Young Ones

Over the past few years there's been a couple of times when we've taken in an animal, only to discover that it is pregnant. In particular, guinea pigs can become pregnant at a very young age, but sometimes rabbits too arrive with us only to give birth a couple of weeks later.

Recently, we had a rabbit give birth to six babies. A customer with his daughter, seeing the baby rabbits a week after they were born, asked about them.

 "Did you breed them yourself?"

 - No, the female was already pregnant when she came in to us. So it was a bit of a surprise.

 "How old are they?"

 - Only a week old today.

 "How old do they have to be before they can leave their mother?"

 - Well, at the very least about eight weeks.

 "Can I buy one now?"

 - We aren't taking deposits on them at the moment, because anything could happen in the meantime. If you still want one in a few weeks, then come in again and we'll see how things are.

 "No. I want to buy one now."

 - I'm sorry, we aren't taking deposits on them.

 "I don't want to leave a deposit. I want to take one of them today."

 - Today?"

 "Yes."

 - They aren't ready yet.

 "Surely you can get let one go today? My daughter wants one of the white ones."

 - They aren't old enough to leave their mother yet.

 "It'll be alright."

 - It doesn't even have its eyes open yet, and still needs its mother for food.

 "We'll give it food, and wait for its eyes to open, it won't take long."

 - I'm sorry, but they cannot leave their mother for at least another seven weeks.

 "Surely you can get let one go."

 - If we sell it to you now, it will die. So we will not sell it to you.

 "I'd look after it. If it dies, we won't come back for a refund."

 - No. They are not for sale.

This is not the first time that I've had this conversation with someone. I'm sure it won't be the last.