Craigslist saved my Sassy

[TortoiseWorld]

I Patrick, friend of the tortoise have bought some exotic birds and reptiles at different seasons of my life. I have re homed them too using local internet ads like Craigslist and Kijiji E bay I am NOT ashamed of it because I am not narrow minded. I thank God those sites are available for us here in the USA.
Many of the people who responded to my ads in years past, are just like some of you, compassionate and caring animal lovers.
I have also met some cowards and those proud arrogant people and the ones that I screen to be just not a good match for my pet. The good bad and ugly and some are just bad and ugly but at least I can meet them face to face in my house and see them interact with my pet.
So many internet breeders supply and reptile supply dealers sources etc. Some of them very familiar to you I won't name names, and then there is the reptile classified, the faunas and the king snakes Florida, Arizona etc.

Well I ask you when these tortoise dealers stick those amazing tortoises in little containers and ship them all over the country, never meeting the new owners face to face and never interviewing them with measurable questions to determine if they would be a good candidates for the tortoise, how is that okay and yet local Craigslist and E bay classifieds whom you can meet the people face to face is some kind of animal cruelty?

If I re home a pet to a good LOCAL home this is not a bad thing but a good thing. I take the time and give the new owner one on one support about tortoises diet and habitat that most pet shops don't. I even offer that if it does not work out to please call me and let me have first chance to take my pet back.
Years ago I owned an African grey for 11 years named Sassy, she picked all her feathers out. Then in 2008 -2009 I decided a change might be what she needed. I bought her a new cage, gave her a new diet and had Dr. Scott Mc Donald Avain vet to pull out all her chewed feathers stuck in her follicles, (she was gas sleeping), to encourage new growth, then I put an ad on LOCAL Craigslist and interviewed potential new owners, I settled with a 35 yr old vet tech named Denise who absolutely loved my Sassy and could not afford the cost of a expensive parrot. I was asking $500 for Sassy but you can believe it or not, I gave her to Denise FREE because I was just thinking of the best interests of Sassy and also happy to find such a great new owner. Denise lavished Sassy with love and care and kept in touch with me. she sent me photos of Sassys progress and in about a year later (2010) a miracle Sassys feathers all returned. Even Dr. McDonald said that her feathers should not have grew back after so many years and was amazed it did. Sassy never plucked again.
Check out Sassy's before and after pics below.

Yes in a way the local Craigslist here saved my Sassy, God knows I love animals and I am not selfish about it.

Peace and love

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I love Craigslist. I'm a huge CL user in many areas both buying and selling.

I don't think I've heard of many people bashing it.. ?? Oh well.

Glad your grey stopped plucking! And awesome to keep in touch with the new owner.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[luvpetz27]

Amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing!!

 

[sibi]

You are the exception rather than the norm. Grant it, there are many pet owners that love their pets but don't know how to really care for them. I'm glad that your bird got a great person who just clicked with your bird. I also think everyone who posts an ad on CL should do what you did. But, you know that most don't. That's all that people here are saying.

 

[Baoh]

For certain animals, especially those for which the cost of shipping is more difficult to justify due to high weight or low individual animal cost, I use CL and kijiji/ebayclassifieds. It gives me the opportunity to get a feel for folks who are interested in my less expensive animals (stuff like baby ivory hets or spare older and larger yellow foot tortoises). A decent number of these folks, like in your case, send me email updates (sometimes with photos) on what I have sold them. Some of my animals have gone on to form the bases of reptile sections of petting zoos, breeding programs, and family pets.

As in your case, a particularly caring veterinary technician is one of the best recipients of one of my animals. Her devotion to one of my former animals is at the level of a blood family member. In another case, a young girl, with the support of her family, went above and beyond with her care for a congenitally blind baby sulcata. Some are so-so. Some may be bad. I have terminated proceeding with transactions based on some indicators. The sites serve as just another conduit for me that I can use to connect animals with people. There are many folks who waste my time from these sources, but there are enough who are serious about the whole affair such that I am pleased to have them as customers.

 

[wellington]

You are the exception rather than the norm. Grant it, there are many pet owners that love their pets but don't know how to really care for them. I'm glad that your bird got a great person who just clicked with your bird. I also think everyone who posts an ad on CL should do what you did. But, you know that most don't. That's all that people here are saying.

