Full Disclosure / Meeting

So, this is going to be sort of like a two-part post (well, all together, but sort of two related subjects).  I've had a few people lately mention different things that different chinchilla breeders / rescues do, that may be different from what we do, and so I wanted to talk about this briefly.

First, I had had many people tell me, they'll adopt a chinchilla from somewhere... whether it's a rescue or breeder or whatever, it really doesn't matter... and they later find out that the place they got it from knew something about it that was not disclosed.  Relevant information that would be useful to know.  For example, turns out, the chinchilla used to fur chew and now it doesn't...and this person was buying it as breeding stock.  Or it just had a teeth filing, and is being passed off as completely healthy (when in reality, it will likely need filings for the remainder of its life... which is another blog post in itself).  This hiding-of-info is something that I don't agree with -- while I may not have a lot of info on each animal here (especially the rescues that come from humane societies -- "adult beige female" -- end of info), I share the info that I do know about each critter, and I don't hide any info.  I may even have more info than what's on the ads (nothing all that useful or relevant, but more info), and if someone wants to know more into the background of that specific animal, I may know more and may be able to share more.  But I would never hide what I would consider relevant information.  Full disclosure.

The second thing that has been brought up is meeting people versus letting people into your home.  Some breeders will actually deliver.  Me, if you read this blog, you know that I'm always behind on something (who wants to volunteer and help change this???), so delivery is rarely something that I have time for, but some people do have the time, and more power to them.  Nothing against people who deliver, I'm just not usually one of them.

Other people meet, which I don't necessarily mean to be meeting, as in, partial delivery, but more of... meeting away from the home (as opposed to letting people into the home).  Again, this is not necessarily a negative thing, as there are safety issues.  I could have an axe murderer call me up, tell me they want to see the chinchillas as they're thinking about adopting, and they could walk right into my house.  I acknowledge that.  So, to avoid that, some breeders will not meet people at their home, but will rather, meet them elsewhere.  For safety reasons, there is logic behind it.  Not necessarily bad, but sometimes, the pet-owner perception of this is that the breeder has something to hide, as in... "why don't they want me to come to their place?"  Honestly... even for backyard breeders, they usually have no clue they're doing anything wrong, so they will even usually show you their place... it's usually more of a safety issue than an I-want-to-hide-something-issue. 

I had someone mention the other day how they felt like I was very open and they used the term "full disclosure" to explain how I let them in my basement and see all the chins and how they are housed and such.  But see, that's the same exact thing... I'm not trying to hide anything.  When you get here and see the setup, and see things you haven't run across before, ask about the collars (most do!), ask about the breeding runs, ask why some are in holding cages and some are in ferret nations....  I'm happy to explain, and I do.  It's not hiding anything... but it can be a safety issue at the same time. 

I suppose if I had something to "hide," it's not that I wouldn't let people in...rather, I'd FIX the problem! 

Choosing the Right Chinchilla For You

Wanted to post about this, as people often ask, ok, what chinchilla is going to make the best pet.  Well, it depends.

There's multiple "types" of chinchillas, as far as what we typically have, so let me break it down for you:

• Rescues -- typically adults.  Rarely under 2-3 years of age, often much older.  Sometimes unknown age.  
• Previous homes -- Often passed around from home to home, we had one chinchilla in last year where he'd been at the rescue 5 different times (through no fault of his own).  Sadly, this isn't uncommon, as we currently have a guinea pig here (Murphy), where the owner who dropped him off was already his third home.  He's only about 1.5 years old.  
• Bonding -- They can bond just fine with you, but they do have previous life experience that they will draw upon...this may be positive or negative life experience and will affect the personality and bonding of the chinchilla. 
• Health / longevity -- They may or may not have been fed quality food or junk food, and healthy or unhealthy treats their entire life, which may affect their long-term health and longevity.  We had a chinchilla come in a few years back eating only, ONLY, snickers bars.  He was 8 years old at the time... I would venture to guess he didn't live a ton longer, due to improper diet and WAY too much sugar in the diet.  In addition, you don't know the parents of rescues, so while they may have been healthy chinchillas... they may also have been fur chewing, maloccluding, chinchillas... which could significantly impact their lifespan.  They could be from a backyard breeder that bred any two chins that happened to have male and female parts.  You just don't know. 
• Handling -- They very well may have been handled... or completely left alone... often we don't know.  But if handled, they may have been handled improperly, and may have grown to dislike handling, as a result.  They may bite or spray, as a defense mechanism.

• Babies -- these typically will be non-show quality chinchillas that we bred or that we got from another breeder that we work with.  Typically under 1 year, more like 3-6 months old, on average.  
• Previous homes -- These chinchillas either were born here or born elsewhere and came here.  Not passed around from home to home.  
• Bonding -- They have only been at once place (either here or other breeder's ranch) before coming here, and do not have much life experience to draw on, and often have not developed any bad habits.  People often comment that they want a baby so it can "grow up" with them, and they can bond with it from the earliest age possible.
• Health / longevity -- Coming from one of these places, they have been raised on quality food and little to no (usually no) treats, which tends to suggest they will have a longer, healthier life.  As being out of show-quality-chinchillas, they should be good quality and good genetic quality as well, and should live long, healthy lives.
• Handling -- These chins may not have been handled much by pet owners (here, only people interested in them or the occasional volunteer), though here they would be handled for weighing and checking they are "ready" before they are made available, plus of course handling them because they are cute babies.  Proper handling, in all situations.

• Culled breeders / retired breeders -- (for simplicity, I'm going to lump these together) -- culled breeders are breeders that would be culled (put down) from large ranches after they've served their purpose / quit breeding.  Retired breeders are breeders that are basically retired from breeding after being used here.  They are usually not ancient (often 3-6 years old or so).
• Previous homes -- These chinchillas would have either been born here, grown up, shown, and kept for breeding, or purchased from another breeder for the purpose of adding to the breeding herd (for retired breeders).  Culled breeders would be very similar, in that they would likely either be bred at the breeder's place or purchased to add to the herd.  The point is, all would come from usually a breeder somewhere along the line, rather than a posh pet home, and wouldn't be passed around.
• Bonding -- With the exception of a breeder that's been sold many times (which would be unusual), these chins would tend to have one home -- at the place they were used for breeding, rather than being passed around.  This creates a significantly less stressful life, so they can definitely bond with people, and usually don't have a ton of negative experiences from which to draw on.
• Healthy / longevity -- As long as we're talking about these retired / culled breeders as coming from quality breeders (as in, not-backyard-breeders), they should be quality chinchillas from quality show lines.  That said, they should be in good health (in general) and have good lines, and therefore, live long, healthy lives.
• Handling -- These chins, in being used as breeders, tend to not be handled a lot.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, they may just not know what to expect.  However, if they are handled, it is proper handling.

Now, why might you want one of these over another?  Much of this is personal preference.  We get some people who have to have to have a baby, simply because they want it to grow up with them and their family.  There's others who want an adult (regardless of rescue / breeder / whatever), as the chinchilla will be past that super-energetic-baby-stage, and will tend to be a calmer chinchilla in general (as opposed to a 2-3 month old baby).  There's some people that specifically want a rescue, as they want to feel like they are really helping out a chinchilla in need, or one that's been passed around from home to home.  There's others that specifically ask for the breeders, as they come from the quality lines and tend to not have bad-handling-experience, in addition to having good genetics and hopefully a long life-span.  Which fits best for you?  Only you know that.

