day for you. Someone gets there 5 minutes before you, guess they get to adopt, and you get left out. Sorry. I try to be nice, and that's why I do the 7 days, because I understand people work, and since I travel a lot, I'm not always home either, but that's what gets me walked all over. And from here on out, it's not going to be this wishy washy shit. You can't pick up in 30 days? Don't put down a deposit until you know you can, because otherwise, day 30 passes, and you lost that deposit. So sorry. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
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