First off, let me admit here that this malicious mixture of genetics and luck has just about driven me insane.
To give you an example, last night I pulled down a container of babies that was due to be set up in containers and fed. I checked the card and it said the clutch was the result of breeding Amber Motley to Amber possibly het for Motley. So when I pulled aside the paper towel to take a look at the expected Ambers and possibly Amber Motleys, what I saw instead was a group of Caramels with a few Ambers scattered in the mix. Huh?? So I looked up the female and took a look at her. She is DEFINITELY an Amber and came from the original stock of Caramels het Amber Motley that were produced from breeding Amber to Caramel Motley years back. She was bred by two Amber Motley males, both from the same project, so there is no possibility of my simply mistaking a GoldDust in that mixture. Ultra has never been introduced into the bloodlines I used for this project. Further, this was her first time breeding this year, so no possibility of retained sperm from last year, nor were any other males introduced to her, because I mark even failed breedings on the record cards.
So what the heck happened here?
I get beat to death by Hypos all of the time in relation to my Lavender and Crimson blood lines, but I was a bit surprised to have it lash out at me in the Amber line as well.
Further, in the direction where I am eventually heading with all this. I had another clutch that were the results of breeding animals that resulted from breeding Upper Keys to Silver Queen. I thought the combo of the Silver Queen and Upper Keys would make for an attractive looking animal, and was looking forward to the results. Well, out of that clutch of 14 or so, I got mostly all normal Upper Keys looking animals, a few Hypos, and NO anerythristics or Silver Queen (Ghosts) at all. None. Zip. Nada. So if I had sold these animals to someone else, right now they would likely be cussing me out thinking I had pulled a fast one of them and mislabeled those animals.
Basically I have put my reputation at risk at the whim of Murphy's Law with hets, and that makes me REAL uncomfortable.
So what do I do about it?
Well, in thinking about this for the last several days while working on my price list, I came to the conclusion that selling hets just wasn't really worth the headaches. Not just for the reputation risks, but also because the number of sheets of labels I have to maintain has just gotten out of hand. At the last few Expos we have done, I had to take my book of labels with me, and I had to fit that into a briefcase because the stack of labels as become HUGE! Matter of fact, even this year while setting up new babies, I was having to run over to the house several times a night to make up new labels because I have animals hatching out that are het for more and more genes, as well as different combos as well.
This has just gotten out of hand. This all coupled with the fact that I sell a lot of animals to wholesalers who really don't give a rip about het genes, has pretty much pointed the arrow down the road that I believe is best for me to go at this time.
So effective this year, I am no longer selling animals specified as being het for anything. Just fully VISUALS and to heck with whatever genes they may be carrying. However, I WILL be labeling those that are het for things that they are SUPPOSED to be, based on the parentage, until I run out of that stack of label sheets I have. But after they are gone, they will only be labeled as the visually expressed gene(s) and nothing else.
So what that means is that when someone orders something like a Lavender, yes, they may get one that is labeled as being het for Hypo Blood Red, or Caramel, or Motley, or Hypomelanism. Until I run out of those labels, at which time it will only be labeled as "Lavender".
Yes, I know some people won't like this policy, whereas others will because of the likelihood that they will be getting free het genes without the surcharge. But I think all things considered, this has to be the way I do this. Quite honestly, hets have never really sold all that well, and when they did, generally didn't command a much higher price than the visuals anyway. So why bother with it for the very few exceptions?
Sure as heck wish I had come to this conclusion BEFORE mostly getting my price list finished. Would have saved me a boatload of time.....
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know about my new policy and the reasoning behind it. I really did give this a lot of thought, but who knows what I will think about it three years from now?
To give you an example, last night I pulled down a container of babies that was due to be set up in containers and fed. I checked the card and it said the clutch was the result of breeding Amber Motley to Amber possibly het for Motley. So when I pulled aside the paper towel to take a look at the expected Ambers and possibly Amber Motleys, what I saw instead was a group of Caramels with a few Ambers scattered in the mix. Huh?? So I looked up the female and took a look at her. She is DEFINITELY an Amber and came from the original stock of Caramels het Amber Motley that were produced from breeding Amber to Caramel Motley years back. She was bred by two Amber Motley males, both from the same project, so there is no possibility of my simply mistaking a GoldDust in that mixture. Ultra has never been introduced into the bloodlines I used for this project. Further, this was her first time breeding this year, so no possibility of retained sperm from last year, nor were any other males introduced to her, because I mark even failed breedings on the record cards.
So what the heck happened here?
I get beat to death by Hypos all of the time in relation to my Lavender and Crimson blood lines, but I was a bit surprised to have it lash out at me in the Amber line as well.
Further, in the direction where I am eventually heading with all this. I had another clutch that were the results of breeding animals that resulted from breeding Upper Keys to Silver Queen. I thought the combo of the Silver Queen and Upper Keys would make for an attractive looking animal, and was looking forward to the results. Well, out of that clutch of 14 or so, I got mostly all normal Upper Keys looking animals, a few Hypos, and NO anerythristics or Silver Queen (Ghosts) at all. None. Zip. Nada. So if I had sold these animals to someone else, right now they would likely be cussing me out thinking I had pulled a fast one of them and mislabeled those animals.
Basically I have put my reputation at risk at the whim of Murphy's Law with hets, and that makes me REAL uncomfortable.
So what do I do about it?
Well, in thinking about this for the last several days while working on my price list, I came to the conclusion that selling hets just wasn't really worth the headaches. Not just for the reputation risks, but also because the number of sheets of labels I have to maintain has just gotten out of hand. At the last few Expos we have done, I had to take my book of labels with me, and I had to fit that into a briefcase because the stack of labels as become HUGE! Matter of fact, even this year while setting up new babies, I was having to run over to the house several times a night to make up new labels because I have animals hatching out that are het for more and more genes, as well as different combos as well.
This has just gotten out of hand. This all coupled with the fact that I sell a lot of animals to wholesalers who really don't give a rip about het genes, has pretty much pointed the arrow down the road that I believe is best for me to go at this time.
So effective this year, I am no longer selling animals specified as being het for anything. Just fully VISUALS and to heck with whatever genes they may be carrying. However, I WILL be labeling those that are het for things that they are SUPPOSED to be, based on the parentage, until I run out of that stack of label sheets I have. But after they are gone, they will only be labeled as the visually expressed gene(s) and nothing else.
So what that means is that when someone orders something like a Lavender, yes, they may get one that is labeled as being het for Hypo Blood Red, or Caramel, or Motley, or Hypomelanism. Until I run out of those labels, at which time it will only be labeled as "Lavender".
Yes, I know some people won't like this policy, whereas others will because of the likelihood that they will be getting free het genes without the surcharge. But I think all things considered, this has to be the way I do this. Quite honestly, hets have never really sold all that well, and when they did, generally didn't command a much higher price than the visuals anyway. So why bother with it for the very few exceptions?
Sure as heck wish I had come to this conclusion BEFORE mostly getting my price list finished. Would have saved me a boatload of time.....
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know about my new policy and the reasoning behind it. I really did give this a lot of thought, but who knows what I will think about it three years from now?