What I've noticed an increase in lately, is people asking for seniors (which we classify as chinchillas 8 years and older).  The reason being, people will tell me, ok, their kid is going to college in four years, or they're not positive what their life will be like in 10-20 years, so they'd rather get an older one, than run the risk of possibly having their life change, and possibly having to re-home it in a few years.  Whether you agree with that or not, there is logic in it.  No sense to get a baby if your life may change drastically in 5 years and may uproot everything.  Often, these people mention that, once the senior passes, if they think chins are the greatest thing, maybe next time they'll get a younger adult or even a baby, but the commitment isn't as long for the initial chinchilla.  This, again, is an individual choice, and is the right choice for some people.

Lastly, there is the choice of whether to get one or multiple chinchillas.  I don't feel like there's a right-or-wrong answer to this.  People ask all the time, should they get one or two.  For the most part -- whatever they want.  That's assuming, of course, that their chin does get along with others, or else you loose the multiple chinchillas option (unless they want to do multiple cages).  Chins can do just fine by themselves, or just fine in pairs.  Of course, it depends on the chinchilla, and I'm sure there are multiple people reading this who could tell me stories about their chin that absolutely has to be an only-chin or absolutely loves their cage mates.  I can tell you those stories too -- just like people, some chins like company, others don't.  Some people like having cagemates, because they will sleep and play together.  Others would prefer a single chin, because you never have to worry about them not getting along.  But really, there's not that much additional work between one or two chins.  More food, hay, chew toys, sure... but we still clean cages weekly, and it's not significantly dirtier.  So again, it's much personal choice.

Of course, if you're unsure of what chinchilla might work best for your family, I'm always happy to help however I can.  Some chins do best in a quiet home, others do fine with lots of noise and commotion... and of course, if you tell me about your home and what you're expecting out of your new pet, I can help you find the right one.  Just the right one for you may be very different than the right one for the next adopter.

Reading & Comprehension

You know what they talk about teaching you in grade school -- reading and writing -- the reading part is important.  Maybe I should say that again, the reading part is important.

Probably second to reading, well, taking the effort to read, would be actually comprehending what you read.  Important skills for life.

I promise I'll stop talking about specific people being aggravating for a few days, but first, one last one...

Got a text today from someone who asked about geckos.  In case you haven't seen my gecko page, this is what it looks like, take a gander -- http://www.nwichinchillas.com/crested-geckos

So in looking at that page, you can see they're broken down into numbers.  I've crossed out the ones that have already found a home (in the master list up top) so it doesn't just look like a random string of numbers like gecko 1, gecko 8, and so on.  So, when the person contacts me, I ask them which gecko they are interested in.  Their answer: crested geckos.

No shit, sherlock.

But you know, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, maybe they don't know that the only geckos I have available are crested geckos, so I message back and tell them, you know, there's about 10 available, and so I ask if they were interested in a specific one, or if they were looking for something specific.  They respond back saying that they're not looking for anything special, just preferably females or something eye catching.  That's one of those things where, as far as the "eye catching" part... geckos I like may or may not be what you like... so I told them that I only have one female, and then as far as the eye catching part, I told them, "all the ones I currently have are on this page with pics" (and then I link the gecko page), figuring they could look at the pics and decide for themselves which ones they like the look of.

So I get a text with the number and sex of three different geckos, asking, if I have those. 

Now, if you're following along... I just said, the ones I have available are listed on that page.  So I guess, to me, that would suggest that if it's on the page... I do have those.  But because, again, trying to be helpful, I tell them, "all the geckos on that list are still here, I just updated that the other day."  Which you may have noticed, is also on that page -- up top, it says "gecko listings updated 11/30" (as of 12/2 when I'm writing this), which I intentionally have up there, so people can see how up to date (or not) the listings are.

So they say, ok sorry let them look again, and they mention they've seen two unsexed.  Yes, we just went over this.  If it's on the list, it is here.  So I go on the page and look up the numbers of the two unsexed geckos (which are the youngest ones, for non-reptile people... they can't be sexed until they're older), and I told them that those two were available and what numbers they were.  So they replied saying yes, those were the ones they were talking about.  So I asked, did they want to make an appointment to come see them?

They respond with, "yes, but I would like a picture though if I can get one."  Now, in case you don't remember that far back, when I originally sent the link over to this person, I mentioned that "all the ones I currently have are on this page with pics."  Note the last two words: with pics.  Oh yeah.  So I say, you know, if you scroll down on that page I linked above, there's a section for each gecko and each gecko has several pics.

So they tell me to hold on, and then come back saying, ok, so if they buy some, am I going to ship the geckos to them?  Now, if you made it a bit further down the page, the last thing before the individual gecko listings actually says something along the lines of "these geckos are located in Hammond, IN (zip 46324), sorry, we cannot ship these geckos."  And, EVERY ad I have for these geckos says the same, as I know many people ship geckos / reptiles, but it is not something I will be undertaking.  So I mention this.

Their response:  Ok, so how am I going to get them?

You ever have one of those days you just want to bash your head into the wall?

So I explained, everyone else has driven here and picked them up in person.  If I can't ship... that is literally your only other option.  I mean... how do people pick up most stuff if it's not shipped to them?

So the response is, "but I stay in Alabama in this small city called...."

Ok, so far away, fine.  My response was basically, well, I guess you're not going to be able to get these geckos then.  I mean, not to be mean, but there isn't some other magic solution to get someone in Alabama a gecko, if I don't ship.  Anyway, they asked if I knew of a place that did ship geckos, and I referred them to the only one I know of -- acreptiles.com -- and that was that. 

But here's the thing.  It's not that I don't want to have long, in-depth chats with all of you.  It's that this whole conversation could have been, not only shortened, but completely avoided, if this person had taken two minutes to read.  It says where we're located AND that we don't ship the geckos in EVERY single ad and on the website gecko page.  The person, if they had read that part, and knowing we were far away... they would have been like, well darn, ok, I guess I can't get them... and completely avoided this conversation.  In real life, this conversation took at least 30 minutes of back and forth texting (because of course I didn't type everything that was said).  Not the end of the world... but this is where it's so easy to get behind in emails or orders or whatever, because often time is spent on conversations like this, that lead nowhere, and could have been avoided.  That is all.

"Small" Animals

I think people are confused.  Well, and can't read, but you all hear me whine about that enough.

I get calls all the time, that are like... "do you guys sell animals?" 

I'd like to start asking people, where did you get my number, what did you search for, and what did it say next to my number?  Because I'm pretty sure that most places my number exists... also has something along the lines of "NWI Chinchilla Rescue" or "NWI Chinchillas" next to it... but whatever.

So in this most recent instance, I told the guy, we have small animals for adoption.  His response:  "like what?" 

So I told him, you know, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, that sort of thing.  I asked him what he was looking for.  Dogs.  Let me say that again.  Dogs.

Maybe it's just me.  When you go to the pet store, and let's say you have a chihuahua, so it's a small dog... surely you don't go to the "small animal" section, do you?  I mean really?  I am absolutely AMAZED by the number of people who call and ask what small animals we have... and then expect me to tell them dogs!  I just don't get it! 

