Now, you know I love you all, and of course, there's no such thing as a stupid question. I've always said, if you don't know, you don't know. No problem -- ask.
But jeez, sometimes I wonder if people have any common sense.
Just this week, I must have at least 7 emails asking if shipping is safe.
No, not at all. They allllllll die on the flight. That's why I offer it, so that people can pay a small fortune to receive a chinchilla that's DOA (dead on arrival).
^ that's sarcasm, in case you can't tell.
I mean... yes, I suppose, if you have no idea what shipping entails, you may want to know how it works and all that (which is on my shipping info page, which apparently no one reads). But I mean, if you know me, you know I love my chins and wouldn't do anything to hurt them, so, I would tend to think that would lead to the following thought of... it must be safe, because if they were all going to die, she wouldn't offer it.
I mean, right?
I have never had a chin die, or heck, even get ill from shipping. Neither has Jim with chinchillas.com, and believe me, they ship out about 300 chins a year, all around the world. Even more chances for them all to die horrible deaths in that horrible climate controlled compartment. These animals are treated WAY better than luggage... that's also why checking a bag is like $25 and shipping a chinchilla is like $200.
I'm happy to answer all questions, of course... but sometimes I really wouldn't mind if people would step back for a second and really think about what they're asking. I mean, otherwise, this is the thought process:
Oh I see she ships.
I don't like airlines.
Oh I wonder if it's safe?
I see she's shipped a lot of chins and the new owners have commented that they love their chins, on that same facebook post, so I guess they got there ok....
No, now that I think about it, must not be safe, I MUST tell her that, as a condition to surrendering my chinchillas, she CANNOT ship them.
Uh-huh. There's a ton of rules and regulations as far as shipping animals. Yes, I am aware that some animals have died during shipping, but if you notice, that's usually during the summer when it's ridiculously hot, not when it's 30 degrees outside with cold-loving critters. We can't even ship them when it's so hot that they'll fry, you know why? Because the airlines don't want them to die either....
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Included Items
I need to remind myself, every day now, how much I love people. Usually, while banging my head against the wall and taking migraine pills.
Just about every other email, right now, asks if a cage comes with a chin. The best ones ask what type of cage, and if they can pick, because they'd really like to get a ferret nation, and it'd be an awesome deal to adopt a chin for $75 and get a full decked out double FN with the chin.
The gecko people, sadly aren't much better. We'll get back to the chin people, but just for a moment, let me quote you, right off my website, the part that talks about if you need supplies (other than a month's-ish supply of food) with your gecko:
Now... reading that... and more specifically, the part that says "tub or kritter keeper-type enclosure" -- let me ask you, what does that make you think of? If you answered, one of those small carrying type cages that you see at the pet store, or a small sterilite-type tub, you'd be correct! Ding ding ding!! Winner winner!
If you said, a glass terrarium with all sorts of fancy climbing items from the pet store that run $13+ each, you'd be sadly mistaken. I don't have a lot of those accessories for my OWN gecko cages... heck, the tree-trunk thing I have in my one gecko enclosure was $39.99! So, no, unfortunately I am not able to include something like that in your gecko kit. But yet, I get emails, like the one today, which says --
"Hello, I am interested in adopting one of your crested Geckos and was wondering about the terrarium that is available with them. What are the dimensions/are internal wood/climbing surfaces included?"
Not to dash people's hopes, but I mean... the words "tub" and "kritter keeper" -- to me, those words do not suggest that the gecko comes with a terrarium. Terrariums start at $70 for the tiniest tiniest one that will hold a gecko for a fraction of its life, and sure, that'd be great if I was donated 20 of them with the geckos, but... reality check (cause this is rescue, let's remember)... these geckos are in small tubs. I need to email that person back and answer their question... and I'm sure, after dashing their hopes about getting a fancy terrarium for pennies, I will likely never hear from them again. For reference, the largest tub (and there's not that many of these, most are smaller) is like 18L x 12W x 10H. Hence, notice, where it says "temporary" enclosures. Most people who have adopted a gecko have gone and purchased their own, nice terrariums, for their gecko... I think only two geckos have gone home with their "stuff" and that was only because, in both instances, the people were waiting for their terrarium to arrive in the mail.
I mention this example with the gecko because that was literally today that I got that email, but I get this with the chins all the time. Surely, they all come with cages. And not like, little cages, like great big fancy cages. Oh and that month's worth of food that I provide... that's a good start. Can I throw in some dust as well? At one of these expos, I had one of my retired breeders listed at $75. Some of you have undoubtedly heard this story. The guy wanted me to throw in a bag of dust. I said no. He asked why not. I told him, the price was $75. He asked for more food. I said I could throw in another bag of food. "How about that dust too?" No. I explained that this chin was a fancy chin that I had paid a fortune for, a few years back, and the only reason I was selling him was because he wasn't producing as good as I'd like, but that $75 was only a FRACTION of what I'd paid, and he was still less than 5 years old... hardly old, and nothing wrong with him. He haggled and haggled and wanted me to throw in this and this and this and that... eventually, we settled on the chin, an extra 2 pounds of food, and a bag of dust for $80. That should have cost $82.75 ($75 chin + $1.50 food + $6.25 dust), so obviously not a huge loss, but... looking back, I should have stood my ground and said, sorry, these prices are firm. Everyone wants something for nothing, and I must have missed the day when they taught people that buying a pet was a garage-sale-type-transaction, because that's not how I've ever been. Short of being in person at a physical garage sale, I will not ask for a discount. I must be in the minority.
I realize people do ask for discounts, all the time. Heck, when I used to work at Meijer, people would walk in and find an item, and say, "this is cheaper at Walmart." My personal opinion on that? If it really is cheaper at Walmart (and Meijer doesn't price match, just for reference), then they should go to Walmart to go get the cheaper price. I mean, right? Meijer isn't going to lower the price just for that person.
And that's how it is here. Few days ago, someone told me about a chin for sale on craigslist, came with a cage, supplies, whatnot. I think it was $100 and (according to them) had a nice cage and all sorts of supplies. They asked what they could get (here) for $100. So I showed them some $75 chins and then said they could use the other $25 for supplies (which could be a few months worth of food, dust, hay, toy, etc... not going to be able to get a cage for that, but could get the chin and everything but), and then also showed them some $100 chins. Their response -- they were incredulous that they would have to *gasp* BUY supplies! Surely the chins came with all of that! I mean, those nice cages that I spent years decking out so the rescue chins have it nice... those should be INCLUDED WITH THE CHINS. Uh-huh. I told them, for my FNs, I spent a lot of money buying them, cleaning them up, buying the metal bass pans, getting those powdercoated, making sure each level of each cage has a wheel... you get the idea... I explained, if I gave those away, what would I use for the next rescue chins that came in? You'll love their answer -- I should buy more and deck out more, so the new chins can have that too! I'm sorry, did I win the lottery and just forget? I nicely explained, there isn't a lot of money in rescue, surely not enough to do that, but that I offer cages for sale, new and used, and even the new ones are much cheaper than pet store cages, as are all of my supplies, which I explained, I carry / sell, so that people are able to get these supplies cheaper. Their response -- "but I can't get a chin, cage, and all that for $100 here, like I can on craigslist?" No. No, you can't. So, again, trying to be nice, I mentioned to this person... since they said it was such a good deal, why was it that they didn't get the craigslist chin, but were instead, here at my place? You'll love this -- they were here because my chins were nicer and looked healthier and they knew the were cared for better.
I'm not saying that you couldn't find a nice chin on craigslist with a nice cage and all the fixings and all that. I'm sure you can. Some people do sell good setups and all that and care about their pets. Definitely not saying I'm the only one who does -- nothing of the sort. But... I charge what I charge, the craigslist people charge what they charge. I'm not price matching some random person, because someone saw it cheaper elsewhere. They are free to get the chin wherever they'd like to. The craigslist chin may be healthy and friendly and wonderful... or may not be. No way to know except to go look at it and see what they think... but this isn't craigslist (sure, I list on craigslist, but if you read the ad, it is obvious that it is an ad for an animal in a rescue), and our animals don't come with all supplies. Heck, many people drop off the chin in a cardboard box, so I often don't have supplies to dole out, even if I wanted to.
But keep in mind -- if you go to the humane society and adopt a dog -- does it come with a crate? Food bowl / water bowl? Collar / leash? Potty trained (do they even know?)? In case you haven't been to a humane society lately, the answer to all these questions is no. You are expected to show up with a leash and collar for the dog, and they usually have some for sale if you need those items and didn't bring them. You are presented with the dog, which becomes your responsibility to provide for. Anything extra you need, they may sell, but if they don't, the pet store has. Same here. If you wouldn't think of asking them to lower their adoption fee, or include extra things, why ask here? If anything, we get less donations and volunteers than these places with the cute dogs and puppies that can show more affection to their owners than the average small animal... so we have less to give. The critters all come with some food to start you off with, a care packet, a lifetime of support, and some chews / treats. Be happy with what you're given.
Just about every other email, right now, asks if a cage comes with a chin. The best ones ask what type of cage, and if they can pick, because they'd really like to get a ferret nation, and it'd be an awesome deal to adopt a chin for $75 and get a full decked out double FN with the chin.
The gecko people, sadly aren't much better. We'll get back to the chin people, but just for a moment, let me quote you, right off my website, the part that talks about if you need supplies (other than a month's-ish supply of food) with your gecko:
We can send these geckos home with their (temporary) setups (they will eventually need upgrades, but these enclosures work just fine for the moment), as well as some supplies, as follows, in a gecko kit.
This gecko kit will contain:
Tub or kritter keeper-type enclosure for the gecko
Foliage / plants
Possibly a hide, depending on size of enclosure
Water bowl
Supply of bottle caps (feeding dishes)
1 ounce Pangea CGD (our 50/50 watermelon/insect mix)
Mist bottle
Paper towels for the bottom of the cage
If you said, a glass terrarium with all sorts of fancy climbing items from the pet store that run $13+ each, you'd be sadly mistaken. I don't have a lot of those accessories for my OWN gecko cages... heck, the tree-trunk thing I have in my one gecko enclosure was $39.99! So, no, unfortunately I am not able to include something like that in your gecko kit. But yet, I get emails, like the one today, which says --
"Hello, I am interested in adopting one of your crested Geckos and was wondering about the terrarium that is available with them. What are the dimensions/are internal wood/climbing surfaces included?"
Not to dash people's hopes, but I mean... the words "tub" and "kritter keeper" -- to me, those words do not suggest that the gecko comes with a terrarium. Terrariums start at $70 for the tiniest tiniest one that will hold a gecko for a fraction of its life, and sure, that'd be great if I was donated 20 of them with the geckos, but... reality check (cause this is rescue, let's remember)... these geckos are in small tubs. I need to email that person back and answer their question... and I'm sure, after dashing their hopes about getting a fancy terrarium for pennies, I will likely never hear from them again. For reference, the largest tub (and there's not that many of these, most are smaller) is like 18L x 12W x 10H. Hence, notice, where it says "temporary" enclosures. Most people who have adopted a gecko have gone and purchased their own, nice terrariums, for their gecko... I think only two geckos have gone home with their "stuff" and that was only because, in both instances, the people were waiting for their terrarium to arrive in the mail.
I mention this example with the gecko because that was literally today that I got that email, but I get this with the chins all the time. Surely, they all come with cages. And not like, little cages, like great big fancy cages. Oh and that month's worth of food that I provide... that's a good start. Can I throw in some dust as well? At one of these expos, I had one of my retired breeders listed at $75. Some of you have undoubtedly heard this story. The guy wanted me to throw in a bag of dust. I said no. He asked why not. I told him, the price was $75. He asked for more food. I said I could throw in another bag of food. "How about that dust too?" No. I explained that this chin was a fancy chin that I had paid a fortune for, a few years back, and the only reason I was selling him was because he wasn't producing as good as I'd like, but that $75 was only a FRACTION of what I'd paid, and he was still less than 5 years old... hardly old, and nothing wrong with him. He haggled and haggled and wanted me to throw in this and this and this and that... eventually, we settled on the chin, an extra 2 pounds of food, and a bag of dust for $80. That should have cost $82.75 ($75 chin + $1.50 food + $6.25 dust), so obviously not a huge loss, but... looking back, I should have stood my ground and said, sorry, these prices are firm. Everyone wants something for nothing, and I must have missed the day when they taught people that buying a pet was a garage-sale-type-transaction, because that's not how I've ever been. Short of being in person at a physical garage sale, I will not ask for a discount. I must be in the minority.
I realize people do ask for discounts, all the time. Heck, when I used to work at Meijer, people would walk in and find an item, and say, "this is cheaper at Walmart." My personal opinion on that? If it really is cheaper at Walmart (and Meijer doesn't price match, just for reference), then they should go to Walmart to go get the cheaper price. I mean, right? Meijer isn't going to lower the price just for that person.
And that's how it is here. Few days ago, someone told me about a chin for sale on craigslist, came with a cage, supplies, whatnot. I think it was $100 and (according to them) had a nice cage and all sorts of supplies. They asked what they could get (here) for $100. So I showed them some $75 chins and then said they could use the other $25 for supplies (which could be a few months worth of food, dust, hay, toy, etc... not going to be able to get a cage for that, but could get the chin and everything but), and then also showed them some $100 chins. Their response -- they were incredulous that they would have to *gasp* BUY supplies! Surely the chins came with all of that! I mean, those nice cages that I spent years decking out so the rescue chins have it nice... those should be INCLUDED WITH THE CHINS. Uh-huh. I told them, for my FNs, I spent a lot of money buying them, cleaning them up, buying the metal bass pans, getting those powdercoated, making sure each level of each cage has a wheel... you get the idea... I explained, if I gave those away, what would I use for the next rescue chins that came in? You'll love their answer -- I should buy more and deck out more, so the new chins can have that too! I'm sorry, did I win the lottery and just forget? I nicely explained, there isn't a lot of money in rescue, surely not enough to do that, but that I offer cages for sale, new and used, and even the new ones are much cheaper than pet store cages, as are all of my supplies, which I explained, I carry / sell, so that people are able to get these supplies cheaper. Their response -- "but I can't get a chin, cage, and all that for $100 here, like I can on craigslist?" No. No, you can't. So, again, trying to be nice, I mentioned to this person... since they said it was such a good deal, why was it that they didn't get the craigslist chin, but were instead, here at my place? You'll love this -- they were here because my chins were nicer and looked healthier and they knew the were cared for better.
I'm not saying that you couldn't find a nice chin on craigslist with a nice cage and all the fixings and all that. I'm sure you can. Some people do sell good setups and all that and care about their pets. Definitely not saying I'm the only one who does -- nothing of the sort. But... I charge what I charge, the craigslist people charge what they charge. I'm not price matching some random person, because someone saw it cheaper elsewhere. They are free to get the chin wherever they'd like to. The craigslist chin may be healthy and friendly and wonderful... or may not be. No way to know except to go look at it and see what they think... but this isn't craigslist (sure, I list on craigslist, but if you read the ad, it is obvious that it is an ad for an animal in a rescue), and our animals don't come with all supplies. Heck, many people drop off the chin in a cardboard box, so I often don't have supplies to dole out, even if I wanted to.
