On a positive note, one of my current adoptive homes came by and adopted a chin, a FN that was taking up lots of space in my garage, and some supplies. Yay for that.
Also, supposed to have someone coming by to pick up a rabbit to foster. Also yay.
One thing though. I've had a few people offer to foster, who never ended up adopting, not because I denied them, but because they never showed up for appointments, or dragged their feet for two months, or couldn't get the money together, or cancelled four appointments.... if you fit one of these descriptions or something like it, you're not adopting. Sorry, but I can think of one person in particular who did just about all of this, wasted oodles of my time... I don't think I'd ever get the chins back from them, not even cause they'd intentionally try to keep em, but because they'd keep cancelling appointments and things would keep coming up. Sorry, no. Granted, I realize, if people offer to foster, who I don't know, that's not really much better, they could be just like this, but at least I know who to, for sure, stay away from.
Speaking of, I don't have chin cages to lend out, since I use the FNs. Even the rabbit cages I have at the moment are borrowed from the person who dropped off the rabbits. So, if you're looking to foster, that's great, but for a chin, you will need a rescue-approved cage. Which for most people, means you will need to make or buy shelves, as the pet stores don't sell any cages that actually are good.
One more thing. I've gotten a lot of emails this week asking when the hidey houses will be back in stock. Again, I hate to get snippy about things, but honest to god people, you want them back in stock, I need some people here to help. I've had multiple people say, oh drop something off at my house. Which is fine, its still help, but for a lot of this stuff, I'd have to bag up so much random crap for the average person to help, it's not practical. Want to make toys at your house? I need to bring you the wire, wire cutters, pliers to bend the wire, snap hooks, toy parts, sanding block, drill.... it's just not practical for a lot of things I need help with.
Anyway, what that boils down to is this -- the houses will not be available until I get through the current backlog of orders. Yes, they sell wonderful. That's the PROBLEM people. If I put them back available, I won't have 20 orders backlogged, I'll have 50. That kind of thing, having that many in waiting, stresses me out. Especially cause then, once I've got half these people's order almost ready to go, I get an email, well, I haven't gotten it yet, and I don't want to wait any longer, can I cancel it? Most things are not custom and can be sold to someone else, but it's the point of the matter. Until I get through my current pile of orders, I just cannot add the houses back. Period. Want the houses back quicker, come by and volunteer.
Two more things. This is not a petting zoo and I value my time immensely. So when you email and say you want to come visit the rescue, please don't get mad when I ask if there's a reason you'd like to come. Are you looking to adopt, want to learn more about chins, need supplies? No offense to anyone, but it is a pain in the ass to clean up the entire rescue cause someone wants to come here and pet the cute little chinchillas and waste 3 hours of my time with no intention of ever adopting, being educated, or getting supplies. Unfortunately, that's what typically seems to happen when people say they "just want to come visit."
Also. I have an email from someone say they want to adopt, but want to do it all through text. One word: NO. I can't get you documents through text, and I don't have the time, between my job and my life, to sit around and text answers to all your questions. Emailing answers to everything takes forever. Calls are a little quicker, but I can't respond to them at 3 am. Texting the answer to, and "why shouldn't I put a random male and female together?," "why can't I feed them the stuff with all the peanuts and seeds and other stuff that they love so much?!?!?" or any other long-answered question you have, is not something I ever plan on doing. Sorry. You will email or call, for the majority of our conversations prior to adoption, or you will not adopt. I will not text for days on end just because someone can't be bothered to pick up the phone (which, come on, you obviously have if you can text) or answer an email.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Really?
People are really starting to piss me off.
First, someone adopted a chin a while back. They emailed me a few days ago saying his poos smelled and they were kinda squishy, and they'd read that they shouldn't be that way. And they said, they're not always that way, but they go back and forth. I told em, well, if they're that way at all, it's likely an infection, take em to the vet. They ASK for a recommendation, so I give them one. And what do they do? Oh that's too far, we found a closer one. And then I guess that one didn't work, so they find another one.
They take the chin in, turns out it has some bacterial infection, on meds for a week. The vet said the body temperature is too low, he is "cold to the touch," and is "too skinny." Now, granted, I have no idea what this chin weighs, but he was fine while he was here. Course, if the poos were squishy for some time (which apparently this person didn't think was a problem until now, even though his poos were not squishy when leaving here), he could have been losing weight.
I don't know, but this really doesn't seem to add up. First, if he has an infection, his body temperature should be up. Should be high. Like you know how humans have a fever when we're sick. If there's a low body temperature with an infection, chances are it's something serious like sepsis, which isn't easily fixable. (also, something that wouldn't happen overnight)
The vet also said, get this, that he had to be in a different environment until they could get rid of the infection. So these people put him in a carrier. Which is fine and dandy... I've heard of vets saying, well, clean the cage... but a different environment entirely? Do you move out of your house when you're sick? No, because it's not practical.
Anyway, part of what has me upset about all of this is, had she taken him to the vet I'd suggested, which wasn't all that far from her to begin with, I feel like we may have had a more knowledgeable response about what is wrong, but also, now she's saying, with her schedule "he has become too hard for me to care care of." Oh baloney.
And of course she wants suggestions (like?) or wants to bring him back.
I don't even care if she's reading this. When you get a pet, you take the good with the bad. The only thing that should have changed, due to this illness, is that now, she has to medicate him for a week. That's IT. God knows why he's losing weight or has squishy poos, but if I recall, I haven't seen her back here for FOOD, even though I recommend that people stick with the food the chin is on, so if she's feeding him junk, that might play a part in it. He always ate fine when he was here. I actually emailed her back and asked if something else has changed that I'm not aware of, because to me, that's the only change I see.
Also told her, if she wants to bring him back, right now she has to bring cage back with him, because my cages are full. Which is always the time everyone wants to bring back their ill chins.
If you get a dog and it gets sick, do you say, oh hell, forget caring for it, let me return it? You better not. I see it ALL THE TIME with small animals and it REALLY pisses me off. These animals are living things, JUST LIKE THAT FUCKING DOG THAT YOU LOVE SO MUCH, they're just caged, and DESERVE NO LESS. I probably spend more time and effort cleaning up after these caged animals than I spend cleaning up after my dogs, and yeah, they don't show the same level of affection, but they are shown the same level of care if they need to go to the vet. So it drives me absolutely insane when, the second an animal gets sick, which, let's be honest, no one should be stupid enough to think they'll get an animal and it'll never get sick, their first instinct should NOT be, let me dump it back where I got it, and let them deal with the vet bills and hassle, even though they're already overwhelmed and I only have ONE and I find that TOO DIFFICULT. OMFG. You people are a TRIP. I care for something like 30-50 animals at once, usually MULTIPLE with medications at once, and you people can't handle ONE???? Give me a fucking break.
Moving along to the next aggravation of the day -- I got an email today asking for me to send someone samples of my items so they can do a review. Which is great if people are questioning quality, but that rarely happens. Chances are, the items they want to review are the hand-made items like the houses and such.... and with the rescue running out of money, I emailed her and told her, I can't be shipping out anything heavy right now. She wants to review some herbs, toys, by all means. But my guess would be, she wants a house or a motorhome free, shipped free, so she can review it. Well, hate to break it to her, but I'm not eating the price of the house, my time making it, and the ridiculous cost of shipping, so I can get a you-tube review that no one will watch. I have you-tube videos of my dogs doing tricks. Videos from 3 years ago, mind you, have under 50 views. Hardly think it's worth losing probably $50+ on shipping out a house/motorhome and other freebies for 50 people to watch it. And how many youtube videos have you watched for some product and not bought it? Oh yeah, plenty. Just another tactic to get something for nothing. You people make me sick.
First, someone adopted a chin a while back. They emailed me a few days ago saying his poos smelled and they were kinda squishy, and they'd read that they shouldn't be that way. And they said, they're not always that way, but they go back and forth. I told em, well, if they're that way at all, it's likely an infection, take em to the vet. They ASK for a recommendation, so I give them one. And what do they do? Oh that's too far, we found a closer one. And then I guess that one didn't work, so they find another one.
They take the chin in, turns out it has some bacterial infection, on meds for a week. The vet said the body temperature is too low, he is "cold to the touch," and is "too skinny." Now, granted, I have no idea what this chin weighs, but he was fine while he was here. Course, if the poos were squishy for some time (which apparently this person didn't think was a problem until now, even though his poos were not squishy when leaving here), he could have been losing weight.
I don't know, but this really doesn't seem to add up. First, if he has an infection, his body temperature should be up. Should be high. Like you know how humans have a fever when we're sick. If there's a low body temperature with an infection, chances are it's something serious like sepsis, which isn't easily fixable. (also, something that wouldn't happen overnight)
The vet also said, get this, that he had to be in a different environment until they could get rid of the infection. So these people put him in a carrier. Which is fine and dandy... I've heard of vets saying, well, clean the cage... but a different environment entirely? Do you move out of your house when you're sick? No, because it's not practical.
Anyway, part of what has me upset about all of this is, had she taken him to the vet I'd suggested, which wasn't all that far from her to begin with, I feel like we may have had a more knowledgeable response about what is wrong, but also, now she's saying, with her schedule "he has become too hard for me to care care of." Oh baloney.
And of course she wants suggestions (like?) or wants to bring him back.
I don't even care if she's reading this. When you get a pet, you take the good with the bad. The only thing that should have changed, due to this illness, is that now, she has to medicate him for a week. That's IT. God knows why he's losing weight or has squishy poos, but if I recall, I haven't seen her back here for FOOD, even though I recommend that people stick with the food the chin is on, so if she's feeding him junk, that might play a part in it. He always ate fine when he was here. I actually emailed her back and asked if something else has changed that I'm not aware of, because to me, that's the only change I see.
Also told her, if she wants to bring him back, right now she has to bring cage back with him, because my cages are full. Which is always the time everyone wants to bring back their ill chins.
If you get a dog and it gets sick, do you say, oh hell, forget caring for it, let me return it? You better not. I see it ALL THE TIME with small animals and it REALLY pisses me off. These animals are living things, JUST LIKE THAT FUCKING DOG THAT YOU LOVE SO MUCH, they're just caged, and DESERVE NO LESS. I probably spend more time and effort cleaning up after these caged animals than I spend cleaning up after my dogs, and yeah, they don't show the same level of affection, but they are shown the same level of care if they need to go to the vet. So it drives me absolutely insane when, the second an animal gets sick, which, let's be honest, no one should be stupid enough to think they'll get an animal and it'll never get sick, their first instinct should NOT be, let me dump it back where I got it, and let them deal with the vet bills and hassle, even though they're already overwhelmed and I only have ONE and I find that TOO DIFFICULT. OMFG. You people are a TRIP. I care for something like 30-50 animals at once, usually MULTIPLE with medications at once, and you people can't handle ONE???? Give me a fucking break.
Moving along to the next aggravation of the day -- I got an email today asking for me to send someone samples of my items so they can do a review. Which is great if people are questioning quality, but that rarely happens. Chances are, the items they want to review are the hand-made items like the houses and such.... and with the rescue running out of money, I emailed her and told her, I can't be shipping out anything heavy right now. She wants to review some herbs, toys, by all means. But my guess would be, she wants a house or a motorhome free, shipped free, so she can review it. Well, hate to break it to her, but I'm not eating the price of the house, my time making it, and the ridiculous cost of shipping, so I can get a you-tube review that no one will watch. I have you-tube videos of my dogs doing tricks. Videos from 3 years ago, mind you, have under 50 views. Hardly think it's worth losing probably $50+ on shipping out a house/motorhome and other freebies for 50 people to watch it. And how many youtube videos have you watched for some product and not bought it? Oh yeah, plenty. Just another tactic to get something for nothing. You people make me sick.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
the latest
So, not much going on. As in, no emails about adoptions, very little else going on. Sold a few pet things at the garage sale, so a few more bucks for the rescue, but not much to speak of.
Getting Oreo and Zoro returned, the lady said her grandson (who lives with her) lost interest in them. I missed two of her calls, due to being at work, just listened to them now -- she also needs to return the other rabbit she adopted for her daycare awhile back, Nyler. Ugh. I already have two rabbits here, this will bring it to 5. And things like this are what make me not want to take in any other animals. It's fine when I literally have 2. But now I'm going to have three cages of rabbits, which adopt out slower than molasses as it is, and eat me out of house and home in the meantime, and are miserably messy to clean up after. One cage I can do. Three turns this into a rabbit rescue.
I emailed another rescue that said they could always help with transport, and they haven't even had the decency to email me back. Or the other person who would be involved in the transport, she emailed them as well and they haven't emailed her back either. Is it that hard to have some common decency and email people back? I mean, even if they can't help, how much time would it take to say, sorry, on your own with this one. Nope. About two weeks later, and they never emailed back, I ended up finding someone else to bring some critters here. But could they at least have emailed and responded? Guess not.
On a positive note, Peggy (of Rescued Rat Adoptions) took my four senior girls into her rescue, said she would try to cage them with some other seniors she has. That has freed up my rat cages so that if there's any ratties needing to come in, they can. But really, I'm so swamped as it is, I don't need any more animals at this point.
Another thing... I'm all about saving money, but what is it with this whole, I want something for LESS-than-nothing craze going on right now? I must have gotten 5 pm's, TODAY, alone, asking for cheap cages. Cheap is relative, because compared to a pet store, my cages are cheap. But I asked, and they all want cages that I'd charge like $90+ for, for under $50, and chock full of shelves and accessories and whatnot. There's one cage I have for sale for $94 -- the cage ALONE sells for $90, and this one has literally everything you need, food bowl, water bottle, wood shelves, hidey house, accessories, etc etc, hammock, everything's like new, but heaven forbid they spend $94 on it, when they could get the cage new for $90. I guess they aren't figuring, that cage for $90 really costs $96.30 with Indiana sales tax, plus the house would be $15 new (from here), plus the wood shelves, at least another $20 (from here), the coop cup food bowl would be $4.99 new ($5.33 with sales tax from the pet store), the water bottle would be $6 brand new (from here), the two hammocks in the cage would be $8.50 and $7.50 new (from here), the hay holder would be $3 (from here). So, either $94 for everything used and in awesome condition, or get it new for $161.63. Does that $94 sound so bad now? Realistically, everything's going to get chewed up anyway, and look used in about a month anyway, so why not save the $68 and just get it used to start with?
One more thing. People are funny. As in, they email they're interested. I haven't emailed back and it's been a few hours, so they email again. I email back and tell them to adopt, they need to read the care packet, fill out the adoption form, do they want those? They email back right away, yes, they do. I don't email for a few hours, I get an email, well can they find them anywhere without my help??? (which is kind of an odd question if you think about it). I email back and say, well they are on the website, but I've attached them. And then... after all the rush rush rush.... it's been several days and I have yet to hear back from them. But... I thought they were in such a rush!