Yes, technically, a dog is a "small animal."  But if you wouldn't go to the "small animal" section in the pet store, for your small dog, then why would you ask a "small animal" rescue if we have dogs??

Freshness of Pelleted Food / Food Choices Part 2

...continued from the previous day.

So, moving onto pelleted food choices. 

There's a variety of good, quality, pelleted foods out there.  What you feed may depend on the choices available to you.

The top foods we would recommend would be Tradition (Hubbard Life Chinchilla), Mazuri Chinchilla, and Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla.  Note that I have the word "top" in there.  There's plenty of other good ones -- MannaPro Rabbit Chow, Nutrena Rabbit, Blue Seal Extruded Rabbit Pellets.  Probably some others.  The thing is, what you basically want in a chinchilla pellet is a compressed pellet made of mostly hay, with no fruits / veggies / other things in there.  This seems hard for a lot of companies to accomplish, as a quick search for chinchilla pellets tend to result in the most colorful, unhealthy foods for chinchillas, ever.  You want a plain-pellet, junk / fruit / veggie / seed / nut - free chinchilla food.  That is it.  Aside from that, the choice is yours.

So, we use Tradition.  It comes in big 50 pound bags, if you read the previous post, you know one of those lasts us about 2-3 days... we blow through it.  Those 50 pound bags are roughly $20 or so, depending where you go.  The dealer is slightly less expensive, but my feed store can order it (at more like $24-25?) if I run out.  Let's go with $20/bag.  So, let's assume I use 2-3 50-pound bags per week.  That's 8-12 bags per month, or in a year (52 weeks), 104-156 bags of food.  That comes out to 5,200-7,800 pounds of chin chow a year.  Anyway, we're talking about cost here... at $20 a bag, 104-156 bags a year comes out to $2,080-$3,120 just in chinchilla feed.

Don't forget, we also have shavings, laundry (for the cages with fleece liners), hay, etc etc, to pay for.  Plus the big one -- utilities.  Air conditioning, year-round, is expensive.

Not saying that $2-3k is expensive, it's just a number, let's compare.  You can buy Oxbow chinchilla food at the pet store for about $15 for 3 pounds.  So, in looking back at those 5,200-7,800 pounds per year, we'd need 1,733-2,600 of those little 3 pound bags of chinchilla chow.  At $15/bag... we'd be looking at $25,995-$39,000 to feed our herd Oxbow.  Yikes.

Ok, you say, but surely you can find Oxbow in larger quantities.  Well sure... but nowhere that I can pick it up.  I'd have to ship it in.  Which isn't the end of the world, but it adds the variable of shipping, and the whole "will it get here when I need it?" factor.  But just for example, I can find Oxbow chinchilla online, in 25 pound bags for $33.  With those bags, we'd be looking at 208-312 bags per year, at a cost of $6,864-$10,296.  That's about 3x our current cost of Tradition.

As rescue isn't exactly profitable (more like the opposite), and breeding isn't far behind if you do it right (paying the bills is nice... but I won't be buying a new vehicle anytime soon), I can't afford anything going up by 3x the cost.  We've had awesome luck on Tradition, it's been used for 50+ years by many of the large ranchers, and it was developed by one of the large ranchers and has been tweaked over the years, as necessary.  We can get it in regularly, and have no problems with it... we will be staying with it.

However... I do realize it is not the choice for everyone.  As I mentioned, it does come in 50 pound bags.  Do you have one chinchilla?  That maaaay be overkill.  It will start losing nutrients long before you ever use it up.  So, if you get a chinchilla that is being fed Tradition and want to keep that chinchilla on that food, your options (well, pretty much only option) is to buy from someone who buys it in large quantities and sells it.  We sell it for $0.75 per pound, for example.  However, if you're not close by, this may mean having it shipped to you, and as mentioned, there's always a risk of running out and not being able to run out to the store to get it.... so I get where people may chose Oxbow Essentials or another good chinchilla food.  If you only have one chin, you can run out to the store once a month and pick it up, and it's (hopefully) there for you when you need it.

One last note on food -- a lot of people have commented over the years that pet-store food is expensive... no doubt... so let me compare pricing for a minute for you.  Let's say you get Oxbow from the store.  Chins eat approx. 2-3 pounds per month, so let's say, factoring in waste, that that's 3 pounds a month, which is one Oxbow bag per month.  12 months x 1 bag / month x $15 / bag = $180 per year on the pelleted food.  That's for 36 pounds, just for reference.  Let's compare that to getting food here... let's say you're close enough and can come pick up the food, so no shipping necessary.  Tradition at $0.75 / pound x 36 pounds = $27.  Quite the difference, eh?  Ok, let's say you're not close and you do need it shipped... we normally ship 11 pounds in a flat rate box, but can fit as much as 15 per box if we really cram it... either way, you're figuring 3 boxes to accumulate 36-ish pounds.  Each box is $23.  So $23 / box x 3 boxes (this is including shipping) = $69 (for it to arrive on your doorstep).  So... it doesn't have to be super expensive... just depends on the choice you make.

Freshness of Pelleted Food / Food Choices Part 1

I've seen a lot of comments on various chin groups about various pelleted foods not being "fresh," so I wanted to lend a quick comment to that, and how chin food (well, any food) is made, and distributed.  Also, wanted to comment about different choices of pelleted feed, and why we feed what we feed, and why you may feed differently.

Some of you may know that I used to manage one of the pet stores here in town, I was the store manager.  We had our small animal section, and we'd get in food.... and often, it would sit.  So here's the thing... not saying it couldn't be super fresh... but, let's look at how the pet store supply chain works, so we all understand this as best as possible. 

Feed mills produce the food, bag it up.  Pet stores, distribution centers, etc, order the food, and get large quantities shipped to the warehouse / DC.  When I worked at the pet store, it would be nothing to order a few thousand pounds of dog food per week.  Per week..... and that was to be shipped to the store.  Imagine how much a warehouse is shipping in at once.  Of course, the mill doesn't want to make batches of 20 pounds, usually even the smaller mills make 1-2 tons of a specific pelleted food at a time.  That's 2,000-4,000 pounds.  So, if we're looking at those little bags of chin food that are like 3 pounds a piece, that is 666-1,333 bags.  So, say that's produced, and shipped to the Petco / Petsmart / wherever distribution center, and then will be shipped out to the stores.

How long do those bags sit at the distribution centers before being shipped out to the stores?  I don't know.  No one knows.  I suppose the DC could get in a batch and ship out some bags that day.  Or, they could still have 100 bags left from a previous order, order another batch, and not get to that second batch until the remaining 100 bags are shipped out.  How much time does that mean the bags sit before they ever end up on the shelf, and in the food dish?  No one knows.

But you never know, maybe the new batch of chin food bags does get shipped out right away.  How long is that bag at the pet store before you buy it?  When I worked at the pet store, our small animal section was super slow moving as far as sales.  I remember, specifically the ferret items... we'd have more expire than we'd ever sell.  And sadly, that was kind of true for most of the food (read: pellets) items (as opposed to the treats, which sold better... but not well).  For these items to expire, they'd have to be at the store for at least a handful of months... we'd rarely get in anything under 4-5 months from expiration.  Which is fine if used right away... but that's assuming it gets sold ASAP, and used ASAP.  Keep in mind... we'd have much of this expire.  So, unless you came into the store when our last batch expired and we just ordered a new bag to put up on the shelf... you were probably not getting the freshest food, at least in saying that it sat around for months on end.

