09/05/2025
It's been a while since I've made a bit of a rant post, but I feel like I just have to get this off of my chest.
We have gotten a ton of inquiries for chinchillas recently and the question is always - how much are your chinchillas? Our website has up to date pricing and photos of our animals, most do not take the time to look. Many do not realize the cost of these animals and expect them to be cheaper than a pet store. We get a ton of rude comments in reply stating they cannot afford my prices, which is fine, but we also have cheaper options - owner surrenders.
Some call them rescues, but we are not a rescue - we take in animals when we can and for many reasons. We do not adopt out sick animals and so many think our animals are sick with the low fees. That's usually one of the questions I get is - why were the surrendered, do they have health issues? 90 percent of animals are surrendered because the owner doesn't want them anymore or their life situation has changed. We are not here to judge, but we make sure with all of the animals that we do not pass on problems to a new owner. Our fees on owner surrenders are super low for a reason - they usually are older, some have temperament issues and some do not come with any supplies (though we do charge a little extra with cage and supplies, reasonably). We want to find them permanent homes and we do at a very large discount - that is the goal.
The problem recently has been the request to deliver surrenders and expecting us to meet them half way, some for free and some for a low fee. In the last week, 75 percent of surrender requests have come with a delivery request as well and not a single one has followed through. Most requests have been within 1-2 hours and some much further and they cannot make the effort to make the drive and turn down the animal down. We don't deliver owner surrenders at all. I am not transporting cages to another state. These animals have already been dumped at our home - we want someone who is serious about them and if you cannot make the drive, why do you deserve this animal? If you cannot afford to drive to pick them up - how are you going to afford a vet bill when they occur? That's the first thing that comes to mind is - if you cannot make this effort, how are you going to take care of the animal when something goes wrong?
We don't have this problem with those that want to purchase our animals bred here - most will drive 5-10 hours one way without question. It's always the customers who want owner surrenders, or the cheapest chin they can find. Please, if you cannot afford to drive to pick up animals - don't try to adopt. We are NOT Amazon. We are not a door to door service. This should be something you think about before contacting someone with animals. Many in this business do not offer shipping or delivery and most that do are scams. What happened to the old days of actually making an effort when it comes to adding a new member to your family? Take the time to look at the location of who you contact and if they are too far of a drive for you, or too expensive, maybe you're not ready to own a chinchilla.
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