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Trust me, you are much better off not going onto craigslist!.Although you sometimes can find awesome deals on stuff like ferret nation cages or big bird cages that work well for chins with a little adjustments. I used to check obsessively in case one of my chins ended up on there....luckily it seems to almost always be pet store chin impulse buys that end up there, not chins from breeders. There will always be homes for high quality chins, you hardly ever see champions or even pedigreed chins needing homes, it is almost always pet stores since they don't educate the buyer. Good breeders will not sell to just anyone, pet stores will.
 
ive heard of it but i always thought it was only sellers in your area that sold stuff. being i live in a small town/state i never bothered. in your opinion how do the fn cages work for people with quite a few chins? how are the bar spacing, litter pans?
 
ive heard of it but i always thought it was only sellers in your area that sold stuff. being i live in a small town/state i never bothered. in your opinion how do the fn cages work for people with quite a few chins? how are the bar spacing, litter pans?

I like them for growing out chins and weaning. I split it in half and give about 3 same sex just weaned kits 1/2 the cage. I used to cover them in chicken wire but now just make sure the kits are over 250 grams first, or 300 if I want to be really safe or they are sneaky! I would not use them for breeding, but they work well for trios, weaning, etc. The bar spacing is 1" x 6" maybe and could be seen as dangerous, but I have not had any problems. Just weaned kits may escape though. I have bass pans so cleanup is pretty easy, although I will take pull out pans anyday!
 
Alright mine is a pretty good one, but scary

A guy called us asking about fur coats and said he wanted one. I told him our chins are not for coats and then hung up.

Then the next day he called saying he wanted 5 chins for his daughter. We kindly said no, we want them to go to good homes and that we don't like to sell our chins in bulk. (lol)

Then! the next day He called again saying he had five daughters and he wanted a chin for each of them!


We blocked his number that day
 
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I've had people email and ask me dumb questions because they were trying to get a rise out of me. One idiot emailed and asked if someone could raise chins for meat and live off of them.

It's getting to the point where 80% of the emails and phone calls I get are from people I want nothing to do with at all. People wanting to breed any and every chin that they have get angry at me for not wanting to sell them anything.

One girl got soooo angry she called me PETA and told me "I do not require your service." Whatever the hell that one means. I wasn't mean to her at all, she just exploded and made a complete idiot out of herself. I felt bad because I had a feeling that she was really frustrated by life, but it isn't nice to take it out on other people when they are trying to help.
 
I have been officially banned from Craigslist, I have such a soft heart I want to bring them all home. Knowing that I cant is frustrating.
 
I had a kit that was the runt of triplets. I had to hand feed him, even when a tornado hit and we were without power for five days. I heated the formula over a candle and used a flashlight at night.

I came across a couple that really wanted a chinchilla, because she was allergic to most animals. They came over for about an hour and we discussed care, and I let her hold the chinchillas. She handled the hay and dust as well to make sure she didn't have a reaction. I wasn't going to sell Mikey, because he was my miracle baby. The couple was just so enthusiastic and seemed like they would give him a very good home. They bought and renovated a ferret nation. So, I decided that Mikey would have a good home with them.

A few weeks ago, I see an ad on craigslist for him. They said they were moving and that the lady had allergy problems with him. I didn't have three hundred to spend on him and his cage. Luckily, I have a friend that needed a new fn, so she purchased the cage, and I was able to get my little man back. He was skittish, dirty, and obviously wasn't given hay because it took him at least a week to go near it. Now he is back to his normal happy self. He won't be going anywhere!
 
Wow! I always worry when I see CL ads in my area that it could be one of my babies. So far that hasn't happened (knock on wood). I actually have not had many problems with my past buyers, thank goodness. I have had some pretty obnoxious prospective buyers, but I have been lucky that all of the people I have sold to have been, for the most part, very loving and responsible with their pets.

Kristin, it's really amazing that you got that little kit through, even with a tornado (yikes!) I have handfed kits before so I know how hard it is, I can't imagine having to try to do it without electricity!
 
Awww...Kristin, I'm sorry to hear that! People are such scum sometimes. I know that I have been lied to repeatedly by people. They sign a contract that the chins will come back to me or that they will contact me and let me approve the new home, but their signature and word mean nothing because....they are scum and will always be lying scum. :) I spend hours with people, I go over everything carefully and help them and they still feel the need to lie and be jerks.

Handfeeding kits is very daunting. Good job with little Mr. Mikey.
 
AZChins, if you have a contract can't that be taken to court though?
 
I actually thought I had that in my contract, but when I looked it over, I didn't. Since this happened, I revised mine.

I don't think they were bad people, just young. They did a lot of research ahead of time, but I don't think in the long run, they thought they could deal with them. I don't think they didn't bathe him because they were mean, I think it had to do with her allergies messing up. At least I got him back though!
 
Yes, I can take them to court and they would be responsible for their lying. I will take people to court and I have threatened it many, many times for people that were selling the chins. The only time that I can do anything is when I find out what people are doing. I take them aside every time I sell a chin and I tell them to contact me even if it is 10 years later. I want to know where my babies are going and I want to make sure that they end up with decent people. But, yes, I will take people to court in a heartbeat!

