At 02:29 PM 8/8/00 -0400, Paige McDonald wrote:
>If you're talking about my post in reply to M. Hanes, you may have
>misunderstood me. I said one pair can produce lots of gerbils fast, and to
>stop them from shipping and make them turn to pet stores is worse than
>taking a risk and shipping a few.
And do you honestly think every responsible animal breeder in the world
only has the options of pet stores or shipping? Have you advertised in
the local newspaper? Placed your name in the phone book? Asked your
vet if you can hang a sign in his/her office as a private breeder?
Legitimate breeders of cats, dogs, ferrets, birds, rats, etc all use
these methods. It also gives the advantage of being able to meet and
interview the prospective buyer face-to-face. A safety net, I might
note, that is NOT available when you're shipping from TX to GA.
It takes TIME to establish a good reputation as a breeder and a name for
yourself among your customer base. Just resorting to shipping to other
people on the GML is making sure that time and effort is never put into
it.
FTR, anyway, we did sell some of our excess gerbils to a pet store, but
it was a pet store I worked for (or in other cases, pet stores where we
were very familiar with the owners, and confident that they were careful
about giving good instructions to their customers about how to care
for their animals), and I know that my gerbils went to pretty good homes
for the most part. Am I completely confident that every single one
ended up in an excellent home? Not completely, but I have no conscious
qualms, either. There are some pretty good pet stores out there, usually
independently owned stores, who are just as concerned as we are that
their animals are well cared for after leaving the store. Looking around
carefully for one like this is a good idea, too.
Michelle
Flutist
