I've had rabbits for a year, done tons of research on the breed of Holland Lops to figure out what I wanted in a Holland rabbitry, and headed to the 51st ARBA convention in Texas with hopes of buying a decent brood trio (one male, two does). Unfortunately, I was still a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience and am 90% sure that I was swindled. Here's the story:
I had arrived opening day in the morning, but it turns out that a lot of the selling of rabbits had gone on the day before, which was a bit of a rub. There were still plenty of Holland Lops for sale though, but I quickly found that most of them were not to the standard I was searching for, or they did not have a trio available. I really wanted the nicest starting stock possible and from the same breeder so that the lines were more predictable. I lived 4 hours away so I was planning on returning home afterwards and not going back until the last day of the convention to pick up my purchases. As the hours of searching and inquiring passed by, I was increasingly seeing myself going home without any rabbits and having to wait a long time before getting the Hollands I wanted.
However, finally I got a hold of a woman who seemed to have decent stock and was very friendly. She listened to what I was looking for and showed me a couple of bucks and a few does that she thought would go well together. She said that she "enjoyed helping people get started" in the rabbit breeding process. One of the does that she offered me was one that she had not brought to the show with intention to sell, but decided she could sell to me. Seemed like a great doe with some decent show records, so I accepted her offer. She would mail me the pedigree for this rabbit when they got home from the convention. We filled out the sale slips for the three rabbits, I took very vague pictures of each one to text to my husband, and I headed home.
Here's where things get sketchy. I come back to the convention on Wednesday, the day when everyone is packing up and heading out. I arrived very early in the morning, but people are already mostly packed up. I had to wait a while before I could leave as I had to wait on some items I had bought from a booth. By the time I get around to my purchased rabbits' cages, all the other rabbits in adjoining cages are gone. I loaded up my three rabbits and took them to a ARBA staff member to be checked out. When we look at the sale slips though, the seller had not listed the ear #. They had listed the cage number, which was on the rabbits' ears as well, but the doe who the woman had not intentionally brought to sell had a different cage number in the ear than listed on the sale slip. The staff member asked me to check that no other rabbits were nearby the cages I had gotten mine in case I grabbed the wrong ones. As stated before, there were no other rabbits near mine by the time I was trying to leave the convention. Also, the seller was long gone by this time as well. The picture that I had taken of this doe on the first day was not far enough back to tell which cage she was in. Slightly funny feeling about this but shrugged it off as there wasn't anything else I could do. The staff member let me leave after we determined there weren't any other rabbits I could have accidentally grabbed.
After I get home, let the rabbits settle for a while, and don't hear from the seller about her pedigree, I call her up. I am told that she and her husband had gotten horribly sick during the convention and were still recovering. I reminded them which doe I needed the pedigree for, giving the ear #, and she said they would mail it to me soon. Which they did.
I decide to take some pictures of my rabbits for the website. As I look more closely at this doe and remember the missing ear number on the sale slips, I get this feeling that this was not the doe I had payed for. This doe's ears tend to stick way forward with major ear control, something which I would have found a big fault. She also has a very skittish personality, compared to the other two which are sweethearts. I pull up the picture I took at the convention -- that doe's ears hang straight down and seem longer. Also, the black tort pattern on the same side seems different as well. What do you think?
| Photo from the first day of convention |
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| Photo of doe I brought home |
Knowing that many people at the convention were trying to sell their junk stock at show prices and that some rabbit breeders are known to be seedier than used car salesmen, I am very suspicious that the woman whom I bought my rabbits decided that she would switch out the doe she didn't want to sell with another one, knowing that I was going to be away from the convention and didn't have her write down the ear #. Even if the seller mistakenly took the wrong rabbit, she should have realized it when I gave her the ear number of the rabbit I needed the pedigree for. Unfortunately I have no real way to prove anything and am not 100% certain, so I will not reveal the person/rabbitry in question. I have just taken this as a lesson to learn so that I never repeat this mistake.
Hopefully if anyone takes anything away from this, it will be this: always take good documentation of what you are intending to buy and don't trust someone else to help you more than they have to.
