Leaving state for a week, first time leaving our "crew"

[ember]

I am not happy about this one bit. Humph. I spend my WHOLE childhood and young adulthood traveling, moving, relocating, etc (both state-side and overseas), so I am not immediately starving for some traveling away from home experiences! Actually, I rather like NOT leaving my cool pets and wonderfully comfortable hangout home, thank you very much!

None the less, we are leaving for a week at the end of the month. My partner's side of the family is having a reunion, and as much as it sounds like total bollocks of a good time, we are going to fly to Missouri for a week to be part of.

Here is the ad I posted yesterday on Craigslist, in hopes of finding the "right" pet sitter for our crew while we are out of town:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pet/347938324.html

You would think (well, I know that I did!) that with a post like that, a lot of stupid questions would be avoided. Nope. I was inundated by people asking if they would have to hold the spiders, have to wear gloves while handling the snakes, what happens if our Pit Bull suddenly turns on them and locks her jaw, etc..... I got many responses from middle aged women that apparently petsit professionally, letting me know that they will consider doing it, but that they would need twice what I am offering. Blah, blah, blah...

Then I got this e-mail:

Hi. My name is Owen. I have 13 reptiles a dog and two cats. I also volunteer at OMSI's life science room (spiders, scorps, fish) and I know how to care for these animals.
I belong to the local reptile club NWHKA. we do teachings and outreaches about our animals.
I feel totally comfertable with all the animals mentioned.
I am 13 years old, if you would like referances on my animal care skills tell me.
I think I would enjoy this.
thank you
Owen murray

Here was my response:

Hey there Owen!

We belong to the NWHKA, as well!

I have been INUNDATED with people wanting this "job"... I would rather let you do it, however, as long as I can count on you coming over at least once every day and doing a really good job. Of course, I would need to speak with your parent(s) to verify that you can do this, and then we would need to make a plan (maybe you and your parents could come over and meet the animals and hang out for an afternoon). I would much rather give our money to a cool kid that has a true interest in herps (and animals in general) than a 40 year old woman that fancies herself a professional pet sitter (you would be shocked at some of the e-mails I have received today!).

I will hold off with responding to anyone else until I hear back from you. In that time, please verify with your parents that you can do this job for the full week, and make sure that you have transportation figured out (there is a bus stop close by, and the max station is within walking distance). Be sure to let them read my ad as it was posted on Craigslist... and verify that they are comfortable with you being in our home alone (or with them) with the pets that I listed.

Thanks!

I then got this in response:

Hi,

This is Owen's mom, Melody & I've copied his dad (Dan)
on this mail. We believe that Owen could do a very
good job for you. Owen is excited about the
opportunity! I'd like to have us all meet your
creatures before you go, of course. We live in
Gresham, not too far from you - we are at about 223rd
& Powell, so the bus/max ride could be a straight shot
for Owen if I'm not available to run him over to your
place.

Owen's had some petsitting experience, most recently
he took care of Joni the NWHKA snake lady's animals
one day while she was out of town. Mostly he's taken
care of dogs & cats, but he has LOTS of experience
with his own snakes & geckos & lizards. He's also had
many rescue animals from the NWHKA which have come to
us sick and left us healthy again.

Our home phone is ***********. We have some errands
to run today but will be home in the evening and most
of tomorrow. Owen's cell number is ***********.

Thanks!
Melody

Already, I am beginning to feel much less stressed out about our trip. We have enough time before the end of the month to meet a few times and really make this a functioning plan.

For those of you that have left the care of your animals to someone else (other than a spouse, etc) for a few days of longer, can you grace me with the lessons of your experiences? What have I not considered yet? I am trying very hard to anticipate many scenarios or possible problems before we leave, and have plans for them or at least conversations about it all.

[cassandra]

For my cat/snake sitter, I showed him how to open the cages, where the keys are stored, how often I want the water changed, bought frozen feed items and labeled baggies in the freezer, showed him where in the freezer, wrote detailed instructions on how long for each defrosting, showed him where the emergency tubs are, left him our cell numbers and vet's number...when we were gone for two weeks and he had to do two feedings.

We'll be gone next week, so he doesn't have to do a feeding, just replace water for the slithering ones. I am, however, not asking him to mess with the burmese at all since he'll come alone and I don't think he's into that big of a snake. We'll make sure Lourdes has a full bowl of fresh water and clean up after we're back (only gone 6 days)....

[Purrrfect9]

When I went on my high school senior trip, I had one of my friends look after all of my critters for me. It sounds like you've pretty much got everything covered though. I had my friend come over on feeding day (she had been over before to 'play' with my herps) and showed her exactly how I feed them, where in their cage, and at what times. I did the same thing with the watering schedule also. Then I just stocked up on herp food, showed here where that would be, and then I left ~$30 for extra food incase my critters decided that they were extra hungry and she had to get more crix/meal worms (then of course I told her where the closest place to get them is located).

[Schlyne]

Yeah, I was extremely lucky for about a year and a half. A friend of mine who is also a herper lived in the same town and we were able to swap vacation care...unfortunately she's since moved out of town and i've been training a few of my friends to take care of my stuff.