Getting numbers of chins in a short period of time?

[Megan]

Being a member of the forums since 2000 I have seen it again and again the 0-60 in 5 seconds then the ad comes in the classifieds with some OMG excuse why they need to get rid of them. Then the buy back of more chins later, then the dump. It goes for breeders and pet owners, both have been guilty.

Been around almost as long as you.. and this is the one thing I've hated over the years. And you are right, they are the ones who sell out for some excuse, and a few months later are back with a full sized herd!

It's amazing how many people go from 0-50+ and are gone within a few months, then are back again... Wish I had all that money to throw around--but i'd put it to better use then buying and dumping my animals!


I started out with a pair of males back in early 2001. I STILL have one of my original chins, the other male passed away several years ago. I've grown to 80 -/+ chins at any given time-- HOWEVER part of the reason is that 99% of my adults I can't part with. My retired chins for the most part live their life out here, UNLESS the rare customer comes around that I feel would make a perfect match for one of my retired guys.

 

[AK23]

I just got my chin a little over a month ago. I love having him and want to get another. However, I know that I personally need to wait a year before I make the commitment to another one. I want to make sure that I have the time and money to take care of my pet properly. Not to mention, I am still learning every day. If I take the time to wait, it will be that much more enjoyable when I get a second one, because not only will I be more confident in my knowledge of taking care of my pets, but I will also have given myself time to get adjusted to life with chins. :thumbsup:

 

[AZChins]

Megan, you're different. I remember you taking a long time to figure out if you wanted to breed or not. I keep a lot of my retired breeders, too. Sometimes they go really well with one of their babies though...and I let them go to a new home that way. But, I have to be able to visit so that I don't miss them too much.

Anna - getting another chin as a friend for your guy right away isn't the same thing! That's not getting large amounts of chins, it's getting a buddy for your chin. It's really weird when someone starts hitting up Craig's List and all local breeders and starts buying up dozens of chins in a very short time. That's not you.

 

[starleomach]

I know of a few right now doing this and I also could name a few that I think will be gone by 2011. and some do come back,,,then they go again.

 

[Dragonflye]

I worry when I see people purchasing lots of chins in a short period of time as well. Really, it makes sense to take care of one or two chins for a while, learn all that you can, and settle in with the new family members. Also, starting slowly you get a general sense of how much you will be spending and make sure you can budget for it.

I have been around CnQ/CnH for 7 years now and it seems that many of those who accumulate chins quickly announce themselves as breeders soon after (or during their obvious purchases). It's too easy to get carried away.

I started with one, got 2 more the same year and am now up to 21 (including 5 rescues). I am not really overwhelmed, but I definitely don't want to get any bigger. I think when people see how much work there is in big numbers, the novelty wears off.

I just wish people would think before they bring more chins into their homes. Some things in life you can't predict, but some things you can- going away to school, having children, and that any pet you bring into your home will have work and care associated with it. More chins= more work, no way around it....

 

[Snickers]

I started off with 2 female chins about 2003. Then I got into rescues in 2005 and those rescues are still here. I do not do rescues any more. I purchased 2 other females in 2005 from a breeder that told me about shows. I bred these 2 females. The following year I started to show. I breed on a very small scale and have kept all the babies.

There was one week which I wish I didn't have any chins. I didn't want to get out of bed. They didn't get fed at 6 am but they did get fed at 8 am. This was 2 years ago.

 

[moon]

I started out with one chinnie in 2003 and had him only for two years before deciding to go into breeding. I spent a little over a year gathering my information and getting myself prepared, and have been breeding ever since. Due to financial issues I DID post my herd for sale once, but have since decided I can't live without them, and will go without to keep them. I do need to cut back a little though - I like to have somewhere between 50 and 70 total. I didn't get any takers on the whole herd anyway, and probably asked too much money for it so that I couldn't sell!

My biggest problem is that like Megan, I can't let any go. I've got too many adults that are just here, not producing, but I can't give them up because I love them too much!