But keep in mind -- if you go to the humane society and adopt a dog -- does it come with a crate? Food bowl / water bowl? Collar / leash? Potty trained (do they even know?)? In case you haven't been to a humane society lately, the answer to all these questions is no. You are expected to show up with a leash and collar for the dog, and they usually have some for sale if you need those items and didn't bring them. You are presented with the dog, which becomes your responsibility to provide for. Anything extra you need, they may sell, but if they don't, the pet store has. Same here. If you wouldn't think of asking them to lower their adoption fee, or include extra things, why ask here? If anything, we get less donations and volunteers than these places with the cute dogs and puppies that can show more affection to their owners than the average small animal... so we have less to give. The critters all come with some food to start you off with, a care packet, a lifetime of support, and some chews / treats. Be happy with what you're given.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Reading
Now... they teach kids how to read in grade school, well, probably before that. But apparently the skill is forgotten along the way, because ALL my gecko ads specify, "we can't ship."
So... what do almost ALL my emails about geckos ask? "Can you ship?"
I even had one today, this was good -- can I ship the geckos to another country? NO.
I actually emailed that guy back and said, nicely, I'm not even able to ship them within the country, much less out of country, sorry, best of luck finding one by you!
But I mean... it freaking SAYS, if anyone would READ, "These geckos are located in Hammond, Indiana (46324). Sorry, but we are unable to ship these geckos."
I might as well have written it in Chinese for how well people read it! I mean jeez.
I even had someone from Brazil ask about me shipping them a gecko the other week. Even if I could... can you IMAGINE what that would cost? Oh, $40 for the gecko, $1000 for shipping. I mean... is it just me, or are people not being realistic? And forgetting how to read? It's a useful skill, people, pick it back up.
So... what do almost ALL my emails about geckos ask? "Can you ship?"
I even had one today, this was good -- can I ship the geckos to another country? NO.
I actually emailed that guy back and said, nicely, I'm not even able to ship them within the country, much less out of country, sorry, best of luck finding one by you!
But I mean... it freaking SAYS, if anyone would READ, "These geckos are located in Hammond, Indiana (46324). Sorry, but we are unable to ship these geckos."
I might as well have written it in Chinese for how well people read it! I mean jeez.
I even had someone from Brazil ask about me shipping them a gecko the other week. Even if I could... can you IMAGINE what that would cost? Oh, $40 for the gecko, $1000 for shipping. I mean... is it just me, or are people not being realistic? And forgetting how to read? It's a useful skill, people, pick it back up.
Friday, January 12, 2018
Sometimes I Just Don't Get People
This is one of those case-in-point times when I should have had a deposit. I'm down to two adoptable female rats, and I had this one person who was (according to them) super interested.
Our conversation went something like this:
Dec. 28 (Thursday):
They ask me to send pics of the remaining females, as one of their ratties passed that day. I tell them, I'll send pics later that day, and they thank me, saying they want to get two buddies for their remaining rat, before she gets too sad. They then ask, am I free that weekend? I tell them my availability, and send them a few pics and a video of the available females. They say they want one of each color, and I ask when they're wanting to come by. They say they can come a certain time, but I already have an appointment then, so I ask about a slightly later time. They ask where I'm located and tell me where they're located. So they text later in the wee hours of the morning, and I don't see it until the following day.
Dec. 29 (Friday):
We set the appointment for 1 pm Sunday and I give them my address and house description. They ask what the adoption fee is, I tell them. They say that that sounds good.
Dec. 30 (Saturday):
Get a text, they can't make it at the time we scheduled for the following day, as they have to work until later. I ask if they want to come after work, they say that's fine. We agree that they'll text me when they get off from work and then they can head over. They say they'll see me tomorrow and send a cute pic of the rat all cuddled up in her bed.
Dec. 31 (Sunday):
This was the day I must have eaten something bad or something, because I was not feeling well and stayed in bed all day. So I texted this person, asking if we could reschedule, and they asked when was a good day. I suggested that I would text them the following day, and we could set something up. They said that was good
Jan. 1 (Monday):
I get a text from them, asking when would be a good day for them to come. I list my schedule for the entire week, starting with later that day, figuring that since they're antsy, they're going to want to come right away. They tell me that Saturday after 6 would be good for them, and they ask me to save them two girls (at this point, I still had four). So, we confirm which colors they want and set the appointment for 6:30 on Saturday. I tell them, if anything comes up, let me know. They respond, telling me that they're not working and have nothing planned, so they will be there.
Jan. 2 (Tuesday):
I get a text asking if they could come the following day around 5 pm. I text back, saying that'd be fine... but I don't hear back and it's starting to get later in the late evening, so I text back again, asking if they are officially wanting to come the next day around 5, and I let them know, I just need to know, so I can plan other appointments and plan the rest of that day. I get a text back, they tell me they'll just come Saturday.
Jan. 4 (Thursday):
They text me, asking, "still looking good for Saturday?" I tell them yes, I have the remaining two girls here for them. They say that's good, they'll see me Saturday.
Jan. 6 (Saturday):
They ask for my address, I give it to them (for the second time). They say they'll see me at 6. We'd had the appointment intentionally scheduled for 6:30, as I'm usually walking in the door at 6, so I tell them as much, and ask they try to show up closer to 6:30. They say no problem, and ask what the adoption fee is, again. I tell them. They ask if they need to bring a box, I tell them I have cardboard pet carriers. They say that sounds good.
---------------
Probably needless to say, I would not be writing this... had they shown up. After ALL OF THIS, they were a no-call, no-show. Oh, and I should mention, I texted them about an hour after they should have shown up, asking if they were still coming. No text back. About a half hour after that, I sent another text, thinking that maybe if they'd deleted the texts, they wouldn't know who I was, so in the second text, I specified, you know, this is Ashley with NWI Chinchilla Rescue, we're the ones with the rats up for adoption, I was holding two females for them for their 6:30 appointment..... no response whatsoever to any of these texts.
Sure, something could have come up. Sure. They also could have taken 2 seconds to text me and let me know... or maybe even the next day or the following -- nope!
This is why I now have the policy where I won't hold animals without a deposit. I was trying to be nice, again. Stupid stupid, apparently, because this is a perfect example of how I get all walked over. I had several people who emailed, during the time I was holding the rats for this person, that I told, sorry, I already had people who were going to adopt. I even had one person who had messaged when I still had four available, and I told her, I'd let her know if any of the appointments fell through. Well, I messaged after this one person fell through... they still haven't even gone into messenger to look at the message. So tell me, what's the purpose of being nice? These rats could have potentially already been in someone's home, being loved on, but no...because I was trying to be a nice person and hold them for someone -- someone who didn't even have the common courtesy to tell me they weren't coming after all that long conversation, mind you -- they're still here. So tell me again, what good did it do for me to be nice?
Our conversation went something like this:
Dec. 28 (Thursday):
They ask me to send pics of the remaining females, as one of their ratties passed that day. I tell them, I'll send pics later that day, and they thank me, saying they want to get two buddies for their remaining rat, before she gets too sad. They then ask, am I free that weekend? I tell them my availability, and send them a few pics and a video of the available females. They say they want one of each color, and I ask when they're wanting to come by. They say they can come a certain time, but I already have an appointment then, so I ask about a slightly later time. They ask where I'm located and tell me where they're located. So they text later in the wee hours of the morning, and I don't see it until the following day.
Dec. 29 (Friday):
We set the appointment for 1 pm Sunday and I give them my address and house description. They ask what the adoption fee is, I tell them. They say that that sounds good.
Dec. 30 (Saturday):
Get a text, they can't make it at the time we scheduled for the following day, as they have to work until later. I ask if they want to come after work, they say that's fine. We agree that they'll text me when they get off from work and then they can head over. They say they'll see me tomorrow and send a cute pic of the rat all cuddled up in her bed.
Dec. 31 (Sunday):
This was the day I must have eaten something bad or something, because I was not feeling well and stayed in bed all day. So I texted this person, asking if we could reschedule, and they asked when was a good day. I suggested that I would text them the following day, and we could set something up. They said that was good
Jan. 1 (Monday):
I get a text from them, asking when would be a good day for them to come. I list my schedule for the entire week, starting with later that day, figuring that since they're antsy, they're going to want to come right away. They tell me that Saturday after 6 would be good for them, and they ask me to save them two girls (at this point, I still had four). So, we confirm which colors they want and set the appointment for 6:30 on Saturday. I tell them, if anything comes up, let me know. They respond, telling me that they're not working and have nothing planned, so they will be there.
Jan. 2 (Tuesday):
I get a text asking if they could come the following day around 5 pm. I text back, saying that'd be fine... but I don't hear back and it's starting to get later in the late evening, so I text back again, asking if they are officially wanting to come the next day around 5, and I let them know, I just need to know, so I can plan other appointments and plan the rest of that day. I get a text back, they tell me they'll just come Saturday.
Jan. 4 (Thursday):
They text me, asking, "still looking good for Saturday?" I tell them yes, I have the remaining two girls here for them. They say that's good, they'll see me Saturday.
Jan. 6 (Saturday):
They ask for my address, I give it to them (for the second time). They say they'll see me at 6. We'd had the appointment intentionally scheduled for 6:30, as I'm usually walking in the door at 6, so I tell them as much, and ask they try to show up closer to 6:30. They say no problem, and ask what the adoption fee is, again. I tell them. They ask if they need to bring a box, I tell them I have cardboard pet carriers. They say that sounds good.
---------------
Probably needless to say, I would not be writing this... had they shown up. After ALL OF THIS, they were a no-call, no-show. Oh, and I should mention, I texted them about an hour after they should have shown up, asking if they were still coming. No text back. About a half hour after that, I sent another text, thinking that maybe if they'd deleted the texts, they wouldn't know who I was, so in the second text, I specified, you know, this is Ashley with NWI Chinchilla Rescue, we're the ones with the rats up for adoption, I was holding two females for them for their 6:30 appointment..... no response whatsoever to any of these texts.
Sure, something could have come up. Sure. They also could have taken 2 seconds to text me and let me know... or maybe even the next day or the following -- nope!
This is why I now have the policy where I won't hold animals without a deposit. I was trying to be nice, again. Stupid stupid, apparently, because this is a perfect example of how I get all walked over. I had several people who emailed, during the time I was holding the rats for this person, that I told, sorry, I already had people who were going to adopt. I even had one person who had messaged when I still had four available, and I told her, I'd let her know if any of the appointments fell through. Well, I messaged after this one person fell through... they still haven't even gone into messenger to look at the message. So tell me, what's the purpose of being nice? These rats could have potentially already been in someone's home, being loved on, but no...because I was trying to be a nice person and hold them for someone -- someone who didn't even have the common courtesy to tell me they weren't coming after all that long conversation, mind you -- they're still here. So tell me again, what good did it do for me to be nice?
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Shipping and Other Costs
For the fourth time TODAY, I have had someone ask me, why is shipping so expensive?
The simple answer: because the airlines charge a lot.
The more complicated answer:
(1) price of flight
(2) price of carrier that is constantly scrutinized by the airlines upon arrival, which I actually get a discount on, because I help make the carriers
(3) price of my time for doing paperwork / driving, which is at least somewhat valuable (if only to me)
(3a) buyer contact me, wanting to ship
(3b) I explain shipping
(3c) buyer asks further questions
(3d) I answer questions, and link you to my shipping info page
(3e) buyer asks more questions, undoubtedly all of which are covered on the shipping info page
(3f) I answer further questions
(3g) buyer agrees to pay for shipping
(3h) I call airline, get possible flights
(3i) I contact buyer, list flights
(3j) buyer contacts back, lets me know what flight is good
(3k) I contact airline, flight is booked, now that too much time is passed
------repeat 3h through 3k until appropriate flight is found and booked-------
(3l) I get carrier and all necessary paperwork ready the night before (2-ish hours)
(3m) I get chin and carrier ready to go in the morning
(3n) I drive to airport (1-1.5 hours)
(3o) I sign my life away at the airport, so buyer's chin can ship
(3p) I drive home
(3q) I email / text buyer how the crate opens
(3r) I email buyer all paperwork that needs to be completed
I know I've broken down costs in one of these blogs before, so I won't do it again, but I want to say it literally worked out to me possibly making like $20-30 on shipping. Which is fine, and I'm not complaining, but look at all the time that goes in... so you can imagine why I might get frustrated when people start complaining about the cost, the grand majority of which I can do nothing about. If the carrier is over weight... like if I'm shipping one chin and chin+carrier is OVER the 10 pound limit (extra, ah, "fluffy" chin), I have to pay an additional like $50 to ship for the next weight class... so then I'm at -$30 to ship a chin (when charging $200). It's not me setting the price, it's just more or less recouping what I have to pay to get the chin to you.
Same with shipping on supply orders. Usually I refund a good chunk of change when people pay too much in shipping -- but I can't control that one water bottle might cost $10 to mail to California. I don't set those rates, I just pack up the box, weigh it and put the weight and measurements in, and print out the label. The post office sets the rates, and oh by the way, they're going up again super soon. Buy now, before they go up.
I will repeat. I don't set the rates. If they're too rich for you, that's perfectly fine...but I can't do anything to lower them. Sorry.
The simple answer: because the airlines charge a lot.
The more complicated answer:
(1) price of flight
(2) price of carrier that is constantly scrutinized by the airlines upon arrival, which I actually get a discount on, because I help make the carriers
(3) price of my time for doing paperwork / driving, which is at least somewhat valuable (if only to me)
(3a) buyer contact me, wanting to ship
(3b) I explain shipping
(3c) buyer asks further questions
(3d) I answer questions, and link you to my shipping info page
(3e) buyer asks more questions, undoubtedly all of which are covered on the shipping info page
(3f) I answer further questions
(3g) buyer agrees to pay for shipping
(3h) I call airline, get possible flights
(3i) I contact buyer, list flights
(3j) buyer contacts back, lets me know what flight is good
(3k) I contact airline, flight is booked, now that too much time is passed
------repeat 3h through 3k until appropriate flight is found and booked-------
(3l) I get carrier and all necessary paperwork ready the night before (2-ish hours)
(3m) I get chin and carrier ready to go in the morning
(3n) I drive to airport (1-1.5 hours)
(3o) I sign my life away at the airport, so buyer's chin can ship
(3p) I drive home
(3q) I email / text buyer how the crate opens
(3r) I email buyer all paperwork that needs to be completed
I know I've broken down costs in one of these blogs before, so I won't do it again, but I want to say it literally worked out to me possibly making like $20-30 on shipping. Which is fine, and I'm not complaining, but look at all the time that goes in... so you can imagine why I might get frustrated when people start complaining about the cost, the grand majority of which I can do nothing about. If the carrier is over weight... like if I'm shipping one chin and chin+carrier is OVER the 10 pound limit (extra, ah, "fluffy" chin), I have to pay an additional like $50 to ship for the next weight class... so then I'm at -$30 to ship a chin (when charging $200). It's not me setting the price, it's just more or less recouping what I have to pay to get the chin to you.
Same with shipping on supply orders. Usually I refund a good chunk of change when people pay too much in shipping -- but I can't control that one water bottle might cost $10 to mail to California. I don't set those rates, I just pack up the box, weigh it and put the weight and measurements in, and print out the label. The post office sets the rates, and oh by the way, they're going up again super soon. Buy now, before they go up.
I will repeat. I don't set the rates. If they're too rich for you, that's perfectly fine...but I can't do anything to lower them. Sorry.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Viewpoints
So, I was told the other day that someone saw, in one of the chin groups on facebook, that someone had seen us at one of the expos, and had snapped a pic of our booth and posted it on there, saying how we were horrible and totally had a ton of people impulse-buying chins, and we don't care about finding good homes, and yadda yadda.
In the future, this person is going to tag me, if I'm in the group, so I can share how adoptions work.