Getting Oreo and Zoro returned, the lady said her grandson (who lives with her) lost interest in them. I missed two of her calls, due to being at work, just listened to them now -- she also needs to return the other rabbit she adopted for her daycare awhile back, Nyler. Ugh. I already have two rabbits here, this will bring it to 5. And things like this are what make me not want to take in any other animals. It's fine when I literally have 2. But now I'm going to have three cages of rabbits, which adopt out slower than molasses as it is, and eat me out of house and home in the meantime, and are miserably messy to clean up after. One cage I can do. Three turns this into a rabbit rescue.
I emailed another rescue that said they could always help with transport, and they haven't even had the decency to email me back. Or the other person who would be involved in the transport, she emailed them as well and they haven't emailed her back either. Is it that hard to have some common decency and email people back? I mean, even if they can't help, how much time would it take to say, sorry, on your own with this one. Nope. About two weeks later, and they never emailed back, I ended up finding someone else to bring some critters here. But could they at least have emailed and responded? Guess not.
On a positive note, Peggy (of Rescued Rat Adoptions) took my four senior girls into her rescue, said she would try to cage them with some other seniors she has. That has freed up my rat cages so that if there's any ratties needing to come in, they can. But really, I'm so swamped as it is, I don't need any more animals at this point.
Another thing... I'm all about saving money, but what is it with this whole, I want something for LESS-than-nothing craze going on right now? I must have gotten 5 pm's, TODAY, alone, asking for cheap cages. Cheap is relative, because compared to a pet store, my cages are cheap. But I asked, and they all want cages that I'd charge like $90+ for, for under $50, and chock full of shelves and accessories and whatnot. There's one cage I have for sale for $94 -- the cage ALONE sells for $90, and this one has literally everything you need, food bowl, water bottle, wood shelves, hidey house, accessories, etc etc, hammock, everything's like new, but heaven forbid they spend $94 on it, when they could get the cage new for $90. I guess they aren't figuring, that cage for $90 really costs $96.30 with Indiana sales tax, plus the house would be $15 new (from here), plus the wood shelves, at least another $20 (from here), the coop cup food bowl would be $4.99 new ($5.33 with sales tax from the pet store), the water bottle would be $6 brand new (from here), the two hammocks in the cage would be $8.50 and $7.50 new (from here), the hay holder would be $3 (from here). So, either $94 for everything used and in awesome condition, or get it new for $161.63. Does that $94 sound so bad now? Realistically, everything's going to get chewed up anyway, and look used in about a month anyway, so why not save the $68 and just get it used to start with?
One more thing. People are funny. As in, they email they're interested. I haven't emailed back and it's been a few hours, so they email again. I email back and tell them to adopt, they need to read the care packet, fill out the adoption form, do they want those? They email back right away, yes, they do. I don't email for a few hours, I get an email, well can they find them anywhere without my help??? (which is kind of an odd question if you think about it). I email back and say, well they are on the website, but I've attached them. And then... after all the rush rush rush.... it's been several days and I have yet to hear back from them. But... I thought they were in such a rush!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Busy day.
Today was a busy day. It was like people knew I had the day off.
Woke up, got a phone call from someone who had adopted a chin, wanted to come get supplies. So they came by, got supplies.
Packaged up some orders, the ones that didn't involve majorly building anything, and got those in the car. Went out to the post office, mailed those out. Already emailed everyone and refunded any shipping overages (well, the one). So if you didn't get an email... sorry, but you're still waiting. Though I did knock out quite a few orders today.
Which brings me to another thing. Postage has gone up, again. Yeah, I know. I literally am writing this as I am taking a break from going, item by item, through the webstore, and upping shipping slightly on every item. You know how I can tell shipping went up? Most orders that I shipped out today went something like this: shipping charged: $10.00. Actual shipping: $15.00. Whereas last week, the $10 woulda been about right. So... no drastic changes, nothing over $1 change, but shipping prices in the webstore are going up.
Now, that said, as always, if there's a significant overage in shipping, you get the overage refunded. And I ship directly from the post office, so when you receive your package, you can see right on the label, how much I paid for shipping. So like earlier today. One guy was charged $15.15 for shipping (the only person I refunded today). Actual shipping was $8.85, with handling that'd be $9.60 ($0.75 handling), so I refunded him $5.55. But this is way better than the example the other day where I ended up with $0.65 for two goodie bags because shipping wasn't set high enough.
Also went through the webstore and took down items that had sold, removed the "new" listing from items that have been up forever.
Picked up some chin chow earlier. The bag changed, check out the facebook page for the picture. Now has timothy hay and flaxseed in it. Which I hear is fine. But I wonder why they changed it.
Had some donated chin food (from awhile back), so mixed that in with the mazuri and mannapro, so I can use that up in a batch for the rescues.
The chins and guinea pigs that were boarding here for the last two weeks were picked up tonight. They were good little critters while they were here.
Did hammock inventory. The webstore is supposed to work where you put in, ok, I have 5 of this hammock. One sells, the webstore should then show there's 4. But... not always. Like I just sold a polar bear hammock that was listed as "one remaining" and it still shows one remaining. Except, there's none remaining. So, I try to keep as up-to-date as possible and delete the listings for things that have sold. And I try to keep the numbers up to date as well, so it doesn't show I have 3, and I sit here and can't find one... so I counted and updated all of the boh's (balance on hands -- I've worked in retail too long) for the hammocks. Took some pics of the new-er hammocks that haven't made the webstore yet. If you've been to the rescue, you know they aren't new at all, but they just haven't been put up in seemingly forever. But... some of them have been added to the webstore. Not all, because it got late and I have work in the morning, but I took some pics and worked with them, and this is some of the new-er hammocks
http://www.nwichinchillas.com/apps/webstore/products/category/943322?page=1
I will, sooner or later, be having a huge amount of cuddle buddies being listed on the webstore as well. Michelle (of ChinniePop fame) was such an awesome volunteer, and sewed a ton of them, and I have yet to even get a picture of how many. But first, the hammocks, then I tackle the rest of the junk on my work table, and THEN I will get to the cuddle buddies. One of these days.
Woke up, got a phone call from someone who had adopted a chin, wanted to come get supplies. So they came by, got supplies.
Packaged up some orders, the ones that didn't involve majorly building anything, and got those in the car. Went out to the post office, mailed those out. Already emailed everyone and refunded any shipping overages (well, the one). So if you didn't get an email... sorry, but you're still waiting. Though I did knock out quite a few orders today.
Which brings me to another thing. Postage has gone up, again. Yeah, I know. I literally am writing this as I am taking a break from going, item by item, through the webstore, and upping shipping slightly on every item. You know how I can tell shipping went up? Most orders that I shipped out today went something like this: shipping charged: $10.00. Actual shipping: $15.00. Whereas last week, the $10 woulda been about right. So... no drastic changes, nothing over $1 change, but shipping prices in the webstore are going up.
Now, that said, as always, if there's a significant overage in shipping, you get the overage refunded. And I ship directly from the post office, so when you receive your package, you can see right on the label, how much I paid for shipping. So like earlier today. One guy was charged $15.15 for shipping (the only person I refunded today). Actual shipping was $8.85, with handling that'd be $9.60 ($0.75 handling), so I refunded him $5.55. But this is way better than the example the other day where I ended up with $0.65 for two goodie bags because shipping wasn't set high enough.
Also went through the webstore and took down items that had sold, removed the "new" listing from items that have been up forever.
Picked up some chin chow earlier. The bag changed, check out the facebook page for the picture. Now has timothy hay and flaxseed in it. Which I hear is fine. But I wonder why they changed it.
Had some donated chin food (from awhile back), so mixed that in with the mazuri and mannapro, so I can use that up in a batch for the rescues.
The chins and guinea pigs that were boarding here for the last two weeks were picked up tonight. They were good little critters while they were here.
Did hammock inventory. The webstore is supposed to work where you put in, ok, I have 5 of this hammock. One sells, the webstore should then show there's 4. But... not always. Like I just sold a polar bear hammock that was listed as "one remaining" and it still shows one remaining. Except, there's none remaining. So, I try to keep as up-to-date as possible and delete the listings for things that have sold. And I try to keep the numbers up to date as well, so it doesn't show I have 3, and I sit here and can't find one... so I counted and updated all of the boh's (balance on hands -- I've worked in retail too long) for the hammocks. Took some pics of the new-er hammocks that haven't made the webstore yet. If you've been to the rescue, you know they aren't new at all, but they just haven't been put up in seemingly forever. But... some of them have been added to the webstore. Not all, because it got late and I have work in the morning, but I took some pics and worked with them, and this is some of the new-er hammocks
http://www.nwichinchillas.com/apps/webstore/products/category/943322?page=1
I will, sooner or later, be having a huge amount of cuddle buddies being listed on the webstore as well. Michelle (of ChinniePop fame) was such an awesome volunteer, and sewed a ton of them, and I have yet to even get a picture of how many. But first, the hammocks, then I tackle the rest of the junk on my work table, and THEN I will get to the cuddle buddies. One of these days.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Few things
Few things.
Flat rate prices went up. Again. Which likely means, so did mail prices, but let's start with flat rate. That means, the flat rate boxes of mazuri or dust or care packages are going to cost a little more. Not only because of shipping, but also because I will be adding handling. I couldn't tell you why that hasn't been a part of it before, but it's always been cost of food + actual cost of shipping = price. Well, problem with that is, I have to use tape, ziploc bags, markers, etc. And really, I could use an extra little bit per package. That's why every other package I send out has a tiny bit tacked on to shipping (usually not even $1) so I can afford those extra items. But I ship out a good amount of flat rate food, and it's just not cutting it to ship it out without any handling charge. Something's gotta pay for that tape and bags. So, there's now a little added on for that.
Second. I got some orders mailed out today. More will go out tomorrow, and potentially even more than what I already have packed, if I get some more time to work on them. I already emailed everyone and refunded any overages in shipping, so if you didn't get an email, your package didn't go out yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Third. Shipping. People often email about how high shipping prices are. But people, these are the actual prices. Or very close to. Just one example from today. Someone in Arizona ordered two goodie bags. $2 each, so total of $4 for the items. Shipping (from the webstore) came to $6.00. So, shipping was more than the item itself. I went and shipped it today -- cheapest, absolute cheapest, was $8.76. So I shipped it... but let's keep in mind, after paypal took their cut, my total for this order was $9.41. So, $9.41 minus the $8.76 I spent to ship it, equals.... $0.65. I made $0.65 cents on two goodie bags. Now come on people, they're priced at $2 because they legitimately have stuff in them worth $2. Now, this person didn't complain about shipping (thank god, cause I have nothing to refund them in shipping overages), but, see, sometimes shipping really IS that ridiculous. And yes, I do think it's ridiculous to pay almost $9 to ship two goodie bags to AZ. I do. But... that's what they charge, whatcha gonna do.
Lastly. There is sometimes a reason to open toilet paper rolls. Adult chins are typically too large to get any part of them stuck in them, but young adults, apparently not so much. I will say, first and foremost, that this chin is fine, no harm done... but I just HAD to snap some pics before helping him out of his predicament....
Ahahahahahahaha. Ok, he probably didn't think it was funny. And I'm glad he's ok. But sometimes we need those comical moments like this....
Goodnight.
Flat rate prices went up. Again. Which likely means, so did mail prices, but let's start with flat rate. That means, the flat rate boxes of mazuri or dust or care packages are going to cost a little more. Not only because of shipping, but also because I will be adding handling. I couldn't tell you why that hasn't been a part of it before, but it's always been cost of food + actual cost of shipping = price. Well, problem with that is, I have to use tape, ziploc bags, markers, etc. And really, I could use an extra little bit per package. That's why every other package I send out has a tiny bit tacked on to shipping (usually not even $1) so I can afford those extra items. But I ship out a good amount of flat rate food, and it's just not cutting it to ship it out without any handling charge. Something's gotta pay for that tape and bags. So, there's now a little added on for that.
Second. I got some orders mailed out today. More will go out tomorrow, and potentially even more than what I already have packed, if I get some more time to work on them. I already emailed everyone and refunded any overages in shipping, so if you didn't get an email, your package didn't go out yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Third. Shipping. People often email about how high shipping prices are. But people, these are the actual prices. Or very close to. Just one example from today. Someone in Arizona ordered two goodie bags. $2 each, so total of $4 for the items. Shipping (from the webstore) came to $6.00. So, shipping was more than the item itself. I went and shipped it today -- cheapest, absolute cheapest, was $8.76. So I shipped it... but let's keep in mind, after paypal took their cut, my total for this order was $9.41. So, $9.41 minus the $8.76 I spent to ship it, equals.... $0.65. I made $0.65 cents on two goodie bags. Now come on people, they're priced at $2 because they legitimately have stuff in them worth $2. Now, this person didn't complain about shipping (thank god, cause I have nothing to refund them in shipping overages), but, see, sometimes shipping really IS that ridiculous. And yes, I do think it's ridiculous to pay almost $9 to ship two goodie bags to AZ. I do. But... that's what they charge, whatcha gonna do.
Lastly. There is sometimes a reason to open toilet paper rolls. Adult chins are typically too large to get any part of them stuck in them, but young adults, apparently not so much. I will say, first and foremost, that this chin is fine, no harm done... but I just HAD to snap some pics before helping him out of his predicament....
Ahahahahahahaha. Ok, he probably didn't think it was funny. And I'm glad he's ok. But sometimes we need those comical moments like this....
Goodnight.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Volunteers
So, volunteers. I've had one this year so far. In 9 months. That's pretty bad, even for this small rescue, we usually have more than that. But just one, and not even one of the people who I see every now and then, this was someone new.
Anyway, wanted to mention a few things. First, I don't know if there is a misconception about what I do all day, but I have a day job. Let me repeat that. I have to work outside the home, just like everyone else, so that I can afford to live and eat and all that good stuff. This means that I am not home 24/7. Granted, this does make it more difficult to schedule people, especially since my schedule changes weekly, sometimes even in the middle of the week, but it is do-able.
But here's what's been happening lately. I get a text (or call, or email, or contact-method-of-choice) that says, "Can I come volunteer Tuesday at 3?" Now, that's nice and good that that's when the volunteer is free, but... this is why I have no volunteers. I may be free every other day after 3, and they're only free that day. And then, get this, some people actually get upset when I'm not free. I like volunteers. I want help. So chances are, if you've contacted me and I've said, sorry, you can't come, it's not because I'd rather clean cages alone or would rather spend time with the dogs. Chances are, I will be at work. The other day, someone asked if they could come at 3 the next day. I told them, no, I wouldn't be home all night. They said, ok, how bout 4? No? How bout 5? How bout, I start work at 2 and won't be home til after 10?
And then, cancellations. I try to do whatever I can to accommodate volunteers. I do. Because I would like help, and not many people want to help. So for example, today... well, earlier this week, I had someone asking about coming today at 3. I told them, I get off at 3, so they'd need to come 4 or later. So they said ok, they'd come 4:30. They text me around 4:30 saying they're outside. I go outside... no one there. Not sure if they went to the old address or what (they never asked me for the address, but the website, and every place that I can update, has the new address), but they were not here. They asked me what the address was, and I told them, and mentioned that it was only a few minutes away (they said they were in Munster). They said, oh sorry, their parent doesn't have the time to bring them today, they'll have to come another day.
