I am setting back reading all the comments and loving it!
Now, we need to do something about it. One of the ways is by guiding people where they can see "
the other side of breeding" vented. Here is
one of the places it really started getting out in the pet world ...
all the information (
both good and bad) full-force in the world of possible future responsible breeders and responsible pet owners.
Breeders that are in it (or get in it) "for the money" or for "prestige" will never let those possible/buying customers, (who buy as pet owners or as future breeders) know that there is a "down side" to breeding ... not only for the chinchillas, but for the breeders and everyone these precious little creatures go to live with. They want everyone to
think their animals are perfect ... everyone of them ... and wouldn't dare admit to having a sick animal once-in-a-while ... OR how much it cost to get that sick animal well, or to care for it properly the rest of it's natural life, regardless of the cost ... as long as it can have a fairly comfortable quality of life and enjoy it. Nor do they tell them how much more expensive exotic pet vets are
and how few of the exotic let alone any regular vets know how to care for one of the 'newest' pets in the pet world. I tell those who want to adopt a chin from me, they first must find an exotic pet vet in their area that is familiar with chinchilla care or one who is willing to learn, before I will let one of my little ones go home with them.
It is a breeders responsibility to teach (as in being a mentor, not a tyrant) new/prospective owners/breeders what proper chinchilla care is all about.
Everyone knows all the love and pleasure they get from their chinchillas and this is the 'side' we like to show everyone ... BUT ...
by doing so, we are painting pictures of beautiful roses without thorns.
We need to show them vet bills, pictures of chinchillas that have been in a fight, tell them the stories of malocclusion and what happens to the chin ... the pain, the dehydration and starvation a chinchilla with malocclusion goes through before it finally dies. (If you need any pictures or examples, just let me know ... I have plenty.) The stories of setting up day and night (I've sit and slept in an office chair with my feet propped up in another one, getting 15 or 20 minute naps for 5 days and 4 nights straight ... quick showers and going no where, but the kitchen, bathroom and chin room) to care for kits whose mom has died or who does not have enough milk for all her kits. We have 2 or 3 day mini vacations ... usually to a chin show ... or a quick trip to the beach. If someone is not willing to do these things, they do not need to be breeding chinchillas! My main site is kid-friendly, my second site, the medical side of breeding, is not kid friendly nor for the squeamish. You will see many of examples of the 'other side' of breeding in the back issues of the Chinchilla Club Magazine ... those are still available for purchase from the chinchilla club ... many times, a picture or a story in print can open a "I'm thinking about going into breeding" person's eyes to the real thing. These magazines are good to have on hand to show 'prospective breeders'. Make sure they see where they are leaping to, before they leap.
A breeders' responsibility stops when his/her last chinchilla takes it's last breath ... no matter who it may be living with. This is my opine, I hope it is also many of yours.
I use to think everyone should be able to enjoy the birth and life of a kit, because of the special feelings of joy it can give you ... no matter how many births you witness ... each is as special as the first. Of course, those
were my thoughts were BEFORE I saw how irresponsible so many breeders/owners could be ... I was a dummy, I thought they would all feel like I do, and learn, and be responsible. Boy did I get my bubble burst!
You know, many of us can not understand why the big ranchers don't like us (as a group). Because we are taking 'their business'?
Not hardly ... the 5 to 50+ kits we have born each year, shrink to nothing when compaired to breeders that breed and sell hundreds and even thousands of chinchillas every year and have been doing so for more years than many of us have been alive (excluding me, I'm old as dirt).
When you sit with them (ole timers, ranchers and long-time breeders) and
talk with them, and
learn from them, what has taken them 25 to 50 years to learn ... you find they have no 'taste' for the 'new breeders' because they (the new breeders) usually,
as a rule, breed indiscriminately, feed their animals the wrong food, house them improperly. The older, established breeders are seeing their life's work being bred and in-bred like a bunch of rats. Most "new breeders" have no real idea of the domino-effect on future generations of all chinchillas by what they are doing,
without the knowledge needed to do it properly. It is our responsibility to continually learn and continually teach ... if we do not ... we do not need to be breeding chinchillas.
OK, I'll quit ranting, raving and venting for now ... I'm out of breath.
Later!
Jo Ann