At 01:43 PM 1/13/00 -0500, Samantha Sly wrote:
> Telling them that the
>gerbils would be taken away if not properly cared for might motivate them a
>little, but I don't know for sure. I still feel like I should be at least
>90% certain they will be well cared for and not harmed ignorantly (I suppose
>you could call it that) by their new owners, especially in this case, knowing
>how these boys act. How do you guys decide with total strangers exactly who
>gets your pups?
Hi,
I've never had to deal with gerbil pups before, but I have bred cats and
hung out with Great Dane breeders. I don't know how it is in the gerbil
world, and having a social relationship with the people who want your
gerbils makes it more complicated, as does being a young person, but here
is how the cat and dog people that I know handle it.
If, for any reason, they feel uncomfortable about the person who wants
their animals, they refuse to sell. Period. With all the puppy mills and
irresponsible people who don't mind contributing to the over population of
cats and dogs, and all the nuts who think a Great Dane is a big, tough dog
(they're indoor dogs, don't tolerate heat or cold, very social,
people-oriented couch potatoes), they feel obligated to take care with
placing their puppies and kittens. These are people who charge $500+ for
their cats and $1400+ for their dogs (& those are the "pet quality" that
they sell with spay/neuter contracts.) Just because gerbils are less
expensive doesn't mean they don't deserve to have good homes.
The cat & dog people sit down and discuss why you want the animal (show,
pet, breed), if you have other animals, if you've had dogs or cats before,
what your situation is so that you can pay for vet care (not really much of
an issue, I guess, with gerbs), and just have a conversation so they know
what kind of person they're dealing with. Most of the good breeders feel
like their animals are their children or grandchildren, and will often
include a clause in their contract saying that if the buyer ever needs to
find another home for the animal, the breeder gets first option to take the
animal back. One woman put it: "Our babies can always come home."
Sometimes you just get a creepy feeling about someone, or just feel like
something is not right... like one time I had some kittens for sale and
this woman came over and kept insisting that I should lower the price to
$100 because that's all she could afford. Now, I've *given* cats to friends
and relatives, but she rubbed me the wrong way, and I felt like if she
couldn't afford to pay for the cat, she probably couldn't afford to pay to
have her neutered and all her shots & everything, either. Something about
her just felt weird, and I just told her no.
It's a really tough decision, but it sounds from your posts like what you
really want is some moral support to Just Say No to these kids. Sounds like
maybe your Mom can back you up? Maybe if you talk to her some more about
your concerns, she can help back you up. I'm sorry but I don't remember how
old you are. Being a young person is difficult, but whatever your age,
having Mom on your side is a big plus. =)
Good luck with your dilema,
Rebecca...
whose Mom is 65