Now, maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface. But, few things. First, yesterday, they wanted me to switch shifts. I said, no, I have a volunteer coming. I would have MUCH rather worked the later shift (versus the morning shift), but I kept my afternoon open so my volunteer could come.. which they didn't. Today, they would have liked for me to work an extra hour or two. But, I couldn't, because I knew I had to drive straight home so that I'd be home in time for the volunteer. So I lost out on a better shift, and a few extra hours pay (which god knows I could use right now), for a volunteer that never showed up. Not to mention, when I got home, I spent time cleaning up the rescue. Not significantly, but enough so that when I gave them something to do, there would be less things in the way. I have a ton of other things to do, and if it was just me here, the organizing could wait. But I did it, in anticipation of this person coming. And they never did. The few minutes was too far I guess, for them to come out of their way.
Which is why it irks me to no end when I am expecting someone, volunteer or not, and they don't show up.
This person had asked what they would be doing, if they came. I told them, probably cleaning cages, putting together orders, maybe making something that we sell. They said ok. I'm really glad this wasn't one of those people who insists on making toys, or doing something else that requires a ton of prep work, cause then it irks me even more when I've prepped for something that I will end up doing all myself. Which sounds about right.
One last thing. We had the Darien expo this weekend. We made a total of $5 in donations, and a negligible amount in sales. Like, two sales total. That is pathetic. The same goes for adoptions, which have been inexistent for some time now, again. One of our recent surrenders donated a large amount of money to the rescue, and this will help pay for food and supplies, which are normally paid for by orders, adoptions, etc. But since those are so few and far between right now (and the ones I'm working on packing up are all orders that are like $5 item, $15 shipping, almost not even worth doing), the money is dwindling.
I could deal with less money, if I had less help. Really, I would prefer the help over the money. A few hours of help every week would significantly reduce the time it takes for me to get things done, would make the rescue more efficient at getting things like orders out -- because let's face it -- I can only put off cages and such so long before I have to say, orders have to wait, let me go clean cages -- and more efficient processing of orders would likely mean more orders. Heck, I can't even make hidey houses because no one is ever here to help me, and they take an hour each, and that's time that doesn't exist for me. They bring in the most money for the rescue, and I just have no time to make them right now, because I have no help.
Even if 1-2 people could donate a few hours, say 2-4 hours, one night a week. Or one morning a week, depending on my schedule, it would make a big difference. Everyone says, oh I'll help out, but no one actually does, and it's actually gotten to the point where I cannot do this alone. No offense, but I don't need anyone to help with handling chins, I need help in areas that actually lessen my time spent at the rescue (cleaning cages, feeding, watering, etc) or bring in larger dollar amounts to the rescue (filling orders, making toys, making houses). I appreciate when a lot of people donate the $0.75 change from their order -- it does add up, and it does help -- but I would much rather have people at the rescue helping than the money. The money pays for food, and supplies, and that's great. But there's no longer enough hours in the day for me to keep up with all of this, and if I was more up-to-date on orders, and always had clean cages, I guarantee you the rescue would do better and I wouldn't need so many money donations. Which again, I'd rather have people, because I have tried, and found out, it is almost impossible to find people who will come here and do this sort of work for pay. Which means... volunteers. Which brings me back to my making-sure-my-schedule-was-fine-for-the-person-to-come-today-because-I-could-have-really-used-the-help,-but-who-never-showed. Ugh.
Anyway, wanted to mention a few things. First, I don't know if there is a misconception about what I do all day, but I have a day job. Let me repeat that. I have to work outside the home, just like everyone else, so that I can afford to live and eat and all that good stuff. This means that I am not home 24/7. Granted, this does make it more difficult to schedule people, especially since my schedule changes weekly, sometimes even in the middle of the week, but it is do-able.
But here's what's been happening lately. I get a text (or call, or email, or contact-method-of-choice) that says, "Can I come volunteer Tuesday at 3?" Now, that's nice and good that that's when the volunteer is free, but... this is why I have no volunteers. I may be free every other day after 3, and they're only free that day. And then, get this, some people actually get upset when I'm not free. I like volunteers. I want help. So chances are, if you've contacted me and I've said, sorry, you can't come, it's not because I'd rather clean cages alone or would rather spend time with the dogs. Chances are, I will be at work. The other day, someone asked if they could come at 3 the next day. I told them, no, I wouldn't be home all night. They said, ok, how bout 4? No? How bout 5? How bout, I start work at 2 and won't be home til after 10?
And then, cancellations. I try to do whatever I can to accommodate volunteers. I do. Because I would like help, and not many people want to help. So for example, today... well, earlier this week, I had someone asking about coming today at 3. I told them, I get off at 3, so they'd need to come 4 or later. So they said ok, they'd come 4:30. They text me around 4:30 saying they're outside. I go outside... no one there. Not sure if they went to the old address or what (they never asked me for the address, but the website, and every place that I can update, has the new address), but they were not here. They asked me what the address was, and I told them, and mentioned that it was only a few minutes away (they said they were in Munster). They said, oh sorry, their parent doesn't have the time to bring them today, they'll have to come another day.
Now, maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface. But, few things. First, yesterday, they wanted me to switch shifts. I said, no, I have a volunteer coming. I would have MUCH rather worked the later shift (versus the morning shift), but I kept my afternoon open so my volunteer could come.. which they didn't. Today, they would have liked for me to work an extra hour or two. But, I couldn't, because I knew I had to drive straight home so that I'd be home in time for the volunteer. So I lost out on a better shift, and a few extra hours pay (which god knows I could use right now), for a volunteer that never showed up. Not to mention, when I got home, I spent time cleaning up the rescue. Not significantly, but enough so that when I gave them something to do, there would be less things in the way. I have a ton of other things to do, and if it was just me here, the organizing could wait. But I did it, in anticipation of this person coming. And they never did. The few minutes was too far I guess, for them to come out of their way.
Which is why it irks me to no end when I am expecting someone, volunteer or not, and they don't show up.
This person had asked what they would be doing, if they came. I told them, probably cleaning cages, putting together orders, maybe making something that we sell. They said ok. I'm really glad this wasn't one of those people who insists on making toys, or doing something else that requires a ton of prep work, cause then it irks me even more when I've prepped for something that I will end up doing all myself. Which sounds about right.
One last thing. We had the Darien expo this weekend. We made a total of $5 in donations, and a negligible amount in sales. Like, two sales total. That is pathetic. The same goes for adoptions, which have been inexistent for some time now, again. One of our recent surrenders donated a large amount of money to the rescue, and this will help pay for food and supplies, which are normally paid for by orders, adoptions, etc. But since those are so few and far between right now (and the ones I'm working on packing up are all orders that are like $5 item, $15 shipping, almost not even worth doing), the money is dwindling.
I could deal with less money, if I had less help. Really, I would prefer the help over the money. A few hours of help every week would significantly reduce the time it takes for me to get things done, would make the rescue more efficient at getting things like orders out -- because let's face it -- I can only put off cages and such so long before I have to say, orders have to wait, let me go clean cages -- and more efficient processing of orders would likely mean more orders. Heck, I can't even make hidey houses because no one is ever here to help me, and they take an hour each, and that's time that doesn't exist for me. They bring in the most money for the rescue, and I just have no time to make them right now, because I have no help.
Even if 1-2 people could donate a few hours, say 2-4 hours, one night a week. Or one morning a week, depending on my schedule, it would make a big difference. Everyone says, oh I'll help out, but no one actually does, and it's actually gotten to the point where I cannot do this alone. No offense, but I don't need anyone to help with handling chins, I need help in areas that actually lessen my time spent at the rescue (cleaning cages, feeding, watering, etc) or bring in larger dollar amounts to the rescue (filling orders, making toys, making houses). I appreciate when a lot of people donate the $0.75 change from their order -- it does add up, and it does help -- but I would much rather have people at the rescue helping than the money. The money pays for food, and supplies, and that's great. But there's no longer enough hours in the day for me to keep up with all of this, and if I was more up-to-date on orders, and always had clean cages, I guarantee you the rescue would do better and I wouldn't need so many money donations. Which again, I'd rather have people, because I have tried, and found out, it is almost impossible to find people who will come here and do this sort of work for pay. Which means... volunteers. Which brings me back to my making-sure-my-schedule-was-fine-for-the-person-to-come-today-because-I-could-have-really-used-the-help,-but-who-never-showed. Ugh.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Expo day 1
So, today was the first day of the fall season of expos, which means....Darien! Drive over to the expo hall Friday, Meredith was going to meet me at the hotel later, and set up. Ran into Laura, the person who did Taffy's puppy photos, she has a booth at the expo. Dropped off the donation basket which I almost forgot (but threw together ultra last minute on my way out of town) and set up the booth. Made it back to the hotel and had time to unpack and chill and then Meredith showed up. In continuation with my everything-going-wrong theme, as of late, one of my folding table separated from it's frame. Wonderful. And then we went to a gas station and the pump I pulled up to didn't work. That all caused a need for happy comfort food to end the day positively, so we headed to Montecasino Cafe Grill.
I'm not usually the type to sit here and rave about any product or place, but if you haven't been to Montecasino (which, unless you live across the street, you probably don't know it even exists), you need to go. It's this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on N. Ardmore in Villa Park. I admit, not the best part of Villa Park, and it's in a strip mall, and you will blow by it if you are not careful. But they have the BEST food. Great prices. It's byob, there's a liquor store next door to help with that. It is awesome and the food was awesome as always. Great big portions. We always say we're gonna have dessert and barely even have room to finish the entree. Love love LOVE the place.
Anyway, so that was Friday. Back to the hotel and today started the expo. It was a super slow day for Darien, which is usually one of the more hopping expos. Presented with my new presentation on chinchillas, which went over way better (no glazed over faces this time) than my old speech. Tom from West Burb Weiners held Julie, the chin that came to the expo, while I presented. It went well. He asked if he could say something, and he must have remembered last time, because he assured me that he would not talk about housing. For those that weren't around then, at one of the expos last year, I handed him the microphone and he proceeded to talk about keeping chins in aquariums and giving them pvc pipe to chew on and all sorts of unsafe things.... Which I then had to explain why everything he said was bad advice. But this time, true to his word, he just talked a bit about how he and his wife had chinchillas for years and loved them. So that went well.
Slow day expo wise, not many sales. $5 in donations, and we only got that because, towards the end, a kid came into the booth, asked what our donation box was for. Meredith told him it was for people to donate money. He asked his parents if they had $1, and they asked what for. "They have no money ." So true. So they donated $5, which was awesome. Every little bit helps. Though it is disheartening, still, to see the dog rescues that get $20s donated, multiple, and we get $5 all day. People think it's cheap running a small animal rescue. It's not. I meant to mention this in the presentation but forgot -- it cost over $25,000 to run the rescue last year. You know what we made in donations over the last year? Just over $1000, and $500 of that was from one couple. Without them, most years it's not even usually $500 per year. Don't get me wrong I'm sure dog rescues are expensive as well. But just because these guys are small animals doesn't mean they're cheap to care for. But unfortunately that seems to be the perception.
Anyway, that was it for the day, going to go to bed in a few and hope tomorrow's a busier day for us.
I apologize for any typos, this was typed out on my iPhone.
Goodnight.
I'm not usually the type to sit here and rave about any product or place, but if you haven't been to Montecasino (which, unless you live across the street, you probably don't know it even exists), you need to go. It's this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on N. Ardmore in Villa Park. I admit, not the best part of Villa Park, and it's in a strip mall, and you will blow by it if you are not careful. But they have the BEST food. Great prices. It's byob, there's a liquor store next door to help with that. It is awesome and the food was awesome as always. Great big portions. We always say we're gonna have dessert and barely even have room to finish the entree. Love love LOVE the place.
Anyway, so that was Friday. Back to the hotel and today started the expo. It was a super slow day for Darien, which is usually one of the more hopping expos. Presented with my new presentation on chinchillas, which went over way better (no glazed over faces this time) than my old speech. Tom from West Burb Weiners held Julie, the chin that came to the expo, while I presented. It went well. He asked if he could say something, and he must have remembered last time, because he assured me that he would not talk about housing. For those that weren't around then, at one of the expos last year, I handed him the microphone and he proceeded to talk about keeping chins in aquariums and giving them pvc pipe to chew on and all sorts of unsafe things.... Which I then had to explain why everything he said was bad advice. But this time, true to his word, he just talked a bit about how he and his wife had chinchillas for years and loved them. So that went well.
Slow day expo wise, not many sales. $5 in donations, and we only got that because, towards the end, a kid came into the booth, asked what our donation box was for. Meredith told him it was for people to donate money. He asked his parents if they had $1, and they asked what for. "They have no money ." So true. So they donated $5, which was awesome. Every little bit helps. Though it is disheartening, still, to see the dog rescues that get $20s donated, multiple, and we get $5 all day. People think it's cheap running a small animal rescue. It's not. I meant to mention this in the presentation but forgot -- it cost over $25,000 to run the rescue last year. You know what we made in donations over the last year? Just over $1000, and $500 of that was from one couple. Without them, most years it's not even usually $500 per year. Don't get me wrong I'm sure dog rescues are expensive as well. But just because these guys are small animals doesn't mean they're cheap to care for. But unfortunately that seems to be the perception.
Anyway, that was it for the day, going to go to bed in a few and hope tomorrow's a busier day for us.
I apologize for any typos, this was typed out on my iPhone.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Few things
Few things I would like to touch on.
First.....I work. I don't know about the rest of you, but to pay my bills, I need money. That comes from working. That also means that I'm not available 24/7 when you need something. I had someone call 5 times today. FIVE times. Fifth time left a message. Wanted to volunteer tomorrow. Then texted me. I told her, tomorrow won't work for me. I check my email and notice an email from this person. Now...this may be the nicest person on the planet but that urgency to get ahold of me, I find mildly creepy, considering this was not a life or death situation. But regardless, I will be at work tomorrow, and considering I just got home from work and will be going back for an early shift, I will not be having anyone by tomorrow.
Not to mention, I've caught a bad cold and will want to rest so I feel my best for the expo.
But the point is, as much as I might wish it, I'm not free 24/7 for when people need something. That would be super convenient if my schedule always lined up with the schedules of volunteers and such. But it doesn't, and that's just life.
Second, waiting for orders. Again, I remind you - I have a job. I don't sit here all day cranking out chinny mobiles and playing with chins, as fun as that might be. I try my best to get food orders out ASAP. I really do. But for just about everything else, it's done in the order received / paid for, and sometimes it takes awhile. Cause it is only me, and I do have additional things to do outside of the pets.
Third, I have had an influx of people, both potential adoptive homes and people wanting to surrender, that cannot drive to pickup or cannot bring their chin here. Which makes me curious how they get the chin to the vet if it gets sick, but also puts a strain on the rescue. Well, back up. If someone cannot drive here to get a chin, they're not adopting. This is not a mail-order-chin-service. But if I, or someone I know, has to pay for gas to go get a chin, that's less money that can be spent feeding the chins. Or spending for chew toys. Etc etc.
