Two out of Three "Ain't" Bad!

[rabernet]

Well, the two new girls that I got 12 days ago - has it been that long? - have each eaten for me this evening. The hold out is little Sullivan (fomerly known as Kiah). But, he's been handled the most with his questionable sex and needing to get him seen again by my vet to try to sex him (who clearly doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to probing) and then taking him (and the other girls just to make sure!) to see Justin Kobylka, a GA breeder who sexed all three, and Kashmire for me and taught me to probe. Kashmire is indeed a male, Kiah is now Sullivan , and Godvia and Echo are indeed girls.

For those who don't know the story, the seller, to his credit, e-mailed me two days after I had received the three supposed girls to say that as he was putting away their feed records, he realized he had a notation on Kiah's paperwork that he usually uses to indicate male. But he separates males and females into different rooms, and Kiah/Sullivan was in the girls room. He was so sure he was a girl, that he didn't sex them again before shipping them out. He asked me to please get him sexed and let him know the results.

He insisted that I keep Sullivan, since it was his mistake, and he's sending me another female of my choice. So, I picked the one that I wanted and am also purchasing a second - so Pandora and Skye will be here in about two to three weeks (the next time I can get a day off).

[cassandra]

Sullivan the cross dresser! I hope he settles down and eats for soon. Sounds like a good breeder, doing the right thing...he probably feels terrible about it. =P

[rabernet]

Yes, he feels so horrible about it, and I could tell how much he wished he didn't have to write the e-mail. But he offered a solution that was agreeable to me, even though I'm still mourning the loss of Kiah. "She" was the first one I picked, and it's tough to realize she's now a he. I had to re-name him quickly, because I couldn't stop referring to him as "she" or part of "the girls". LOL


I almost named him Homer or Simpson (Doh!!!!), but Sullivan seems to fit him better.

I would not hesitate to refer people to this seller, and I plan to do more purchases from him this spring. I'm confident he'll never let another animal go out again without re-sexing first.

[MedusasOwl]

Sullivan is such a cutie!!

When we found out our cockatiel was a she instead of a he, for a while there we called her our trannybird. Still do sometimes, though more often we call her skeeker these days. Her actual name appears to be reserved for when she's in trouble, lol.

[jknudson]

Robin,

If you don't mind me asking, who did you purchase them from? That's very upstanding of a breeder to do, he made a mistake and made good. Feel free to PM if you do not want to post it publicly, well...or if its not allowed.

[rabernet]

Sullivan is such a cutie!!

Isn't he though? (that's my oh so subtle wink, wink, wink! LOL)

[frankykeno]

I'm sure Sullivan will settle down soon for you Robin. As you said he hasn't really had the quiet time you planned for him.


I don't know how anyone else feels on this subject, but for me it isn't always about everything being perfect but more about what a breeder will do when things go a bit wonky. Sure no one wants a transaction that has gone off a bit but stuff happens sometimes as much as the breeder might strive to see that never happens. I feel that's why a reputable breeder is a great choice as he/she will be there to work with their customer till everybody's happy.


~~Jo~~

[rabernet]

I don't know how anyone else feels on this subject, but for me it isn't always about everything being perfect but more about what a breeder will do when things go a bit wonky. Sure no one wants a transaction that has gone off a bit but stuff happens sometimes as much as the breeder might strive to see that never happens. I feel that's why a reputable breeder is a great choice as he/she will be there to work with their customer till everybody's happy.

~~Jo~~

In this case, he's not a breeder, but a distributor, but one that only takes in 100 imported CH babies a year. Breeder OR distributor, make sure they have a good reputation. This one did from personal references and BOI postings. There are distributors that care about the animals' well being, and also understand "treat your customer like you want to be treated".

I can say with confidence that this seller follows that mantra, and I won't hesitate to make future purchases from him. While I was initially disappointed about the mistake, I was never angry or blamed him for the mistake, because we all make mistakes - it's how we handle them that shows our integrity, and whether we learn from those mistakes.

Hey, it was a good lesson for me as a future hobbyist who will be selling some of my animals. I will always check the sex one last time before shipping. In an odd way, I told him that if it had to happen to any of his buyers, I was somewhat glad it happened to me, because I would hate for him to have to tell this to someone that might have over-reacted. Getting upset about it wasn't going to change what had already happened, and he was making it right by sending me another female of my choice, regardless of selling price.

Anyway, I'm in danger of writing another novel here, so I better stop now!