And I'm not saying it isn't "fresh," don't get me wrong.  If it's not expired, it's perfectly fine.  The only reason I even mention freshness is because I've heard people claim that food bought in bulk is never fresh, as opposed to the small bag pelleted food... and I wanted to comment about this real quick. 

I feed most of the herd Tradition.  It comes in 50 pound bags.  Many large breeders use this food, as it's been developed by one of the top breeders over the last 50 years, and tweaked as necessary.  I get it from a Hubbard dealer / distributor, who picks it up, weekly, from the mill near their ranch.  Depending on the time of year (and money in the chin accounts), I usually have between 500-1000 pounds of chinchilla food here at the house.  Before you even start to think, "holy cow, that amount must sit forever"... know that I'll easily go through 500 pounds in 1-2 months.  It's nothing to go through a 50 pound bag every 2 days, possibly even less sometimes.

If you figure, the dealer picks up from the mill weekly, I usually get my batch the same week or the week after... and the max amount of time it will take before I run out and need a new batch is 8 weeks... if you get food from here, your food can't be older than 8 weeks, simply because I'll run out of my supply before then, and have to get more... and by that point, the dealer will have a new batch from the mill.

Just for example...

See at the bottom that "75/10/12/17"?  The 10/12/17 is the mill date.  That is the last bag of food I currently have here, it'll be opened in the next few days.  10/12 is 7 weeks ago.

Not saying you couldn't get a 3 pound bag of chin chow off the shelf and have it be fresher than 8 weeks... but I guess for me, the thing is, you just don't know.  Keep in mind, they put expiration dates, rather than mill dates, on bags meant for pet owners.

... to be continued.

Meow Mix (guinea pig)

Since posting the short update about Meow Mix on the facebook page, I've had a few people mention that they must have missed her story.  So, I thought I would post about it here.

Meow Mix, originally Almost-Dinner, was found wandering the streets in Gary on November 3rd.  We had someone call the rescue later in the evening, I answered the phone, and the caller told me that they were driving around Gary, saw the guinea pig cross the road (residential street) and then saw cats following closely behind.  They were a good samaritan and stopped their vehicle, got out, and caught her.  

They posted on facebook about what happened, and someone who saw their post knew that I take in small animals (small world!) and told this caller that she should call me.  So she did.

Now, of course we've been full and still are pretty full, but you know... a random guinea pig walking the streets is a bit of a different story.  I told the lady to bring her in, and we got a guinea pig brought in that night.  I checked, she was female.  We nicknamed her Almost-Dinner, for the meantime, and posted some pics.

These were her pics from that night.

I'm not sure how well these pics translate to being able to tell her body condition, but she was super skinny, bony, and had a very dull coat.  

This is her today:

As you can tell, she's filling out, her coat is getting all glossy again, and she's eating like a champ!  And getting very round, so we anticipate possible babies!  Future update on that.

And now she is known as Meow Mix.

Interesting Requests

I know I've talked a lot about spam emails and all, but sometimes we do get actual requests from legitimate places....  wanted to share one with you:

Dear NWI Chinchillas,

I am a student and my lab is interested in studying the genomes of a wide variety of species. Zoos have mainly provided the lab with leftover blood samples, but they do not exhibit chinchillas. Although biological companies have filled some gaps in our species list, we alarmingly receive excessively more blood than requested. What I ask for is a couple hundred microliters or a few milliliters of blood from each individual chinchillas – preferably female.

When you take your chinchillas to a veterinarian or handle their checkups yourself, could you save the leftover blood or tissue sample(s)? As we do for the zoos, all the supplies; i.e., ice packs, needles, vacutainers, Styrofoam boxes, and the return shipping labels, are provided, shipped, and paid for by the lab.

When a research paper is published, the sources of the samples must be listed, so if you do not mind the hassle of obtaining and labeling each sample and sending them to us, then your company will be recognized as the lab’s source of chinchillas.

Thank you in advance for considering my request.

Regards,

And my response:

Hi,

When our chinchillas go to the vet, most health issues can be determined by a fecal test or general exam -- basically, determined through some non-invasive procedure.  Chinchillas do not handle anesthesia well, so taking blood or a tissue sample is a health risk in and of itself.  In the few instances where our vets have taken blood or tissue, I believe they take just enough to run the bloodwork / scans.  As far as I am aware, I don't believe there is blood or tissue left over.  

I'm happy to keep your request in mind and save this email, should we end up with chinchillas at the vet that would require bloodwork / tissue samples that might result in some left over.  Though to be perfectly honest, we've only had those types of procedures done maybe a handful of times in the last 14 years, so I wouldn't anticipate a high volume, if any, of samples.

Have a nice night! 

Checks and Other Methods of Payment

Wanted to blog about this really quickly, talking about payment methods.  In general, for the average person here at the rescue, we DO NOT take checks.

Of course, there's always someone out there that heard, oh I took a check from so-and-so, so they think I'll take a check from them.  If I've known you for years and you've been coming here forever, I may take your check.  That's a very small number of people, and most of them I have their numbers saved in my phone.  I'm sorry if that's not you.  I love you all, but I don't want 250 new contacts every year.  The average person that adopts, I see them once (at adoption), and never again (at least, not in person... lots of people do keep in touch).  So, if they write a bad check, I'm out a good chunk of change, plus of course the chinchilla (or other animal), possibly cage, supplies, you get the idea.

There's plenty of other ways to pay!  It seems that very few people have cash anymore, but surprise, we prefer cash!  There's no fee associated with being paid adoption fees and supplies and all that in cash, and then I have change for the people who do pay cash.

We also do credit cards.  Unfortunately, we're unable to accept American Express or any type of gift cards (I know, I know, I have those rebate gift cards from my dog heartworm meds too), but your average credit card or debit card -- VISA, Mastercard, Discover... we can take those!  We get charged a 3% (ish) fee for every transaction, so if you charge $500 (which does happen... two baby chins & a cage), we lose $15 to fees.  Not a big deal, but our profit margins are low as it is, so hence, we prefer cash.

And, we can do paypal.  I'm happy to send out invoices, if people want, or people can just paypal to my email address.  If I send out an invoice or people buy items on the webstore, it charges a fee as well... I believe there's like a 30 cent transaction fee plus about 3% again.  Again, not the end of the world, but it does add up.  Last year, we had ~$800 in credit card fees and ~$330 in paypal fees.  For those of you doing the math, yes, that does mean we brought in a good chunk of change... but as we are usually pretty well hovering on the break-even line year round, that combined $1,130 would have been nice to have in the Fuzzy Fund bank account, rather than going towards fees.  Now, with paypal, it is possible for people to send us money through the "friends and family" option.  Technically, that's not for business transactions, so I don't ask people to do that, because I understand how it is.  When we're talking about paypal, I usually give out my paypal email and tell them they can send a payment (and if they send it friends & family, awesome, if not, no biggie), or I can send them an invoice.  Whichever is fine, that way no one gets all upset.