And right now, the rescue has very low funds, and really can't afford much extra expenses.
Though if anyone would like to help transport, when needed, please let me know.
Which brings me to my last point of the night. Volunteers. Or lack thereof. We have had one volunteer come by all year. ONE. Don't get me wrong, one is better than none. But if you all could hear these people I talk to. Oh yeah they want to come help. Oh yeah all the time. Oh yeah they'll help with whatever is needed. Yet never available and never actually helping. I was looking at a horse rescues website. It said volunteers could ride the horses after a full days volunteering. A full day!! I can't get people to spend an hour or two here, doing things considerably more pleasant than mucking stalls...and judging by their Facebook page, they have most volunteer shifts covered for the next month!! What am I doing wrong?
First.....I work. I don't know about the rest of you, but to pay my bills, I need money. That comes from working. That also means that I'm not available 24/7 when you need something. I had someone call 5 times today. FIVE times. Fifth time left a message. Wanted to volunteer tomorrow. Then texted me. I told her, tomorrow won't work for me. I check my email and notice an email from this person. Now...this may be the nicest person on the planet but that urgency to get ahold of me, I find mildly creepy, considering this was not a life or death situation. But regardless, I will be at work tomorrow, and considering I just got home from work and will be going back for an early shift, I will not be having anyone by tomorrow.
Not to mention, I've caught a bad cold and will want to rest so I feel my best for the expo.
But the point is, as much as I might wish it, I'm not free 24/7 for when people need something. That would be super convenient if my schedule always lined up with the schedules of volunteers and such. But it doesn't, and that's just life.
Second, waiting for orders. Again, I remind you - I have a job. I don't sit here all day cranking out chinny mobiles and playing with chins, as fun as that might be. I try my best to get food orders out ASAP. I really do. But for just about everything else, it's done in the order received / paid for, and sometimes it takes awhile. Cause it is only me, and I do have additional things to do outside of the pets.
Third, I have had an influx of people, both potential adoptive homes and people wanting to surrender, that cannot drive to pickup or cannot bring their chin here. Which makes me curious how they get the chin to the vet if it gets sick, but also puts a strain on the rescue. Well, back up. If someone cannot drive here to get a chin, they're not adopting. This is not a mail-order-chin-service. But if I, or someone I know, has to pay for gas to go get a chin, that's less money that can be spent feeding the chins. Or spending for chew toys. Etc etc.
And right now, the rescue has very low funds, and really can't afford much extra expenses.
Though if anyone would like to help transport, when needed, please let me know.
Which brings me to my last point of the night. Volunteers. Or lack thereof. We have had one volunteer come by all year. ONE. Don't get me wrong, one is better than none. But if you all could hear these people I talk to. Oh yeah they want to come help. Oh yeah all the time. Oh yeah they'll help with whatever is needed. Yet never available and never actually helping. I was looking at a horse rescues website. It said volunteers could ride the horses after a full days volunteering. A full day!! I can't get people to spend an hour or two here, doing things considerably more pleasant than mucking stalls...and judging by their Facebook page, they have most volunteer shifts covered for the next month!! What am I doing wrong?
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Back at it...
I know I strayed from awhile from the bitching posts, but reality is reality, and we're back to em again.
Got an email earlier today wanting to adopt one of the chins. So I told em, there's an adoption form, care packet, yadda yadda. They emailed back, ok, send em, and while I'm at it, send all the photos I have of this chin and every other chin I have available. Um, excuse me? Ok, here's the thing. Some ads that I put up only let you put up one picture. An example would be chicago.bookoo.com. All my ads on there have one picture. However, each ad has a link to my Available Chins page on the website, which has every picture I have of each chin on it. So believe me, you're not short changed by finding that ad. Anyway, but of course, this person didn't find THAT ad, no, they found an ad that has all 8 pictures of this chin... and they wanted me to send em to them. Mind you, that ad also has the link to my website, which lists all chins, shows all pictures.
If you get me in a good mood, and I don't have 10 chins available, I will attach pictures for you. But this isn't practical when I have more than a few chins (due to the sheer number of pictures), or even when I have a few, because too many attachments and now my email goes to spam. Not to mention -- can you not be bothered to go on the ad yourself or the website yourself and look at the pictures? It's not that difficult, I swear.
Ok, and that's all the whining for today. Not because I'm keeping anything to myself, not even because people have been "good" lately, but rather, because that's about the only email I've gotten relating to adoptions in about 2-3 weeks.
Moving along.
I am trying to clean up the house. This has been evidenced by the cage sale, and trying to get the used items for sale clean and ready to go. The last time I had a volunteer, we cleaned some of the used items and took pictures. Problem is, most of the used items end up making the rescue $1-3 and cost the rescue the time and effort of washing them, plus 20-30 minutes for picture editing and listing on the webstore. That's per item. So, not really a good trade-off. I was going to just recycle the recyclables and pitch the remaining, but before that, I thought of posting them all on facebook, CnH, and a few other places. Rather than listing them all individually, with exactly what it is, exactly what animals it's good for, dimensions, the whole 9 yards, one picture per item.... I have about 3 items per picture, just item title (like, ceramic food bowl) and price. I will answer questions if someone needs, but no more typing it all out ahead of time and wasting ridiculous amounts of time. The facebook album is here --> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.725448430854809.1073741830.144858985580426&type=3 - should you care to look. All used items, all in good condition for the most part. But at the end of the day, I hate clutter, this stuff is the epitome of clutter, and it needs to go bye-bye.
And so far so good. All three of the chin-shaped ceramic dust houses have sold, plus a food bowl. I emailed someone a quote for all the water bottles and some dusters. Hoping they get back to me soon. Cause if they don't want the water bottles, other people do. Got a measurement on the small carrier for someone. Someone else messaged wanting a slew of things, I told em, give me a day or so to figure out what the other people are getting, and I will get back to them. Hopefully a lot of the stuff goes. Cause it's honestly just taking up too much room here and it's not worth enough money to keep it around when space is at a premium anyway.
One last thing and then I will go. So, I packaged up the paid order for the chin dust houses and bowl, and a few more orders today, and I cleaned off that table I used for the pictures of the items and put back the drainer racks and started washing more used items and other stuff. Yeah, more stuff, cause that's not all I have, the stuff that's listed. That's just a portion, and I still have a small pile of things to go through and wash, and I figure, once the time runs out on this one (it has til Sept. 13 -- I plan to give each batch 3 weeks til it gets recycled/pitched), I can go through more stuff then, etc etc. Even once I get through the used items themselves, I need to go through my own collection *cough* hoarding *cough* of food bowls, water bottles, etc etc.
Well, so I was washing items and filling the drainers. Almost to the end of filling em, and I pick up one of those little glass jars, like the type used for the healthy treat mix. My hands are covered with suds and so is the jar, and I drop the jar into the sink. It doesn't sound like it broke, so I pick it up, stick the sponge inside, one finger inside, other fingers inside, and start to turn. Can you see where this is going? Note to the wise: if you drop something that's glass, and there's enough suds on it that you can't tell if it's broken, for heaven's sake, rinse it off and check, before you keep washing it, or you will be making a midnight trip to Walmart for bandaids and peroxide.
I'm going to go repair my hand now....
Got an email earlier today wanting to adopt one of the chins. So I told em, there's an adoption form, care packet, yadda yadda. They emailed back, ok, send em, and while I'm at it, send all the photos I have of this chin and every other chin I have available. Um, excuse me? Ok, here's the thing. Some ads that I put up only let you put up one picture. An example would be chicago.bookoo.com. All my ads on there have one picture. However, each ad has a link to my Available Chins page on the website, which has every picture I have of each chin on it. So believe me, you're not short changed by finding that ad. Anyway, but of course, this person didn't find THAT ad, no, they found an ad that has all 8 pictures of this chin... and they wanted me to send em to them. Mind you, that ad also has the link to my website, which lists all chins, shows all pictures.
If you get me in a good mood, and I don't have 10 chins available, I will attach pictures for you. But this isn't practical when I have more than a few chins (due to the sheer number of pictures), or even when I have a few, because too many attachments and now my email goes to spam. Not to mention -- can you not be bothered to go on the ad yourself or the website yourself and look at the pictures? It's not that difficult, I swear.
Ok, and that's all the whining for today. Not because I'm keeping anything to myself, not even because people have been "good" lately, but rather, because that's about the only email I've gotten relating to adoptions in about 2-3 weeks.
Moving along.
I am trying to clean up the house. This has been evidenced by the cage sale, and trying to get the used items for sale clean and ready to go. The last time I had a volunteer, we cleaned some of the used items and took pictures. Problem is, most of the used items end up making the rescue $1-3 and cost the rescue the time and effort of washing them, plus 20-30 minutes for picture editing and listing on the webstore. That's per item. So, not really a good trade-off. I was going to just recycle the recyclables and pitch the remaining, but before that, I thought of posting them all on facebook, CnH, and a few other places. Rather than listing them all individually, with exactly what it is, exactly what animals it's good for, dimensions, the whole 9 yards, one picture per item.... I have about 3 items per picture, just item title (like, ceramic food bowl) and price. I will answer questions if someone needs, but no more typing it all out ahead of time and wasting ridiculous amounts of time. The facebook album is here --> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.725448430854809.1073741830.144858985580426&type=3 - should you care to look. All used items, all in good condition for the most part. But at the end of the day, I hate clutter, this stuff is the epitome of clutter, and it needs to go bye-bye.
And so far so good. All three of the chin-shaped ceramic dust houses have sold, plus a food bowl. I emailed someone a quote for all the water bottles and some dusters. Hoping they get back to me soon. Cause if they don't want the water bottles, other people do. Got a measurement on the small carrier for someone. Someone else messaged wanting a slew of things, I told em, give me a day or so to figure out what the other people are getting, and I will get back to them. Hopefully a lot of the stuff goes. Cause it's honestly just taking up too much room here and it's not worth enough money to keep it around when space is at a premium anyway.
One last thing and then I will go. So, I packaged up the paid order for the chin dust houses and bowl, and a few more orders today, and I cleaned off that table I used for the pictures of the items and put back the drainer racks and started washing more used items and other stuff. Yeah, more stuff, cause that's not all I have, the stuff that's listed. That's just a portion, and I still have a small pile of things to go through and wash, and I figure, once the time runs out on this one (it has til Sept. 13 -- I plan to give each batch 3 weeks til it gets recycled/pitched), I can go through more stuff then, etc etc. Even once I get through the used items themselves, I need to go through my own collection *cough* hoarding *cough* of food bowls, water bottles, etc etc.
Well, so I was washing items and filling the drainers. Almost to the end of filling em, and I pick up one of those little glass jars, like the type used for the healthy treat mix. My hands are covered with suds and so is the jar, and I drop the jar into the sink. It doesn't sound like it broke, so I pick it up, stick the sponge inside, one finger inside, other fingers inside, and start to turn. Can you see where this is going? Note to the wise: if you drop something that's glass, and there's enough suds on it that you can't tell if it's broken, for heaven's sake, rinse it off and check, before you keep washing it, or you will be making a midnight trip to Walmart for bandaids and peroxide.
I'm going to go repair my hand now....
Saturday, August 23, 2014
400 Chins "Rescued" in SoCal
So, I really should leave this alone, but it's everywhere on my facebook page, as my friends are at least 50% (if not more) chin people. So I see these threads every other thread and it's time for me to comment on it.
Not sure if you've seen it yet, but PETA claims to have rescued 420 chins from a ranch in Southern California. The ranch was Valley Vista Chinchillas, the owners were a couple in their 90's who were trying to sell off their herd and ranch at high prices.
For the purpose of not reinventing the wheel, I will post to one of the links -- http://investigations.peta.org/chinchilla-farm-rescue/
So that everyone's educated, let's get the actual truth out about the matter. First. PETA did not rescue these chins. Sam Simon, the creator of the Simpsons, paid the ranchers $50,000 for the chinchillas. The chinchillas were then given to the San Diego Humane Society (SDHS), which was given a donation of $100,000 to care for the chinchillas. The chinchillas were noted to be in good health.
If you watched the video, PETA claims that all these animals would have been pelted if they didn't sell. Killed for their fur, if you will. Here's the thing. Valley Vista was operated as a fur ranch at one point, but not for the last few decades. They were selling pets for the last few decades. And at the price they were asking, they were never going to pelt the chins. Valley Vista wanted $69,000 for the chins and the whole setup. They ended up with $50,000 just for the chins. For 420 chins, that's almost $120 per chin. You know what the average pelt market is, for an awesome pelt? (and by awesome pelt, I mean, high quality show pelt, not pet pelt) About $40. So, let's see. $40 x 420 chins = $16,800. Nowhere near the asking price, which means, if they weren't getting the asking price, they were not gonna pelt all the chins and cut their profits by 66%.
The ranchers had hired someone to sell of their chins, one by one, until they were all gone. Well, until PETA stepped in, posing as a buyer. Really? Cause aren't they supposed to be the ethical ones? But you got that right, they posed as a buyer interested in buying the ranch. They asked about past practices, which is the part of the video that talks about how they would pelt chins that didn't work out and do home amputations. Guess what? It's past practices, before there was such a thing as a vet that knew about chins. So, PETA misrepresented who they were to the owners of the ranch, who thought they were selling to other chin people. And that's not the only misrepresentation.
The part of the video about the cervical disclocation and electrocution is part of a video taken by PETA years ago at a ranch in Michigan. Funny, not at all related to this video or this instance. So why throw it in, except to make this ranch look worse? Oh wait, maybe that's the point....
Further, they're calling it a rescue, saying chins were removed from horrible living situations, bad conditions, etc etc. Take a look at the pictures, the "before" pictures. Those chins look awfully well cared for. Decent fur, there's food, there's water.... they're not in any danger of dying for their fur, dying from bad care, etc etc. That's PETA warping things for you.
As if PETA skewing the entire thing isn't bad enough, the SDHS is not anywhere near equipped to deal with these critters. Especially not this many. I don't think this many chinchillas should have gone to anywhere except a HS or rescue that deals specifically in small animals, or even better, one (well, multiple) that deal with just chinchillas. Mainstream HS's have no idea how to care for these critters, and it's evidenced by their own info pages. Straight off the SDHS's website:
• Their primary diet consists of pellets, hay and water. They also enjoy dry oatmeal, grapes, blueberries, cranberries, dried and fresh apple slices, banana chips, and raw pumpkin seeds.
... wait, what? That's not right! Everything after pellets, hay, and water, is wrong wrong wrong. And by putting it out there, people will think it's correct. Why? Because the HS said so. I would expect that a lot of people listen to rescues and HS's, because they think, "well, that organization has the animal, they know how to care for it." Not always the case. While I won't name names, I can think of several local humane societies that either keep chins in cages with plastic, in aquariums, on cedar bedding, on parrot food, etc etc. They sure don't know what they're doing, and by showing the potential adopter that stuff, they're not helping the next generation of owners do any better.
