Giving Chins as Christmas Gifts

Sandi said:

I just got 2 babies for my daughter, and yes they were a gift but she's been around chins for 7 out of 11 years of her life. Secretly though, in my mind, they're mine !

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Sandi, this is how we got addicted to the lil guys too. We did research before hand and my kids have been around animals all their lives, but secretly, they were kind of for me too. :thumbsup:

Susan, just sell us all wood and toys during the month of December! And I agree with all of you, no pets as surprise gifts period. Its just a disaster waiting to happen.

Pets should not be a gift! I do agree there are acceptations such as maybe a wife or hubby been wanting a dog or something and you keep saying no, then surprise them for their birthday.
But over all pets should not be gifts because they will end up somewhere where their life is on the line.

For my birthday turning 12 My parents got me a dog. They took me to the pound and let me pick out my new best friend. We played for over a hour as the lady told me how to take care of him...But I have always loved animals, done what ever I could for any animals I would catch frogs and keep them for a week get them the crickets and feed them then let them go.

I've been getting alot of emails asking for rescues or babies for Chistmas gifts too. I just tell them chins get too stressed out when they get to their new home and there is tons of activities (like parties and opening gifts, ect) that they are not good to get as a gift. If they still want a chinchilla then they can bring the family member out who it's for, see all I have available and put a deposit down. Give them all the supplies for the gift and then AFTER the holidays are over (sometime in January) they can come pick up their chinchilla. It will give them all time to get everything ready and be prepared and the chin won't have to be stressed out with all that's happening during the holiday season and the "new owner" will have picked out the one that they want!
I just delete emails that say things like "how much call me xxxxxxx" or "i want to pick a baby chinchilla up on dec 24 what do you have".....it just irritates me and I don't want to be rude to people so I just delete the emails, they are just not worth my time!

I got a full grown cat as a christmas present when I was a kid and it was a terrible experience, Christmas day is hectic enough without throwing a poor animal into the mix. I currently have an accidental hamster litter (gahh, the one time I fail at sexing animals I get a litter) that will be ready for their new homes soonish but I plan on waiting until after Christmas before I even attempt to find them homes to lessen the chance of an impulse adoption although I do have one family who may be interested in two of them, the kids are sweet and have wanted a hamster for months so I´m arranging to have them over a few days before Christmas to pick out their babies and I´ve been updating them with pics so they get to feel involved until their babies can come home in January.

That said, I am in the process of upgrading my chins to a larger cage which means I have a spare cage all fitted out and ready just incase I come across the perfect chin, I caught my boyfriend sniffing around the classified section but he has the common sense to wait until after Christmas day to `surprise`me. Could be wishfull thinking on my part, especially since I told him I would be happy with a large order of fleece and toys for my Christmas present and I think he is quietly jealous of the animals we already have since they get showered with so much love

Yeah I know what you mean with the jealousy. I made the mistake of calling Annie Boo Bear...Aj's pet name! Boy did I pay for that! He ignored me for the whole day. ROFL

LOL, men are babies I got annoyed at Matt because he left dirty dishes all over the house the other day and he was all quiet for a few hours and then eventually came out with ´Why are you always angry at me, the chins can do anything and you never take it out on them´

Silly boy doesnt realise that they are animals and don´t know any better so of course I will forgive them for biting/pooping on me/chewing the walls.

I believe a parent can surprise their child with a pet for Christmas, or another occasion, but only doing so knowing the maturity of the child, and the responsibility of the parent to co care for this pet. I don't think a pet, in any other situation, is meant to be given as a surprise gift to someone. One, you're assuming this person wants a pet in the first place, and you're also assuming this person will properly care for this pet. So in general, I agree that animals should never be a surprise gift.

On the side, on Halloween, we talked with a mother who was trick or treating with her son, and her son went up to a house for candy, and was given a baby bunny. He brought the bucket with the bunny back to his mom, who immediately made him give it back to the homeowner. I couldn't believe that! Poor bunny, I wonder how many times he had been given away and returned that night...

I've done animal rescue for a few years now, so my suggestion is always to give a gift card or the proper supplies for the pet someone wants with a tag that says "We'll go pick out your new (________) on Monday." Thankfully I haven't fostered or bred anything people would want as a "Christmas Present" or I'd probably be ready to snap by this point too. I'll second or third the idea of a statement on the website about Christmas is too stressful for the pets given as gifts and makes it harder for them to become a family member like they deserve, and then screening calls. If the consumer won't do what's best for the pet, then I believe it's up to the breeder/rescue to keep the animals safe.

I'd be tempted with some of the ruder/dumber types to blacklist them for down the road too, depending on how they react to your refusal. If they come back with the same attitude that "It's just a rodent, why is it $125? You're a greedy blahblahblah" then you can flag/block them, but if they come back around February or March and say, "Can we try this again now that the holidays are over? My 14 year old daughter really wants a chinchilla," you have the option of trying to work with the ones that seem more sensible.

Jenn said:

On the side, on Halloween, we talked with a mother who was trick or treating with her son, and her son went up to a house for candy, and was given a baby bunny. He brought the bucket with the bunny back to his mom, who immediately made him give it back to the homeowner. I couldn't believe that! Poor bunny, I wonder how many times he had been given away and returned that night...

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That's just awful! I can't BELIEVE someone would do something like that! We get rabbits pushed off on us all the time because people know we rescue and we get them for the most ridiculous reasons, so I can believe it. Still, that poor bunny!

Wow that must be so frustrating. Just like a puppy or a kitten... they surprise someone with it and then they get bored and get rid of it. It's ridiculous. And its makes me kinda mad that ALL some people want is the cute little babies... I mean it's fine to want a baby but they could at least think about giving an older pet a home since people don't pay much attention to them.