But anyway, these are your options!  I think between cash / card / paypal, that covers most ways people want to pay.  I have been asked about Chase Pay (I can't think of exactly what it's called... if you have it, you know what I'm talking about), but we don't bank with Chase, and their fees for banking are high, so I've never looked into it.  But other than that, there's options, so if you can't afford a chin in cash, you can pay with a card, or paypal money over from a bank account, or whatever works for you. :)

I'm always amazed at the new scams

Always.  Like every time a new one comes out, it's like... do people REALLY fall for this?

This was how today's went:

Their text: Crested geckos -- 10 months - 4 years -- M/F -- SALE!!  -- For sale  STILL  UP FOR SALE???  Plz let me know ASAP

now to start off with... a text starting like that is 99.999999999999999% of the time a scam, but just for shits and giggles...

My text:  they are available

Their text:  Sound good... Cash is my payment method and when are you going to be available?

My text: tomorrow and Friday most of the day... when are you thinking?  Which one are you interested in?

Their text:  Ok I will need to talk to you directly from my phone... Do you received 6 digit code now?

Clearly a scam, I'm not doing anything or any sort of phone call where I have to put in a code, but anyway...

My text:  I have family over right now, I can't talk at the moment

Their text:  Just send the code I will text you from my phone to make arrangements about the cash payment

My text:  For which gecko?

Their text:  10 months
Their text:  give me the code please

awfully pushy, no?

My text:  Before you do payment or anything, you need to fill out an adoption form.  I can send that in an email if you'd like or you can download it from the website

Their text:  do you get the 6 digit code?

My text:  Bye-bye scammer

Blocked their number. 

I looked this up, after blocking them.... if you'd like to read more than what I explain below, it is on the google voice help forum, here -- https://productforums.google.com/forum/?noredirect=true#!topic/voice/w3G384KPh7k

Anyway, the idea is that they are trying to set up a google voice account (or another similar account).  THEY need a verification code to do so.  When you get the verification code and give it to them, THEY are issued a Google Voice number, with your phone number as the forwarding number.  I suppose then you get a lot of spam phone calls... otherwise, I'm not sure exactly what benefit this would give them.  But anyway, I am playing no part.  Thankfully, there is a way to get out of this, if people have accidentally given over the code.  I suppose I deal with enough of these scams and fake people posing as potential adopters to be able to spot these things, but everyone may not have the same experience with 10-20 calls/texts a day from random numbers that I do.

Tis the season... to scam everyone.  Or something like that.  Be happy, come adopt a chinchilla. 

I am thankful for...

So, today being Thanksgiving, I wanted to post a quick post about things I am thankful for.

First, volunteers.  I have Aleks and Alex right now who have both been spending a good amount of time here, helping out at the rescue.  I also had an adopter, Jen, come by for supplies yesterday, and spend two hours volunteering.  Super thankful.  We've been getting a lot done.

Second, people who read.  Maybe this sounds simple, but I get about 10 emails a day, that somehow demonstrate that someone didn't read something I took the time to make sure was spelled out.  For example, I got an email from someone who can't find geckos in their area and the email basically said it'd be great if we shipped.  It says, both on the crested gecko page, and on all the ads I posted for the geckos, "sorry, we cannot ship these geckos."  I'm sorry for the person who won't be able to get one now (well, from me at least), but I can't help that they can't read.  Or choose not to, whichever.  But I am thankful for the people who DO read, as then I don't waste time responding to emails like this.

Third, I'm thankful for the people who research.  I run across waaaaaay too many people who tell me that their chins love cranberries and all sorts of not good things, but there are also a good amount of people who tell me how much their chins love their cheerios, rosehips, and other safe treats!  Also, the people who have safe cages, and feed safe foods, because they have researched and done their homework, without me having to pick apart their adoption form and explain why snickers bars aren't appropriate treats.

Fourth, I'm thankful for the people who adopt, and otherwise support the rescue through buying supplies and toys.  Without our adopters, we'd just be another hoarder (haha), and of course, without the sale of the other items, we couldn't afford to run the rescue.

And finally, I'm thankful for the people who donate.  We've had a good amount (well, more than our usual, which is next to nothing haha) of donations lately.  Several people donating bedding and food, some toys and such.  We had someone donate $1,000 (you read that right) back in October, which was awesome, as we had a slow few months and were low on rescue funds.  Even the little stuff is appreciated.

Thanks!

Blue diamonds vs. violets vs. sapphires

So I've had a few people ask about this lately, since we have both colors in (and even had a sapphire wrap recently), so I thought I'd touch on this.

Blue diamonds are chinchillas that have both the sapphire and violet gene expressed.  Both genes are recessive genes, so to get a blue diamond, you need parents that carry both genes.  These could be a variety of different chinchillas, but regardless of which they are... each parent would need to be one of these:

blue diamond
sapphire, violet carrier
violet, sapphire carrer
standard grey, sapphire & violet carrier

This way, both the parents would have both the sapphire and violet genes to pass down to their offspring. 

However, just because they can pass along these genes, does not mean that they do.  Short of breeding a blue diamond to a blue diamond (which is not a good idea, genetically -- you will end up with weak furred, not good quality animals), you will never end up with 100% blue diamonds.

For example, let's say you breed a sapphire, violet carrier (mom) to a violet, sapphire carrier (dad).  In mom, the sapphire is actually expressed, so all babies will have to be sapphire carriers.  As for the violet that she is carrying, a carried gene will only produce babies that carry that gene, 50% of the time.  So just from her side, the babies look like this:

standard, sapphire carrier, violet carrier
standard, sapphire carrier

Now... as the carried genes are not expressed... it's anyone's guess as far as WHICH of those standards would be the ones carrying both sapphire and violet.  The only way would be to breed them down the line.

But hold on, we have dad's genetics too.  As dad is a violet, sapphire carrier, this means that his babies would look like this:

standard, violet carrier, sapphire carrier
standard, violet carrier

Of course, that's only one half of the puzzle, so when you put these chinchillas together, what you end up is this:

--blue diamonds (1/4 of babies -- as the chins that receive both sapphire & violet carrier genes from both parents will be blue diamonds)
--violet, sapphire carriers (1/4 of babies), as the chins that receive both sapphire & violet carrier genes from one parent, and violet carrier genes from the other parent will express the violet gene, but will only carry the sapphire
--sapphire, violet carriers (1/4 of babies), as the chins that receive both sapphire & violet genes from one parent, and sapphire carrier genes from the other parent, they will express the sapphire gene, but only carry the violet
--standard grey, sapphire & violet carrier (1/4 of babies), as some babies will receive only a sapphire gene from one parent and only a violet gene from the other

Now, this is all fine and dandy, but in reality... it may not be one in four babies that's really blue diamond.  Just as an example, I had a female litter the other day.  She is a standard grey, bred to a pink white male, which should produce 25% standard grey, 25% hetero beige, 25% mosaic, and 25% pink white.  She actually had four babies, so this works great for this example... she had three standard greys and one hetero beige.  Which, in the blue diamond example, would be like having three standard grey, sapphire & violet carriers, and a sapphire, violet carrier.  That's why blue diamonds are not cheap.

Color-wise, these colors are different.  Violets are more of a purplish-tinged grey, sort of like a dove grey.  Sapphires are more of a blue-grey, sort of like a light light grey.  Blue diamonds are almost a powdery blue color.

This is a violet:

This is a sapphire wrap (darker than usual sapphire because of the ebony gene that creates the wrap, but you can see the blue vs. purplish):

And this is a blue diamond:

Of course, they look different in person, and under perfect lighting... but often people say that it's hard for them to tell the difference in pictures.  Some of that does depend on monitor settings and how the photo looks in general, but to try to help, we took a pic of some side by side.

