Hello everyone,
A little introduction as I'm new here. I live in Europe and I grew up with tortoises, my parents had two Russians, so I grew up with a deep love for these precious animals. Over the past couple of months, I have been doing a lot of research and in the past weeks I have gathered supplies to set up a habitat indoors and outdoors (for the summer). I am planning to obtain two cherry-heads. Male/female or female/female. With the possibility to separate them when they come of age. They are still very young.
At least... that is my hope.
Because I ran into some trouble with the breeder, namely when it comes to contact. They are located in Europe and seem to be a reputable breeder and have been in the field for at least three decades. But it's very hard to get into contact with them. I found them through google and sent my first email on the 21st of February. Asking if they have cherry-heads available and if shipping was a possibility. I got a reply near instant. I even thanked them for the quick response. They asked for my address to calculate shipping, to which I mailed back instantly.
However, after two days I still had not heard back, so I sent another email, asking if my mail had come through. They replied after a couple of hours, saying that they were still waiting for a "quote" (I believe from a courier?) But gave me an estimated shipping price. I thanked him and told him I'd wait for him to come back to me with the actual shipping price. I also asked for a picture of the cherry-heads he had for sale.
I let two days pass, allowing him some time to mail back with the actual shipping price as well as a picture. However, nine days went by before he got back to me with a single picture, no words, no shipping price. I was excited to hear back from him nonetheless.
I then mailed back, telling him I'd like to have a male and female and if he was able to tell the sex. I circled two of the tortoises that I was interested in, and a third one with a question mark on his back (because if both of them were male, I wanted to have a third option, so the one with the question mark would be sexed as well) (I want to avoid male/male). So essentially, I asked for 3 tortoises to be sexed (by eye/experience).
He told me that he would only be able to guess the sex at their size. But that he also has two full grown adults for sale, which was above my budget, so I told him I'd be more interested in the baby/juveniles that he has for sale (the ones in the picture). I sent the email, but sent another one straight after (The exact same email) Just adjustments made to the picture where I circled the tortoises that I wanted in red instead of blue, to make it more clear.
I haven't heard from them since. I let another nine days go by (knowing that it took them nine days as well last time to get back to me), before sending another email on the 10th day. Letting them know that I am still interested and included the same picture.
It's been eleven days now and I still haven't heard back. I even made a Facebook yesterday (I don't use Facebook) to follow the page of this breeder and sent them a message there as well. But it hasn't been read either. I know from looking at their page that there was a big reptile exhibition going on last weekend on the 9th. So I thought, maybe they got caught up in that. But it's almost a week later now.
I explained the situation to my partner and he said that I probably "scared him off" by coming across as difficult. As in his eyes the breeder seems to be a no-nonsense type that just wants to get right to business. But I don't feel that I have been difficult? I feel like I have been very patient and polite. So I'm not sure what I could have done different. I know for a fact that a some people on here know this breeder and have bought from them in the past. So I know they are a good one. I've only seen positive things. I just wonder why I have this experience and what I could do. I don't want to name the breeder, as I don't want to give them a bad reputation, but I would love some insight in this situation.
I've been feeling very down about the whole situation as I was really looking forward to this.
A little introduction as I'm new here. I live in Europe and I grew up with tortoises, my parents had two Russians, so I grew up with a deep love for these precious animals. Over the past couple of months, I have been doing a lot of research and in the past weeks I have gathered supplies to set up a habitat indoors and outdoors (for the summer). I am planning to obtain two cherry-heads. Male/female or female/female. With the possibility to separate them when they come of age. They are still very young.
At least... that is my hope.
Because I ran into some trouble with the breeder, namely when it comes to contact. They are located in Europe and seem to be a reputable breeder and have been in the field for at least three decades. But it's very hard to get into contact with them. I found them through google and sent my first email on the 21st of February. Asking if they have cherry-heads available and if shipping was a possibility. I got a reply near instant. I even thanked them for the quick response. They asked for my address to calculate shipping, to which I mailed back instantly.
However, after two days I still had not heard back, so I sent another email, asking if my mail had come through. They replied after a couple of hours, saying that they were still waiting for a "quote" (I believe from a courier?) But gave me an estimated shipping price. I thanked him and told him I'd wait for him to come back to me with the actual shipping price. I also asked for a picture of the cherry-heads he had for sale.
I let two days pass, allowing him some time to mail back with the actual shipping price as well as a picture. However, nine days went by before he got back to me with a single picture, no words, no shipping price. I was excited to hear back from him nonetheless.
I then mailed back, telling him I'd like to have a male and female and if he was able to tell the sex. I circled two of the tortoises that I was interested in, and a third one with a question mark on his back (because if both of them were male, I wanted to have a third option, so the one with the question mark would be sexed as well) (I want to avoid male/male). So essentially, I asked for 3 tortoises to be sexed (by eye/experience).
He told me that he would only be able to guess the sex at their size. But that he also has two full grown adults for sale, which was above my budget, so I told him I'd be more interested in the baby/juveniles that he has for sale (the ones in the picture). I sent the email, but sent another one straight after (The exact same email) Just adjustments made to the picture where I circled the tortoises that I wanted in red instead of blue, to make it more clear.
I haven't heard from them since. I let another nine days go by (knowing that it took them nine days as well last time to get back to me), before sending another email on the 10th day. Letting them know that I am still interested and included the same picture.
It's been eleven days now and I still haven't heard back. I even made a Facebook yesterday (I don't use Facebook) to follow the page of this breeder and sent them a message there as well. But it hasn't been read either. I know from looking at their page that there was a big reptile exhibition going on last weekend on the 9th. So I thought, maybe they got caught up in that. But it's almost a week later now.
I explained the situation to my partner and he said that I probably "scared him off" by coming across as difficult. As in his eyes the breeder seems to be a no-nonsense type that just wants to get right to business. But I don't feel that I have been difficult? I feel like I have been very patient and polite. So I'm not sure what I could have done different. I know for a fact that a some people on here know this breeder and have bought from them in the past. So I know they are a good one. I've only seen positive things. I just wonder why I have this experience and what I could do. I don't want to name the breeder, as I don't want to give them a bad reputation, but I would love some insight in this situation.
I've been feeling very down about the whole situation as I was really looking forward to this.