I think the idea you have to have the person getting it come to you and pick it out is a good one, or since you're busy maybe shutting it down in December is a good idea.

Good luck!

If I had 20 more kits ready to go right now... I bet I could sell them all by the end of the week. I've been getting emails right and left, and I had a couple who had a beige reserved, it prolapsed and now I'm trying to find a replacement for them with another breeder... but no one else has any kits available either.

I have a gal driving down from Denver tomorrow to look at two chins I have... one I was thinking about keeping, the other is a year old male. It's been really crazy this year!

Oh Lordy. Yes, Christmas isn't so cheery for pets.

I got my first dog for Christmas when I was four or five. But he was from family friends and two years old. We had cabins by each other and I would go play with the dog so I knew him and had been asking for one for years. They had gotten him for an elderly parent who couldn't take care of him eventually.
At least my parents went about it in a good way.

One thing I was always taught was that animals aren't disposable-- they're yours forever. I loved that ornery pooch for fourteen years and walked him every day.

I agree that animals should never be a total surprise gift. Unless, like other people have said, it was known that the person really wanted one (spouse/significant other/ child) and you held off on giving them the pet until their birthday or Christmas.

I got Pola from my boyfriend for my birthday 2 years ago, but I was browsing Jags sales list, and showed him the picture and how cute he was and Darren said if I really wanted him, he would buy him for my birthday. So, wasn't a total surprise and I was the one who picked him, got his supplies and picked him up.

I bought my friend a chin for her birthday, but she had one chinchilla already, and had been adoring the chin on the forum here for a while, and was so sad when someone showed interest in purchasing him. I talked to the person who was interested, and explained how enamored my friend was with him and how she really had fallen in love with him. Said person said they were fine with letting me buy him instead (they were buying him to breed, if I recall correctly) Which was very kind of them. I talked to my friend first, Ok'd everything with her, then went ahead and paid for him and arranged getting him.

There are rare occasions where pets are ok to give as gifts. But it should only be done if you are 100% positive the pet is wanted, will be cared for, and won't end up back at the shelter or a rescue. And you can't really know that unless the person knows about the pet to some extent, or if you're the parent of a responsible child, who is willing to take over care if the child does get tired of it.

So, they fixed our phone sometime yesterday after the storm knocked it out...or they fixed some broken cable. Nearly four days without a phone was interesting.

As soon as the phone came back on the phone calls started again. I wasn't home but I suspect it rang all day. My cell phone rang quite a bit when I was gone, but I only answered the numbers I recognized. Strangely enough I only got one message!

I have decided that I am not going to have any time for visits to see the chins until after the 26th. Even if I had the kits to sell, I wouldn't do it because I just don't want to deal with it.

I got my first chinchilla as a surprise Christmas present when I was 9. It was a white mosaic female. That was the best Christmas ever! Obviously, my situation was much different then most everyone else. I grew up with my Grandpa Chapin Hand, having over 500 chins and my Dad having over 100 chins and I helped feed, hay, and clean cages for both of them since I was 8. They waited 1 year, while I helped with the chores every day, before they surprised me with a chin of my own on Christmas. Even though a chinchilla was the perfect Christmas gift for me at 9 and started a life long passion for raising chinchillas that continues on for me today, I do feel that live pets of any kind are usually a really bad idea as a Christmas gift for a child unless the parents agree upfront that they want it for the whole family and will be responsible for its care. Even then, it probably doesn't work out in a lot of cases. I just thought I'd share my chinchilla Christmas present story with everyone. I do not condone it for anyone else. I know the negative stories of Christmas chins far outweigh the positive ones like mine.

I haven't had any present calls yet this year. This has probably been the slowest year of contacts I have had, but no matter. I have a had a couple recently but I haven't had what they were looking for so they are waiting for babies to be born. I did have one "I want for Christmas" one last year and I probably answered 300 questions for that mom and she followed every instruction to a T and they got their boys. Unfortunately it worked out that one broke it's leg in some freak accident in the cage a few months later (I'd seen pictures of the cage and still not sure how it could have happened) and the vet care was outrageous so they did as much as they could to get him stable and out of pain, and then turned them both over to a rescue so they could stay together. they were heartbroken but just couldn't afford any more, as it looked like the pinning wasn't going to work.

I would never let anyone surprise anyone with a chin Christmas or no. Just way too much of a commitment.

I also received my first chinchilla as a birthday/Christmas gift as my birthday is the day after Christmas. I was only 7, but I cared for all the animals we had- our chickens, dogs- everything. So my parents knew that I would love it. Snowball was a violet male, and he shortly had a standard companion named Angel. Snowball didn't live very long as he developed seizures, but this is how I got started with chinchillas and it was the best gift I ever received

I'm a parent who is getting my daughter a chin for Christmas... I however know how my daughter is knowing I have 4 dogs a cat and a goldfish... If it wasn't for my daughter wanting a chin I wouldn't of got into them like I have... I'm addicted to this forum..lol.. Not only are we buying a chin for my daughter for Christmas my boyfriend is buying me a chin that has become best friends with the chin we bought for my daughter so they wont be lonely and 2 is always better then one right?..lol I know my daughter will help take care of the chin but not by herself.... That's what mom is for...lol...

I am giving my 3 granddaughters a chin for Christmas. These girls love my chins and handle them every time they come to visit. They had a little hamster that they loved. The little guy passed away about 2 months ago. He just got old (3years old!). The chinchilla will be a surprise for the girls, but not for the parents (my daughter and son in law). It was my daughter's idea in the first place and I know that she will be the one who takes care of the chinchilla. I have caught her in the past reading over the information packet that I give to all of my customers and my daughter always has to check out the chins and hold them when she is here. IMO, the chin is really something my daughter wants and she is just using the girls' interest in them to get hubby to say yes.