But here's why I mention this -- and I'm sure this falls on deaf ears for the people making the accusations -- but you know... if any of them would, you know, actually talk to us, they'd learn that none of this is the case. If people have incorrect assumptions about chins, we correct them. I'd rather someone come talk to me, and find out, you know what, a chin isn't the right pet for them... as opposed to adopting, that's great.
Undoubtedly, a few of you have heard the story of the one guy who adopted a pair from us on Black Friday, where the guy had expressed he wanted "cuddly" chins, and how I'd explained that that's not really how chins are. He said he understood, and took them home... only to return them about a week or so later. Of course, that's not the ideal situation. He had to learn for himself. Despite him hearing me say that chins are not cuddly, and despite him expressly telling me that he did understand, and he understood he'd only really be holding them for short periods of time, he took them home... and determined (surprise, surprise) that what I told him was the truth, and that's not what he was looking for. THAT is what I am trying to head off.
I'm not trying to convince anyone that chins are great pets. If you don't think so, fine. Some people do, some people don't, but I'm not a salesman, trying to sell you chins. I want to find these chinchillas homes that will hopefully have them for the rest of their LONG lives. If I didn't care about chins, I'd just go around, without rescue adoption forms, and tell people, oh yeah, feed whatever you like, care for them however you like... just fork over the $$ and you can have the chin. And you know that's not how it works. Everyone gets a care packet if they take a chin home.
The interesting thing is this -- I spend MORE TIME educating people who email / call / text / message on FB / see at expos -- more time educating those, than the typical people who come to adopt. Many people coming to adopt are return customers, who were happy with their first chin from here and want to add a second furry family member. They don't have to be educated a second time.... more often, time is spent educating people who've never seen a chinchilla before, and are curious what it is, and how it's cared for... or maybe their kid asked for one, and they want to do research before they buy one. So, we tell them the positives, negatives, and so on. I don't say they're a great pet and hide the fact that you will find poo in your bra next week. There's good and bad things about every pet, chins included, and all of that is outlined in the care packet, and of course, if we talk to you, it's mentioned as well.
But go ahead and tell me that we don't care and don't make sure the chins are going to good homes. While I'm not going to go as far to do home checks, pardon me for doing expos, where we actually can be out in front of the public and get more visibility. Should I be sorry for wanting more people to learn about chinchillas and their care? Cause I'm not. If a chinchilla isn't the right pet for someone, then by all means, they can go get something else, but if you ever think I don't care where they end up, you are sorely mistaken. By all means, before you accuse me and anyone with me at these expos of not caring about the animals, come talk to us and see.
In the future, this person is going to tag me, if I'm in the group, so I can share how adoptions work.
But here's why I mention this -- and I'm sure this falls on deaf ears for the people making the accusations -- but you know... if any of them would, you know, actually talk to us, they'd learn that none of this is the case. If people have incorrect assumptions about chins, we correct them. I'd rather someone come talk to me, and find out, you know what, a chin isn't the right pet for them... as opposed to adopting, that's great.
Undoubtedly, a few of you have heard the story of the one guy who adopted a pair from us on Black Friday, where the guy had expressed he wanted "cuddly" chins, and how I'd explained that that's not really how chins are. He said he understood, and took them home... only to return them about a week or so later. Of course, that's not the ideal situation. He had to learn for himself. Despite him hearing me say that chins are not cuddly, and despite him expressly telling me that he did understand, and he understood he'd only really be holding them for short periods of time, he took them home... and determined (surprise, surprise) that what I told him was the truth, and that's not what he was looking for. THAT is what I am trying to head off.
I'm not trying to convince anyone that chins are great pets. If you don't think so, fine. Some people do, some people don't, but I'm not a salesman, trying to sell you chins. I want to find these chinchillas homes that will hopefully have them for the rest of their LONG lives. If I didn't care about chins, I'd just go around, without rescue adoption forms, and tell people, oh yeah, feed whatever you like, care for them however you like... just fork over the $$ and you can have the chin. And you know that's not how it works. Everyone gets a care packet if they take a chin home.
The interesting thing is this -- I spend MORE TIME educating people who email / call / text / message on FB / see at expos -- more time educating those, than the typical people who come to adopt. Many people coming to adopt are return customers, who were happy with their first chin from here and want to add a second furry family member. They don't have to be educated a second time.... more often, time is spent educating people who've never seen a chinchilla before, and are curious what it is, and how it's cared for... or maybe their kid asked for one, and they want to do research before they buy one. So, we tell them the positives, negatives, and so on. I don't say they're a great pet and hide the fact that you will find poo in your bra next week. There's good and bad things about every pet, chins included, and all of that is outlined in the care packet, and of course, if we talk to you, it's mentioned as well.
But go ahead and tell me that we don't care and don't make sure the chins are going to good homes. While I'm not going to go as far to do home checks, pardon me for doing expos, where we actually can be out in front of the public and get more visibility. Should I be sorry for wanting more people to learn about chinchillas and their care? Cause I'm not. If a chinchilla isn't the right pet for someone, then by all means, they can go get something else, but if you ever think I don't care where they end up, you are sorely mistaken. By all means, before you accuse me and anyone with me at these expos of not caring about the animals, come talk to us and see.
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Volunteers
So, the other day we had Aleks here volunteering. She came and fed the chins, cleaned some empty guinea pig cages for their next inhabitants, then helped feed and mist our geckos, and then she worked on sanding toy parts, so we could later assemble some of the zany loofah toys.
Sounds like that all should be quick, but that was about 4 hours worth of work! And that was four hours that I was able to work on other stuff -- I booked a flight for shipping a chin, I answered emails, and so on. That's the beauty of volunteering -- there's a lot of easy stuff that almost anyone can do, and if someone else can do it, then my time is freed up to do stuff that's harder to delegate. So of course, we appreciate our volunteers!
We have Colette & Devon (our wonderful hammock-helpers) coming to volunteer later this month, and they'll be here a good part of the day, helping with whatever I come up with. Can't WAIT! There's never enough people helping, but even an hour or two, here or there, really does make a difference. Someone else can feed? Yay. Saves me at least 30 minutes, if not longer. Every little bit helps!
Sounds like that all should be quick, but that was about 4 hours worth of work! And that was four hours that I was able to work on other stuff -- I booked a flight for shipping a chin, I answered emails, and so on. That's the beauty of volunteering -- there's a lot of easy stuff that almost anyone can do, and if someone else can do it, then my time is freed up to do stuff that's harder to delegate. So of course, we appreciate our volunteers!
We have Colette & Devon (our wonderful hammock-helpers) coming to volunteer later this month, and they'll be here a good part of the day, helping with whatever I come up with. Can't WAIT! There's never enough people helping, but even an hour or two, here or there, really does make a difference. Someone else can feed? Yay. Saves me at least 30 minutes, if not longer. Every little bit helps!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Chins Getting Along
Lots of people are telling me lately, they don't want to bring a new chin home, unless it gets along with their current chin. And I get it, ideally, they want one cage with two chins.
No one can guarantee any two chins will get along. Not me, not Jim, not any hoity-toity breeder out in wherever. It's just not something you can guarantee.
You can have two chins, both of which had siblings that they got along with. Both of which got along with other chins (not their siblings) in the past. Put them together, they may get along. Or, they may kill each other. How do you know? Well... you really don't.
You may have chins that get along with every chin ever!! Social-butterfly-chin! But you put them with the specific buddy chin and they hate them. For no good reason, but they sure don't like them. Or, you can have a chin that hates everybody... but does enjoy the company of one random chin.
You see, it's a crapshoot.
What it comes down to is this -- if you're not prepared to either divide your cage or have a separate cage for every single chin you bring home... it may not be a great idea for you to bring home multiple chins. Not saying that chins can't get along... a LOT of what I have at the rescue right now is pairs... they DEFINITELY can get along and can be buddies... but... there's no way to know, ahead of time, if any two chins will get along, prior to pairing them. So... you always run the risk that they won't get along, and that you will have two separate chins that don't like each other.
Sure, you can work on introducing them to each other, joint playtimes, swapping cages... I'm not saying this stuff can't work... but most people don't honestly want to put in the time and effort... they want to open the cage, place the second chin in the cage, and be done with it. That just doesn't always work. Just be aware.
No one can guarantee any two chins will get along. Not me, not Jim, not any hoity-toity breeder out in wherever. It's just not something you can guarantee.
You can have two chins, both of which had siblings that they got along with. Both of which got along with other chins (not their siblings) in the past. Put them together, they may get along. Or, they may kill each other. How do you know? Well... you really don't.
You may have chins that get along with every chin ever!! Social-butterfly-chin! But you put them with the specific buddy chin and they hate them. For no good reason, but they sure don't like them. Or, you can have a chin that hates everybody... but does enjoy the company of one random chin.
You see, it's a crapshoot.
What it comes down to is this -- if you're not prepared to either divide your cage or have a separate cage for every single chin you bring home... it may not be a great idea for you to bring home multiple chins. Not saying that chins can't get along... a LOT of what I have at the rescue right now is pairs... they DEFINITELY can get along and can be buddies... but... there's no way to know, ahead of time, if any two chins will get along, prior to pairing them. So... you always run the risk that they won't get along, and that you will have two separate chins that don't like each other.
Sure, you can work on introducing them to each other, joint playtimes, swapping cages... I'm not saying this stuff can't work... but most people don't honestly want to put in the time and effort... they want to open the cage, place the second chin in the cage, and be done with it. That just doesn't always work. Just be aware.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Prices
I swore I wasn't going to start this new year complaining.... but you all give me so many opportunities!
I can't tell you how many emails I get (3 today, alone... and it's barely noon!) where someone emails and says, in so many words, hey, I like this chin, I want to get it.... and then is FLOORED when I tell them the price (and of course, doesn't adopt).
Of course, there's always the outliers like the curlies or curly carriers, where they look vaguely similar to the other chins, but are higher priced ($350-600), due to genetics. Those, I can understand when people see them and don't realize how much they are. But... I'm not talking about those. No... I get people all the time who are like, ok, they read on the website that I have a 5 year old standard grey female... and if you look at the website, I have several others that are vaguely around the same age range and color... all for $75.... and so I tell them, ok, that specific chin is $75, and they're like HOLY SHIT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE $10!!!!!!
...the best is when that's followed by, "well, $10 is all my daughter can afford." Time to get a hamster.
If you're unsure of the price... ask. It's not that hard, I promise. Or better yet, if you're wanting to stay below a certain price... let me know. It's SUPER HELPFUL when people are like, "my budget is $200." Because then, I just won't show them a $300 chin, or if they point out that one, I will mention, hey, it's over budget.
That's almost another funny thing... I've had several people over the Christmas season, where I've asked what their budget is, and they're like, well, if the kid likes it, we'll just get it.... only to have them balk at a $150 chin (and let's be honest... very few babies are $150 or under... only two colors to be exact). If you want to stay under a certain price range, that's perfectly fine! I don't care, other than to help guide you to whichever chin is right for you. I'm not going to think you're cheap, I just want to help you find the right chin. So, by all means, if you have a budget, let me know what it is, and don't say, "oh we'll pay whatever..." if you really won't.
I can't tell you how many emails I get (3 today, alone... and it's barely noon!) where someone emails and says, in so many words, hey, I like this chin, I want to get it.... and then is FLOORED when I tell them the price (and of course, doesn't adopt).
Of course, there's always the outliers like the curlies or curly carriers, where they look vaguely similar to the other chins, but are higher priced ($350-600), due to genetics. Those, I can understand when people see them and don't realize how much they are. But... I'm not talking about those. No... I get people all the time who are like, ok, they read on the website that I have a 5 year old standard grey female... and if you look at the website, I have several others that are vaguely around the same age range and color... all for $75.... and so I tell them, ok, that specific chin is $75, and they're like HOLY SHIT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE $10!!!!!!
...the best is when that's followed by, "well, $10 is all my daughter can afford." Time to get a hamster.
If you're unsure of the price... ask. It's not that hard, I promise. Or better yet, if you're wanting to stay below a certain price... let me know. It's SUPER HELPFUL when people are like, "my budget is $200." Because then, I just won't show them a $300 chin, or if they point out that one, I will mention, hey, it's over budget.
That's almost another funny thing... I've had several people over the Christmas season, where I've asked what their budget is, and they're like, well, if the kid likes it, we'll just get it.... only to have them balk at a $150 chin (and let's be honest... very few babies are $150 or under... only two colors to be exact). If you want to stay under a certain price range, that's perfectly fine! I don't care, other than to help guide you to whichever chin is right for you. I'm not going to think you're cheap, I just want to help you find the right chin. So, by all means, if you have a budget, let me know what it is, and don't say, "oh we'll pay whatever..." if you really won't.
Friday, January 5, 2018
"Picking" A Chin
"What are you looking to adopt?"
Answer: A senior male, 10+ years old, in perfect health, oh and neutered
Let me pull out my wand and create one for you.
That's not how rescue works.
This isn't like creating a painting, where you can tell someone you want it in blue, and they make it in blue. I don't have chins of every age, perfect health (HA! most 10 years olds that make it here are on death's door), and much less... neutered!...
The chins that come in, are the chins that come in. I'm happy to tell you what's here, but a lot of people lately are wanting very specific things. That's fine. But I can't produce a white chin with a smiley face on it's back. Or, oh, they saw this neat chinchilla on chinchillas.com and it sold for $3,000, but surely I have one just like it, right? Oh, and it should be a rescue, no doubt, so $100 is too much for them... but like, identical to this --
http://www.chinchillas.com/listings/details/index.cfm?itemnum=1166678502 (scroll down in the link for pics)
Hold on while I get out my spray paint....
No, but seriously.... rescue is rescue. 90% of the rescue chins that come in are standard grey adults. They just are. That's what people have as pets, especially when they get them from the pet stores, which mainly stock... standard greys... so it's really not surprising. I can't tell you how many times people ask if I get the angoras (longhairs) in at the rescue. Heck no. If someone pays $3k for a chinchilla, you can bet that if they don't want it anymore, they can at least resell it for a few hundred (and they will, easily), not drop if off at the rescue. And really, if I got one in... sorry, ya'll, it's MINE.
I rarely get people any more that are like, let me come see the chins, see what I like. For babies, yes. For adult rescues, people are like... "well, what do you have that's under $100, so when my kid kills it, I haven't spent a lot?" These chins are worth something too! Sure, you can't hand pick some neat color or markings or whatever, but what ever happened to just enjoying the pet because you enjoy the pet? Not because you can say you have some fancy color. Seems everyone has that "I want to rescue an animal" mentality... but lately, only if the rescue animal is somehow super neat. Sad to say... they're usually pretty normal, standard greys. Usually not with the greatest personalities, even.... across the board, animals that end up at a shelter aren't often thrilled to be there, and haven't always been cared for the best, prior to that, so that's another slight pet peeve.... they're NOT going to always be these super friendly, awesome pet that you always wanted. Sometimes yes, sometimes no....
But the point is, people are starting to have these unrealistic expectations of what rescue animals are... and often... they're just not what people are hoping for. Sorry? Love them for the animal they are, not what you hoped they would be.
Answer: A senior male, 10+ years old, in perfect health, oh and neutered
Let me pull out my wand and create one for you.
That's not how rescue works.
This isn't like creating a painting, where you can tell someone you want it in blue, and they make it in blue. I don't have chins of every age, perfect health (HA! most 10 years olds that make it here are on death's door), and much less... neutered!...