As if caring for them badly isn't bad enough, no quarantine or evaluation was done on the chins. I believe it says somewhere that a vet looked at the chins. Yet, less than 24 hours after the chins came in, the females were up for adoption. To put this into perspective, a large ranch like that that uses runs, would have at least 3 females for 1 male (if not 6 to 1). So for 400 chins, that's 300 females to 100 males (or 334 to 66). So in less than 24 hours, a vet had the time to look at, and certify healthy, 300-334 female chins? Don't think so. So, no quarantine.
There's a reason when chins come into this rescue, they stay here 30+ days. To evaluate their temperament, check they're eating, drinking, pooing, chewing, maintaining weight. None of that can be done overnight. It just can't. They need to settle in before you can know any of this with any certainty. And for the females, if we get in a female that has been exposed to or caged with a male, we keep her for 4 months to check that she is not pregnant. Mind you, this SDHS is adopting out females less than 24 hours later. So, they may be pregnant. They say they are keeping the males to neuter them.... we shall see..
Along with misinformation is lack of information. The SDHS isn't advising people on how long chins live. Think about this. Maybe you and me know that they live 15-20 years. But think of how many people, who know next to nothing bout chins, look at them and think they're like most other small rodents and will be dead within 5 years? Not the case. Not allowing for people to plan whether this will be a good pet for them.
And on top of not thinking about or evaluating whether a chinchilla will be a good pet for them, due to lack of screening on SDHS's part, they're also having everyone and their brother who's ever wanted a chin coming out of the woodwork to get one, or several, because the adoption fee.... $25 per chin. So, everyone who's ever wanted to breed chins, or even wanting to own one but can't afford one, is now going to get one or a couple. There's already several posts on the facebook pages about people who've adopted a female and now have it with their male.
The problem with them being adopted out so cheap is this -- and I have this same issue when I put chins on sale for large discounts -- everyone who has ever looked at a chin, and thought, "how cute!! but I can't afford the $75 adoption fee, plus the cage and all the other stuff," now will go and get like 4. Why? Because they can afford the ridiculously low adoption fee. Never mind that they don't have an appropriate cage, don't know how to care for the chins, etc. Doesn't matter, because now they can actually afford them! And better yet, they figure, well now, they'll get a male and a female, and they can recoup their money by selling the babies at bouceau bucks!! So you know these critters will get stuck in aquariums, tiny cages, wrong food, wrong bedding, and so on and so forth. I read someone's comment that said, they thought that, since these chins are being adopted out to the general public, with wrong info about everything, not more than 50% will live more than 6 months. I totally agree. With wrong information being passed out, especially wrong information regarding diet, coupled with lack of information about correct housing, correct care, etc etc, it wouldn't surprise me if half these chins are dead not even a half year later.
Forget dead chins, there's another problem with such a low adoption fee: flippers. At $25 per chin, versus the normal pet store price of $150+, watch people try to adopt a bunch and then resell them. It happens all the time with other animals that are posted cheap, that people think they can make a quick buck off, watch it happen here. Or, better yet, when that doesn't work, or when they realize that cute cuddly chinchilla they brought home really isn't quite as cute and cuddly as they'd thought.... those chins are gonna be dumped back onto rescues. So, the small chin rescues are gonna have to pick up the slack for this disaster.
Going back, for a second, to the people who couldn't afford the chins if they weren't $25. I have nothing against poor people owning animals. I don't. But I'm against unnecessary suffering, because the owner has no money and no way to get any. I don't think you have to be a millionare to own a pet. You don't. But I expect, when it needs vet care, that you will either shell out the cash, pull out a credit card, borrow money from a friend, or do whatever needs to be done, so it can go to the vet. I'm not saying, if the animal needs a $1500 surgery, by all means, pay for it. There's a limit for everyone. But I expect that the average owner should at least be able to afford, let's say, a $200 vet visit to go and see what is wrong with their furry family member. I don't think that's too much to ask. And people on these threads are going off on how HORRIBLE it is to think that people should need to be able to take their pets to the vet. So basically, they're saying, "sure, go ahead and have a pet. And if it gets sick, let it suffer and slowly die for months on end, because you don't have the money to pay for the vet." That's the problem I have. It's fine if you're low on money and everything's fine and the pet's healthy. But I don't think an animal should have to suffer because someone chose to bring it into their life, without the financial means to care for it, even if that includes ending its suffering. I don't think you need a huge vet fund. One would be nice, sure, and it's a great cushion if you can have that luxury. But I feel like people should be able to afford a basic vet visit. And when that's out of the question... I feel a pet should be out of the question as well. Which means, if you can't afford a chin at regular price, you definitely don't need one.
One final thing before I close this post. The thing that I think is driving me most nuts about this whole thing is reading people's posts about chins being "rescued" from "those horrible tiny cages." I have my large double FNs for the rescue chins, and I have my runs. I get it. I see both sides. I want my pet owners to have large cages, ideally, but I won't make anyone have a FN if they want to get something smaller.
I think the best example I've come up for the size of the runs, in comparison to a cage for another animal is this. People who breed dogs often use kennels. You know, those chain link fenced in areas that are all next to each other so they can keep a lot of dogs without having them all running loose. Lots of time you see two dogs (or more) in a 5' x 10' kennel. For chins, we have a female chin (and a male, at times) in one run. Each run is 16" x 24" x 12". So, two dogs that weigh, say a combined total of 75 pounds in 50 sq feet, is roughly 0.7 pounds of dog per square foot of kennel room. Versus two chins that weigh maybe 2 pounds combined in 2.6 square feet of run space. That's roughly 1.3 pounds of chin per square food of run room. WAIT! Hold up! That's almost DOUBLE the square foot for the chin run versus the dog kennel. And I know, everyone goes, "but it seems so small!!" Yes, and a 5' x 10' dog kennel seems large, but in comparison, the chins have more room. Interesting, isn't it? Yet you don't hear many people complaining bout dog runs.
Ok, one more thing. Then I'm really done. There is a reason for using these runs though. It's not because we all really want to have as many chins as possible in a small area, but it's for practical reasons. Going back to dogs. Medium/large dogs often have 5-10 puppies in a litter. Out of a litter, there's likely at least on that can be shown, with that many, and for most dogs, gestation is 2 months. Give or take. For chins, gestation is four months. Yep, FOUR months. For waiting patiently all that time, we generally get 1-2 babies per litter. If we're lucky, because there's about 20-25% mortality rate with chins, so it's not uncommon to find stillborns or chins that have died after birth. If the chin has one and it dies, we now wait at least four more months (at minimum... if they breed at their next heat cycle) for more babies, and hope it goes better the next time. With how slow they breed... there isn't the option to keep 5 chins and actually compete in the show world. You simply would never have anything to show. That's why you see people who breed having upwards of 20, 30, 40, even hundreds or thousands of chins. It ups their chances of having something good born, or something alive born at all. Some females don't breed. I have one female who's had one baby, in the 4 years she's been here. Now, that said, the baby didn't place well at show, and was sold to a pet home, which, mind you, has turned into people who support the rescue through product sales and donations, and I think they are awesome. So not all non-breeders aren't worth anything. But sometimes, that's how it is... you have chins that don't do much for you, and you hope they will churn out some babies, but it doesn't always work out that way... so you need a large number to actually get anything to show.
Would I like everyone to have large cages and spoil their chins? Oh sure. I just don't think lying to the public about what's really going on, misrepresenting the ranch, giving misinformation and leaving out information about the animals being adopted, not screening adopters, and adopting out so cheaply, is the way to get quality homes for these cute little furballs. That is all.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
One line emails
I'm going to make this real quick cause I have people coming, but I was going through my emails this morning, and I had several of these and it irks me to no end. What is it? It's emails with a subject line and no inside. Like, today, I have one email with the subject "I want to adopt Ryler and Reed" -- open it, blank email. Few others like that too.
Like as if telling me that is enough to say, ok, come over and get em. Could you make ANY effort on your part? I mean I know this is the age of texting and you sure don't have a "subject" line in texting, but is it that difficult to type something else?
Or another, "I want a female chinchilla." Great. Are you just telling me that? Cause some people do email just to "talk," or do you want to adopt one?
Is it that difficult to make an actual effort to write an email that makes you look like you put even 2 minutes into it?
Oh the best ones ever are: I want to know what females you have, ages, colors, and prices.
Now, you've just made me think you may have something other than that chin being a pet planned. Maybe not, I've met some people who legitimately just did want to know what I had available so they could pick. But wording it like.... well, let's say I've run into a lot more people who want the fanciest color, cheapest chin they can come by, so they can breed it and sell the babies for 10x what they paid. That's just how those people tend to word things.
So, the whole point of this is, it's useful to think about how you come across, when writing an email to a rescue. If you're this informal to me, I don't wonder why people can't get jobs, or end up at McDonalds for their whole life. I know an email is more informal than a letter, but when emails came about, it was just like an electronic letter. Maybe it would be better if people would treat it as such.... there would be way less emails with no subject or one line emails that leave me guessing. Because keep in mind... you being able to adopt is all about perception. If I perceive that you will be a bad home, you won't be adopting. I really don't care if you can't spell or your grammar is off (though, I am mentally correcting it for you in my head), but how that email comes across is important for me. Because most times, that's all I have to go on, to tell me what kind of person you are.
Like as if telling me that is enough to say, ok, come over and get em. Could you make ANY effort on your part? I mean I know this is the age of texting and you sure don't have a "subject" line in texting, but is it that difficult to type something else?
Or another, "I want a female chinchilla." Great. Are you just telling me that? Cause some people do email just to "talk," or do you want to adopt one?
Is it that difficult to make an actual effort to write an email that makes you look like you put even 2 minutes into it?
Oh the best ones ever are: I want to know what females you have, ages, colors, and prices.
Now, you've just made me think you may have something other than that chin being a pet planned. Maybe not, I've met some people who legitimately just did want to know what I had available so they could pick. But wording it like.... well, let's say I've run into a lot more people who want the fanciest color, cheapest chin they can come by, so they can breed it and sell the babies for 10x what they paid. That's just how those people tend to word things.
So, the whole point of this is, it's useful to think about how you come across, when writing an email to a rescue. If you're this informal to me, I don't wonder why people can't get jobs, or end up at McDonalds for their whole life. I know an email is more informal than a letter, but when emails came about, it was just like an electronic letter. Maybe it would be better if people would treat it as such.... there would be way less emails with no subject or one line emails that leave me guessing. Because keep in mind... you being able to adopt is all about perception. If I perceive that you will be a bad home, you won't be adopting. I really don't care if you can't spell or your grammar is off (though, I am mentally correcting it for you in my head), but how that email comes across is important for me. Because most times, that's all I have to go on, to tell me what kind of person you are.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Big Today
Today is a Big Day. You know how I know? Because our waiting list for people wanting to bring chins into the rescue has no one on it, and we still have one open cage!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Rat Adoption (or lack of)
So, I don't know if I posted about the person who was talking my ears off a few days ago about wanting those senior rats. Well, we finally connected again today and she said she didn't have internet to fill out the adoption form. Naturally.
So, I tell her we can do it over the phone. And really, I probably could have skipped to the important questions and come back to the name, address, etc etc after I saw she could care for rats. The diet was fine, but she keeps most of her rats in tanks. Why? Because she has so many. And for her, tanks are easier. Now, if you don't know, rats are to be kept in wire cages. Not fish tanks. There's a reason they call them fish tanks and not rat tanks.
So, I'm telling her, she will have to come up with two "cages" (like legitimate wire cages) if she wants to adopt. And so she starts telling me about the tanks. Oh she's got a 20g that the girls could go in, and then she's got a 15g -- oh wait, no, she needs to save that, cause she has a blue rat and someone she knows has a blue rat and that person wants blue rat babies, so she's gotta hang onto that tank to breed them. Um, what? I tell her, you're not supposed to be breeding these random pet store rats, you don't know genetics, so on and so forth. Oh, but the female's dumbo and has thrown dumbo in the past (in the past???) and just this once, cause this person wants blue. Clearly, not just this once if the female's littered in the past. Oh and then she goes on to tell me she doesn't condone breeding, but somehow she figures that the just this once argument will be perfectly fine because it's ok to say "breeding is horrible!!! But let me just do it this once and then I'll go back to that." Wtf? I don't think so. Oh and it gets better. Then she says, well, the first time the mom had 6, then 8 babies. And she's like, well this person wants 2, so like, if she has 12, do I think I could come there and get the others and rehome them for her? *yanks out all hair on head* NO. I'm trying to REHOME already existing, living rats.
So, as if that wasn't bad enough, she says she's using aspen. Which is fine for a lot of small animals, but the wood beddings aren't good for rats, because they have the oils and phenols which are bad for their respiratory systems. Causes respiratory problems. You know what causes additional respiratory problems? Living in tanks with no ventilation or air exchange and breathing in tons of ammonia.
So I told her, look, even if I was to approve her (which I wouldn't, after hearing about the "just this once" breeding, the tanks, and the aspen... god knows what else had we continued with the form), the person who I have that would be bringing them to her would likely not leave them with her. Very nice guy, but he has like 2 rats per double critter nation. He would get there, see the tanks, see the aspen, call me up and be like, did you know about this? how could you!! And not leave them there. And so I told her that. Especially because it's the tanks AND aspen. If it was just a tank, with carefresh, maybe I could let that slide. And I'm sure I've told people with open-air cages, don't use wood bedding, and then do, but at least with wire cages, it can air out. So it's one thing to let bedding slide, or to tell her, try to use different bedding, but when it's tanks AND bedding that are wrong, she's not changing them both, especially when she says she has not a ton of money.
And she repeated, well, she uses the tanks and aspen because she has so many. Well, then HAVE LESS. It doesn't do anyone, or the animals, ANY good to "rescue" them if you're going to keep them in sub-par living conditions. Great, she got them out of a pet store. Great, she got them out of a feeder bin. But then she puts em in a bad "cage" (if you can even call it that), with the wrong type of bedding, and she thinks that's better? Some of those pet store rats may have gone on to be pets in wire cages, she doesn't know. If you can't provide a decent cage with the right bedding and right stimulation, you shouldn't have the pet. Simple as that. I'm not saying she needs critter nations. While I think it's great some people give their rats cages that size, I don't require that adopters need that size of a cage to adopt rats. But they at least need a wire cage about the size of a 10g tank (if not larger) to adopt a rat or two. That's about the smallest you can go for rats. But at least, it's a wire cage. You can hang hammocks, things for them to do. Play with. What can you do in a tank? Oh, she's got an igloo. Who-hoo. You know why she's got an igloo? Because it's hard to do much else with a glass tank.
Oh, but I almost forgot, she asked if they came with cages. For a $10 adoption fee for a pair of rats? Um... let me think about that... no.