I too worry about people who get chinnies too quickly. Especially if they are asking me for one of mine. I know how addictive they are, but they are also a lot of work when you have a lot of them.

 

[Laurie]

I'm SO glad I never got the breeding bug. Some of you know my Abigail came to me pregnant and she had 3 babies that were premature that eventually died within a 10 day period--had I not have found the forum just a month before that I would have been SO lost! And even though I had the forum to tell me what to do and how to handfeed, I still think I forced milk and might have been the reason they all died--Abigail did have an URI and was on baytril just a week before they were born though, so I just don't know. But thankfully for me that was just heart breaking to see and go through so I just could never, ever breed. And it is a good thing because I also think it would be very difficult to give up any of the chins!

 

[mishellyshel]

Susan--I like that you send some of the parents with their kits.........that is a nice way to keep family together.

 

[Riven]

Honestly I despise people who make up excuses to sell out...

I've move my chins, I was planning on moving them twelve hours away as well ( luckily we ended up not moving! WOO HOO! ) I have two kids, times have been good, times have been tough, I've paid thousands in vet bills, I've been in school, out of school, working, stay at home mom, back in school... the chins have been in the living room, in their own basement room, then finally their own house... I've been sick, they've been sick, my kids have been sick, my husband is allergic to the dust, and if I had another baby ( not going to happen ) I'd still have the chins. If you're going to sell out just be honest. Say hey... I realized this isn't for me, it's more work than I can handle now, I want to move on to other things... Don't blame a move, a new baby, a new job, going to school or whatever. I'll be honest, even today I asked my husband why do I do this?! I run almost 100 animals and spent five hours today cleaning cages so I could have the weekend " off ". I'm certainly not getting rich from it... His theory... they're soft. And well I just couldn't argue with that. I think every breeder or rancher at some point asks themselves the same things, it's just that some don't give it, or don't make excuses.

Okay... I've inhaled toooo much dust today, I'm off to bed.

 

[Brightstarchins]

For me it also brings up a red flag if someone buys more and more chins in a short period of time. I have had someone buy about 20 chins from mewithin a year and a half and I have to admit that at the time I was happy about selling so many of my babies to her, after all, sometimes it`s not that easy to find good homes for them. I fully believed that they were going to a good home, this lady came to my house several times and I was under the impression that my babies were well taken care of with her.

To make a long story short, it turned out that she was not able to take care of them shortly after aquiring so many animals. I begged her and tried to get at least some of the chins back, but I never saw any of them again. Who knows where they all ended up. I can only hope that they went to good homes.

So now I learned my lesson and will know better next time!

Claudia

 

[AZChins]

Claudia...I learned the same lesson indirectly a few years back. I just got lucky that the chins weren't mine. I'm so sorry that that happened to you!

For the most part I believe that everyone has the physical ability and time to take care of the chinchillas. Mostly it comes down to people not finding it to be fun anymore...they get lazy with the cleaning first and then slowly they get lazy with everything else.

I tell people all the time to stick with maybe five boys or five girls and just have happy pets. Two or three cages is easy and it doesn't take a lot of time to clean and play with a few chins. I know that by talking people out of breeding and out of getting too many chins that I have saved a lot of frustration and suffering from occurring. Strangely enough the people, who adopt just a few even though they had big plans to get many of them, get rid of the chins usually in the same two or three years that it takes for others to get rid of 20 or more. No one NEEDS that many chins to tire of them and dump them.

 

[ticklechin]

It takes me 20 min in the evening to feed, water, hay and sweep cages-I use that time as "my time", the same as cleaning cages, its therapeutic and I don't get bothered.

People should really just stick to a few chins, if you have a full time job and family I don't see how you can take care of 20+ pet chins and think its fun.

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, I don't have a real job or a family. There's no way I could do anything but take care of the chins. I have pretty extreme OCD and a need to move pretty much constantly...so it's a good job for me to have and I enjoy it. For the "normal" person or family having 20 chins or more would get in the way of vacations and all the little things that normal people do for fun.