The chins that come in, are the chins that come in. I'm happy to tell you what's here, but a lot of people lately are wanting very specific things. That's fine. But I can't produce a white chin with a smiley face on it's back. Or, oh, they saw this neat chinchilla on chinchillas.com and it sold for $3,000, but surely I have one just like it, right? Oh, and it should be a rescue, no doubt, so $100 is too much for them... but like, identical to this --
http://www.chinchillas.com/listings/details/index.cfm?itemnum=1166678502 (scroll down in the link for pics)
Hold on while I get out my spray paint....
No, but seriously.... rescue is rescue. 90% of the rescue chins that come in are standard grey adults. They just are. That's what people have as pets, especially when they get them from the pet stores, which mainly stock... standard greys... so it's really not surprising. I can't tell you how many times people ask if I get the angoras (longhairs) in at the rescue. Heck no. If someone pays $3k for a chinchilla, you can bet that if they don't want it anymore, they can at least resell it for a few hundred (and they will, easily), not drop if off at the rescue. And really, if I got one in... sorry, ya'll, it's MINE.
I rarely get people any more that are like, let me come see the chins, see what I like. For babies, yes. For adult rescues, people are like... "well, what do you have that's under $100, so when my kid kills it, I haven't spent a lot?" These chins are worth something too! Sure, you can't hand pick some neat color or markings or whatever, but what ever happened to just enjoying the pet because you enjoy the pet? Not because you can say you have some fancy color. Seems everyone has that "I want to rescue an animal" mentality... but lately, only if the rescue animal is somehow super neat. Sad to say... they're usually pretty normal, standard greys. Usually not with the greatest personalities, even.... across the board, animals that end up at a shelter aren't often thrilled to be there, and haven't always been cared for the best, prior to that, so that's another slight pet peeve.... they're NOT going to always be these super friendly, awesome pet that you always wanted. Sometimes yes, sometimes no....
But the point is, people are starting to have these unrealistic expectations of what rescue animals are... and often... they're just not what people are hoping for. Sorry? Love them for the animal they are, not what you hoped they would be.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Consideration for Other People's Time
I swear, I will stop writing about flaky people, but... it's been insane lately. Tis the season for insane adopters.
I had one person who was going to stop by for food. Don't know what came up, but they didn't let me know... so I sat home waiting for them (when I should have been doing Christmas shopping)... eventually texted and asked if they were coming, oh, no, they couldn't, they'd come another day. Let me know, that's all I ask.
Another person asked about cages and accessories for chinchillas on a text message. I let them know what I have, and said I could get pics of the used ones... no response.
Another texted asking if they could come by Friday or Saturday to get a chin. I told them available times (which is most of both days, with the exception of a few hours, here and there)... no response.
Another texted asking if I still had the chinchilla available that I posted on craigslist. Well... I post a lot of chins on craigslist, so I texted back, asking which one it was, as I've posted several. No response.
Another texted (this should sound familiar, if you read the blog):
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 1 Year Old Liver & White American Male Guinea Pig you posted for sale
Me: Fine, you?
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the Female Chinchilla you posted for sale
Me: And the guinea pig?
Them: Good I would love to know it's firm asking price
Me: Yes. Let me guess, next you're going to ask me what's the asking price
*crickets* That's what I thought. Busted.
Another...
Them: Young Violet Female Chinchilla Looking for Home -- super sweet! $250, still available?
Me: Yes
Them: Ok, I've checked out your post...
...yadda yadda... wants to pay with scamming cashier's check and then arrange for pickup, AFTER I text them with more pics and provide my name and address so they can overnight payment. Uh-huh...
Then another, messaged me on fb, asking if I have available chins. Yes I do, so we talk a bit, I ask what she's looking for, she says preferably a male, I ask what age, she says preferably younger. I tell her what colors I have, she asks what prices, I list the prices for her. She says ok cool, she's interested, she'd like to come today. Cool, so I tell her appointment times, she asks for the address, I give her the address, she says how about this time? Because she's on a different time zone, I ask her, this time, as in my time? Her response? "I'm sorry, I'm going to go with a different gift idea." *bashes head against wall*
This wouldn't be so bad... except this is all within yesterday and today, and it's not even 10:30 am as I write this!! All I ask is that people be considerate. Just like all of you, it's the holiday season for me as well, and I have a ton to do as well... and if at all possible, I'd rather spend the time with people who are serious about adopting, and not the people who want to waste a ton of time and then back out or not show up at the last minute. Be considerate of other people's time. It's not that hard, really.
I had one person who was going to stop by for food. Don't know what came up, but they didn't let me know... so I sat home waiting for them (when I should have been doing Christmas shopping)... eventually texted and asked if they were coming, oh, no, they couldn't, they'd come another day. Let me know, that's all I ask.
Another person asked about cages and accessories for chinchillas on a text message. I let them know what I have, and said I could get pics of the used ones... no response.
Another texted asking if they could come by Friday or Saturday to get a chin. I told them available times (which is most of both days, with the exception of a few hours, here and there)... no response.
Another texted asking if I still had the chinchilla available that I posted on craigslist. Well... I post a lot of chins on craigslist, so I texted back, asking which one it was, as I've posted several. No response.
Another texted (this should sound familiar, if you read the blog):
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 1 Year Old Liver & White American Male Guinea Pig you posted for sale
Me: Fine, you?
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the Female Chinchilla you posted for sale
Me: And the guinea pig?
Them: Good I would love to know it's firm asking price
Me: Yes. Let me guess, next you're going to ask me what's the asking price
*crickets* That's what I thought. Busted.
Another...
Them: Young Violet Female Chinchilla Looking for Home -- super sweet! $250, still available?
Me: Yes
Them: Ok, I've checked out your post...
...yadda yadda... wants to pay with scamming cashier's check and then arrange for pickup, AFTER I text them with more pics and provide my name and address so they can overnight payment. Uh-huh...
Then another, messaged me on fb, asking if I have available chins. Yes I do, so we talk a bit, I ask what she's looking for, she says preferably a male, I ask what age, she says preferably younger. I tell her what colors I have, she asks what prices, I list the prices for her. She says ok cool, she's interested, she'd like to come today. Cool, so I tell her appointment times, she asks for the address, I give her the address, she says how about this time? Because she's on a different time zone, I ask her, this time, as in my time? Her response? "I'm sorry, I'm going to go with a different gift idea." *bashes head against wall*
This wouldn't be so bad... except this is all within yesterday and today, and it's not even 10:30 am as I write this!! All I ask is that people be considerate. Just like all of you, it's the holiday season for me as well, and I have a ton to do as well... and if at all possible, I'd rather spend the time with people who are serious about adopting, and not the people who want to waste a ton of time and then back out or not show up at the last minute. Be considerate of other people's time. It's not that hard, really.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Rats At the Rescue
You know, I always say I'll take in whatever animals I have space for and am able to care for... but I'm starting to see why the local rat rescue is always over their head and why most places won't even entertain the thought of taking in rats. It's not so much the rats themselves... it's the potential adopters.
Now, I know you've heard me go on and on about good adopters and bad adopters, and of course, with rats, there's good and bad as well. We've had about half the baby rats find their new homes, but the remaining ones... the only inquiries about them have been from, in my opinion... overly-enthusiastic-about-what-rescues-can-accomplish-and-afford-adopters.
I had one person who inquired about the rats, and wanted the two that were the most friendly and outgoing. I shared with them that all the females seem curious, social, and outgoing, but of course, that there are certain ones that will come to the front of the cage first when you open it, versus others that hang back. I mentioned, some will crawl into your hands sooner, versus others that take a more relaxed / cautious approach. Different rat, different personalities, just like different chins, guinea pigs, you name it.
So, they mention to me something about my ad saying they're friendly and outgoing and whatnot, and apparently my description of how only some of the rats come to the front right away wasn't friendly / outgoing enough to meet their standards for using those words. They asked about what I'd written, and I mentioned that when the rats were in the previous home, they had informed me about the rats personality and how they'll jump into your hands (and they will... with enough time to explore and creep out, cautiously) and so on. So, the potential adopter asks -- well, why aren't they at the foster home any more? Well, the main reason -- because it wasn't a foster home -- it was just the home that had the mother rat. They had the room to separate the sexes, but smaller cages (not that we have huge ones, but theirs were maybe half the size or thereabouts), and they wanted us to find homes, not the other way around. So I told the person, you know, they only had them until they were weaned and then the rats were brought here, and I explained, you know, that was a home with mostly adults, this is a rescue with a lot of people in and out, they may be more shy because it's a new, busier environment, and let's not forget, they haven't been here all that long. So the person comes back with, "don't you hold them?" Yes, but with 175+ animals at any given time, not every animal, not every day.
Needless to say, that ended the conversation. This isn't a foster home here with 2 animals and hours upon hours of free time daily. My breeding / show chins are here, along with about 90 other animals (chins, rats, guinea pigs, etc), plus chins that I'm chin-sitting, plus the rescue geckos right now (and more to come). Would I like to have a ton of time to handle the animals more? Well sure! But there's only so many hours in the day, and if you follow this blog, you know that I'm always behind on something, whether it's emails or orders, or trying to madly get ready for an expo... at the moment, there's just not enough hours in the day to handle every animal even for 10 minutes. Even if you figure there's 75 animals that could be, at any given time, available... 75 animals at 10 minutes each per day = 750 minutes... divided by 60 minutes in an hour = 12.5 hours JUST to handle the animals. Sorry... just not do-able. Even if you halve that and say 5 minutes an animal, we're still talking about over 6 hours a day... I'd have a hard time cramming an extra hour in per day. That's why I do try to foster out the animals that really need that one-on-one attention, but for the ones that don't need rehab, they are here and get handled when possible.
The other memorable person asking about the rats wanted to know (1) if they'd been vet checked, (2) if they'd had bloodwork done and been checked for the seoul / hantavirus, and (3) if we'd ship them. Also, if you follow along, you know our animals go to the vet when needed, but not just for wellness checks. If they're ill, they don't leave here until they are well, simple as that. Well... a vet visit at the local vet is $59 per animal, $79 per animal at the exotics vet. Let's say just for fun, we had all the rats checked out. For this sort of thing, we'd likely have to go to the exotics vet (as I'm pretty sure the local vet can't do this type of bloodwork), so $79 x 11 rats = $869. Bloodwork is $125 per animal, plus the virus check is another $70 per animal, so a total of $195 per rat. $195 x 11 rats = $2,145. So, vet visit ($869) plus bloodwork / virus check ($2,145) = $3,014 for 11 rats. 5 of them already found homes, bringing in a whopping $45 in adoption fees. Only $2,969 to go to break even!
Of course, if the rats warranted vet visits, they would go in. But personally, I think with adoption fees of one rat for $15 and every additional for $5... to me, that doesn't warrant spending over $3000 in vet bills, when the rats seem healthy. Yes, I understand, it checks for wellness, and whatnot, but... the rescue isn't a money-maker. If someone would like to give us a grant for a few hundred thousand a year (or find us a vet that wants to donate their time and wellness exams), we can undoubtedly vet check every one of the 250-300 animals (chins + others) that pass through a year. Until then, it's just not do-able. Especially not for the rats, when many people balk at the whopping $15 adoption fee, and yet want oodles of vet care provided for a healthy animal first....while still complaining over $15.
I'm sure there are rescues out there, rat-specific rescues, that may test every rat for the virus. That may vet check every rat, and may spay / neuter as many as possible. That's great. Really. But we are a chinchilla rescue, and when we get in other animals, we do our best, and provide good quality care, but this is above and beyond what we are able to do. While the rats (and chins & other animals) are here, they are well-loved, have good food, clean water, clean cages. That's more than we can say for many of these animals in their previous homes. They are cared for well here. They are treated for illnesses and medicated. They are petted, and given treats, and loved. But if you want a health-tested rat... I feel like it's like getting a dog. If you want a puppy out of registered, genetic-health-tested parents, be prepared to pay for it. Hundreds of dollars, many thousands of dollars. None of that is cheap. If you want a puppy from a humane society for $50, well, it comes with a lot less. Healthy, most likely, but not with all the bells and whistles. Same for these small animals. That is all.
Now, I know you've heard me go on and on about good adopters and bad adopters, and of course, with rats, there's good and bad as well. We've had about half the baby rats find their new homes, but the remaining ones... the only inquiries about them have been from, in my opinion... overly-enthusiastic-about-what-rescues-can-accomplish-and-afford-adopters.
I had one person who inquired about the rats, and wanted the two that were the most friendly and outgoing. I shared with them that all the females seem curious, social, and outgoing, but of course, that there are certain ones that will come to the front of the cage first when you open it, versus others that hang back. I mentioned, some will crawl into your hands sooner, versus others that take a more relaxed / cautious approach. Different rat, different personalities, just like different chins, guinea pigs, you name it.
So, they mention to me something about my ad saying they're friendly and outgoing and whatnot, and apparently my description of how only some of the rats come to the front right away wasn't friendly / outgoing enough to meet their standards for using those words. They asked about what I'd written, and I mentioned that when the rats were in the previous home, they had informed me about the rats personality and how they'll jump into your hands (and they will... with enough time to explore and creep out, cautiously) and so on. So, the potential adopter asks -- well, why aren't they at the foster home any more? Well, the main reason -- because it wasn't a foster home -- it was just the home that had the mother rat. They had the room to separate the sexes, but smaller cages (not that we have huge ones, but theirs were maybe half the size or thereabouts), and they wanted us to find homes, not the other way around. So I told the person, you know, they only had them until they were weaned and then the rats were brought here, and I explained, you know, that was a home with mostly adults, this is a rescue with a lot of people in and out, they may be more shy because it's a new, busier environment, and let's not forget, they haven't been here all that long. So the person comes back with, "don't you hold them?" Yes, but with 175+ animals at any given time, not every animal, not every day.
Needless to say, that ended the conversation. This isn't a foster home here with 2 animals and hours upon hours of free time daily. My breeding / show chins are here, along with about 90 other animals (chins, rats, guinea pigs, etc), plus chins that I'm chin-sitting, plus the rescue geckos right now (and more to come). Would I like to have a ton of time to handle the animals more? Well sure! But there's only so many hours in the day, and if you follow this blog, you know that I'm always behind on something, whether it's emails or orders, or trying to madly get ready for an expo... at the moment, there's just not enough hours in the day to handle every animal even for 10 minutes. Even if you figure there's 75 animals that could be, at any given time, available... 75 animals at 10 minutes each per day = 750 minutes... divided by 60 minutes in an hour = 12.5 hours JUST to handle the animals. Sorry... just not do-able. Even if you halve that and say 5 minutes an animal, we're still talking about over 6 hours a day... I'd have a hard time cramming an extra hour in per day. That's why I do try to foster out the animals that really need that one-on-one attention, but for the ones that don't need rehab, they are here and get handled when possible.
The other memorable person asking about the rats wanted to know (1) if they'd been vet checked, (2) if they'd had bloodwork done and been checked for the seoul / hantavirus, and (3) if we'd ship them. Also, if you follow along, you know our animals go to the vet when needed, but not just for wellness checks. If they're ill, they don't leave here until they are well, simple as that. Well... a vet visit at the local vet is $59 per animal, $79 per animal at the exotics vet. Let's say just for fun, we had all the rats checked out. For this sort of thing, we'd likely have to go to the exotics vet (as I'm pretty sure the local vet can't do this type of bloodwork), so $79 x 11 rats = $869. Bloodwork is $125 per animal, plus the virus check is another $70 per animal, so a total of $195 per rat. $195 x 11 rats = $2,145. So, vet visit ($869) plus bloodwork / virus check ($2,145) = $3,014 for 11 rats. 5 of them already found homes, bringing in a whopping $45 in adoption fees. Only $2,969 to go to break even!