While these are not the greatest pictures ever, the blue diamond is on the left, and the violet is on the right.  Whether you knew which colors those were, most people can say that they can tell that the grey coloration on the two chins does have a different tone to it, and that's the difference in color.

Volunteers of All Types!

People occasionally ask what they'll do when they volunteer here.  I know I just blogged about this the other day, but this has come up again, sort of in a different way, so I wanted to make a quick post about it.

Some of what volunteers do here, depends on their skill set.  If you can handle more complicated things, you'll do more complicated things, like make the mixes for the jars, or help organize, or help with paperwork even.  If you're not so inclined, or would rather stick to more mindless activities (which there's usually more of), we always have stuff that needs washed / scrubbed, toy pieces sanded, and cages cleaned.  And for those of you with more technical skill sets...   

We had a volunteer here the other day, who seemed sort of like a jack of all trades.  I do a little of everything myself as far as fixing things, woodwork, etc... but "electrical" is not so much in my wheel house.  Usually Jim handles that stuff, but sometimes it really can't wait until he has time to make it by, and I hate to call an electrician for the minor stuff.  But anyway, this volunteer seemed like maybe they could swing it, so when I had a light socket go out -- right over the basement sink, which is the busiest area in the basement (and also the area where you cannot get away without having light, as that's where all the rescue stuff gets washed / sanitized), I asked this volunteer if they knew how to replace it.  And yes, I do have a general idea myself.  Unscrew it, switch wires to new light socket, and so on... but I've only seen it done, never done it myself.  

So, they said they could probably swing it, and if not, they had an electrician friend who could walk them through.  Cool.

So, here's a pic of them changing out light socket out.  

And yes, that is a cell phone hanging suspended (MacGyver-style) by two clothing hangers that are hanging from a water pipe, supplying the light (since of course we had the power off) to change the light socket.

And it works!  Yaya.

Also, while they were here, I informed them how our hot water heater mysteriously is missing this one cap that screws onto a threaded tube.  The cap would prevent it from dripping (not the overflow valve... this is different) and the dripping results in me constantly having to empty small buckets of water every few days.  I told her, someone suggested before that it's likely a 3/4" cap off (the missing piece), but I never think of it at the hardware store, so I told her, if she does, pick up the threaded cap and I'll reimburse.  Her just-about-immediate-response was... try using a pop bottle cap and see if that fits.

And look at this...

Joel and myself have talked about capping this off multiple times with various things (mainly, going and hunting down an official cap), and talked about picking up the threaded cap multiple times... but we never came up with something as simple as this!  Sometimes it just takes an outside mind to think of things like this.  Haha!  

Playtime At Young Ages

I feel like I can't stress this enough -- chinchillas should not have playtime before 6 months.  Even at 6 months, they need to start with 10 minutes per day, and slowly work up to 30 minutes per day, by the time they are a year old.

I actually have a handout that talks about this.  I hand it out to anyone adopting chins under 1 year old, and it's even on the website.  It's called Do's & Don'ts for Young Chins, and it's here -- http://www.nwichinchillas.com/do-s-don-ts-young-chins

Now, while it's available, of course, I can't make people read it or maybe a better way to put it, comprehend it.  I had a chin go home with someone the other day, and she emailed me this morning about some odd behavior.  Turns out, the chin was being let out for 2-3 hours of playtime a night... the first few nights, she ran around like a spaz, but then started slowing down, wanting to sleep more, having red ears... and so on.  So the owner emailed me.

Off the top of my head, I remember thinking it was a young chin, but I wasn't positive, so I looked up the birthdate of the one she adopted -- 4/15/17.  The chin is 6-7 months old.  So... as you readers should know just from what I've said in the last few paragraphs, 2-3 hours per day is much too much.

So I emailed her back, sent her the link to the info about playtime, and explained this all to her.

The main thing with this is -- if you were running a marathon, you wouldn't go run 26 miles on your first day of training.  Even if you somehow physically could accomplish this on the first day of training, you would be so worn out and so weak afterwards, you could seriously hurt yourself.  That's how this is.  The chins start at smaller periods of time and work their way up, so they develop stamina.  Also, so they have time to grow, and as they get larger and have larger amounts of food in their stomachs, they can spend more time out.  What we want to avoid is having the chin basically use up all the nutrients they have in their bodies, running around.  If that happens, they can go low blood sugar, become lethargic, and possibly even die.  Sad to say, it happened to someone we know a few years back... which is one of the things that prompted me to write that handout.  Obviously, we want our chins and everyone's chins to live as long and as happy lives as they can, so living through baby-hood is always a good thing and a good step in the right direction.  So, I just wanted to put this out here to remind everyone how important it is to either not do playtime at all (which is fine.... chins do just fine without it), or work on gradually introducing playtime into the lives of our young furry fluffballs.  That is all. 

Interesting People

So, you know I've gotta have a post about some interesting people now and then, right?  Of course, we have our wonderful adopters, and then we have... less than wonderful people who find us as well. 

So the first one:  (colored sections are actual texts... regular black text is my comments)

Them:  I saw your ad about a male chinchilla.  Wondering if I would order him now how fast he would get here.

Order him... kind of odd working.  Assuming she means if he was shipped?

Me:  You mean like having him shipped there?  That depends on what flights are available to an airport near you and how soon we can find one that works for both of our schedules.  Usually they can be there within a week or so, sometimes less

Them:  Ok, I want him

Immediate thought... which one?

Me:  which one?

Them:  standard grey

You know, I don't even have to tell you my thoughts here...

Me:  Does he have a name?  Or what age is he?  Quite a few of the ones that I have listed are standard greys

Them:  Any way you could send pics?

Of which one?????? (starting to get aggravated)

Me:  I probably have 20 standard greys available.  Could you be a bit more specific as far as which one you're talking about?

Them:  I do not know I just need a male standard with red eyes about a year old

Me:  Standard greys don't have red eyes.  Maybe you're thinking of a hetero beige?

Them:  Could you send pics please I'm barely awake and don't know which post it was

First off... ALL, and I do mean ALL my ads have photos, even if it's just one photo.  So, undoubtedly, she wasn't even looking at my ad, but even so... which chin am I supposed to send pics of?  I don't own some magic unicorn-chinchilla-that's-standard-grey-with-red-eyes

Me:  I have probably 30 chins available in total, I need to know which one you want pictures of

Reasonable, yes?

Them:  Nevermind I need it sooner than a week thank you

Now... I can think of all sorts of reasons why she needs a chin ASAP, but none of them are good.  Either a chin died and she needs to replace ASAP before the kid notices, or someone's birthday is coming up and she needs the chin ASAP, or... anyway, no options sound good.  If you just want a nice pet for yourself, you don't need it, like yesterday.  You can wait.  So, no really sorry this one didn't pan out, as you can imagine.

Another person... and this one is short, I promise... sends me a message the other day, it literally says "I'm here for the free geckos."  Now, no one was at the house... thankfully.  But... pretty sure my geckos have adoption fees.  Oddball texts like that I will just ignore.