LOL I use the time that I sweep and clean bottles as my time, too. I'll have a couple pouches on me and I am normally having a long fictitious conversation about something with whoever. It gives me a lot of time to plan and think about things. Scrubbing things gives me a chance to take out nervous energy on cages and pans. The point is...you have to be a special type of person to have a bunch of chins and keep up with the thousands of little things you have to do to keep the chins happy and healthy.

 

[ABBY W.]

I also worry when I see someone buying up large numbers of chins in a short period of time. I call them "collectors". This really scares me when it's someone new to chins. I think it's too easy to get caught up in the cuteness and forget that this is a living creature with its own needs. People don't stop and think about the costs of caring for the animal properly, both financially and time-wise. Some people tend to view their pets as possessions, and treat them accordingly, giving them only what time and money is personally convenient.

I had my first chin for a year before I got her a cagemate (which led to an accidental breeding, because my "male" chinchilla turned out to be female). I had a good time with the babies though and decided I wanted to breed.

It took me about 2 years to acquire my current herd, a total of 16 permanent residents, 3 of whom are non-breeders, and two that are being grown out to evaluate for breeding. I had gotten up as high as 22 at one point and it was too much, with my job, husband, foster daughter, and my other pets. Sixteen is still a little taxing and I'm considering reducing my stock further, maybe down to 10-12.

 

[ticklechin]

Yeah, I don't have a real job or a family. There's no way I could do anything but take care of the chins. I have pretty extreme OCD and a need to move pretty much constantly...so it's a good job for me to have and I enjoy it. For the "normal" person or family having 20 chins or more would get in the way of vacations and all the little things that normal people do for fun.

LOL I use the time that I sweep and clean bottles as my time, too. I'll have a couple pouches on me and I am normally having a long fictitious conversation about something with whoever. It gives me a lot of time to plan and think about things. Scrubbing things gives me a chance to take out nervous energy on cages and pans. The point is...you have to be a special type of person to have a bunch of chins and keep up with the thousands of little things you have to do to keep the chins happy and healthy.

HAHAHAHAH, I also have long conversations with mine and actually think they are talking back to me, they give good advice!:rofl:

 

[starleomach]

HAHAHAHAH, I also have long conversations with mine and actually think they are talking back to me, they give good advice!:rofl:

I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid I was the only one....if the chinnies could only talk....

 

[Dragonflye]

I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid I was the only one....if the chinnies could only talk....

If only I spoke chin....

Not saying I talk to mine or anything...

 

[saphire]

If only I spoke chin....

Not saying I talk to mine or anything...

All my animals keep me saine in this crazy world. So I will say I talk to mine
I have a little sister and brother (separated) that when you come close to them and give them a kiss they start to make the tchearping sound. They are lovable. She was the ugly duckling slowing turning into the swan and he is just a pretty boy.
They are my desert when I finish my chin chores if I may say.

Although just wanted to say that 3 years ago I had 6 and ended up with over 20 within a year and am at 46 right now. Just to say that some to keep going and don't sell out.

It was not always easy, but I was the only one suffering from it. If I had to start from the beginning, I definitely would do it differently. But I do not regret my move.

 

[Tagna]

I think the biggest issue is when a new owner jumps into breeding with no basic knowledge of chinchilla care.

I'm not sure what irritates me more, people that buy a ton of CL chins and breed them or people that buy a bunch of pedigreed chins and just throw them together because they can. Neither is a good way to breed IMO.

I've seen the same thing over the years, a young 20something year old gets a chin decides to breed. They get a ton of chins, try to produce every mutation by putting together anything. They get overwhelmed, sell their chins and disappear.

I know on the ontario site there used to be a ton of breeders and they are all pretty much gone now. Some were responsible, some were not. It's a reacurring pattern and everytime I see a new one show up I know exactly how it will end. Over the course of 3 years or so, almost all the members on that forum have disappeared.