For those of you who have done this, what terms and conditions were decided between the two parties? Did you have a written contract? How did you split the clutch, etc?
Would love to learn from your experiences. Thank you in advance for sharing.
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It’s often not worth it and a lot can go wrong doing so, so you do want everything in writing from the responsibility and cost of feeding, to responsibility and cost of vet care, to amount due in case of death, to how long the animal will remain at the other person’s facility (not all animal will go that first season so it can be tricky), quarantine etc.
Split will depend and vary if animals are of the same value it maybe a 50/50 split so you will have to decide whom get first pick if one animal’s value is much greater than the other it might be a 70/30 split so it really depends.
I have done a few over the years but always was in agreement that my friendship with the people I had done loans with was something I valued more than the potential gain, to that effect I mainly did this to help people and rarely pick animals for myself.
I have also seen many friendships being destroyed and people getting into a nightmare of a situation because of loans.
Personally I prefer to buy animal and do my own breeding that have to rely on some loan it’s much less of an headache however will I help out some people along with some of their project, I do on occasions.
So please take all that in consideration.
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Thank you for your reply!
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@stewart_reptiles Is spot on, I’ve seen a ton of these go bad. I’ve done one so far, took a female in from a very good friend, ended up letting her keep the whole clutch. As Deb said, I value my friendships more than keeping a certain snake from a clutch.
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I did a loan few years back was a train wreck. Was a great friend of mine at the time, but after he trashed my animal I was ready to get him right with Jesus. Animal developed an abscess in his care from a bad feeding strike. Piece of bedding split and lodged in the roof of his mouth.Had so many bad sheds in his care he had scarring on his back , and a wicked eye infection. On top of that he came back rail thin like he literally bred my animal to anything he had with scales. Friendship was gone. I was ready to sue in small claims court if I lost this animal. Thankfully 8 long painful months later he finally resembled the animal I sent. It’s been 3 years now , and he is night ,and day from how he looked when he came home. Buy an animal you want do not do a loan. Nobody will treat or take care of your babies the way you do. I’m ocd neurotic when it comes to their hygiene, and care.
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There is a reason there is an adage about doing business with friends… I agree with getting everything in writing before hand so that both parties go in with their expectations clear, I think that is the part that is overlooked in most of the bad loans you hear about. They assume that because they are friends they do not need to put down every tiny thing because they will “be able to work it out as friends”
I did a loan on a trio of females with a guy I did not really know beyond his reputation. We drafted out a document that came to something like seven pages. At the end, we both felt the loan came out good for both of us and I put that down to the fact that we took the time to write everything out. He is someone I would do business with and would also do another loan with (with all the same paperwork to cover both of us).
There is another breeder, that I am friends with, that I have loaned a few animals to with no paperwork or discussion. These loans were basically situations where I had an animal I was not using but I knew he could use to further his projects so it just made sense to send the animal out. He has offered me stuff in return that I have rarely accepted, but we both went in knowing that it was less about “doing business” and more about helping each other out.
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If you intend on staying friends for a while, don’t do it. Even if you don’t, still don’t do it.
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Thank you everyone for your input!