Chins with Ferrets? NO!

[jdb411]

I'm so frustrated! I'm interested in adopting another girl chin and although I have nothing against breeders, I just prefer to adopt chins that are no longer wanted or can no longer be cared for in their current situation. I have two single ladies that I adore. I responded to a Craigslist ad for a female chinchilla who is being rehomed because her owner is moving (her second owner in 2 years). The owner contacted me with photos and let me know that her chin girl "loves" playing with ferrets. WHAT? Ferrets are predators that hunt and attack rodents. She said the ferrets love to chase her chin and her chin has a great time wall running to get out of their reach. More like her chin is running for her life! Then, she goes on to tell me that it's not a good idea to introduce a chinchilla with rabbits because she tried that too and the rabbit attacked. I very gently counseled this young woman about exposing chinchillas to ferrets, I kept my mouth shut about the rabbit. As gentle as I was about this, I guess I still offended because she stood me up today for our initial meet and greet. I so badly want to go get this girl before something happens to her. Hopefully, she ends up in a better home. Next time something like this comes up, I'll keep my mouth shut on all of it and immediatly go get the chinchilla. I don't claim to know it all, but I have made it a point to educate myself with these sweet animals and I'm still learning new things and gaining new ideas....but come on....would you put a child in a tigers cage and hope for the best? :zipped1:

 

[addictedtochins]

Get a friend to help you adopt them so you can have a diff phone number and e-mail. She isn't going to ask for ID so make up another name too. Good Luck, let us know what happens

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I agree with 'addictedtochins' - fake your name and get someone else to help and don't say a thing about anything she is/was doing with her chin. I learned a long time ago when get rescues to keep my mouth shut no matter what so I can get the chins out of the situation. A good friend of mine who helps me with rescues and I once rescued 16 chins in a very bad situation from someone who was obviously 'crazy'. We work real fast in getting the chins loaded in my van and got out of there real quick. We just nodded our heads and agreed with everything she said. We were such nervous wreaks that we stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts to get some coffee to calm our nerves after picking up the chins.

 

[ticklechin]

Its a gag fest when you pick up rescues and see the situtation they are and and actually have to give the owner a hug and tell them you will try to find them a great home like this. Just put on that happy face and say yes to any dumb thing the owner says.

 

[jdb411]

You guys are great. Seriously - I learned my lesson on this. What a great idea....I'm just not that sneaky! Okay, I will log on to my son's email, give a different name and set up time to meet. She's likes to text info, so I'll switch phones with him today. New email, new name, new number and a sneaky rescue mission! I'll let you know if it works! Thanks!!

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

good luck

 

[ChinnyMom]

i hope the sneakiness works and you get this chin!

 

[EMSChins]

I agree - I had to be sneaky to get a chin back that my daughter bred and sold and then I later saw being sold on Craigslist. When I inquired they told me that the chin had been bred by Shoots and not locally but yet it had the same name that my daughter had given it and the same birthdate. It is a very distinctively marked extreme mosaic so kind of hard to miss. On top of that when I asked if it was pedigreed they gave me the information and it still had our ranch branch - yet they still insisted it was a Shoots animal. I requested to purchase the animal back and they refused. I then made up an e-mail on google and sent an inquiry, 2 days later I went, purchased and picked up the animal. They didn't even recognize me from when they bought the animal a year earlier. I just nodded and played nice when they handed me the crap food and crap snacks, I refused the crap cage and told them I already had one and threw it all in the trash when I got home. She is now in much better hands. the only reason they refused to sell her to me as the breeder was that they were embarrassed that they decided that she was a throw away pet and advertised her on Craigslist and didn't want to face me. i just wanted to make sure she came back to a good home. Good luck and I hope you are able to rescue her.

 

[LoveBug]

Good luck
I hope you get it.

 

[Jenn]

Good luck with the sneaky approach. Let us know what happens!

 

[jdb411]

EMS chins - It's crazy they didn't recognize you. I'm so glad you were able to get her out of there. As an update - I did send an email inquiry from my son's email and now I'm just waiting for a response. She did mention limited internet access when I talked to her on the phone, so it may be a day or so before I hear anything - if I do at all.

It's nuts because she advertised the chin as female, but when I asked if she was sure she was female, she hesitated and said, "well, I guess not, I was told she was female".
I can only have females or a neutered male because as cute as little kits are, I'm not an experienced breeder and I really just have interest in chinchillas as pets. At this point though, I don't care if the chin ends up to be a male. The poor thing just needs to be in a safe home. I would just place him in a responsible home later....maybe. Or have him neutered? I don't know yet.

 

[ChinnyMom]

i wouldn't neuter a chin just so he could live with females. no sense in doing unnecessary surgery that could potentially come with complications. much easier to just house a male separately and give him his playtime on his own with no female chins.

 

[liewwan]

Good luck, hope you get the chin.

 

[jdb411]

Because I keep females only, neutering males is something I've never researched. I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and would definatly spend the time educating myself on the subject if she ended up to be a he.

 

[Airyn]

You don't even need a friend... just a new email address and a Google Voice account. Both are free and you can pick your number. It's incredibly useful if you need to have a phone number online for a home business as well.

Good luck!

 

[CJR]

Also another thing to be careful about with rabbits and chinchillas (not playing together, I just mean keeping them in the same airspace) involves a bacteria that resides in a rabbit's gut. It's natural and normal for them, but can really hurt a chinchilla and make them very sick. If anyone does have rabbits and chins, keep them far apart.

 

[greychins]

I agree with everyone else - when getting a rescue, you just need to kind of bite your tongue and not say what you're really thinking. Here, we call it the "smile and nod," and maybe add an "oh, that's interesting" every so often. Like when we got in rescue that we being fed potato chips, popcorn, raisins, chocolate, and grapes (and ONLY those foods, no pellets, no hay) and being given beer in her water bottle... and the lady's like "oh and she likes beer, oh, and her favorite food is chocolate!!" I was just like "oh really? I hadn't heard of a chin liking that before..." smile, nod, and leave it alone. After all, I know that I'm going to be getting the chin into a better situation (away from there) so there's sort of no point to educate, as they are getting rid of the pet. I wouldn't want to make anyone feel stupid and then have them say, forget it, you can't take the chin to the rescue...

Good luck with getting the chin! And btw, the other email address with a fake name does wonders on occasion...