Last person that comes to mind, again short so this post doesn't go on forever... sends me a message and asks, "what chinchilla is $75?"  Now, as much as I'm happy to help people... at the same time, when I have oodles to do, emails and orders that I'm behind on, voicemails to return, cages to clean, etc etc.... I don't care so much to coddle and help people be lazier.  I responded that the ones that are $75 are the colored adults, and that I thought we only had one or two females right now that might be that price, and I linked them to our available chins page.  Since the sale is going on, you may notice that each chin listing at the top now has (at the end of the listing) ADOPT ME FOR $___.  So, you don't even need to scroll down to the actual listings with pictures and descriptions and all that, this is right at the top right now.  I guess it was too much work for them to look and see which few I was talking about, because I never did hear back.  Ah well.  Maybe they would have liked if I could have come over and fed it for them as well, haha! 

Of course, we had some great adoptions as well that went off without a hitch... but people like this keep everything interesting, that's for sure!

Volunteering -- boring? Never!

So, I suppose I'm not sure what people think volunteering here will be like, or even what expo set up is really like, so I wanted to share what we did on this past Friday as far as having a volunteer come over and get stuff done.

So, Aleks -- everyone say "hi Aleks!"

Aleks on Saturday with Sizzle, one of our resident corn snakes

 -- showed up around 10 am.  That's when we started packing.  I'd intended to start more the night before, but I'd only gotten as far as printing out the master list of the items we needed.  Which... that's sometimes how it goes, especially when there's a lot of emails to answer and phone calls, and whatnot.

So, the master list looks something like this:

Some stuff on there we don't take to ever expo, like there's some items that we only take if we're staying in a hotel.  But most of the stuff is things we need at the expo regardless, so usually I cross off what I know we don't need (whether that's because we're staying in a hotel, or because some expos provide things that others don't, etc, etc), and start packing the rest.  So, the toys all need to be tagged, so we usually do that at home.  For things like loofah, apple & oat cookies, and the baggies of herbs, those get price tags at the expos (as the stickers don't stick all that well), so I just make sure we have adequate amounts of each of those.  For this expo, since the past All Animal Expo at Wheaton cleared us out of rosehips, rosebuds, and hibiscus petals, I had Aleks work on getting those baggies ready while I grabbed some of the toys, loofah, and so on, and packed the box.

Then of course we grabbed the hammocks and the other supplies and got all those boxes, plus our trays, signs, banners, and everything else, upstairs.  

For my blazer, first thing that gets loaded are the two tables, then the cages (one on top of another), then the chairs in between those.  The boxes all get tetris'd in after that, sort of wherever they fit.  We do have a system, but I can't easily describe it here, just know that when packing, there is a definite order to what goes in next, to ensure that everything does fit. 

I remember telling Aleks that undoubtedly we'd have forgotten something, and halfway there, I realized, we did not have our small Christmas tree with the chin-ornaments.  No big deal, because we were coming home that night and would grab it that night.

So, we get to the expo, find out that we are the booth pretty close to being right across from the entrance, and begin bringing everything in.  I think both of us had to each make 2-3 trips, but we got it all in.  First thing to set up are the tables, because... the banner has to go up, and the only way for short-little-me to reach getting those hooks hooked is standing on one of the tables.  Safety first, eh?  Lol.  And I can barely reach it on the tables.  Anyway, so first thing is get the tables set up, get on the table and get the banner up, and then table cloths go on, cage pads go down, cages go down, animals go in their cages.  Hand sanitizer, donation box, business card holder w/ business cards, all also get set up.  Chinchillas at a Glance sheets go down.  That's all for the table on the right (usually).  Usually that can be done while the other table is being set up by someone else... for that table, the herbs are getting arranged on the trays, along with toys, loofah, goodie bags, and so on.  We also have our box of hammocks and some shelves and such.  Then, once everything is officially set up, we have little signs that say what bags are what, and their prices.  These go in front of the bags on the trays.  So then, lastly, we look at what's priced and what's not.  From experience... even though the tag says "natural loofah $1.75," if the bag of loofah doesn't have a "$1.75" tag on it, I will be asked, often over and over, how much the loofah is... so I leave the signs and price the individual items.  So, we look at those and price.  For this weekend, as I had help, I had Aleks count how many of which items needed prices, I wrote out the tags, and she stuck them to the baggies.  Same for the shelves, loofah, and so on.  So then, that was about it for the booth, so we took a pic and got ready to come back in the morning.

Our booth when we left on Friday evening

Our booth, after they told us we could have more room, Saturday

So then, we're almost ready to head back and I realize I need to get gas.  So, as we go to a gas station, I thought I saw a Dollar Tree sign, and told Aleks that we'd stop if it was, in fact, a Dollar Tree.  It wasn't, and when I looked up where one was, the closest was 15 minutes away, so not worth it.  The reason I had mentioned it, though, was because I needed items to make a raffle basket for the expo (rescues donate one) and much of what I had at the rescue was summer-related.  For example, I had barbecue / grilling stuff to make a picnic / grilling basket... but... it's like 30 degrees outside... so not quite appropriate.  So, we're on the way home, and we DO pass a Dollar General.. so we stop and go shopping.  Pick up some items for the rescue basket, plus of course a few oddball things, and then go to Hallmark to see if they have a specific ornament I was wanting to see (they didn't), and then head home.  Hey, I told you rescue help isn't boring right?  Who'd think you get to go to a fabulous dollar store and then even Hallmark when you're volunteering?  Awesome times, right?  Right??

Anyway, we come home, and I still need to feed and water the critters, so Aleks helps me with that and some other tasks, before I end up driving her home at around 9 pm.  Sometime before she left, another Alex that was supposed to volunteer with me earlier in the week (but had things come up), sent me a message asking if I could use help that night.  Of course!  So she came over, and she stayed at my house and continued to fill up the water for the critters while I drove Aleks home.  I got home, and we switched over to working on putting grommets and hanging hardware (comprised of split rings and snap hooks) in hammocks that we were going to take to the expo tomorrow.  I also made the donation basket.

Alex left at about 2 am, and I went to sleep sometime like 3-4... only to get up before 8, so we could leave about at 8, for the expo in the morning.  Fun times.

Arriving on Time

I sometimes feel like I need to write a blog entitled, lessons for life.... because some people really could use some tips.

Everyone shows up late.  It makes me wonder, do you all show up late to doctor's appointments?  Or to dinner with friends?  Or they don't show up AT ALL.  And naturally, whether late or no-show, they don't call, text, or anything, to let me know.

Which wouldn't be so frustrating except, of course, I'm sitting here waiting for them to arrive, and often I've gotten stuff ready for them, or made sure I was home by a specific time...  like today, I had to run out to Lansing earlier, but I knew I had a 5 pm appointment, so I made sure I was home in time for that.  And lookie here, it is after 5:30 and the person is not here.  Also, the person has not texted or called to reschedule or cancel their appointment. 

Honestly, if these people had called, even a few minutes before their appointment, and said, you know, I'm sorry, we can't make it.  Heck, even without the "I'm sorry" part.  Just hey, we can't make it... I wouldn't even be writing this.  But as it is -- and I feel like this is super sad to say -- I can't even begin to tell you how many people are between 15-30 minutes late, and seem to think nothing of it!  If I show up late somewhere, I apologize.  If I was stuck in traffic, I'll let the person know.  Heck, they probably already know that, because I would not have waited until I was late... I would have called / texted / contacted them ahead of time, to let them know that I was late. 