Of course, if the rats warranted vet visits, they would go in. But personally, I think with adoption fees of one rat for $15 and every additional for $5... to me, that doesn't warrant spending over $3000 in vet bills, when the rats seem healthy. Yes, I understand, it checks for wellness, and whatnot, but... the rescue isn't a money-maker. If someone would like to give us a grant for a few hundred thousand a year (or find us a vet that wants to donate their time and wellness exams), we can undoubtedly vet check every one of the 250-300 animals (chins + others) that pass through a year. Until then, it's just not do-able. Especially not for the rats, when many people balk at the whopping $15 adoption fee, and yet want oodles of vet care provided for a healthy animal first....while still complaining over $15.
I'm sure there are rescues out there, rat-specific rescues, that may test every rat for the virus. That may vet check every rat, and may spay / neuter as many as possible. That's great. Really. But we are a chinchilla rescue, and when we get in other animals, we do our best, and provide good quality care, but this is above and beyond what we are able to do. While the rats (and chins & other animals) are here, they are well-loved, have good food, clean water, clean cages. That's more than we can say for many of these animals in their previous homes. They are cared for well here. They are treated for illnesses and medicated. They are petted, and given treats, and loved. But if you want a health-tested rat... I feel like it's like getting a dog. If you want a puppy out of registered, genetic-health-tested parents, be prepared to pay for it. Hundreds of dollars, many thousands of dollars. None of that is cheap. If you want a puppy from a humane society for $50, well, it comes with a lot less. Healthy, most likely, but not with all the bells and whistles. Same for these small animals. That is all.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Chinchilla Food
I can't even begin to tell you how many people call me, wanting to pick up chinchilla food, and then when I ask, which chinchilla food do they want, they tell me "regular chinchilla food."
Hahaha. Well, both Mazuri and Tradition are pretty regular, normal, chinchilla foods.
Usually, the people can tell me what it costs ($1.25/lb vs. $0.75/lb) or what chinchilla they got from me (if that's the case), but if not...."regular chinchilla food" means really nothing.
I make sure to tell all the adoptive homes which chinchilla food that their chin is eating, and I'm sure for some people, it may be lost in the wealth of info they gain when adopting... but this is a useful thing to remember! Ideally, chinchillas should not have their food changed suddenly, as this can cause digestive upset, and potentially loose poos, so whether you've got a chin from here or from elsewhere, try to remember whatever food you are feeding, and continue your chinchilla on that food and try to avoid a cold-turkey switch to another chinchilla food, whenever possible.
Hahaha. Well, both Mazuri and Tradition are pretty regular, normal, chinchilla foods.
Usually, the people can tell me what it costs ($1.25/lb vs. $0.75/lb) or what chinchilla they got from me (if that's the case), but if not...."regular chinchilla food" means really nothing.
I make sure to tell all the adoptive homes which chinchilla food that their chin is eating, and I'm sure for some people, it may be lost in the wealth of info they gain when adopting... but this is a useful thing to remember! Ideally, chinchillas should not have their food changed suddenly, as this can cause digestive upset, and potentially loose poos, so whether you've got a chin from here or from elsewhere, try to remember whatever food you are feeding, and continue your chinchilla on that food and try to avoid a cold-turkey switch to another chinchilla food, whenever possible.
Monday, December 18, 2017
One More Quick Word On Deposits
I know, I know, I've yapped enough about this. But let me explain one more time, with a good example this time, why deposits are so important, especially when dealing with wishy-washy people.
I had someone message me asking about one of our chins that was under evaluation, pending their pregnancy watch being finished. They had asked to let them know if it turned out that she was or wasn't pregnant, and if she wasn't, they were wanting to know when she was available and possibly adopt her. So the time came, and I messaged them and let them know.
They asked about coming a few days in the future, and I told them, they day they'd picked was the day we'd be at the expo. I told them, I could bring the chin with me to the expo and they could pick it up there if they wanted, but that I'd need a deposit to do so (we hadn't yet started talking about deposits in general). Their response was that they'd rather pick up the chinchilla at the house, as that's closer to them (perfectly fine). If you've been following along in these blog posts, you know about how I've said we're not going to hold without a deposit anymore.... I told them, picking up at the house would be fine, but if they wanted to wait almost a week to pick up, I'd need a deposit.
They asked, would they get a refund if they put down a deposit and didn't like her? I told them, no, and explained, the deposits are non-refundable and are only for people who 100% want to get that specific chinchilla. I explained, that is because I am holding that specific chinchilla for them and preventing anyone else from adopting it. I further explained, with the expo a few days in the future, that this chinchilla would be a prime candidate for going to the expo, if she didn't have a deposit on her, just to let them know that if they waited too long, she may not be available.
Their response was basically something along the lines of: well, why can't you just hold her until after the weekend, knowing that I want her?
Well, wait, back up. Remember the part where they said they would want a refund if they got here and then didn't like her? Oh yeah. So I explained to them, you know, you say you want her, but you also say you may not like her, so you're not 100%, so the deposit's probably not for you then.
And see, this is where it gets murky. In the past, I'd hang onto her until past the weekend, and have the person come. If the person adopts, great. However, if the person doesn't adopt... well, I could have taken her to the expo, and possibly found her a home there. So...it's a toss up. Be nice, and possibly loose out on a good home, or have stricter policies, and weed out the people who aren't 100% sure.
Here's the thing. There's usually 20-30 available chinchillas here. We're not talking about 2-3 available ones, where if this one finds a home, I may not have another that fits what people are looking for. With how many chins are available, that's not the case. If the one someone likes finds a home... there are others. Not saying they want those others, but there ARE others. I hate to prevent one from getting adopted, due to a no-show or due to someone getting here and deciding on another chin, when that one could have been in a loving home already. There's plenty to choose from.
Oh, and since I'm sure no one noticed, I already went and changed the sales policy. No reason to wait until 2018 with the amount of people who want the critters held until after Christmas just on their word that they'll show up. Sorry, not sorry. I'm trying to find the animals homes, not keep them here forever.
I had someone message me asking about one of our chins that was under evaluation, pending their pregnancy watch being finished. They had asked to let them know if it turned out that she was or wasn't pregnant, and if she wasn't, they were wanting to know when she was available and possibly adopt her. So the time came, and I messaged them and let them know.
They asked about coming a few days in the future, and I told them, they day they'd picked was the day we'd be at the expo. I told them, I could bring the chin with me to the expo and they could pick it up there if they wanted, but that I'd need a deposit to do so (we hadn't yet started talking about deposits in general). Their response was that they'd rather pick up the chinchilla at the house, as that's closer to them (perfectly fine). If you've been following along in these blog posts, you know about how I've said we're not going to hold without a deposit anymore.... I told them, picking up at the house would be fine, but if they wanted to wait almost a week to pick up, I'd need a deposit.
They asked, would they get a refund if they put down a deposit and didn't like her? I told them, no, and explained, the deposits are non-refundable and are only for people who 100% want to get that specific chinchilla. I explained, that is because I am holding that specific chinchilla for them and preventing anyone else from adopting it. I further explained, with the expo a few days in the future, that this chinchilla would be a prime candidate for going to the expo, if she didn't have a deposit on her, just to let them know that if they waited too long, she may not be available.
Their response was basically something along the lines of: well, why can't you just hold her until after the weekend, knowing that I want her?
Well, wait, back up. Remember the part where they said they would want a refund if they got here and then didn't like her? Oh yeah. So I explained to them, you know, you say you want her, but you also say you may not like her, so you're not 100%, so the deposit's probably not for you then.
And see, this is where it gets murky. In the past, I'd hang onto her until past the weekend, and have the person come. If the person adopts, great. However, if the person doesn't adopt... well, I could have taken her to the expo, and possibly found her a home there. So...it's a toss up. Be nice, and possibly loose out on a good home, or have stricter policies, and weed out the people who aren't 100% sure.
Here's the thing. There's usually 20-30 available chinchillas here. We're not talking about 2-3 available ones, where if this one finds a home, I may not have another that fits what people are looking for. With how many chins are available, that's not the case. If the one someone likes finds a home... there are others. Not saying they want those others, but there ARE others. I hate to prevent one from getting adopted, due to a no-show or due to someone getting here and deciding on another chin, when that one could have been in a loving home already. There's plenty to choose from.
Oh, and since I'm sure no one noticed, I already went and changed the sales policy. No reason to wait until 2018 with the amount of people who want the critters held until after Christmas just on their word that they'll show up. Sorry, not sorry. I'm trying to find the animals homes, not keep them here forever.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Senior Animals
I've had a lot of people asking about fostering lately, which is always a good thing, but unfortunately, we don't have endless cages to lend out! I do want to talk about fostering and senior animals, but first -- if anyone has any cages -- whether chinchilla cages or smaller, more like guinea pig type cages, that they'd like to donate to the rescue, we'd definitely appreciate them, as we could get more critters fostered out this way!
Just so we're all on the same page, ideal cages would be either multi-level chin cages or the smaller, about 30 x 18 size guinea pig cages, something like these:
Chinchilla cages are good as well, but these work for a lot of fosters too, because, as they are smaller, they are easier to transport and maintain.
Anyway, back to fostering. So, a lot of people have asked why we're not fostering out the young chinchillas, and the main reason for that is that they're usually here such short periods of time, that it doesn't make much sense to have them leave and then get adopted from the new home in a few days. Also, with the young chinchillas, we get a lot more people who want to see several of them... so it's easier for people to come here, where they all are, and handle multiple chins, and then pick, as opposed to going to multiple places.
So, that begs the question, what animals would I like fostered out? That would be the less adoptable adults and the seniors. Why? For the less adoptable adults, often they need more time and effort being handled to become more comfortable with people, and in a foster home, they can get more of that one-on-one attention. For the seniors... honestly, some of the older ones live out the rest of their lives at the rescue, and I'd rather they do that in a home where they can have more attention and love.. at least, more than they might get here, being one of many.
We actually had four senior rats at the rescue. Note the word: had. They came in this past summer, and even at that time (which is now 6 months ago), they were all either 2 years or 2.5 years old. Well... most rats don't live past 2-3 years, which makes these guys pretty much unadoptable. In fact, if we get rats any older than 18 months... they are super hard to find homes for. So, with these guys, they were basically just chilling here. Every so often, people would ask about them, but I didn't have them listed... and then the other day, one of our previous rat adopters came to look at some of the baby rats that we have available, and saw the cage of boys. In an awesome stroke of luck, they called their husband and the family agreed to take on all 7 of the rats! (the four adults and 3 male babies) YAY!
Of course, this is sort of the exception to the rule, but this is AWESOME, because now they can enjoy their time in a big cage, enjoying life, for however long they have left. I got an email after she got home...she was hoping to introduce the four seniors to the 3 babies... and the email said,"Introduction went great! All of them are snuggled up together! It was meant to be!" Also awesome. And look at the adorable pic:
So, if you're thinking about fostering, remember, the ones most in need of your love and care aren't necessarily the young ones, but rather, the older ones that either need help trusting in people, or the seniors that could use a nice retirement home... in case another doesn't come along.
Oh and psst... we do have an awesome senior rabbit in one of our foster homes that would love his forever home for Christmas. Check out Ziggy on our website!
Just so we're all on the same page, ideal cages would be either multi-level chin cages or the smaller, about 30 x 18 size guinea pig cages, something like these:
Chinchilla cages are good as well, but these work for a lot of fosters too, because, as they are smaller, they are easier to transport and maintain.
Anyway, back to fostering. So, a lot of people have asked why we're not fostering out the young chinchillas, and the main reason for that is that they're usually here such short periods of time, that it doesn't make much sense to have them leave and then get adopted from the new home in a few days. Also, with the young chinchillas, we get a lot more people who want to see several of them... so it's easier for people to come here, where they all are, and handle multiple chins, and then pick, as opposed to going to multiple places.
So, that begs the question, what animals would I like fostered out? That would be the less adoptable adults and the seniors. Why? For the less adoptable adults, often they need more time and effort being handled to become more comfortable with people, and in a foster home, they can get more of that one-on-one attention. For the seniors... honestly, some of the older ones live out the rest of their lives at the rescue, and I'd rather they do that in a home where they can have more attention and love.. at least, more than they might get here, being one of many.
We actually had four senior rats at the rescue. Note the word: had. They came in this past summer, and even at that time (which is now 6 months ago), they were all either 2 years or 2.5 years old. Well... most rats don't live past 2-3 years, which makes these guys pretty much unadoptable. In fact, if we get rats any older than 18 months... they are super hard to find homes for. So, with these guys, they were basically just chilling here. Every so often, people would ask about them, but I didn't have them listed... and then the other day, one of our previous rat adopters came to look at some of the baby rats that we have available, and saw the cage of boys. In an awesome stroke of luck, they called their husband and the family agreed to take on all 7 of the rats! (the four adults and 3 male babies) YAY!
Of course, this is sort of the exception to the rule, but this is AWESOME, because now they can enjoy their time in a big cage, enjoying life, for however long they have left. I got an email after she got home...she was hoping to introduce the four seniors to the 3 babies... and the email said,"Introduction went great! All of them are snuggled up together! It was meant to be!" Also awesome. And look at the adorable pic:
 |
| Happy Rat Pile |
So, if you're thinking about fostering, remember, the ones most in need of your love and care aren't necessarily the young ones, but rather, the older ones that either need help trusting in people, or the seniors that could use a nice retirement home... in case another doesn't come along.
Oh and psst... we do have an awesome senior rabbit in one of our foster homes that would love his forever home for Christmas. Check out Ziggy on our website!
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Vet Checks
I've increasingly over the years had a lot of people asking if all the animals are vet checked.... so I wanted to touch on that quickly.
Small animals -- guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, etc -- are not cats and dogs. They do not need yearly shots or even yearly wellness checks. Quite the opposite actually -- you could bring a perfectly healthy small animal to the vet, and the vet visit could stress the animal out... and you could take home an animal that's now starting to develop loose poos or go off their feed... due to the stress of the visit. Also, they could pick up an illness at the veterinarian's office (did you know that chinchillas can catch bordatella and other animal illnesses) and bring those home as well. So, the critters will surely go to the vet if they are sick and need something that only the veterinarian can provide... but they don't just go for wellness exams.
We do have a health guarantee that comes with most of our animals. The exceptions to the health guarantee are animals that have known health problems that aren't fixable with medication (think, cataracts) or seniors (chinchillas 8+). Our health guarantee is available online, or the relevant part of it anyway. It's under the "Guarantees and Returns" section on our Chinchilla Sales Policy page, you can find it here
What it comes down to is this... if I think an animal is sick, I won't be listing it up for adoption, and it sure won't be going home with anyone, at least not until it's well again. If an animal has already been listed for adoption and becomes ill, despite people possibly contacting and wanting to adopt, the animal will not leave until it is well. End of story.
By not doing vet checks, it's not that I don't want to ensure healthy animals. Rather, it's the opposite. Taking small animals to the vet when there's nothing wrong has the potential to cause harm, and of course, there are real-life horror stories of breeders taking a chinchilla to the vet, it picking up bordatella there, and that illness wiping out most of their herd. Oops. I'd rather that not happen here... so we don't take each and every animal for wellness checks, but rather have our health guarantee instead, to ease people's minds that the animals they are getting are healthy.
I'd assume, also, that people wouldn't adopt an animal and take it home if they didn't think it was healthy... but I suppose that could be a discussion for another day...