Anyway, so I told her, this guy would not likely leave them with her. Because, truthfully, it's not ideal living conditions. I would like to think the phone cut out right then, but in reality, she probably hung up on me. Just in case, because I wasn't positive, I did call back and leave a message saying, hey, if the call died, call me back. It's been about a half hour, and nothing. So I guess she hung up on me. Oh well. The hunt for the homes for the senior rats continues.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Store (Mostly) Back Up and Running
Quick update.
So, with me finally being able to get my special order of wingnuts and hanger bolts, most items in the store went back to available. Like the shelves, some of the built items, etc. Because I can't make a shelf without the hardware to hang it.
The houses are still unavailable (unless you happen to want one of the few that's currently in stock -- no cottages though). I know, I know, it's been forever, but I have had maybe two times that volunteers have stopped by all year, and the houses take a ridiculous amount of time to make when it's just me making them. Especially when I get an order for like 6 houses, and then people come by to adopt and wonder why I don't have 40 extras ready to go. Hint -- the small house takes over an hour to make. That's why you never seen a ton of them and why I prefer making houses with help. They'll be up eventually. But almost everything else is back available now.
So, with me finally being able to get my special order of wingnuts and hanger bolts, most items in the store went back to available. Like the shelves, some of the built items, etc. Because I can't make a shelf without the hardware to hang it.
The houses are still unavailable (unless you happen to want one of the few that's currently in stock -- no cottages though). I know, I know, it's been forever, but I have had maybe two times that volunteers have stopped by all year, and the houses take a ridiculous amount of time to make when it's just me making them. Especially when I get an order for like 6 houses, and then people come by to adopt and wonder why I don't have 40 extras ready to go. Hint -- the small house takes over an hour to make. That's why you never seen a ton of them and why I prefer making houses with help. They'll be up eventually. But almost everything else is back available now.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Boxes
Hi all,
Just had a thought about something, and I suppose this is as good a time as any to post about this, because it comes up from time to time. What am I talking about, you may ask? Boxes.
Yes, boxes. As in, the ones you receive your orders in. Now, some people are lucky and receive their orders in mostly label-free and design-free brown cardboard boxes. The unlucky ones get their orders in other boxes. I will use whatever I have. Today, I sent out an order in an Always Ultra Thin Pads with Wings -- bright green / yellow box. Hey, the order fit PERFECTLY needing just a tiny amount of packaging peanuts, why not. I've used printer boxes. I use Greenies boxes (love those!), Omaha steak boxes (also love those, but not as useful), and mini pizza boxes (from dry dog treats shaped like pizzas that my dogs love). Plus everything else you can imagine. If I bought something, and it came in a box, and I thought, "this could be a useful box for shipping something out," chances are, either I used it, or it's sitting in my pile-o-boxes downstairs. I probably look like a box collector to someone who wouldn't know why I have so many.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I've had people make comments about wanting plain boxes. Now, why someone wouldn't want a bright green / yellow Always Pads box showing up on their doorstep, I just can't imagine :P. Haha. Anyway, if I can find a box that's a decent size, I try to use it. As you may or may not know, the post office charges more if your package has dimensions over 12" on any side. So if I can cram your 40 items into an 11 x 11 x 11 box, I do, so we all can save money and go home happy. But sometimes that box is an Always Pad box. The boxes you can purchase are very standard sizes, and let me say, large, so you will pay more for shipping. In addition, if I had to go and purchase boxes, prices would go up. Occasionally, I have gone and purchased a box, rather than sent someone their order in 5 smaller boxes (because that's just not practical). Now, if I do that, the cost of that box is tacked onto your shipping and handling charge. Boxes can run up to $5 for big ones at Meijer, so believe me, most people would rather not pay that.
I have looked into getting long boxes from U-line to simplify shipping out those long wood shelves that never fit into anything else. I haven't purchased any yet, but those I may buy. For my own convenience, mind you, not because you all want plain brown boxes. The reason being, when someone wants a 32" shelf and I only have 24" boxes, there's a lot of taping and cutting of multiple boxes and lots of effort going on to get a box together for that shelf. Versus buying some boxes that would just fit those shelves as they are. So that's a possibility.
But in general, I will use whatever I have on hand, as it's cheaper. Same with packaging materials. Since I just recently moved this year, I have a lot right now. I actually have packaging peanuts (which are usually a hot commodity, but I have some at the moment), and I have lots of different pieces of styrofoam, those air bubble things, bubble wrap, you name it. If you've walked into the room that houses the saw and the other wood items, you've seen the multiple plastic trash bags full of packaging materials. I look like I'm collecting those as well. I save em, because eventually I will use them, and they're free. Eventually when I run out, you will see me crumpling up pages out of the yellow pages phone book. Why? Because it's free. Occasionally, I will buy bubble wrap, as that can be hard to replicate with free items. But the things is, I try to pack things the best I can, with what I have, which doesn't typically cost me a lot. It's cheaper for me, easier for me, and cheaper for the purchaser. But, sometimes that means you get a fun box on your doorstep.
If it's really important that the box be mark-free and just plain brown cardboard box, let me know. If you're one of the people that doesn't care, I guess you can continue to enjoy the surprise of whatever box makes it to your doorstep this time. :)
Just had a thought about something, and I suppose this is as good a time as any to post about this, because it comes up from time to time. What am I talking about, you may ask? Boxes.
Yes, boxes. As in, the ones you receive your orders in. Now, some people are lucky and receive their orders in mostly label-free and design-free brown cardboard boxes. The unlucky ones get their orders in other boxes. I will use whatever I have. Today, I sent out an order in an Always Ultra Thin Pads with Wings -- bright green / yellow box. Hey, the order fit PERFECTLY needing just a tiny amount of packaging peanuts, why not. I've used printer boxes. I use Greenies boxes (love those!), Omaha steak boxes (also love those, but not as useful), and mini pizza boxes (from dry dog treats shaped like pizzas that my dogs love). Plus everything else you can imagine. If I bought something, and it came in a box, and I thought, "this could be a useful box for shipping something out," chances are, either I used it, or it's sitting in my pile-o-boxes downstairs. I probably look like a box collector to someone who wouldn't know why I have so many.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I've had people make comments about wanting plain boxes. Now, why someone wouldn't want a bright green / yellow Always Pads box showing up on their doorstep, I just can't imagine :P. Haha. Anyway, if I can find a box that's a decent size, I try to use it. As you may or may not know, the post office charges more if your package has dimensions over 12" on any side. So if I can cram your 40 items into an 11 x 11 x 11 box, I do, so we all can save money and go home happy. But sometimes that box is an Always Pad box. The boxes you can purchase are very standard sizes, and let me say, large, so you will pay more for shipping. In addition, if I had to go and purchase boxes, prices would go up. Occasionally, I have gone and purchased a box, rather than sent someone their order in 5 smaller boxes (because that's just not practical). Now, if I do that, the cost of that box is tacked onto your shipping and handling charge. Boxes can run up to $5 for big ones at Meijer, so believe me, most people would rather not pay that.
I have looked into getting long boxes from U-line to simplify shipping out those long wood shelves that never fit into anything else. I haven't purchased any yet, but those I may buy. For my own convenience, mind you, not because you all want plain brown boxes. The reason being, when someone wants a 32" shelf and I only have 24" boxes, there's a lot of taping and cutting of multiple boxes and lots of effort going on to get a box together for that shelf. Versus buying some boxes that would just fit those shelves as they are. So that's a possibility.
But in general, I will use whatever I have on hand, as it's cheaper. Same with packaging materials. Since I just recently moved this year, I have a lot right now. I actually have packaging peanuts (which are usually a hot commodity, but I have some at the moment), and I have lots of different pieces of styrofoam, those air bubble things, bubble wrap, you name it. If you've walked into the room that houses the saw and the other wood items, you've seen the multiple plastic trash bags full of packaging materials. I look like I'm collecting those as well. I save em, because eventually I will use them, and they're free. Eventually when I run out, you will see me crumpling up pages out of the yellow pages phone book. Why? Because it's free. Occasionally, I will buy bubble wrap, as that can be hard to replicate with free items. But the things is, I try to pack things the best I can, with what I have, which doesn't typically cost me a lot. It's cheaper for me, easier for me, and cheaper for the purchaser. But, sometimes that means you get a fun box on your doorstep.
If it's really important that the box be mark-free and just plain brown cardboard box, let me know. If you're one of the people that doesn't care, I guess you can continue to enjoy the surprise of whatever box makes it to your doorstep this time. :)
And more...
This was going to be a second post for yesterday, but I never got around to finishing it...
Remember that person that texted at the crack of dawn asking about chins, and I was asleep before they texted me back?
So, let me share:
Them: Hey, you looking for a new home for some chinchillas? Sorry to text you so late.
Me: Yeah, this is a chinchilla rescue, we always have several available for adoption.
Them: Great. My son loves chinchillas.
Me: (in the morning) Hi again, sorry, I went to bed before you responded to the text. Are you wanting to adopt a chinchilla
Them: Perfectly ok. Yes I am.
Me: Alrighty. We have a chin care packet you'll need to look over and an adoption form to fill out. I can email those to you if you'd like?
Them: Alright that will be fine. But I have a couple questions first.
Me: Sure. Ask away.
Them: Alright. Are you hamsters average size or are they fat? Like, I've had fat guinea pigs before. Those effers got stuck in a little tube one time. We tried to cut it out but we cut into it. LOL I'm looking for small ones.
Me: I don't have hamsters. This is a chinchilla rescue.
Them: Oh right. Well about the size...?
Me: For chinchillas? They're average size, none are huge. If the tubes are small enough that you think an animal would get stuck, you shouldn't have it in the cage.
Them: Preferably something small enough to not get stuck in a tube and big enough not to get swallowed by a 3 year old. Don't want that happening again LOL
Them: Well you see, I thought it was a hamster, so I put it in a hamster cage. It was kinda little at that time. I took it out of the cage for only a minute. I turn around and my son is choking! LOL never saw that hamster aain.
Me: This conversation is over.
Them: So you're not going to sell me a hamster?
--------------------------------
Now..... this sounded kinda fishy early on, but I've had a gerbil get stuck in a tube, so it's not entirely un-believable that that happens. But this kinda shit is what really pisses me off. I have shit to do, people who ACTUALLY want to adopt to respond to their emails, but no, these dumbasses are the ones who are emailing and contacting me. Really?
Moving along. I had pet coupon booklets that I've listed on several groups on facebook for free. Pickup at the house. It specifically says, on my listing, that I have a small animal rescue and cannot use these booklets, and as they only have like one coupon for small animals, they would be much better for dog people. So what does everyone else? Oh, can you treat my dog for parvo at your rescue? I want to adopt a small older dog, do you have one at your rescue? Ahhhh. And the best one, where can we meet? You can pick it up at my house, that's where we can meet. What part of free, come get it, do people not understand?
Moving along, this one person volunteers at some science center that potentially wanted to adopt some chins. So they said, put the chins on hold (only if it was free, cause you know, don't want to lose out on money) and they'll decide. So I tell her, the hold for 7 days is free, after that, they need a deposit or the chins can go to anyone. And I also mention, in that email, that if the center decides to adopt, that I need the person who will be caring for the chins to read our chin care packet and fill out an adoption form. So I get an email back today, that she wants to adopt, how does she pay? Wait, hold up, back up a sec. Didn't I JUST say about the care packet and the adoption form? Plus, she said she wants to adopt -- so I emailed her asking if it's her, or the center, that wants to adopt, and either way, those forms need to be filled out, and I attached them. I also told her, her hold ends at the end of the day tomorrow, so if they really want the chins, I need that completed adoption form asap so we can set an appointment. And, the chins they are interested in require a wheel, which, just going by how well she read my emails, I'm sure she glossed over. I reminded her of that as well (and it actually says in their adoption ad about this, and about bringing the wheel with them to the rescue to ensure they actually have it).... well... we shall see how this goes. Nothing yet back from these people, and they only have until the end of the day today (25th).
On a positive note, a family that we saw at the Windy City Pet Expo is going to adopt! Yay!! And they're going to purchase one of the large cages, which will give me more space to organize stuff in the basement. I'm not as positive as they are that the cage will fit in their vehicle in one piece, but I sure hope it does, because I do not want to have to get it back downstairs if it doesn't.
Few more things. Maybe this section should be entitled - "what to expect if you want to adopt from a rescue." First and foremost, expect an adoption form. I understand not all rescues have a care packet they want you to read, but come on, caring for a cat or dog is likely more common sense (simply because they're everywhere) than caring for a chinchilla. So we also have a care packet you will be reading. But in addition, we have an adoption form. Why? Not to waste your time (or mine, because I did have to come up with it and update it from time to time), but because I care about where the animals are going. Your address, name, the whole top third of the first page is mainly for my records. I don't really care that you live on Main Street, or in Hammond, unless I know (for example) that you can't own a rabbit in Hammond and you want to adopt a rabbit. Then we may have a chat. But I don't take that information down for the purpose of harassing you down the road. Unless you decide to sell that chinchilla on craigslist, but that is another story. Anyway, the important questions are more, what type of food are you going to feed, what type of cage. Do you know what acceptable chews are? Do you know if they have temperature requirements? This is the important stuff. And you don't know how aggravating it gets when I see, as an answer to the food question, "chinchilla food." No shit, sherlock. I would hope you could at least grasp that a chinchilla could eat chinchilla food, but I want it a step further than that, which is why I'm asking. I don't mind the people who put "want to discuss with you" or "will go with your suggestion" or "what do you recommend" because those people usually want the best and want to talk about it. That's fine. Anyway, point is. There's an adoption form and if you're going to adopt, you're not going to get around it. That's why this is a rescue and not a pet shop -- we don't just sell the critters to the first person who walks in the door.
I had two phone calls today. Both said they were interested in adopting, I told them about the care packet and the adoption form, and they said they wanted to come today, so they'd get the forms back to me right away. Course, neither did. But mind you, both provided their emails, said they would, and so on. Now, granted, they very well may email me tomorrow or the next day. But, if these follow the path that so many others have gone down, they immediately thought "not doing it!" when I mentioned the care packet and adoption form and just deleted the email when they got it. And of course, that's a waste of my time to send it. It's never a long email, typically just, "hey, we just talked on the phone (or whatever), as I mentioned, here is the care packet and adoption form. Please read the care packet and then fill out the adoption form and get it back to me and we can go from there. Talk to you soon." But it takes time to write it out and attach the files and even that few minutes would be a few minutes saved if these people could simply say, you know, they don't want to mess with that, they'll just go to a pet store where they can simply hand over the money and get handed the chinchilla.
My first clue, I suppose, should be that when I'm talking with these people about the chin, and they say, "we'll take it." This is not a used car sale. I hate to keep repeating this, but it's just not that simple. At that point, I have no idea of the type of cage you have, the type of food you want to feed, etc. It may all be fine, but it may all be not. I had one person call today who said they got a chin from somewhere in Valpo and it died 2 months later. Well.... I sure want to know about their cage, the food, the treats, before that person ends up with a chin from me. That's the purpose of the adoption form. "We'll take it," especially in the context of a chin dying and they don't know why, makes me think that another will likely suffer the same fate in the event it is something they are doing. Which it may be, or it may not be, but I don't know without the form.