...and I suppose what irks me the most is that these people see nothing wrong with it... like they don't walk in and say, "sorry we're late."  They just walk in, as if they're strolling in, completely on time, they don't even mention the fact that their appointment was scheduled for 40 minutes prior. 

Maybe it's just me, but I was taught that it's common courtesy to let people know if you're going to be late (among other things).  Is that not taught anymore?  Because it seems people don't do that anymore... they show up whenever they please...

All Animal Expo -- November 4th

Wanted to make a quick post about the expo -- we had a great expo this past weekend, and hopefully the next few will be great as well.  We met some great people, found homes for 5 chinchillas, and stocked up some great people with supplies!

We have a lot of people coming up to the booth wanting to learn more and do their research before bringing home a new pet, which is a nice breath of fresh air!  A few people we talked to had mentioned getting one in the future, and so I passed out my card and directed them to the website with care info, with the thought they will check it out and be better educated by the time they come to adopt.

We had one guy come to the booth and buy one of his friends' chinchillas food, treats, and toys.  If only we had more!  It's funny, because sometimes we end up packing up a ridiculous amount of stuff, and then other times, like for this expo... our entire tray of rosehips / rosebuds / hibiscus sold out, as well as our entire stock of loofah, and much of our apple & oat cookies!  Plus of course we sold 10 pounds of chin chow, various toys, dust, a bale of shavings... good day all around.

And I think this is going well for not just us, but for everyone, because they're able to get the supplies at a reasonable cost, and it's somewhere they can go, set hours (like this expo is usually every other weekend from 10-3).  We had one lady that got a toy and two baggies of munchies, and I believe her total was $8.75 and she's like "that's cheap!"  Well, in comparison to the pet store, where each little baggie is $5+ and some are even more ridiculous... it is decent pricing.  And while we're not getting rich off selling this stuff, it allows pet people to have safe treats and chews, while still helping to care for all the critters.  So, win-win. 

We have two more expos that we're for-sure going to be at, in the upcoming weeks... St. Charles is the 11th and 12th at the Kane County Fairgrounds ($7 admission) and we're back at the All Animal Expo in Wheaton on the 19th ($5 admission).  And don't forget, if you want something brought to the expo, just let me know!  We had someone who messaged the other day, and so we brought him a house and 11 pounds of food, which he picked up (along with some other goodies) at the expo... like in that case, even if it's stuff we won't usually bring (like the houses, which sell like hotcakes... but not at the expos), if I know someone wants to buy it, I can totally bring it with, so just let me know.  Hope to see you at some of these!

Scheduling Appointments Around Expos

I wanted to explain something real quick, about setting appointments around the expos.  Useful info, and maybe people don't realize some of this.

When we have an expo, depending on how many days it is, sometimes set-up is before the expo or the day before, and take down is the night of, or the last night of (if it's a multi-day expo).  We rarely stay in the expo area... we used to more, but as gas is usually cheaper than motels (and I'd rather not repeat my bedbug experience more times by staying at super cheap places), so we tend to drive back and forth.

Well... most of these expos aren't super close.  Lake County is the closest, but can still be 30-40 minutes away.  Oak Lawn is the next closest, about 40 minutes.  St. Charles / Kane County and Windy City / Schaumburg are the next closest at 1.5 hours.  Libertyville is about the farthest current one, at just under 2 hours (that one we do stay at... but we also know people in the area). 

Notice travel times, based on distance.  St. Charles is coming up.  Each day is 10-5 pm, which means I have to leave no later than 8 am to get there, park a mile away, and walk to the expo center.  When I leave at 5 pm, I probably won't get home until 6:30, but more likely 7, as that will be rush hour traffic (which is still a thing on weekends, believe it or not).  And of course, let's not forget that that assumes I walked right out of the expo center at 5 pm, didn't talk to any vendors, didn't talk to the hosts, didn't have any last minute people wanting to see / pet / oooh-and-aahh at the chinchillas.  Add those in, and maybe I don't leave until 6, and get home even later.  Now, that's for Friday and Saturday.  For Sunday, figure in, I also have to take down the booth and get everything in the vehicle.  Figure that adds at least another hour, if not more (depends on the congestion getting in and out of the building multiple times with carts, and how close we can park), so we're not home until at least 8 pm. 

For the All Animal Expo in Wheaton, while we could set-up the night before, we do set-up same-day, and actually, we'd do no better setting up the day before, as much of our setup is the live animals (which we wouldn't want to leave there overnight, even if we could).  So, setup opens about 8:30, and since it takes 1.5 hours to get there... that means we leave absolutely no later than about 7 am.

The reason I mention all of this is lately I've had a lot of people wanting to stop by before the expo.  Oh, it starts at 10?  They tell me they can show up at 9... though I would have already left an hour before that.  They mention, oh the expo ends at 5, cool, they'll see me at the rescue at 6, that should give me plenty of time.  Now, if they invent teleporting, cool, we can plan for that.  Until then, though, that doesn't take into account packing up and driving home, plus a few minutes to spare.  I try my best to not have any customers beat me to the house, so if I think I'll be home at 6:30, I'll set an appointment no earlier than 7.

Also, I've had a lot of people saying, for example, they'll try to make it here Saturday.  Well... I kind of need to know one way or the other if you're coming (in general, but especially for appointments scheduled around the expos).  Two reasons:

1) If I mentioned to you that I will be home by 6 on Saturday, and you tell me that you will come by, I will absolutely make sure I am home by 6, and I will send you a message or call you (or whatever) if I think I'm going to be late.  If I don't have anyone coming... maybe I'll stop and grab a bite to eat, maybe I just won't rush to pack up and I'll take my time, maybe I'll talk more to the other vendors, because I know I have nothing else going on. 

And 2) If you said you are going to come, we will set a time, so I know when to expect you, but also, so I know when to set other appointments.  It never fails, if I tell people I will be home after 6, and I tell three people that, they will all, and I mean all, show up at the exact same time.  That's why I set appointments, so that everyone has their own time, without someone else standing there waiting for their turn.  If I don't know if someone is coming, I can set appointments, but then, someone ends up waiting, and I try to avoid that if possible.

That is all.

Updates -- Sprite

Someone asked me the other day if I ever receive updates on how the chins are doing, or if I'd like to.  Well sure!  It's always nice to see pics and hear that the furballs are doing well!... or whatever the case may be. 

Sprite was a chinchilla we had at the rescue back in 2010.  I remember that she was adopted our from my parents' house in Munster in the fall of 2011.  Sprite had cataracts and we believed that she was almost fully blind, but she got around just fine.  She was an on-again, off-again fur chewer.  She as adopted out into a great family with another chinchilla, Spark. 

This is Sprite:

From left to right: Amber (grey), Moki (beige), Sprite (grey)

And here was Sprite and Spark, at their new home:

We got an update a few years ago that Spark had passed.  Earlier this week, we got another email that Sprite had passed.  She was 16 years old. 

While of course happy updates (on how wonderful the chins are doing) are always nice, in reality... sometimes I think back and I'll wonder what ever happened to a certain chinchilla.  In this case, I know she had a great life and lived to a ripe old age, spoiled as she should be, and I know what happened to her.  In other cases, I don't know... so, any updates are always appreciated.  RIP Sprite.