Small animals -- guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, etc -- are not cats and dogs. They do not need yearly shots or even yearly wellness checks. Quite the opposite actually -- you could bring a perfectly healthy small animal to the vet, and the vet visit could stress the animal out... and you could take home an animal that's now starting to develop loose poos or go off their feed... due to the stress of the visit. Also, they could pick up an illness at the veterinarian's office (did you know that chinchillas can catch bordatella and other animal illnesses) and bring those home as well. So, the critters will surely go to the vet if they are sick and need something that only the veterinarian can provide... but they don't just go for wellness exams.
We do have a health guarantee that comes with most of our animals. The exceptions to the health guarantee are animals that have known health problems that aren't fixable with medication (think, cataracts) or seniors (chinchillas 8+). Our health guarantee is available online, or the relevant part of it anyway. It's under the "Guarantees and Returns" section on our Chinchilla Sales Policy page, you can find it here
What it comes down to is this... if I think an animal is sick, I won't be listing it up for adoption, and it sure won't be going home with anyone, at least not until it's well again. If an animal has already been listed for adoption and becomes ill, despite people possibly contacting and wanting to adopt, the animal will not leave until it is well. End of story.
By not doing vet checks, it's not that I don't want to ensure healthy animals. Rather, it's the opposite. Taking small animals to the vet when there's nothing wrong has the potential to cause harm, and of course, there are real-life horror stories of breeders taking a chinchilla to the vet, it picking up bordatella there, and that illness wiping out most of their herd. Oops. I'd rather that not happen here... so we don't take each and every animal for wellness checks, but rather have our health guarantee instead, to ease people's minds that the animals they are getting are healthy.
I'd assume, also, that people wouldn't adopt an animal and take it home if they didn't think it was healthy... but I suppose that could be a discussion for another day...
Friday, December 15, 2017
Scammers
I see these coming from a mile away, but in case you ever feel like listing something for sale online, let me share with you how these work, so you can spot them.
Say these are my ad titles that I use for hoobly or whatever:
3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla -- Ash
2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit (Baby)
The first text will go something like this:
Hello, how you doing today, am texting regarding 3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla -- Ash OR Hello, how you doing today, am texting regarding 2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit (Baby)
They always copy and paste your ad title. Dead giveaway that it's a scam. Never ONCE has anyone ever done that when it's a legitimate person interested in an animal, and mind you, I re-home 200-250 per year. Not once has a legit person copied and pasted like that.
Doesn't matter what you say to them, the next text goes something like this:
Good, I would like to know if it's firm asking price OR Good, I would like to know what the asking price is
Because you know, they found your ad, but they couldn't be bothered to actually read it, because... oh they're not really interested... they just want to scam you.
Again, no matter what you say (and I know this, because I've started messing with people and saying, "the price is listed on the ad"), they will say something like:
Ok, I am pleased with the asking price.
... I didn't say what it was, and there was no way that in 2 seconds they found it that quick, unless they were staring at the ad (in which case, why even ask what the price was?).
Then they go on about how they want to mail you a certified check, they're currently out of town, so they need your name, address, phone number, email, etc etc, all your info to send you this check, but they'll pay you some extra for your troubles, yadda yadda. Someone will come pick up the animal for them, but first, you need to cash this check....
That's about as far as I ever get, because I usually respond with, "we don't take checks" or even, "the animals have to be picked up by the person they're going to live with." And like magic, I mean... certified check must be the ONLY way to pay for these people, cause that's when they vanish.
Today was an extra good one though....
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla you posted for sale
Me: Ok, you want to come see him?
Them: Good, I would love to know it's firm asking price
Me: Yes
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit you posted for sale
Me: You just texted me about a different chinchilla
Them: Actually my son saw the ad and tell me about it, so I would love to know the actual price myself okay
Me: They're all on my website, nwichinchillas.com -- pics and info
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 2 Month Old Silver Mosaic Female Chinchilla Kit you posted for sale
Me: Any others?
I always respond back, as if I'm talking to an actual interested adopter, because I always think, I don't want to shoo someone away, in case I was wrong. Never have been, but you know...
...and sometimes people wonder why I'm often aggravated.
Say these are my ad titles that I use for hoobly or whatever:
3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla -- Ash
2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit (Baby)
The first text will go something like this:
Hello, how you doing today, am texting regarding 3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla -- Ash OR Hello, how you doing today, am texting regarding 2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit (Baby)
They always copy and paste your ad title. Dead giveaway that it's a scam. Never ONCE has anyone ever done that when it's a legitimate person interested in an animal, and mind you, I re-home 200-250 per year. Not once has a legit person copied and pasted like that.
Doesn't matter what you say to them, the next text goes something like this:
Good, I would like to know if it's firm asking price OR Good, I would like to know what the asking price is
Because you know, they found your ad, but they couldn't be bothered to actually read it, because... oh they're not really interested... they just want to scam you.
Again, no matter what you say (and I know this, because I've started messing with people and saying, "the price is listed on the ad"), they will say something like:
Ok, I am pleased with the asking price.
... I didn't say what it was, and there was no way that in 2 seconds they found it that quick, unless they were staring at the ad (in which case, why even ask what the price was?).
Then they go on about how they want to mail you a certified check, they're currently out of town, so they need your name, address, phone number, email, etc etc, all your info to send you this check, but they'll pay you some extra for your troubles, yadda yadda. Someone will come pick up the animal for them, but first, you need to cash this check....
That's about as far as I ever get, because I usually respond with, "we don't take checks" or even, "the animals have to be picked up by the person they're going to live with." And like magic, I mean... certified check must be the ONLY way to pay for these people, cause that's when they vanish.
Today was an extra good one though....
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 3.5 Year Old Standard Grey Male Chinchilla you posted for sale
Me: Ok, you want to come see him?
Them: Good, I would love to know it's firm asking price
Me: Yes
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 2.5 Month Old Dark Ebony Male Chinchilla Kit you posted for sale
Me: You just texted me about a different chinchilla
Them: Actually my son saw the ad and tell me about it, so I would love to know the actual price myself okay
Me: They're all on my website, nwichinchillas.com -- pics and info
Them: Hello how you doing today, am texting regarding the 2 Month Old Silver Mosaic Female Chinchilla Kit you posted for sale
Me: Any others?
I always respond back, as if I'm talking to an actual interested adopter, because I always think, I don't want to shoo someone away, in case I was wrong. Never have been, but you know...
...and sometimes people wonder why I'm often aggravated.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Geckos, Adoption Fees, and So On
What I'm going to write about actually happened a bit ago, but recent events have reminded me about it, so I wanted to write a quick post.
I have had a LOT of people lately who've been sending me messages, telling me why they absolutely couldn't pay for an animal (whether we're talking the chins, guinea pigs, whatever, doesn't matter), but they will gladly take it off my hands, and they will make the best home, so I should totally give it to them for free.
Now, while it's not about the money... at some point it sort of is. Here's why.
I got in those 20ish crested geckos awhile back. I'm down to maybe 10 or so of them, so they have been steadily getting adopted out. I had someone send me a long message a while back, assuring me they'd make an awesome home, they had all sorts of gecko experience, yadda yadda, but they wouldn't pay for them, because they'd basically be doing me a favor by taking them. Gee thanks.
I can sort of see the thought process, but hold on a second. Let's back up.
When the geckos came in, the previous owner brought enclosures for them, which had hides, plants, water bowls, feed caps. Things the geckos needed right then, and I really do appreciate her bringing those things, as I didn't have that many spares.
Knowing they were coming, I went and bought crested gecko diet (CGD). My geckos (I have... 7... 4 adults and a few hatchlings) eat the watermelon flavor, hers were eating the insect flavor. So, as to not have to mix two different batches (it's a powder you mix with water, to create a yogurt like consistency), I bought two one-pound bags of the CGD (one watermelon, the other insect). Mind you, these 1 pound bags are $35 (keep that in mind when you complain about 3 lbs of chinchilla food for $15 at the pet store, lol). So, the first set of bags cost $70. They go through them, so, so far, we've gone through two sets of bags, so we're at $140 for the CGD alone.
I feed every other day, and skip weekends, so that means I'm mixing up CGD Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition to the chow, their enclosures get misted on those days. When doing this, their water containers are filled up (and often, replaced with a clean, non-icky one). I also remove the previous food, wash that container, and put in the fresh CGD. About once a week, sometimes more often, I replace the paper towel bedding / substrate that's at the bottom of their tanks (basically, as needed... some geckos are more messy and icky than others). When the paper towels are out, the whole enclosure gets wiped down, scrubbed if needed, and new paper towels put down. As you can see, while this is not necessarily hard work, there is work involved in keeping these little guys.
So... when I get someone contacting me, suggesting that they will be helping me, by taking some of the animals off my hands... I do get where they are coming from. Yes, less geckos means less work for me, on an every-other-day-basis and on a weekly-basis. Yes, I will spend less (in the future, mind you) on CGD mix, paper towels, and cage cleaner.
However... keep in mind... them taking the pet for free, this does nothing to lessen what's already been spent. The adoption fees aren't in place for me to get rich. Far from it. They're in place for me to recoup money already spent, or money spent in the future. Sure, a good amount of geckos have found homes. That has put money into the rescue account. But now that we're about done with our second set of CGD bags, this weekend I need to pick up two more bags (another $70). As many of the geckos are $40 or so, that means two need to get adopted, just to pay for this week's food haul. The food isn't free, the paper towels aren't free, the cage cleaner isn't free. My labor... well, I'm not getting paid, but the time I spend on geckos takes time away from other animals, so of course there is some value to it. Basically, I need to not go broke doing this... that is what adoption fees are for. So, no, just because you are an awesome home, you cannot have the animals for free. It costs to care for them, ongoing costs that do not end, and by paying the adoption fee -- even if it is not indicative of what you may spend in the future -- you show me that you are able to pay for the care of the animal. That is all.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Chinchillas = High Maintenance?
So, I wanted to post about this really quick, because I've been reading on a lot of facebook groups lately that chins are high maintenance.
Really? This is news to me.
I spend more time and effort keeping the guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits, and prairie dogs alive / fed / cages cleaned, than I do the chins. Combined. Like right now, I have a total of about 10 guinea pigs, 13 rats, no rabbits (well, none here), and 2 prairie dogs. So, "other animals" comprises 23 animals at the rescue, which account for a whopping total of 5 guinea pigs cages, 3 rat cages, and 1 prairie dog cage -- so 9 cages total.
Compare that to about 150ish chinchilla cages, which house about 175-200 chinchillas at any given time. Yes, I have help cleaning those, but... the point I want to make here is this -- it takes me more effort to clean / feed / care for those 9 "other animal" cages than it does the 150ish chin cages.
There's several reasons why, but the main two reasons are diet and cleanliness. The guinea pigs need their daily veggies, which usually is broken up into a morning and evening feeding. They also go through mountains of hay, also given morning and evening. The prairie dogs have to have a variety of food, so their dishes take longer to replenish, just like the guinea pig ones do. The food bowls for all of these animals (rats too!) get a lot ickier, a lot quicker, than the chinchilla bowls, and need washed more often. For cleanliness, the guinea pig cages -- though they are (for most cages), AT LEAST 2x the size of most of the chinchilla cages, they are sopping wet if I wait 7 days to clean them. If I clean chin cages at 7 days... eh, they could use a cleaning, but they're not bad. They're not wet wet.
Compare this to the chinchillas. They get their bowls and water topped off once a day. Washed when needed. They get hay twice weekly, and they only need it twice, because I put in enough to last a few days, and then repeat a few days later (if I was going to do this with guinea pigs, I'd have to stuff the cage with hay, so the guinea pig couldn't move.... and the next morning, there'd be a tiny pile of hay left, lol). They get their cages cleaned every 7 days, usually on a Sunday evening, and are good until the next Sunday evening. I don't have to cut up veggies for them on a daily basis, I don't have to pick off icky parts of the veggies if they're starting to go bad. Most of their feeders are on the outside of the cages, so I don't have to open every cage to feed them.
I do understand that a lot of pet people take out their chins for playtime, or take them out to handle them... and I do understand that that adds time. However.... I still don't consider them high maintenance. The guinea pigs, which I pretty much have to clean cages for 2x a week, plus 2x daily veggies and 2x daily hay... plus constant washing of the food bowl / pigloo due to it getting icky, plus nail trims, plus refilling those HUGE water bottles daily (which would last a chin probably 2 weeks)... that is high maintenance... sometimes I wonder what people are doing for their pets, that they consider them high maintenance. Feel free to enlighten me, but I honestly do spend more time for the care of those 9 cages, than I do for all of the chin cages, on a daily basis. So... not high maintenance to me.
Really? This is news to me.
I spend more time and effort keeping the guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits, and prairie dogs alive / fed / cages cleaned, than I do the chins. Combined. Like right now, I have a total of about 10 guinea pigs, 13 rats, no rabbits (well, none here), and 2 prairie dogs. So, "other animals" comprises 23 animals at the rescue, which account for a whopping total of 5 guinea pigs cages, 3 rat cages, and 1 prairie dog cage -- so 9 cages total.
Compare that to about 150ish chinchilla cages, which house about 175-200 chinchillas at any given time. Yes, I have help cleaning those, but... the point I want to make here is this -- it takes me more effort to clean / feed / care for those 9 "other animal" cages than it does the 150ish chin cages.
There's several reasons why, but the main two reasons are diet and cleanliness. The guinea pigs need their daily veggies, which usually is broken up into a morning and evening feeding. They also go through mountains of hay, also given morning and evening. The prairie dogs have to have a variety of food, so their dishes take longer to replenish, just like the guinea pig ones do. The food bowls for all of these animals (rats too!) get a lot ickier, a lot quicker, than the chinchilla bowls, and need washed more often. For cleanliness, the guinea pig cages -- though they are (for most cages), AT LEAST 2x the size of most of the chinchilla cages, they are sopping wet if I wait 7 days to clean them. If I clean chin cages at 7 days... eh, they could use a cleaning, but they're not bad. They're not wet wet.
Compare this to the chinchillas. They get their bowls and water topped off once a day. Washed when needed. They get hay twice weekly, and they only need it twice, because I put in enough to last a few days, and then repeat a few days later (if I was going to do this with guinea pigs, I'd have to stuff the cage with hay, so the guinea pig couldn't move.... and the next morning, there'd be a tiny pile of hay left, lol). They get their cages cleaned every 7 days, usually on a Sunday evening, and are good until the next Sunday evening. I don't have to cut up veggies for them on a daily basis, I don't have to pick off icky parts of the veggies if they're starting to go bad. Most of their feeders are on the outside of the cages, so I don't have to open every cage to feed them.
I do understand that a lot of pet people take out their chins for playtime, or take them out to handle them... and I do understand that that adds time. However.... I still don't consider them high maintenance. The guinea pigs, which I pretty much have to clean cages for 2x a week, plus 2x daily veggies and 2x daily hay... plus constant washing of the food bowl / pigloo due to it getting icky, plus nail trims, plus refilling those HUGE water bottles daily (which would last a chin probably 2 weeks)... that is high maintenance... sometimes I wonder what people are doing for their pets, that they consider them high maintenance. Feel free to enlighten me, but I honestly do spend more time for the care of those 9 cages, than I do for all of the chin cages, on a daily basis. So... not high maintenance to me.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Appointments, Deposits, and AHHHH-gravating People
So, I know I've blogged about this a few times, ok, MANY MANY times, before... but I think the new year is going to bring new policy changes. My patience with people is on it's last thread right now, and either I'm going to stop rehoming the critters (unlikely) or I'm going to make a significant policy change (waaay more likely).