I had someone call yesterday about coming to look at the chins. I was having a super-productive day yesterday, so I didn't have them come over right then, they said they'd call today. And they actually did, kudos to them. So, they called while I was at Menards picking up my special order. But I called first, because I somehow managed to lose my receipt and special order paperwork between the 13th and now. Oops. After turning the obvious-places-in-the-house upside down and not finding it, I called the store. I did pay for this order (now, they require you pay for it at the time of the order, apparently due to people not picking up their special orders), but I had nothing showing I did, and only an order number (thank God for special order emails referencing the order number). So I called and told the lady my problem and she said as long as I had my name on the order and brought in an ID, I'd be fine. So I did, they printed me out a new special order sheet in the back (cause the front needed to scan it to show I picked it up) and I got my hanger bolts and wingnuts. I still need to order washers, but I was so worried about not getting these (this order took months to finally get) that I didn't want to end up with thousands of washers and no use for them (those I can order shipped directly to the house). So a lot of items on the webstore will pop back up as available soon. Anyway, so those people called right as I was in line and the guy was standing there waiting for me to talk to him about the special order, so I had to tell him to call back. So I got my order, left, I called the people back, and they came over to look at the chins. Very nice people, I think they'd be a good home if they adopted. They were interested in this one cage that I have that this other person has on hold. This other person has gotten me an adoption form and everything for Gilly, but has since fallen off the planet. They have til the end of the day on the 28th to get back to me. And since these other people expressed interest in the cage, I emailed the Gilly person today and let them know, a nice friendly reminder, they have til the 28th to schedule a pickup (soon after) and if they don't, Gilly and cage go back up for adoption / sale. I don't know if maybe something changed with that person -- I added in the email that if they've decided they don't want to adopt, to let me know that as well, but we'll see either way.
Still nothing from the first person on my waiting list to bring in their chins. They only have two more days. If not them, the next person on the list is a very nice guy with two single-living chins that will take up the two available cages that are currently open. Assuming all goes well and Monday, Josephine & Storm are adopted out, another cage will open up and I will be contacting another person on my list who wants to bring in a chin, and they will have their 7 days... and down the line.
We shall see.
Remember that person that texted at the crack of dawn asking about chins, and I was asleep before they texted me back?
So, let me share:
Them: Hey, you looking for a new home for some chinchillas? Sorry to text you so late.
Me: Yeah, this is a chinchilla rescue, we always have several available for adoption.
Them: Great. My son loves chinchillas.
Me: (in the morning) Hi again, sorry, I went to bed before you responded to the text. Are you wanting to adopt a chinchilla
Them: Perfectly ok. Yes I am.
Me: Alrighty. We have a chin care packet you'll need to look over and an adoption form to fill out. I can email those to you if you'd like?
Them: Alright that will be fine. But I have a couple questions first.
Me: Sure. Ask away.
Them: Alright. Are you hamsters average size or are they fat? Like, I've had fat guinea pigs before. Those effers got stuck in a little tube one time. We tried to cut it out but we cut into it. LOL I'm looking for small ones.
Me: I don't have hamsters. This is a chinchilla rescue.
Them: Oh right. Well about the size...?
Me: For chinchillas? They're average size, none are huge. If the tubes are small enough that you think an animal would get stuck, you shouldn't have it in the cage.
Them: Preferably something small enough to not get stuck in a tube and big enough not to get swallowed by a 3 year old. Don't want that happening again LOL
Them: Well you see, I thought it was a hamster, so I put it in a hamster cage. It was kinda little at that time. I took it out of the cage for only a minute. I turn around and my son is choking! LOL never saw that hamster aain.
Me: This conversation is over.
Them: So you're not going to sell me a hamster?
--------------------------------
Now..... this sounded kinda fishy early on, but I've had a gerbil get stuck in a tube, so it's not entirely un-believable that that happens. But this kinda shit is what really pisses me off. I have shit to do, people who ACTUALLY want to adopt to respond to their emails, but no, these dumbasses are the ones who are emailing and contacting me. Really?
Moving along. I had pet coupon booklets that I've listed on several groups on facebook for free. Pickup at the house. It specifically says, on my listing, that I have a small animal rescue and cannot use these booklets, and as they only have like one coupon for small animals, they would be much better for dog people. So what does everyone else? Oh, can you treat my dog for parvo at your rescue? I want to adopt a small older dog, do you have one at your rescue? Ahhhh. And the best one, where can we meet? You can pick it up at my house, that's where we can meet. What part of free, come get it, do people not understand?
Moving along, this one person volunteers at some science center that potentially wanted to adopt some chins. So they said, put the chins on hold (only if it was free, cause you know, don't want to lose out on money) and they'll decide. So I tell her, the hold for 7 days is free, after that, they need a deposit or the chins can go to anyone. And I also mention, in that email, that if the center decides to adopt, that I need the person who will be caring for the chins to read our chin care packet and fill out an adoption form. So I get an email back today, that she wants to adopt, how does she pay? Wait, hold up, back up a sec. Didn't I JUST say about the care packet and the adoption form? Plus, she said she wants to adopt -- so I emailed her asking if it's her, or the center, that wants to adopt, and either way, those forms need to be filled out, and I attached them. I also told her, her hold ends at the end of the day tomorrow, so if they really want the chins, I need that completed adoption form asap so we can set an appointment. And, the chins they are interested in require a wheel, which, just going by how well she read my emails, I'm sure she glossed over. I reminded her of that as well (and it actually says in their adoption ad about this, and about bringing the wheel with them to the rescue to ensure they actually have it).... well... we shall see how this goes. Nothing yet back from these people, and they only have until the end of the day today (25th).
On a positive note, a family that we saw at the Windy City Pet Expo is going to adopt! Yay!! And they're going to purchase one of the large cages, which will give me more space to organize stuff in the basement. I'm not as positive as they are that the cage will fit in their vehicle in one piece, but I sure hope it does, because I do not want to have to get it back downstairs if it doesn't.
Few more things. Maybe this section should be entitled - "what to expect if you want to adopt from a rescue." First and foremost, expect an adoption form. I understand not all rescues have a care packet they want you to read, but come on, caring for a cat or dog is likely more common sense (simply because they're everywhere) than caring for a chinchilla. So we also have a care packet you will be reading. But in addition, we have an adoption form. Why? Not to waste your time (or mine, because I did have to come up with it and update it from time to time), but because I care about where the animals are going. Your address, name, the whole top third of the first page is mainly for my records. I don't really care that you live on Main Street, or in Hammond, unless I know (for example) that you can't own a rabbit in Hammond and you want to adopt a rabbit. Then we may have a chat. But I don't take that information down for the purpose of harassing you down the road. Unless you decide to sell that chinchilla on craigslist, but that is another story. Anyway, the important questions are more, what type of food are you going to feed, what type of cage. Do you know what acceptable chews are? Do you know if they have temperature requirements? This is the important stuff. And you don't know how aggravating it gets when I see, as an answer to the food question, "chinchilla food." No shit, sherlock. I would hope you could at least grasp that a chinchilla could eat chinchilla food, but I want it a step further than that, which is why I'm asking. I don't mind the people who put "want to discuss with you" or "will go with your suggestion" or "what do you recommend" because those people usually want the best and want to talk about it. That's fine. Anyway, point is. There's an adoption form and if you're going to adopt, you're not going to get around it. That's why this is a rescue and not a pet shop -- we don't just sell the critters to the first person who walks in the door.
I had two phone calls today. Both said they were interested in adopting, I told them about the care packet and the adoption form, and they said they wanted to come today, so they'd get the forms back to me right away. Course, neither did. But mind you, both provided their emails, said they would, and so on. Now, granted, they very well may email me tomorrow or the next day. But, if these follow the path that so many others have gone down, they immediately thought "not doing it!" when I mentioned the care packet and adoption form and just deleted the email when they got it. And of course, that's a waste of my time to send it. It's never a long email, typically just, "hey, we just talked on the phone (or whatever), as I mentioned, here is the care packet and adoption form. Please read the care packet and then fill out the adoption form and get it back to me and we can go from there. Talk to you soon." But it takes time to write it out and attach the files and even that few minutes would be a few minutes saved if these people could simply say, you know, they don't want to mess with that, they'll just go to a pet store where they can simply hand over the money and get handed the chinchilla.
My first clue, I suppose, should be that when I'm talking with these people about the chin, and they say, "we'll take it." This is not a used car sale. I hate to keep repeating this, but it's just not that simple. At that point, I have no idea of the type of cage you have, the type of food you want to feed, etc. It may all be fine, but it may all be not. I had one person call today who said they got a chin from somewhere in Valpo and it died 2 months later. Well.... I sure want to know about their cage, the food, the treats, before that person ends up with a chin from me. That's the purpose of the adoption form. "We'll take it," especially in the context of a chin dying and they don't know why, makes me think that another will likely suffer the same fate in the event it is something they are doing. Which it may be, or it may not be, but I don't know without the form.
I had someone call yesterday about coming to look at the chins. I was having a super-productive day yesterday, so I didn't have them come over right then, they said they'd call today. And they actually did, kudos to them. So, they called while I was at Menards picking up my special order. But I called first, because I somehow managed to lose my receipt and special order paperwork between the 13th and now. Oops. After turning the obvious-places-in-the-house upside down and not finding it, I called the store. I did pay for this order (now, they require you pay for it at the time of the order, apparently due to people not picking up their special orders), but I had nothing showing I did, and only an order number (thank God for special order emails referencing the order number). So I called and told the lady my problem and she said as long as I had my name on the order and brought in an ID, I'd be fine. So I did, they printed me out a new special order sheet in the back (cause the front needed to scan it to show I picked it up) and I got my hanger bolts and wingnuts. I still need to order washers, but I was so worried about not getting these (this order took months to finally get) that I didn't want to end up with thousands of washers and no use for them (those I can order shipped directly to the house). So a lot of items on the webstore will pop back up as available soon. Anyway, so those people called right as I was in line and the guy was standing there waiting for me to talk to him about the special order, so I had to tell him to call back. So I got my order, left, I called the people back, and they came over to look at the chins. Very nice people, I think they'd be a good home if they adopted. They were interested in this one cage that I have that this other person has on hold. This other person has gotten me an adoption form and everything for Gilly, but has since fallen off the planet. They have til the end of the day on the 28th to get back to me. And since these other people expressed interest in the cage, I emailed the Gilly person today and let them know, a nice friendly reminder, they have til the 28th to schedule a pickup (soon after) and if they don't, Gilly and cage go back up for adoption / sale. I don't know if maybe something changed with that person -- I added in the email that if they've decided they don't want to adopt, to let me know that as well, but we'll see either way.
Still nothing from the first person on my waiting list to bring in their chins. They only have two more days. If not them, the next person on the list is a very nice guy with two single-living chins that will take up the two available cages that are currently open. Assuming all goes well and Monday, Josephine & Storm are adopted out, another cage will open up and I will be contacting another person on my list who wants to bring in a chin, and they will have their 7 days... and down the line.
We shall see.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Goings Ons
So, it's been reasonably busy lately.
The people who took Cumberpatch on a trial run came and adopted a different baby chinchilla. Suzi and Stella went home.
Someone came to look at the rats. They seemed to like them, but a few days later, I got an email saying they decided not to adopt at this time. Which, hey, at least they let me know. That's more than I can say for most people.
Because of these recent adoptions, I was able to finally email the first person wanting to bring their chins into the rescue -- someone who's been on the waiting list since December. Granted, it's only been a day or two, but I haven't heard back from them yet. Which is about par for the course, as it seems, when people decide to take their chins elsewhere or rehome them, they don't let me know. I tell people, when I add them to the waiting list, that if they decide they no longer need to be on it, to let me know. The reason being, I give people 7 days to get back to me. If they don't get back to me in that time frame, I move to the next person. But that means, if the first 6 people flake out (and none of them actually, you know, let me know), the 7th person on the list isn't contacted until 7 weeks after I started contacting the first person. Versus, if these people would receive my phone call / email and call back / email back and say, you know, we no longer have the chins, or we no longer need them to come into the rescue, or whatever the case may be, I can move to the next person quicker.
Speaking of which, the first person on my list was given longer than 7 days, because I forgot to include that in my first email to them. When it hit the final day, I let them know, they lost their spot. I usually don't send an email like that, but they had chins from here, so that was a bit different. This was the email I got back -- "Ashley, Apologies for not responding more quickly. [name of daughter] has had to take the responsibility on this. So, hopefully she will continue doing what she should do.
Thank you, sorry to keep you hangin" -- now... who can tell me what exactly that means? And why she couldn't have responded to my July 9th email, but no, had to wait until my July 21st email to say that? Ok, back to what does that mean. I mean, really, what does it? I emailed back, asking,
The people who took Cumberpatch on a trial run came and adopted a different baby chinchilla. Suzi and Stella went home.
Someone came to look at the rats. They seemed to like them, but a few days later, I got an email saying they decided not to adopt at this time. Which, hey, at least they let me know. That's more than I can say for most people.
Because of these recent adoptions, I was able to finally email the first person wanting to bring their chins into the rescue -- someone who's been on the waiting list since December. Granted, it's only been a day or two, but I haven't heard back from them yet. Which is about par for the course, as it seems, when people decide to take their chins elsewhere or rehome them, they don't let me know. I tell people, when I add them to the waiting list, that if they decide they no longer need to be on it, to let me know. The reason being, I give people 7 days to get back to me. If they don't get back to me in that time frame, I move to the next person. But that means, if the first 6 people flake out (and none of them actually, you know, let me know), the 7th person on the list isn't contacted until 7 weeks after I started contacting the first person. Versus, if these people would receive my phone call / email and call back / email back and say, you know, we no longer have the chins, or we no longer need them to come into the rescue, or whatever the case may be, I can move to the next person quicker.
Speaking of which, the first person on my list was given longer than 7 days, because I forgot to include that in my first email to them. When it hit the final day, I let them know, they lost their spot. I usually don't send an email like that, but they had chins from here, so that was a bit different. This was the email I got back -- "Ashley, Apologies for not responding more quickly. [name of daughter] has had to take the responsibility on this. So, hopefully she will continue doing what she should do.
Thank you, sorry to keep you hangin" -- now... who can tell me what exactly that means? And why she couldn't have responded to my July 9th email, but no, had to wait until my July 21st email to say that? Ok, back to what does that mean. I mean, really, what does it? I emailed back, asking,
"What
does that exactly mean? That she's keeping them, at least for now?
Should I take you off the list until I hear from you again? Or....?
Let me know, thank you." Because to me, I really don't know. Maybe that's more clear to some of you, but not to me. Of course, nothing back yet.
Moving along. I had someone text me at 1:29 am, asking if I'm looking for a home for some chins. And then they said, sorry to text you so late. Now, first, people have no common courtesy. But anyway, I figured, I was still up, so I texted back. At 2:36 am, they text me back. Well, I was asleep at that point. I texted back this morning, nothing yet. There's something to be said about people anymore. Would you call your plumber at 1:30 am? I think not. So, why are you texting me?
