Prospective buyers

[ABBY W.]

I hope I am putting this in the right place, if not please move it to the right category.

I was just wondering if anyone else finds it creepy when someone wants to buy a kit sight unseen? I have had several people recently email me saying they wanted to buy a kit without having visited or even seeing a picture of them. It just makes me feel uneasy. I usually have at least one in person visit and multiple emails with prospective buyers. Someone who doesn't ask any questions about me, my credentials or breeding practices or the background of the animals makes me very worried that they don't have a clue what they are doing and aren't all that serious about it.

Most recently, I had a guy email saying he wanted two particular kits (brother and sister) and was planning on keeping them in the same cage together. When I pointed out they shoud be separated to avoid inbreeding, he replied "Well, I will have a long time before they reach sexual maturity, so I'm not worried about it." Yikes! :err:

Do you guys think I am being overreactive and reading too much into this? Or do you worry whent his happens, too?

 

[Brea]

I don't sell to people like that. I do my best to talk to them and offer info even if they don't ask. Its not the easy way to sell chins but IMO its deffinetly the best.

 

[tristanichole]

No way! You're not reading too much into it at all! When someone wants ANY animal sight unseen it worries me. Don't sell to anyone who does that. I always want to see what I'm getting. And the guy who said that about the brother and sister and sexual maturity is obviously an uneducated idiot...sorry, but that's just how I feel. I bred ONE time and the babies were boy and girl and were separated at 8 weeks on the day.

Recently I inquired about a kit from some guy on the net. He had three baby kits and when I wrote and asked if there were any males he said...quote "as far as telling what gender they are, it is impossible to tell at their age with out a blood test"
Insane...there is a person who shouldn't be breeding...I sent him pictures of the differences between sexes and tried to give him the correct info and he blew me off completely.

 

[mishellyshel]

i'm not a breeder but i wouldnt buy any pet or any thing without looking at it and checking out the "seller". i dont trust people. there are a lot of sick, sick people out there and two words always come to my mind when people are sneaky: snake food

 

[ABBY W.]

He couldn't tell the sex without a blood test?! What a wacko! It makes me so mad when people bring animals into their homes without knowing anything about them, and breeding them when you are uneducated is so much worse! I have seen chinchillas suffer and die from bad heart murmurs and malocclusion. I wish those people could be forced to see the destruction they cause with their irresponsible choices.

Anyway, thanks for your answers guys. I tend to get a little worked up and overreact sometimes, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing that here.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I think sometimes we tend to underestimate our gut feelings - if it doesn't feel right I know it's not right...and then there are just idiots like this guy

Letting babies go is always nerve racking when you don't know the people well...

 

[starleomach]

If I have a bad feeling I just don't reply

 

[tristanichole]

Kristy, I've done that too...or I just say its gone.

 

[TOJO]

If I'm talking to first time chin shoppers, I direct them to this forum to read and learn. That's what we did on chins & quills 11 years ago when we got our first chinnies. If they follow through and call me back, I can feel much better about their desire to be responsible chin parents.