Case in point. I posted some young guinea pigs up for adoption. Two sisters that are like... 8 weeks old? Babies. Mind you, as of today, 4 days later, they are still here, despite a surprising number of inquiries (not a big deal, but wait til you hear why). Anyway... I posted them, and immediately had multiple inquiries for them. I contacted the first person, and she emailed me back, asking if she could come see them the following morning. The following morning was this past Saturday, when I was going to be at that local expo / craft show at Morton High.. so I told her that. As that show is only like 3 miles from my house, not far... I told her, if I have a list of stuff you want (or even just the guinea pigs), I can bring them to the expo, but I told her, I would not be bringing them if I wasn't sure they would be going home. Reason being, I didn't want to bring them and have them sit in a carrier for hours on end, especially if I wasn't sure that someone was coming to pick them up. So, she agrees, and says, yes, bring them. For reference, this is at about 2 pm on Friday (and I'm not leaving for the expo until 8 am Saturday morning), so I'm figuring, we have plenty of time for her to figure out if she needs supplies or whatnot.
So she asks for the address of the expo, I provide it, and she asks if we have a care packet, and also, if we have / can sell her a cage, supplies, etc or if she should go to the pet store. So I reply back with a long email about yes, we have two different used cages, we also have houses, water bottles, food dishes, and so on so forth... everything a guinea pig needs, all broken down with prices and roundabout amounts she would need. This is still in the afternoon. I figure, since she asked about all of the stuff, the next email would be more or less the start of a list of what I needed to bring in the morning. I should note, in my email to her, I listed, ok we sell Oxbow guinea pig food, it is $2/ pound. If you get both guinea pigs, they come with 4 pounds of food, and that'll last x amount of time... so I gave her a basis to go off of.
I get an email back at like 11:15 pm. Now, before you think it... I'm not saying people should check their email religiously, just because they are emailing me, BUT... surely I would think, if you want someone to bring you something the following morning and they are LEAVING their house at 8 am (which she did know)... surely you don't wait until close to midnight to get them a list of what you want. But wait for it... the email wasn't any semblance of a list... rather, she asked for pics of the two cages, and pics of the used wooden hidey houses that I had.
So, with the thought that she would respond quickly as it was later at night (giving people the benefit of the doubt is really biting me in the ass lately), I went downstairs, turned on the lights, took pics of all of the used hidey houses. Went into the garage (23 degrees), took pics of the two cages. Sent them off to her within 10 minutes, and sent an email along with it with dimensions and cost of every item.
Fast forward to about 12:15... I still don't have an email back... and I am set to go to bed soon, as for us to leave at 8, I need to be up by about 6. So I send her an email which nicely says (in so many words) that I'm not staying up much later, but that if she gets me a list no later than 7 am, I will do my best to bring everything she wants, but that if I do not hear from her, or she doesn't get me a list (which she would have to do, since she didn't have a cage and all that) or I don't hear from her, I reiterate that I will not be bringing the guinea pigs, just to have them sit there all day, without confirmation that she will be there. Which I think is reasonable, again, figuring that if she wants them brought there, surely she will check emails and will be getting back to me asap.
I check my email multiple times before I go to bed. No response. I get up at 6, check my email. Nothing. Check my email shortly before 7, I have an email from 6:30ish, where the person says, hey, her 12 year old daughter just got up and she's super cranky and because of that, they can't decide on what to get (because she can't decide herself?), so they'll have to come out another day. She wishes me good luck at the expo.
So, I head to the expo, baby-guinea-pig-less, and the expo goes on. About an hour previous to the end of the expo, I email this person, and because she'd said, hope things go well at the expo, yadda yadda, I tell her in the email, things are going well, thanks for asking, and then I ask her, when else was she thinking of coming by? This was maybe 1-2 pm on Saturday.
Mind you, I had, between Friday and Saturday, about 8 people who'd messaged about the guinea pigs, all of who I'd told, if everyone before them magically somehow backed out, I'd let them know.
So, I figure, this lady who had wanted them brought to the expo would surely email me back... but the entire rest of Saturday passed, and so we fast forward to Sunday morning. Still no email back from the lady, so I emailed the first person in line after her, who had wanted to come see the guinea pigs. They said they were still interested, but I was in Chicago for part of the day on Sunday, so we set up an appointment for 7 pm, as that was the first thing I had open that day, after I got home. They said that time was great, they were excited, they'd text me around 6 for the address.
I'm home around 3, and have appointments every hour... and when the 6 pm appointment has left around 6:30ish, I realize... I still do not have a text back from this person, asking for my address. So, I text them, asking if they're still planning on coming. Their response: no, can't make it (apparently weren't going to tell me), maybe tomorrow.
I nicely texted back, explaining that I needed to know whether or not they were planning on coming, as I had a lot of people asking about the guinea pigs, and I didn't want to leave them all hanging. I explained to this person, if they wanted to adopt them, great, but we needed to set an appointment for that, and if they weren't sure exactly when, I explained I could always have them put down a deposit to hold them for 14 days for pickup. I have STILL not gotten a text back.
So, fast forward to Monday morning. Having never received a text back from either of those people, I started contacting the other people who had been asking about the guinea pigs, in order. I emailed back two people who asked about how adoption worked and who mentioned being super excited to come see the girls -- have no return email from either of them. For all the texts that I sent back, I had two tell me that they already found guinea pigs elsewhere. I had one who asked for pics... I referred her to our website page that has the pics of these guinea pigs, for them to go look to remember which pigs we were talking about, and then get back to me for scheduling an appointment. No text back after that. I had another one who asked me to remind them what guinea pigs we had available, and so I told them, some babies, some adults, and asked them what they were interested in? I told them, their initial text made me think they were interested in the pair of baby sisters. Their response -- "do you have the babies left? Are they free?" Yes and NO (and really???). I nicely explained, yes we do still have them, but they do have an adoption fee like all the critters do. So they asked how much, I told them. They asked if I was a shelter / rescue and I explained that this was NWI Chinchilla Rescue. No text back after that. All of this contacting these people and getting nowhere took ALL DAY Monday.
Got a call Monday evening from someone else asking about the guinea pigs. They seemed super interested... they said they would call in the morning with a deposit, because they were out driving their kids home from something, and didn't have a card with them. Fine. Morning (Tuesday morning, today) comes, and they called... they're a little worried about putting down a deposit, because they've had issues with giving out their debit card number before (which I do understand), so they really really REALLY hope the guinea pigs are still here later, they're going to call back later in the week, and see if the guinea pigs are still here.
For the love of god, people.
And for a shorter, but just as aggravating story, let's move onto Georgie. He was adopted out, came back, adopted out, came back. Had someone call a few days ago, asking about him. They had a young daughter, and were interested in him, and because he didn't do well in the last home... not positive why exactly (if only he could talk!), but there was a lot of commotion and young kids and such, so now I have him listed as needing a quiet home. Anyway, I asked how old the daughter was (11 years), to ensure that he would be going to a good home. Fine age, no problem, not a young young kid, and we talked about the adoption form and how they needed to fill one out. I explained, they could do it online, or could fill it out when they got here, whatever. They wanted me to send them a link to the online form, so I texted that to them (this was Saturday), and we set the appointment for Monday night at 7. They literally said, "OK thank you very much, I think I'm more excited than my daughter, he is so adorable." So I was like, ok cool, entire family on board, always a good thing. I even had someone put in a sponsorship for Georgie and I emailed them and was like, hey, he's going home tomorrow, who would you rather sponsor? So they email back, tell me another chin. Monday night comes... 7 comes and goes, 7:15 comes and goes... nothing. About 7:25ish, I send them a text, asking if they're still planning on coming by, since I never did get an online adoption form submission from them, and obviously, they hadn't shown up yet. No reply, and they never did show up.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great adopters, and plenty of people who DO show up on time (or... within an hour of it... but I'd rather people be late than not show up at all)... but with the increase of numbers of chins finding homes, this is happening more and more often, and my patience with this sort of thing is really taking a beating. I don't have hours on top of hours to chase people down who want to adopt... or say they do, and then don't show up. And miss out on adoptions in the meantime, because I was holding the critter for them. And what really boils my blood is that while some of these people were definite flakes and likely wouldn't have adopted anyway, even if I had immediately said the guinea pigs were available (like the person who asked if they were free), others definitely seemed like they would have been on-board with adoption... and COULD have adopted the guinea pigs, had I not been holding them for someone else. And this is what happens, all the time, where I hold an animal for one person, with no deposit, and tell other people, "sorry, that animal is on hold"... and then miss out on the second person adopting the animal (usually, IN PERSON, when they could have taken it home right then)... and then the original person with the hold backs out. I almost had our most recent curly go home TWICE with people who were at our place.. except both times, he was on hold (for two different people), both who later backed out. He went home on Black Friday with a great adopter. But... he could have gone months prior, had it not been for him being on hold for flaky people. Not like there's any rush to adopt out animals, but there's always more waiting to come in, and of course, I'd prefer the critters to be in homes as opposed to here, and what often delays all of this (even more than normal) is by people doing this sort of thing.
While I've never been a super big fan of the rescues that are first-come, first-served... the more time that passes, the better and better of an idea that sounds. I think what I'm going to change the hold / deposit policy to is this -- you can put down a deposit and that will hold the chin / animal for 14 days. That will remain the same. What will change is that there will be NO holds WITHOUT a deposit. You're coming in 2 hours? Great! Credit card number / paypal for the deposit before you come, and the chin / critters will, FOR SURE, be here for you. No credit card / paypal for the deposit? Better rush here and hope you beat out everyone else! You know why? Because if you don't show up, and I had someone coming earlier that day (but after I said I'd hold the animal for you), undoubtedly.... the person with the appointment before you, would have LOVED to have taken home that animal... but didn't, because it was on hold for you. Yet, it's still here.
It's kind of sad that, this time of year, more than usual anyway, people have to be so difficult as to make it so that I need to change policies. But... it is what it is... and I honestly feel like, if you 100% want to adopt that pet, and plan to show up, then there's no harm in putting down the deposit. Because then you're not losing anything.
Case in point. I posted some young guinea pigs up for adoption. Two sisters that are like... 8 weeks old? Babies. Mind you, as of today, 4 days later, they are still here, despite a surprising number of inquiries (not a big deal, but wait til you hear why). Anyway... I posted them, and immediately had multiple inquiries for them. I contacted the first person, and she emailed me back, asking if she could come see them the following morning. The following morning was this past Saturday, when I was going to be at that local expo / craft show at Morton High.. so I told her that. As that show is only like 3 miles from my house, not far... I told her, if I have a list of stuff you want (or even just the guinea pigs), I can bring them to the expo, but I told her, I would not be bringing them if I wasn't sure they would be going home. Reason being, I didn't want to bring them and have them sit in a carrier for hours on end, especially if I wasn't sure that someone was coming to pick them up. So, she agrees, and says, yes, bring them. For reference, this is at about 2 pm on Friday (and I'm not leaving for the expo until 8 am Saturday morning), so I'm figuring, we have plenty of time for her to figure out if she needs supplies or whatnot.
So she asks for the address of the expo, I provide it, and she asks if we have a care packet, and also, if we have / can sell her a cage, supplies, etc or if she should go to the pet store. So I reply back with a long email about yes, we have two different used cages, we also have houses, water bottles, food dishes, and so on so forth... everything a guinea pig needs, all broken down with prices and roundabout amounts she would need. This is still in the afternoon. I figure, since she asked about all of the stuff, the next email would be more or less the start of a list of what I needed to bring in the morning. I should note, in my email to her, I listed, ok we sell Oxbow guinea pig food, it is $2/ pound. If you get both guinea pigs, they come with 4 pounds of food, and that'll last x amount of time... so I gave her a basis to go off of.
I get an email back at like 11:15 pm. Now, before you think it... I'm not saying people should check their email religiously, just because they are emailing me, BUT... surely I would think, if you want someone to bring you something the following morning and they are LEAVING their house at 8 am (which she did know)... surely you don't wait until close to midnight to get them a list of what you want. But wait for it... the email wasn't any semblance of a list... rather, she asked for pics of the two cages, and pics of the used wooden hidey houses that I had.
So, with the thought that she would respond quickly as it was later at night (giving people the benefit of the doubt is really biting me in the ass lately), I went downstairs, turned on the lights, took pics of all of the used hidey houses. Went into the garage (23 degrees), took pics of the two cages. Sent them off to her within 10 minutes, and sent an email along with it with dimensions and cost of every item.
Fast forward to about 12:15... I still don't have an email back... and I am set to go to bed soon, as for us to leave at 8, I need to be up by about 6. So I send her an email which nicely says (in so many words) that I'm not staying up much later, but that if she gets me a list no later than 7 am, I will do my best to bring everything she wants, but that if I do not hear from her, or she doesn't get me a list (which she would have to do, since she didn't have a cage and all that) or I don't hear from her, I reiterate that I will not be bringing the guinea pigs, just to have them sit there all day, without confirmation that she will be there. Which I think is reasonable, again, figuring that if she wants them brought there, surely she will check emails and will be getting back to me asap.
I check my email multiple times before I go to bed. No response. I get up at 6, check my email. Nothing. Check my email shortly before 7, I have an email from 6:30ish, where the person says, hey, her 12 year old daughter just got up and she's super cranky and because of that, they can't decide on what to get (because she can't decide herself?), so they'll have to come out another day. She wishes me good luck at the expo.
So, I head to the expo, baby-guinea-pig-less, and the expo goes on. About an hour previous to the end of the expo, I email this person, and because she'd said, hope things go well at the expo, yadda yadda, I tell her in the email, things are going well, thanks for asking, and then I ask her, when else was she thinking of coming by? This was maybe 1-2 pm on Saturday.
Mind you, I had, between Friday and Saturday, about 8 people who'd messaged about the guinea pigs, all of who I'd told, if everyone before them magically somehow backed out, I'd let them know.
So, I figure, this lady who had wanted them brought to the expo would surely email me back... but the entire rest of Saturday passed, and so we fast forward to Sunday morning. Still no email back from the lady, so I emailed the first person in line after her, who had wanted to come see the guinea pigs. They said they were still interested, but I was in Chicago for part of the day on Sunday, so we set up an appointment for 7 pm, as that was the first thing I had open that day, after I got home. They said that time was great, they were excited, they'd text me around 6 for the address.
I'm home around 3, and have appointments every hour... and when the 6 pm appointment has left around 6:30ish, I realize... I still do not have a text back from this person, asking for my address. So, I text them, asking if they're still planning on coming. Their response: no, can't make it (apparently weren't going to tell me), maybe tomorrow.
I nicely texted back, explaining that I needed to know whether or not they were planning on coming, as I had a lot of people asking about the guinea pigs, and I didn't want to leave them all hanging. I explained to this person, if they wanted to adopt them, great, but we needed to set an appointment for that, and if they weren't sure exactly when, I explained I could always have them put down a deposit to hold them for 14 days for pickup. I have STILL not gotten a text back.
