Hello all,
This is my first post on this site, and I am sincerely disappointed that it has to be this one.
I was directed to this post by a very kind member of the forum, who took the time to email me regarding the situation and the negative things that were being said about me.
I realize that the "rescue" page sounds terrible. I highly debated even posting it. I can guarantee you that I have never ONCE bred a rescue chinchilla or hedgehog. All of my stock comes from reputable breeders in the Northeast; I have pedigree and/or lineage data for all of my animals.
The reason that it is worded in this way is primarily for the reptile rescue. It isn't completely unheard of to be surrendered stock that is suitable for breeding. I want to be upfront with people who may potentially surrender a snake. Ultimately, though, this hasn't happened and it was probably just a stupid thing to write, since it makes me sound like a scumbag who takes in crappy, rescued animals and breeds them. I'm not. I will repeat; I have NEVER bred a rescued animal.
As far as the OP, I ended up canceling the sale of the hedgehog to her as I became highly questioning of her ability to care for an animal. I was never "perturbed" to answer her questions -- I probably have five dozen emails from her answering all of her questions patiently. I may have seem guarded towards her as I was questioning her age and ability this entire time, and just waited WAY too long to cancel the sale.
As far as being a veterinary student -- yup, this is 100% true. If a moderator wants to contact me for my full, legal name and institution, I am happy to provide this so that you can verify it independently. I don't know why this fact seems so hard for people to believe ...
And yes, you are right that I need to change the information about the treats (I think I was overzealous about posting cautionary words about treats, having heard horror stories about people feeding chinchillas totally inappropriate treats like candy...) There are other, perfectly valid treats out there. In fact, all of my info could probably use an overhaul. As of this moment, I have removed my care guides from my website, pending some significant proofreading.
If there is anything else I can do to convince this community that I am a reputable breeder, please let it be known. I have local references within New England who could speak to my character. I am deeply concerned with not letting my reputation be ruined by someone who, in the end, I did not even deem responsible enough to sell an animal to.
Thank you for your time and for keeping an open mind. I hope that the community here will be willing to work with me to help me make this right in ANY way that I can.