I don't understand where you get your last line from. I don't recall anyone saying too much bad about CL. It is just that so many of the torts are kept incorrectly, because they haven't been fortunate enough like all of us to find TFO. Before TFO, most of the members kept their torts wrong. The only thing you have to be the most concerned about are the CL scams. Most people that shop CL are going to be picking up their tort/pet, less likely to get ripped off. I repost CL ads on here, to try and help get the tort into a TFO home. I would buy from CL before a pet stores.

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The bird is beautiful. Love happy endings.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

People often repost CL tort listings on TFO in case someone is interested. I don't think the majority hates CL, especially considering a large amount of people on here have adopted their tortoises. Anyway, all my best to you and Sassy. [/align]

 

[sibi]

I'm not attacking CL. What I'm saying is that there's people who use CL to sell sick animals or neglected animals and they don't care who they sell their animal to. The same way as the poster of this thread criticizes some breeders here at TFO, I maintain that there are those people who use CL to sell their animals, and don't care who get them or if their animal is going to the right home. If this discussion is about CL, then this post has no place here. But, if I understood the thread, the man was making a defense for CL since he would not have found the person he did that saved his bird. If anyone was making a remark about people here criticizing CL, maybe you should ask him why he felt the need to defend CL against criticism from people here.

You are the exception rather than the norm. Grant it, there are many pet owners that love their pets but don't know how to really care for them. I'm glad that your bird got a great person who just clicked with your bird. I also think everyone who posts an ad on CL should do what you did. But, you know that most don't. That's all that people here are saying.

I don't understand where you get your last line from. I don't recall anyone saying too much bad about CL. It is just that so many of the torts are kept incorrectly, because they haven't been fortunate enough like all of us to find TFO. Before TFO, most of the members kept their torts wrong. The only thing you have to be the most concerned about are the CL scams. Most people that shop CL are going to be picking up their tort/pet, less likely to get ripped off. I repost CL ads on here, to try and help get the tort into a TFO home. I would buy from CL before a pet stores.

---

The bird is beautiful. Love happy endings.

---

 

[sibi]

[/php]I'm certainly happy that you had found someone to take good care of your bird, but I would appreciate it if you can clarify if you were speaking of suppliers that advertise here on the forum, or if you were speaking of those here that are breeders? Thanks.

O

I Patrick, friend of the tortoise have bought some exotic birds and reptiles at different seasons of my life. I have re homed them too using local internet ads like Craigslist and Kijiji E bay I am NOT ashamed of it because I am not narrow minded. I thank God those sites are available for us here in the USA.
Many of the people who responded to my ads in years past, are just like some of you, compassionate and caring animal lovers.
I have also met some cowards and those proud arrogant people and the ones that I screen to be just not a good match for my pet. The good bad and ugly and some are just bad and ugly but at least I can meet them face to face in my house and see them interact with my pet.
So many internet breeders supply and reptile supply dealers sources etc. Some of them very familiar to you I won't name names, and then there is the reptile classified, the faunas and the king snakes Florida, Arizona etc.

Well I ask you when these tortoise dealers stick those amazing tortoises in little containers and ship them all over the country, never meeting the new owners face to face and never interviewing them with measurable questions to determine if they would be a good candidates for the tortoise, how is that okay and yet local Craigslist and E bay classifieds whom you can meet the people face to face is some kind of animal cruelty?

If I re home a pet to a good LOCAL home this is not a bad thing but a good thing. I take the time and give the new owner one on one support about tortoises diet and habitat that most pet shops don't. I even offer that if it does not work out to please call me and let me have first chance to take my pet back.
Years ago I owned an African grey for 11 years named Sassy, she picked all her feathers out. Then in 2008 -2009 I decided a change might be what she needed. I bought her a new cage, gave her a new diet and had Dr. Scott Mc Donald Avain vet to pull out all her chewed feathers stuck in her follicles, (she was gas sleeping), to encourage new growth, then I put an ad on LOCAL Craigslist and interviewed potential new owners, I settled with a 35 yr old vet tech named Denise who absolutely loved my Sassy and could not afford the cost of a expensive parrot. I was asking $500 for Sassy but you can believe it or not, I gave her to Denise FREE because I was just thinking of the best interests of Sassy and also happy to find such a great new owner. Denise lavished Sassy with love and care and kept in touch with me. she sent me photos of Sassys progress and in about a year later (2010) a miracle Sassys feathers all returned. Even Dr. McDonald said that her feathers should not have grew back after so many years and was amazed it did. Sassy never plucked again.
Check out Sassy's before and after pics below.