So, fast forward to Monday morning. Having never received a text back from either of those people, I started contacting the other people who had been asking about the guinea pigs, in order. I emailed back two people who asked about how adoption worked and who mentioned being super excited to come see the girls -- have no return email from either of them. For all the texts that I sent back, I had two tell me that they already found guinea pigs elsewhere. I had one who asked for pics... I referred her to our website page that has the pics of these guinea pigs, for them to go look to remember which pigs we were talking about, and then get back to me for scheduling an appointment. No text back after that. I had another one who asked me to remind them what guinea pigs we had available, and so I told them, some babies, some adults, and asked them what they were interested in? I told them, their initial text made me think they were interested in the pair of baby sisters. Their response -- "do you have the babies left? Are they free?" Yes and NO (and really???). I nicely explained, yes we do still have them, but they do have an adoption fee like all the critters do. So they asked how much, I told them. They asked if I was a shelter / rescue and I explained that this was NWI Chinchilla Rescue. No text back after that. All of this contacting these people and getting nowhere took ALL DAY Monday.
Got a call Monday evening from someone else asking about the guinea pigs. They seemed super interested... they said they would call in the morning with a deposit, because they were out driving their kids home from something, and didn't have a card with them. Fine. Morning (Tuesday morning, today) comes, and they called... they're a little worried about putting down a deposit, because they've had issues with giving out their debit card number before (which I do understand), so they really really REALLY hope the guinea pigs are still here later, they're going to call back later in the week, and see if the guinea pigs are still here.
For the love of god, people.
And for a shorter, but just as aggravating story, let's move onto Georgie. He was adopted out, came back, adopted out, came back. Had someone call a few days ago, asking about him. They had a young daughter, and were interested in him, and because he didn't do well in the last home... not positive why exactly (if only he could talk!), but there was a lot of commotion and young kids and such, so now I have him listed as needing a quiet home. Anyway, I asked how old the daughter was (11 years), to ensure that he would be going to a good home. Fine age, no problem, not a young young kid, and we talked about the adoption form and how they needed to fill one out. I explained, they could do it online, or could fill it out when they got here, whatever. They wanted me to send them a link to the online form, so I texted that to them (this was Saturday), and we set the appointment for Monday night at 7. They literally said, "OK thank you very much, I think I'm more excited than my daughter, he is so adorable." So I was like, ok cool, entire family on board, always a good thing. I even had someone put in a sponsorship for Georgie and I emailed them and was like, hey, he's going home tomorrow, who would you rather sponsor? So they email back, tell me another chin. Monday night comes... 7 comes and goes, 7:15 comes and goes... nothing. About 7:25ish, I send them a text, asking if they're still planning on coming by, since I never did get an online adoption form submission from them, and obviously, they hadn't shown up yet. No reply, and they never did show up.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great adopters, and plenty of people who DO show up on time (or... within an hour of it... but I'd rather people be late than not show up at all)... but with the increase of numbers of chins finding homes, this is happening more and more often, and my patience with this sort of thing is really taking a beating. I don't have hours on top of hours to chase people down who want to adopt... or say they do, and then don't show up. And miss out on adoptions in the meantime, because I was holding the critter for them. And what really boils my blood is that while some of these people were definite flakes and likely wouldn't have adopted anyway, even if I had immediately said the guinea pigs were available (like the person who asked if they were free), others definitely seemed like they would have been on-board with adoption... and COULD have adopted the guinea pigs, had I not been holding them for someone else. And this is what happens, all the time, where I hold an animal for one person, with no deposit, and tell other people, "sorry, that animal is on hold"... and then miss out on the second person adopting the animal (usually, IN PERSON, when they could have taken it home right then)... and then the original person with the hold backs out. I almost had our most recent curly go home TWICE with people who were at our place.. except both times, he was on hold (for two different people), both who later backed out. He went home on Black Friday with a great adopter. But... he could have gone months prior, had it not been for him being on hold for flaky people. Not like there's any rush to adopt out animals, but there's always more waiting to come in, and of course, I'd prefer the critters to be in homes as opposed to here, and what often delays all of this (even more than normal) is by people doing this sort of thing.
While I've never been a super big fan of the rescues that are first-come, first-served... the more time that passes, the better and better of an idea that sounds. I think what I'm going to change the hold / deposit policy to is this -- you can put down a deposit and that will hold the chin / animal for 14 days. That will remain the same. What will change is that there will be NO holds WITHOUT a deposit. You're coming in 2 hours? Great! Credit card number / paypal for the deposit before you come, and the chin / critters will, FOR SURE, be here for you. No credit card / paypal for the deposit? Better rush here and hope you beat out everyone else! You know why? Because if you don't show up, and I had someone coming earlier that day (but after I said I'd hold the animal for you), undoubtedly.... the person with the appointment before you, would have LOVED to have taken home that animal... but didn't, because it was on hold for you. Yet, it's still here.
It's kind of sad that, this time of year, more than usual anyway, people have to be so difficult as to make it so that I need to change policies. But... it is what it is... and I honestly feel like, if you 100% want to adopt that pet, and plan to show up, then there's no harm in putting down the deposit. Because then you're not losing anything.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Adoption Fees and Such
So, at the expo this past weekend, we ran into this one very nice young lady, who was looking to adopt our adoptable guinea pig, Hamilton. (I should note, just in case it's not clear, this is not the same person who was reaching into the cage without permission).
She kept coming up to the booth, checking with her parents (she lived with them in an apartment for the moment), coming back to see him / pet him, and so on. Back and forth. I guess she never convinced them, but she did take a card, so maybe I'll hear from her. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Read on.
Anyway, I wanted to quickly talk about a few things that were said, because I feel that it brings up important discussions.
She had asked what the adoption fee was. A single adult guinea pig is $25.
Later, I hear that she told my mom, "well, if he was $20, I'd just take him." Followed by, "but I only have $10 on me."
Now, let me start by saying that there's nothing wrong with someone having a budget... but if $5 is the difference between adopting or not adopting, like if that's THAT important to someone... I want to know how someone is going to pay the upkeep. Guinea pig food is EXPENSIVE. Do you know why we feed Oxbow Cavy Cuisine? Because quite a bit of the other foods out there are complete guinea pig junk food, and we'd rather not feed that... so for the good stuff, the cost adds up. If you're getting it at the pet store, it's like $15 for 3 pounds.. and with how much the guinea pigs eat, that goes quick! They're called "pigs" for a reason. And of course, let's not forget the veggies and hay and all that, as well, that adds to the cost of keeping a guinea pig as well. Heck, even if it wasn't a guinea pig -- for chinchillas -- food, hay, dust, chew toys, bedding.. all that is bound to run more than $5/month even if you're buying in bulk... so sometimes I cringe when I hear people that are like that with money, because I wonder if either they're either trying to budget (fine) or trying to scrimp, and then later may scrimp on the necessities, because maybe they just don't have the money (also fine.. but then I tend to think people should wait to get a pet, if money is really tight... better to save up the money in case of an emergency).
Now, about the $10 part. I didn't hear it first hand, so I don't know exactly how it was said or how she may have meant it However... there's been plenty of times where people see a chin listed for $200 and say, "well, I only brought $100 with me" (I would assume, suggesting I should take $100 for it, as they still want to see the chin). My response is usually, "we take cards" (and nowadays, most people do pay with cards). Does this really work for some people? That they suggest they have less, and the rescue is like, "ah what the hell, sure, name your price?" I mean... I would tend to think not... At a garage sale, if there's a $15 end table and I've got $10, sure, then, I may ask, hey would the take less. But at a rescue or adoption event, it just amazes me. In case it's maybe not clear, the rescue (and most rescues) are not that dying for animals to leave, that we'll cut our adoption fees in half for you (or whatever percentage). The adoption fees are set at an amount where we feel, if you can afford the adoption fee, you can afford the pet.
Now, that's not to say that someone couldn't splurge on the pet and not take care of it, or save up all year to buy the pet and then have nothing left over to care for it. Of course, there's no way to know, and we can't possibly think like that or we'd all go insane. I realize that saying, "well if they can afford the pet, they can afford the care," is sort of like dog rescues' arguments of "you need a fenced yard... because it must automatically make you an awesome pet owner or something..." Which if you know me, despite my fenced yard, I tend to disagree with that blanket statement... so I do get it's one of those slippery slopes. Can people not have the money to adopt a pet and still be a good pet owner? Sure! Can someone not have a fence and still be a good dog owner? Sure! But like the dog rescues, we have to draw the line somewhere, because there ARE other people, where if they can't afford the adoption fee, they can't afford care. There's others where, if they can't afford the fence, they won't watch the dog. What it comes down to is this -- you just never know. So, we try to be careful, and we have to draw the line, somewhere. Not saying everyone has to like or agree with all of our fees and whatever, but they are what they are. That is all.
She kept coming up to the booth, checking with her parents (she lived with them in an apartment for the moment), coming back to see him / pet him, and so on. Back and forth. I guess she never convinced them, but she did take a card, so maybe I'll hear from her. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Read on.
Anyway, I wanted to quickly talk about a few things that were said, because I feel that it brings up important discussions.
She had asked what the adoption fee was. A single adult guinea pig is $25.
Later, I hear that she told my mom, "well, if he was $20, I'd just take him." Followed by, "but I only have $10 on me."
Now, let me start by saying that there's nothing wrong with someone having a budget... but if $5 is the difference between adopting or not adopting, like if that's THAT important to someone... I want to know how someone is going to pay the upkeep. Guinea pig food is EXPENSIVE. Do you know why we feed Oxbow Cavy Cuisine? Because quite a bit of the other foods out there are complete guinea pig junk food, and we'd rather not feed that... so for the good stuff, the cost adds up. If you're getting it at the pet store, it's like $15 for 3 pounds.. and with how much the guinea pigs eat, that goes quick! They're called "pigs" for a reason. And of course, let's not forget the veggies and hay and all that, as well, that adds to the cost of keeping a guinea pig as well. Heck, even if it wasn't a guinea pig -- for chinchillas -- food, hay, dust, chew toys, bedding.. all that is bound to run more than $5/month even if you're buying in bulk... so sometimes I cringe when I hear people that are like that with money, because I wonder if either they're either trying to budget (fine) or trying to scrimp, and then later may scrimp on the necessities, because maybe they just don't have the money (also fine.. but then I tend to think people should wait to get a pet, if money is really tight... better to save up the money in case of an emergency).
Now, about the $10 part. I didn't hear it first hand, so I don't know exactly how it was said or how she may have meant it However... there's been plenty of times where people see a chin listed for $200 and say, "well, I only brought $100 with me" (I would assume, suggesting I should take $100 for it, as they still want to see the chin). My response is usually, "we take cards" (and nowadays, most people do pay with cards). Does this really work for some people? That they suggest they have less, and the rescue is like, "ah what the hell, sure, name your price?" I mean... I would tend to think not... At a garage sale, if there's a $15 end table and I've got $10, sure, then, I may ask, hey would the take less. But at a rescue or adoption event, it just amazes me. In case it's maybe not clear, the rescue (and most rescues) are not that dying for animals to leave, that we'll cut our adoption fees in half for you (or whatever percentage). The adoption fees are set at an amount where we feel, if you can afford the adoption fee, you can afford the pet.
Now, that's not to say that someone couldn't splurge on the pet and not take care of it, or save up all year to buy the pet and then have nothing left over to care for it. Of course, there's no way to know, and we can't possibly think like that or we'd all go insane. I realize that saying, "well if they can afford the pet, they can afford the care," is sort of like dog rescues' arguments of "you need a fenced yard... because it must automatically make you an awesome pet owner or something..." Which if you know me, despite my fenced yard, I tend to disagree with that blanket statement... so I do get it's one of those slippery slopes. Can people not have the money to adopt a pet and still be a good pet owner? Sure! Can someone not have a fence and still be a good dog owner? Sure! But like the dog rescues, we have to draw the line somewhere, because there ARE other people, where if they can't afford the adoption fee, they can't afford care. There's others where, if they can't afford the fence, they won't watch the dog. What it comes down to is this -- you just never know. So, we try to be careful, and we have to draw the line, somewhere. Not saying everyone has to like or agree with all of our fees and whatever, but they are what they are. That is all.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
People's Behavior at Expos
Maybe it's me... maybe I was raised differently.
We had an expo the other day, and the second we were a few feet away from the booth and had our backs turned... we turned to look back at the booth, and had two people, elbow deep, in our guinea pig cage, trying to pet the guinea pig (who was, naturally, doing laps around the cage to get away).
Wait, what? Did that just really happen?
Again, maybe it's just me... but I was not taught to randomly open other people's cages. I was not taught to pet without asking. I was taught to ask -- and in this instance, where we may have not been readily visible to ask -- I would have NOT TOUCHED ANYTHING.
I clearly remember my parents telling me, time and time again, before we'd go somewhere that they KNEW I'd want to touch something, "Now, remember, don't touch." Words of wisdom. I knew not to touch. This isn't a bad thing, either. Kids touch all sorts of things that they shouldn't.
Best part, these weren't even little kids, these were like teenagers. Don't even get me started on how the newer generations think that they can do whatever they want.
This REALLY had my blood boiling, if you hadn't noticed. My mom made the suggestion to lock the cages, but that wouldn't have even helped, as this person had lifted the wire off the cage base. I mean, really?
And don't get me wrong, it's NOT that I don't want people petting our animals. Ask, and you shall receive. I may or may not get a chinchilla out at an expo if it's a rescue that's acting stressed, but other animals usually come out, and of course, here, you're welcome to pet whatever is available.
But... for all they knew, I could have brought an attack guinea pig. It could have been the rabbit from Monty Python, for all they knew. It could have had contagious diseases for all they knew. It could have had fungus which could have transferred to them. Did they ask? No. Did they care? Probably not. Did they even think about any of that? Probably not. No, they saw no one around and thought, "I can open that cage and pet that animal." How ridiculous that it's come to literally having to baby-sit people at these expos.
All I ask is that you ASK if you want to pet an animal. Do not just reach in and do it. Even if all is well -- maybe that animal doesn't want to be petted, and we know that. So, please ask, and you will learn. Thank you.
We had an expo the other day, and the second we were a few feet away from the booth and had our backs turned... we turned to look back at the booth, and had two people, elbow deep, in our guinea pig cage, trying to pet the guinea pig (who was, naturally, doing laps around the cage to get away).
Wait, what? Did that just really happen?
Again, maybe it's just me... but I was not taught to randomly open other people's cages. I was not taught to pet without asking. I was taught to ask -- and in this instance, where we may have not been readily visible to ask -- I would have NOT TOUCHED ANYTHING.
I clearly remember my parents telling me, time and time again, before we'd go somewhere that they KNEW I'd want to touch something, "Now, remember, don't touch." Words of wisdom. I knew not to touch. This isn't a bad thing, either. Kids touch all sorts of things that they shouldn't.
Best part, these weren't even little kids, these were like teenagers. Don't even get me started on how the newer generations think that they can do whatever they want.
This REALLY had my blood boiling, if you hadn't noticed. My mom made the suggestion to lock the cages, but that wouldn't have even helped, as this person had lifted the wire off the cage base. I mean, really?
And don't get me wrong, it's NOT that I don't want people petting our animals. Ask, and you shall receive. I may or may not get a chinchilla out at an expo if it's a rescue that's acting stressed, but other animals usually come out, and of course, here, you're welcome to pet whatever is available.
But... for all they knew, I could have brought an attack guinea pig. It could have been the rabbit from Monty Python, for all they knew. It could have had contagious diseases for all they knew. It could have had fungus which could have transferred to them. Did they ask? No. Did they care? Probably not. Did they even think about any of that? Probably not. No, they saw no one around and thought, "I can open that cage and pet that animal." How ridiculous that it's come to literally having to baby-sit people at these expos.
All I ask is that you ASK if you want to pet an animal. Do not just reach in and do it. Even if all is well -- maybe that animal doesn't want to be petted, and we know that. So, please ask, and you will learn. Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)