Horrible Conversation

[Chibigirl]

So around the same time I got Beaker my friend's girlfriend had purchased one too. After reading everything on this forum I've learned so much in such a short period of time and after a conversation I had this morning I was glad to have some information to offer her.

So this girl's chin is a boy. Apparently her cousin has a girl chin and for some reason just randomly wants a baby chinchilla. Now I was already cringing about them wanting to breed just for "cute little babies" and without much knowledge. But I also learned that both chins are from petstores. At this point in my conversation with her I got a bit heated. I told her that there's no way you should breed pet store chins because you have no knowledge of their genes and husbandry. Not to mention breeding pet store chins just goes and reverses all the hard work breeders do to breed harmful genes out of their lines. And after having a scare with thinking Beaker had malo I really would not want anyone passing on harmful genes.

I continued to tell her that breeding chins isn't just for the furry little babies. I asked her if she was aware that just getting a c-section for the pregnant chin could cost over $1000 in vet bills. She was really shocked at this and seemed to start getting my point. I told her I knew of at least three breeders in New Jersey where her cousin could get a young chin and it would even be less expensive than the pet store (that I've seen standards for about $75). I also told her about looking up this forum and more research online about why to not breed pet store chins.

I'm sorry for such a long post but I really needed to vent some place. If anyone has any extra information that I should pass along to her to try and get the point across it would be appreciated.

 

[AZChins]

I guess you could mention that if the mother cannot care for the babies then the new babies would need to be handfed. Sometimes moms don't make milk or something else happens. She would need to handfeed every few hours and take over the duty of feeding little ones. Handfeeding can be tedious and often may not be successful.

There's so much that goes into breeding chins. It's something that someone should only do if that person is 100% committed to it. It could mean changing one's plans because babies are on the way - like not going on vacation. It isn't easy even when everything goes right. I wish she was closer, she could come spend the day with me and I could show her that maybe breeding isn't for her!

 

[Chibigirl]

What's annoying is that she's not even interested in breeding chins. She just wants to throw the two together because she just wants one baby one so she can have it.

 

[AZChins]

That's breeding...I guess. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I think I'm used to it - all the phone conversations and emails that I get to have with people about it drive me crazy. Then they call me rude or hang up or send emails calling me names - just for trying to give them a little info about something I know a lot about!

Good luck with your friend's girlfriend. I hope she listens.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

you could tell her the chances are high with just 'throwing them together' that one of the chins would be killed. Even with careful introductions, a female/male (usually female) sometimes will kill her/his new mate. It happens to the best of us. You think everything is ok and the next thing you know you find a dead chin.

 

[tunes]

You can talk to her until you are blue in the face and it isn't going to do a bit of good. You can show her threads with dead chins, show pictures of dead babies, mangled mates, vet bills and everything else you can find and it isn't going to make a difference. People are going to breed whatever they want to breed, regardless of what you try and tell them. They all have the "it won't happen to me" attitude.

What sucks is, they are usually right. It's usually the people who don't give a crap, who breed their pet store, onesie/twosies who have no problems.