Another thing -- I feel like I repeat myself umpteen times -- you people need to learn some common courtesy. Even though those rat people didn't adopt, I appreciate that they got back to me and let me know. To me, that's a big thing. You know why? Because I have a ton of people who never get back to me. I've had multiple emails lately asking 4000 questions and then asking, based on what they've said, which chins I think would be good for them. So I write out a response, email them back, and... nothing. Even if they could say, thanks, now's not a good time, we'll adopt later, that would be good. The people who adopted Suzi and Stella were like that. About a year ago, they took different chins on a trial run. They liked the chins, but decided, not the right time. They said they'd let me know when they wanted to adopt. Now, I've only heard that a million times, but these people actually did contact me recently and let me know they were ready now... and came and adopted. Now, was that so difficult? I mean, even if they'd never come back, they at least were nice enough to email and say, hey, we're not going to right now. Not difficult.
One last thing. I don't have a lot of volunteers, but except for one family that always simply asks, "does this weekend work?" most volunteers email and say, they're free all week, or any night after 5, or whatever, when works for me? So, I take that as, they're free all week, or any night after 5, and say, ok, how bout this day at this time. Oh, that day doesn't work. Wait, what??? If you want to volunteer, it doesn't bother me if you want to email and say, I can volunteer, but the only time is Wednesday at 2. That's fine. That is perfectly fine. If I can't work around that, then I just can't, but at least we're not playing email or phone tag trying to find a good time. But it's super frustrating whe you tell me, oh whenever is good, so I pick a day, and it's not good. If it's not good, clearly, whenever isn't good. I'm not going to get mad at you when you tell me, the only time you can come is a certain day at a certain time, but I will get frustrated when I try to pick a day 5 times and none of those work for you, after you've just told me, any day this week after 5. I get things change. But I'm pretty good about emailing people right back, and if you email me at 5 and I email you back at 5:05 and you've magically got plans for every day except Friday night, which all developed in the last 5 minutes? Suspicious....
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
I try to be patient.
I try to be patient. I really do. But people. If the listing is for two chins, why, oh WHY, do you freaking email me and just want one? I have MULTIPLE listings for SINGLE chins, but NOOOOOOO you have to pick the listings with PAIRS and you want ONE of them. That's NOT how it works.
I realized today, my one ad for a pair does not say something along the lines of "these chinchillas must be adopted together." Fine. But doesn't the title, which says, "PAIR of ....." convey that? Or is everyone so stupid anymore that they don't get it? I mean, do you people go around to stores and pick up a 12 pack of toilet paper and take it up to the front register and tell them you just want 6? I mean, really?
There's quite a few ads for single chins. You want a single chin, you look at those. Pairs are a little different, because, just because a single chin isn't paired up, doesn't mean it can't be. But I'm not going to split a pair. ESPECIALLY because often times in a pair, there's a more desirable chin and a less desirable chin. In Suzi and Stella, Stella is the calmer, more handle-able one. Suzi screams at least 50% of the time when you pick her up. Guess who'd get adopted first? But they are a pair -- they are bonded and will go home together. In Mama and Baby, Mama sprays. Baby doesn't. Guess who'd almost never get adopted. Oh yeah. These pairs aren't together solely for the purpose of adopting out problem chins -- pairs just sometimes come that way. I have some chins where both chins are fine, normal, healthy, happy chins. Other pairs are like these that I mentioned, where one chin is less desirable, but that's just how it is. You take the good with the bad. I had degus once, where the one you couldn't touch, because she'd bite, but the other was sweet as pie. Well, you had to adopt both, because they need companionship (and believe me, no one would have ever adopted out the biter alone, she drew blood and everything). And someone came and adopted them. It's simple -- you like one better, by all means, you can pay more attention to it, and you can leave the "problem" one alone. I can tell you, Mama does just fine being left alone here. She gets weighed when it's time, but other than that, she doesn't come out a ton. Which is just fine, and would be fine in her new home as well. Baby is perfectly happy and healthy and normal.
I have a lot of pairs right now. I don't know why, but people seem to want one chin. Two chins aren't any harder to care for. I still clean the cages of pairs once a week. Two chins eat more food than one, and they drink more water than one. But that's about it. Maybe they chew more than one, but when you only have a few chins, the cost of chew toys is hardly anything to complain about unless you have beaver-chins. Which most people don't. Pairs are an opportunity to get two chins that are already getting along, already bonded, and have a buddy. What do you think your chin does when you're gone all day at work? It sits there. It chews. With another chin, it can do all of that with a buddy. I hear so many people who don't want their chin to be lonely, but they get one chin, and then later want to add another. But a lot of times, that chin doesn't want a buddy, so they're stuck with one (for lack of better wording). Versus if they'd just gotten two in the first place. I tell people, if they think they may want two, it's better to get a pair at the beginning, than to try to add another chin later. It can be done, but it's typically more difficult. But no one listens.
One more thing, about the waiting list. When I email you letting you know I have an empty cage, you have 7 days to get back to me. I understand, if you're farther away, you may need more time than that to make it here. But I feel like you can at least take the time to email or call back within 7 days. I have someone on the list right now, first person, who is first on the list because they have chins from here. They had emailed me and let me know they needed to bring the chins back, and I told them they had to wait, but I would keep them informed. Little bit ago, I received an email asking if there was any update. I told em, not yet, but I would keep em informed. Like two days after that, I emailed letting them know that I had an open cage, and I needed to know when they could bring the chins in. Nothing. Few days passed, and still nothing. I now told them they have until a certain day to get back to me, or I'm moving down the list. I understand people are busy. I get it. I'm busy too. But if you're really wanting to drop off your chin, you can at least email or call back. Even if you've already found a new home or no longer need to drop the chin off, for whatever reason, it goes a lot quicker on my end if you just tell me that. So I can move along to the next person. You are not going to hurt my feelings by telling me that you rehomed your chin or you no longer need to bring it in. I don't care. In fact, I'd rather you tell me that, so I can just move straight to the next person on the list, rather than sit here and wait the time for you to respond, and then move on. And if you get passed by, and I bring in someone else's chin, your spot just went bye-bye. And you'll have to wait again. I can't hold open a cage until you decide to email me back, because I have like 7 people waiting to bring in animals right now. I hardly think 7 days is too short of a period to ask that you respond to me in that amount of time. So if you can't respond in 7 days, you will get taken off the list, at least until you call again.
I realized today, my one ad for a pair does not say something along the lines of "these chinchillas must be adopted together." Fine. But doesn't the title, which says, "PAIR of ....." convey that? Or is everyone so stupid anymore that they don't get it? I mean, do you people go around to stores and pick up a 12 pack of toilet paper and take it up to the front register and tell them you just want 6? I mean, really?
There's quite a few ads for single chins. You want a single chin, you look at those. Pairs are a little different, because, just because a single chin isn't paired up, doesn't mean it can't be. But I'm not going to split a pair. ESPECIALLY because often times in a pair, there's a more desirable chin and a less desirable chin. In Suzi and Stella, Stella is the calmer, more handle-able one. Suzi screams at least 50% of the time when you pick her up. Guess who'd get adopted first? But they are a pair -- they are bonded and will go home together. In Mama and Baby, Mama sprays. Baby doesn't. Guess who'd almost never get adopted. Oh yeah. These pairs aren't together solely for the purpose of adopting out problem chins -- pairs just sometimes come that way. I have some chins where both chins are fine, normal, healthy, happy chins. Other pairs are like these that I mentioned, where one chin is less desirable, but that's just how it is. You take the good with the bad. I had degus once, where the one you couldn't touch, because she'd bite, but the other was sweet as pie. Well, you had to adopt both, because they need companionship (and believe me, no one would have ever adopted out the biter alone, she drew blood and everything). And someone came and adopted them. It's simple -- you like one better, by all means, you can pay more attention to it, and you can leave the "problem" one alone. I can tell you, Mama does just fine being left alone here. She gets weighed when it's time, but other than that, she doesn't come out a ton. Which is just fine, and would be fine in her new home as well. Baby is perfectly happy and healthy and normal.
I have a lot of pairs right now. I don't know why, but people seem to want one chin. Two chins aren't any harder to care for. I still clean the cages of pairs once a week. Two chins eat more food than one, and they drink more water than one. But that's about it. Maybe they chew more than one, but when you only have a few chins, the cost of chew toys is hardly anything to complain about unless you have beaver-chins. Which most people don't. Pairs are an opportunity to get two chins that are already getting along, already bonded, and have a buddy. What do you think your chin does when you're gone all day at work? It sits there. It chews. With another chin, it can do all of that with a buddy. I hear so many people who don't want their chin to be lonely, but they get one chin, and then later want to add another. But a lot of times, that chin doesn't want a buddy, so they're stuck with one (for lack of better wording). Versus if they'd just gotten two in the first place. I tell people, if they think they may want two, it's better to get a pair at the beginning, than to try to add another chin later. It can be done, but it's typically more difficult. But no one listens.
One more thing, about the waiting list. When I email you letting you know I have an empty cage, you have 7 days to get back to me. I understand, if you're farther away, you may need more time than that to make it here. But I feel like you can at least take the time to email or call back within 7 days. I have someone on the list right now, first person, who is first on the list because they have chins from here. They had emailed me and let me know they needed to bring the chins back, and I told them they had to wait, but I would keep them informed. Little bit ago, I received an email asking if there was any update. I told em, not yet, but I would keep em informed. Like two days after that, I emailed letting them know that I had an open cage, and I needed to know when they could bring the chins in. Nothing. Few days passed, and still nothing. I now told them they have until a certain day to get back to me, or I'm moving down the list. I understand people are busy. I get it. I'm busy too. But if you're really wanting to drop off your chin, you can at least email or call back. Even if you've already found a new home or no longer need to drop the chin off, for whatever reason, it goes a lot quicker on my end if you just tell me that. So I can move along to the next person. You are not going to hurt my feelings by telling me that you rehomed your chin or you no longer need to bring it in. I don't care. In fact, I'd rather you tell me that, so I can just move straight to the next person on the list, rather than sit here and wait the time for you to respond, and then move on. And if you get passed by, and I bring in someone else's chin, your spot just went bye-bye. And you'll have to wait again. I can't hold open a cage until you decide to email me back, because I have like 7 people waiting to bring in animals right now. I hardly think 7 days is too short of a period to ask that you respond to me in that amount of time. So if you can't respond in 7 days, you will get taken off the list, at least until you call again.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Inquiries wasting my time
And people immediately go right back to wasting my time.
I have two people who asked about chins. First, someone asked about one of the pairs and asked if the cage came with. It says right on the ad, these chins come with 4 pounds of food, goodie bags, lifetime of support, etc etc. Nowhere does it say cage.... because.... they don't come with one. So I told this person that, and I told her, we have several large cages that can work for a pair, the cages are on sale for right around $100. Which is a super deal, because these would be $250+ cages in the pet store, and they wouldn't have the wooden shelves. And she asked for more info about the chins, so I gave her more info about them. Of course, I've never heard back.
And then another person, emailed asking about one of the chins we have that's not yet available. Because the chin isn't available, her ad isn't up yet, so there's nothing to tell this person about her personality, whether she bites, fur chews, etc. And if I can sell a chin without having to list it, that's less work for me. So, by all means, I emailed her back, answered all her questions. She asked for pictures, so I took pictures and emailed those to her. Nothing.
This is why you see people with ads that say, "serious inquiries only." Because for every 20 people like this, I get maybe one or two people that seem serious, that may pan out. And probably half of those flake out at the end anyway. But because you typically don't know who's who at the beginning, I gotta give everyone their time and effort. But man, it would be nice if you could tell which people were not going to pan out. I could save my self a lot of time writing emails, taking pictures, etc etc.
I have two people who asked about chins. First, someone asked about one of the pairs and asked if the cage came with. It says right on the ad, these chins come with 4 pounds of food, goodie bags, lifetime of support, etc etc. Nowhere does it say cage.... because.... they don't come with one. So I told this person that, and I told her, we have several large cages that can work for a pair, the cages are on sale for right around $100. Which is a super deal, because these would be $250+ cages in the pet store, and they wouldn't have the wooden shelves. And she asked for more info about the chins, so I gave her more info about them. Of course, I've never heard back.
And then another person, emailed asking about one of the chins we have that's not yet available. Because the chin isn't available, her ad isn't up yet, so there's nothing to tell this person about her personality, whether she bites, fur chews, etc. And if I can sell a chin without having to list it, that's less work for me. So, by all means, I emailed her back, answered all her questions. She asked for pictures, so I took pictures and emailed those to her. Nothing.
This is why you see people with ads that say, "serious inquiries only." Because for every 20 people like this, I get maybe one or two people that seem serious, that may pan out. And probably half of those flake out at the end anyway. But because you typically don't know who's who at the beginning, I gotta give everyone their time and effort. But man, it would be nice if you could tell which people were not going to pan out. I could save my self a lot of time writing emails, taking pictures, etc etc.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Thoughts
I was talking to someone today about this person on my waiting list that has two chins they want to bring in. One of the chins has a medical condition, an ongoing one. Not malo, not an expensive thing to manage, but something that will, undoubtedly make her more difficult to adopt out. And I was telling someone about this, and how this specific person has been keeping in contact waiting to bring their chins in. They're not first on the list, and they've been on the list for over 7 months now (in case you were wondering just how slow adoptions have been). But they keep me updated on how the chins are doing and they just recently got me the vet records for this chin .
And so this person I was talking to asked me, why I even gave this person with the chins hope. They said, with how the rescue's running out of money, why do you even talk to this person and give them hope that they're going to bring their chins in? You know why? Because they are going to bring their chins in. There will be a rescue for them to bring their chins to. How that rescue's going to be financed, if things continue to go this way, I'm not sure. But it will be here.
I brought this rescue up from nothing once upon a time. I can do it again.
I will remember -- This is a test. This is only a test. This too shall pass.
I'm still looking up.
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P.S. I kinda wish I could put background music on this blogpost, but I'm pretty sure that's out of the realm of things I can do, even though I do have a lot of options. But I can imbed the video. So, if I could, this would be the background music of this post:
And so this person I was talking to asked me, why I even gave this person with the chins hope. They said, with how the rescue's running out of money, why do you even talk to this person and give them hope that they're going to bring their chins in? You know why? Because they are going to bring their chins in. There will be a rescue for them to bring their chins to. How that rescue's going to be financed, if things continue to go this way, I'm not sure. But it will be here.
I brought this rescue up from nothing once upon a time. I can do it again.
I will remember -- This is a test. This is only a test. This too shall pass.
I'm still looking up.
.
.
.
.
.
.
P.S. I kinda wish I could put background music on this blogpost, but I'm pretty sure that's out of the realm of things I can do, even though I do have a lot of options. But I can imbed the video. So, if I could, this would be the background music of this post:
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