Yes in a way the local Craigslist here saved my Sassy, God knows I love animals and I am not selfish about it.

Peace and love

 

[mctlong]

Well I ask you when these tortoise dealers stick those amazing tortoises in little containers and ship them all over the country, never meeting the new owners face to face and never interviewing them with measurable questions to determine if they would be a good candidates for the tortoise, how is that okay and yet local Craigslist and E bay classifieds whom you can meet the people face to face is some kind of animal cruelty?

I've never seen a single thread on this forum that says selling animals via Craigslist = animal cruelty. I don't know anyone who believes that. Many forum members buy off Craigslist regularly. Its the same as any online classifieds site.

The problem arises when people advertise obviously sick and poorly cared for animals. This does not occur exclusively on Craiglist or any specific site. It occurs in adds all over the internet, in newspapaers, etc. You can even find poorly cared-for animals in petshops and being sold by "breeders." None of this is exclusive to Craigslist. Craiglist is not, in and of itself, a bad system and I'm sure the makers of Craigslist do not advocate animal cruelty in any way.

---

And, btw, Sassy is a gorgeous bird.

 

[sibi]

My point exactly!!! I am trying to get clarification from the owner of this thread to explain that.

Well I ask you when these tortoise dealers stick those amazing tortoises in little containers and ship them all over the country, never meeting the new owners face to face and never interviewing them with measurable questions to determine if they would be a good candidates for the tortoise, how is that okay and yet local Craigslist and E bay classifieds whom you can meet the people face to face is some kind of animal cruelty?

I've never seen a single thread on this forum that says selling animals via Craigslist = animal cruelty. I don't know anyone who believes that. Many forum members buy off Craigslist regularly. Its the same as any online classifieds site.

The problem arises when people advertise obviously sick and poorly cared for animals. This does not occur exclusively on Craiglist or any specific site. It occurs in adds all over the internet, in newspapaers, etc. You can even find poorly cared-for animals in petshops and being sold by "breeders." None of this is exclusive to Craigslist. Craiglist is not, in and of itself, a bad system and I'm sure the makers of Craigslist do not advocate animal cruelty in any way.

---

And, btw, Sassy is a gorgeous bird.

---

 

[wellington]

Sibi, I don't think they meant anyone on here. I think they were talking in general. I also think,they posted this due to a misunderstanding they had about my CL reposted ads. Their response to my reposted ad was deleted. I didn't see it myself, but was told about it. I think they misunderstanding is what made them feel they had to defend CL. It should be all smoothed out. Just a lot of misunderstanding going on the last couple weeks. Same as I misunderstood what you meant in your post.

 

[sibi]

Well, I'm glad you cleared that up because I thought he was attacking breeders here and felt he had to defend CL. Thanks =D

 

[lynnedit]

Thanks, Barb, for clearing that up. There has been a lot of 'ruffled feathers' on this forum recently (pun intended).
Amazing, as we are all tortoise/turtle lovers.

Nice outcome for Sassy!

 

[Nay]

Cl is a great great venue to use, but like anything else with good comes people who will not use it as it was intended. I have found you just have to be aware, both in selling things,(I use it to move along lots of items we no longer need, and to see if I can find stuff, (Just found a stainless steel bug shield to replace my broken one, 25.00!!!) But again, sometimes I get a lot of spamm from a particular item, (Don't know how they pick it) and any animal I may have placed on there to re home(We do a one at a time dog rescue) I will get the ones that just want a 'free' pet. You really have to use your best judgement. Screen potentials carefully, and any pet you get, take info with a grain of salt.
It can be very helpful.
NAy

 

[TortoiseWorld]

Seems like posts here are often taken out of context, people only hear what they want to hear, I am also guilty of that.
I support the breeding of tortoises with all my heart. For some endangered species it might be the only way we can assure their survival.
My point of the thread was that just because someone buys or sells animals on Craigslist, doesn't make them any less responsible than a professional breeder for example. Both could be responsible or not, the important this to keep an open mind.
I also read some posts out of context about posting my ad on CL and reacted, I have since apologized.
I am glad if you enjoyed my story about Sassy, to see her with her feathers back was an amazing sight.

Peace and Love