Kristin, those people have no excuse, they should have contacted you first. I am glad that you were able to take him back, but the people should have been responsible enough to at least give you a two minute phone call.
 
I have several stories.
1. All of our chins came from CL. Carmen actually came from a family who took good care of her, so she was in very good shape when we got her. Minnie and Trousers were a different story. We drove an hour to pick up Minnie, who was labeled as "sweet and loves to be held and petted". When we got to the house, we were greeted by no fewer than 6 yappy little dogs, several cages that included anything from sugar gliders to chins, and a nasty aquarium. Minnie was in a tiny cage with a chewed up plastic igloo. The woman proceeded to show us how easy she was to handle by yanking her out of the cage by her tail and hold her tight. Needless to say, we paid our money and left. Minnie was skin and bone - she had been fed the wrong food, given hay harvested by the owner from a nearby field, and had no wood to chew on. As we left, we saw Trousers - shaking and scared in another cage. The woman had tried to breed her repeatedly due to how "rare" she was, and she was beaten up because of this (come to find out, she was under a year old for most of these attempted breedings). My husband and I weren't ready for a third chin, so we left with Minnie. After her month long quarantine, we were back for Trousers. This time we were better prepared for what we were going to see, but it didn't help much. You could feel every one of Trouser's bones, including all of her ribs and vertebrae. Needless to say, after a few months of ridiculous spoiling and good food, she is one chubby chilla! Both Minnie and Trousers were very hesitant to receive pets or treats from my husband and I (Minnie even sprayed my husband), but now they are both happy and healthy (in fact, right now they are having a wheel duel: Minnie in the downstairs of the FN and Trousers in the upstairs! It's very noisy around here at night!) ;)

2. A few of you may remember my trying to find a foster for a woman who was going to take her chin to the humane society rather than give it to a responsible rescuer. She said she was so desperate, and I spent over 2 hours trying to find someone to help her. Finally (with the help of several members), help was found, and the woman wouldn't even drive to meet the rescuer! I tried to explain how stressful it would be for a chin to be at a humane society, and I even said if she could wait until the weekend, I would come and get her. She said she was just going to drop her off in the drop box that night rather than wait! I spent the next day calling humane societies near her to find her, but I guess she changed her mind. I got in contact with her and tried to convince her to drop her rehoming fee in the best interest of the animal. She refused, and proceeded to yell at me for "accusing" her of "being in it for the money" (kinda still sounds to me like she was). Last I heard, her niece had her chin... hope she's doing well... :(
3. Finally, my last story is the one I posted recently. The ag teacher at my school needed someone to chin sit over the summer. I went to see the chins, and they were in a horrible cage, had no wood to chew, and had never gotten hay to eat. Their food looked like Trix cereal! I immediately decided to take these girls, and I'm still deciding on how to break it to the Ag teacher that they shouldn't be back in the fall. They are used as a project, and only the students take care of them. One of them is missing about half of her tail, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a student might have been responsible. Surprisingly, these two girls are the sweetest little girls you'll find! We have been calling them Daisy and Peach, and the husband is definitely cool with the idea of keeping them!
 
3. Finally, my last story is the one I posted recently. The ag teacher at my school needed someone to chin sit over the summer. I went to see the chins, and they were in a horrible cage, had no wood to chew, and had never gotten hay to eat. Their food looked like Trix cereal! I immediately decided to take these girls, and I'm still deciding on how to break it to the Ag teacher that they shouldn't be back in the fall. They are used as a project, and only the students take care of them. One of them is missing about half of her tail, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a student might have been responsible. Surprisingly, these two girls are the sweetest little girls you'll find! We have been calling them Daisy and Peach, and the husband is definitely cool with the idea of keeping them!

I hope you get to keep them! Chins should not be kept as "projects" for kids. Ugh.
 
One time I sold two chins to someone as pets, and they seemed like a really good owner. A month after they got the chins, they emailed me to say that the one had to be put down. I asked why? They said well she had two broken back legs and had brain damage.

Then they requested that I replace the chin with another for free. I said no. I asked them if the chin left my place like that(duh, the chin didn't.)...they said no. I said well then no, I will not replace. They complained they would ruin my reputation for not replacing the chin...well I didn't care. I have not heard from them since. For all I knew, they might have beat the chinchilla, since two broken back legs and brain damage doesn't sound like the chin was well cared for.

Another time, like 9 years ago, I sold a little violet girl to someone on the mainland. A few weeks passed and the girl came down sick with a cold. The owner took her to a vet(not sure who), and the vet advised feeding orange juice and banana chips to the chin and didn't give any antibiotics or nothing.
The owner went crazy on me, saying it was my fault, that the chin came over with a cold(she didn't.). Anywho, I argued to get baytril and to quit giving that junk, and she insisted her vet knew best. Sure enough the chin died... and of course, they blamed me for that too. :rolleyes:
 
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