Selling breeding pairs to people

[kathiva]

Hi

The reason why I am posting this is because I have been getting lots of e-mails lately about people wanting to get a breeding pair, and I mean, people that I know is either their first or second time purchasing a chinchilla because they have said it.

For example, I got an e-mail lately about purchasing a female chinchilla, which I said that there might be chances that she is pregnant that's why I would need to think about selling her or not at the moment, and would actually rather not sell her if she was, but as soon as I mentioned that she was with a male a few weeks ago and now she is being housed alone, the person wanted to know if I could sell the male with her, and I said no, because I didn't want to sell that male and then she wanted to know if I had a breeding pair for sale.

Well I said that I did not feel comfortable in selling breeding pairs because I didn't know if the person had enough experience with chinchillas and with breeding them so I refused to sell to this person. I tried to offer to sell just the female or maybe a pair of the same sex, but the person said that she would look somewhere else.

Do you guys think that I have been doing right in not selling breeding pairs? I know I could also sell the one male or one female and they would still get a mate, but I figured that at least I won't be responsible for selling them a pair and then they don't know what to do.

How do you guys handle customers like that? Do you think that these people will end up doing competition with you and do a lot of backyard breeding? or do you think that they should still get some help and educate them a bit about breeding chins?

thanks

 

[Vyxxin]

This is a personal moral dilemma. If you do not personally want to be responsible (or at least have it on your conscience) then continue to do what you're doing. It doesn't hurt to not sell breeding pairs...as far as helping, well, people aren't always the brightest and will do want they want anyhow. Your best bet is choosing the most responsible owners regardless of singles, pairs or same sex pairs. This helps ensure they'll do the right thing no matter what they encounter. Hope that makes sense

 

[ticklechin]

If people want to breed they will breed, they will just get your female and some other male so what is the difference really, once you sell that chin its not your animal anymore to control.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

However if I know they are planning on breeding I will not sell them any chin unless they are planning on doing it responsively. Yes, I know there are times when they lie and then breed anyway. I have had it happen. I can't control that but I can do the best I can to make sure my chins go to good responsible home. Most of the time I will NOT sell breeding pairs.

 

[poetrue]

I think what chins you sell and how you sell them is your personal choice and if you don't feel comfortable selling breeding pairs, then don't do it.

I occasionally have breeding pairs for sale and they almost always go to other breeders that I already know and have worked with in the past. Occasionally I will sell to another breeder at a show that I don't know much about.

If I have someone completely unknown asking for opposite sexed chins, I will start asking lots of questions and always suggest same-sex pairs. I don't know how many I've talked with that simply thought chins couldn't be paired up in same-sex pairs.

Cheryl

 

[Vyxxin]

That's a good point too, recently had a gentleman asking for an opposite sex pair for his daughter (teenage) I asked why he wanted to breed and he told me that he didn't want to breed wasn't ready for that YET...I informed him that opposite sex can and will breed and that you cannot tell when they're in heat easily to separate or whatnot (he assumed they could like dogs) Well, after the info and w/o my persuading...he asked about a same sex pair instead

 

[greychins]

I've had the same thing happen - people don't often realize that same sex pairs can get along.

Course, there are always those who say that they don't want to breed, but then in reality when you suggest a same sex pair... Like I had this woman once who had a male chin and was looking to adopt a rescue. She said she wanted a female, and we had a female for adoption, but I told her, hey, she's a rescue, she can't go to a breeding home. She swore up and down she didn't want to breed, but that she KNEW that only a female would get along with her male. Uh-huh. So, I told her, well, I won't adopt you out a female cause male + female = babies, but I'd try to find her a male that would work with her male. She said "no thank you" and hung up.

Those type of people aggravate me. I'm not against people breeding or anything and I'm glad to help people if someone wants to know where to get pedigreed chins and wants to know how to do it the right way. But the problem is, a million people out there want to breed with the cheapest chins they can find.

I've been asked about selling breeding pairs before, and I once did sell a male/female pair which hadn't produced in years. But the person they went to was not even remotely interested in them as a breeding pair, they just wanted pets and the two were being sold as a pair only. As for selling breeding pairs... well, we don't have that many chins that we can typically sell two breeders at once. We have a whopping 8 breeder chins (the other half of our 16ish are non-breeding pets), and for the most part, I like them all and want them all to stay here. If we decide to retire one, we may sell it, we may not, but I wouldn't pull a whole breeding pair and sell it. Crud, I only have 3 nice pedigreed quality males! But I just wouldn't do it to the average person. Say someone I knew well on the forum, another breeder perhaps, wanted a breeding pair, that would be different, but the average joe isn't getting two of my breeder chins. I think that when we adopt out rescues and when we sell pedigreed chins, we screen pretty well... but if I had to screen for someone who I thought would be a good breeder? I'd never sell a breeding pair to anyone. I suppose I just don't trust people that much. Too many people out there think it's just fast cash and it's not.

But the second I put up an ad for a pedigreed chin, we always get "hey you got a male/female to go along with that?" Heck, I suppose that isn't even restricted to pedigreed chins, I get that when people see the rescues for adoption.

So I suppose this all boils down to no, I would likely not sell breeding pairs to people.