Hi all.... I'd like to tell you all a story...
This past weekend, I was dragon shopping, looking for a hypo leather het trans female. I found this beautiful girl from Breeder's Circle:
She was exactly what we were looking for. My wife and I spoke to the breeder and decided we would take the 5-hour drive down to Miami on Sunday, just to pick up this little girl, and come back the same night. On the way down, we decided on the name Ginger.
The breeder himself was busy, I believe he was at the Repticon show in Tampa, but he was going to have one of his employees meet us and give us the dragon. When we got her, she was a bit skittish, and very scared of us. My wife took her out of her container and tried to give her some cuddles and positive reinforcement on the way back home. It took a little bit, but she absolutely bonded with my wife. She seemed to trust her and gave her cuddles, and pretty much laid on her neck the entire time until it was time to go to sleep. When we got home, my wife laid with her a bit in our spare bedroom and passed out with Ginger on her neck. They slept like that all night long.
In the morning, I took her out and checked her out. But now that we were in the light and were able to compare pics, we realized we had come home with the wrong dragon.
It turns out we had actually come home with this girl:
My wife was devastated. She could not imagine having to give back her girl who has slept with her all night. We had already named her and promised her we would take care of her. It was pretty much out of the question to give her back. We looked her up on the breeder's website, but unlike the one we had actually picked out, she was not 100% het for trans. For breeding purposes, she meant nothing to us and we paid a pretty high premium for a very specific dragon. Not to mention, 10+ hours in the car + gas and tolls. We are pretty much broke after buying this dragon plus her entire setup.
So, do we just have to realize that we now have a business and we have to treat these dragons like profit and get the one we originally asked for? Or do we let our hearts and love of dragons get in the way of business and keep the wrong dragon? We promised ourselves, that if we started a breeding business, that we would not treat dragons like profits and they would all be our special spoiled babies. Does that apply in this case? So many questions and decisions. To say that yesterday was a stressful day is an understatement.
I waited all day for a response from the breeder. I heard from him late in the afternoon. It was an honest mistake that was made. These girls are very similar except for the non-visible het. Well, we talked it out, and the guy is a very responsible business owner and gave us a couple of options to choose from. One option was a great deal to keep both of them, which is what we wished we could do, but just didn't have the money. Luckily, he was willing to ship the right girl before we are able to pay him, which is really nice of him.
So.... we're going to get to keep both girls. Of course, now we had named the wrong girl Ginger, and we can't take that back anymore, so the new girl, the original one we had picked out... so the new girl is now Scarlet. They are cousins, as their mothers were both sisters, but they have different fathers. We've got quite the mixup here, but we'll get it right. Until Friday, both girls will have to share an enclosure, but we are splitting them as soon as I get paid. We have taken a HUGE financial hit here as both of these dragons were originally priced at $350 each. We may spend a day without eating, but we have two beautiful girls that we are already in love with. Scarlet should be getting shipped today and we should have her tomorrow. Ginger is already in our possession as is eating great. She really loves and trusts my wife, but she is terrified of me. But I am working on her. She has already been introduced to Chief and they were already giving eachother the OK for breeding, so when the time comes, Ginger will be another girlfriend for Chief. Scarlet is meant for a future male.
So that is the story of how I now have 4 dragons in my house. :shock:
This past weekend, I was dragon shopping, looking for a hypo leather het trans female. I found this beautiful girl from Breeder's Circle:
She was exactly what we were looking for. My wife and I spoke to the breeder and decided we would take the 5-hour drive down to Miami on Sunday, just to pick up this little girl, and come back the same night. On the way down, we decided on the name Ginger.
The breeder himself was busy, I believe he was at the Repticon show in Tampa, but he was going to have one of his employees meet us and give us the dragon. When we got her, she was a bit skittish, and very scared of us. My wife took her out of her container and tried to give her some cuddles and positive reinforcement on the way back home. It took a little bit, but she absolutely bonded with my wife. She seemed to trust her and gave her cuddles, and pretty much laid on her neck the entire time until it was time to go to sleep. When we got home, my wife laid with her a bit in our spare bedroom and passed out with Ginger on her neck. They slept like that all night long.
In the morning, I took her out and checked her out. But now that we were in the light and were able to compare pics, we realized we had come home with the wrong dragon.
It turns out we had actually come home with this girl:
My wife was devastated. She could not imagine having to give back her girl who has slept with her all night. We had already named her and promised her we would take care of her. It was pretty much out of the question to give her back. We looked her up on the breeder's website, but unlike the one we had actually picked out, she was not 100% het for trans. For breeding purposes, she meant nothing to us and we paid a pretty high premium for a very specific dragon. Not to mention, 10+ hours in the car + gas and tolls. We are pretty much broke after buying this dragon plus her entire setup.
So, do we just have to realize that we now have a business and we have to treat these dragons like profit and get the one we originally asked for? Or do we let our hearts and love of dragons get in the way of business and keep the wrong dragon? We promised ourselves, that if we started a breeding business, that we would not treat dragons like profits and they would all be our special spoiled babies. Does that apply in this case? So many questions and decisions. To say that yesterday was a stressful day is an understatement.
I waited all day for a response from the breeder. I heard from him late in the afternoon. It was an honest mistake that was made. These girls are very similar except for the non-visible het. Well, we talked it out, and the guy is a very responsible business owner and gave us a couple of options to choose from. One option was a great deal to keep both of them, which is what we wished we could do, but just didn't have the money. Luckily, he was willing to ship the right girl before we are able to pay him, which is really nice of him.
So.... we're going to get to keep both girls. Of course, now we had named the wrong girl Ginger, and we can't take that back anymore, so the new girl, the original one we had picked out... so the new girl is now Scarlet. They are cousins, as their mothers were both sisters, but they have different fathers. We've got quite the mixup here, but we'll get it right. Until Friday, both girls will have to share an enclosure, but we are splitting them as soon as I get paid. We have taken a HUGE financial hit here as both of these dragons were originally priced at $350 each. We may spend a day without eating, but we have two beautiful girls that we are already in love with. Scarlet should be getting shipped today and we should have her tomorrow. Ginger is already in our possession as is eating great. She really loves and trusts my wife, but she is terrified of me. But I am working on her. She has already been introduced to Chief and they were already giving eachother the OK for breeding, so when the time comes, Ginger will be another girlfriend for Chief. Scarlet is meant for a future male.
So that is the story of how I now have 4 dragons in my house. :shock:
