Soooooooo Confused!!

[Breigh]

Ok I got Harley a week ago from a breeder in Germany. I didn't meet her because she dropped him off at a breeder closer to Holland and we went there to pick him up.

When I was mailing with her she sent me a group of photos that she said were of him:

They are the orange background photos in this flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/breigh/sets/72157594266159785/

She told me he was 16 weeks old (as of 2 weeks ago) and Algerian Chocolate. When I asked her after I had him home what his birth date was she said June 11th, which would have made him actually younger than 16 weeks.

Today I was looking at her website and she has one of the same photos that she gave me saying it was Harley, only it says it's a hedgie born April 19th and he's Algerian S&P.

When I mailed to ask her about whether that was really Harley in the photo, she told me that he was born April 29th, not April 11th.

Then she mailed me again and said that was him in the pic and she made a mistake on the website. So now I don't know if that is him, isn't him, if he's Algerian Chocolate or Algerian S&P or when exactly in April he was born!!

I don't think she's a bad person or a bad breeder even, she's been mentioned to me by almost every breeder I contacted who had given it up. The problem is LANGUAGE! I speak NO German and she -barely- speaks English so it's really hard for me to communicate with her.. I think something is being lost in translation.

The thing is, I've had Harley for such a short period of time, and I can't really tell if that's him in those other pics or not!

The non orange background pics on the flickr set are ones *I* took after having him home.

Can you tell me what color he is from looking at the photos? Is he Algerian S&P or Algerian Chocolate?!

Also, I have no idea how old he REALLY is! I know he weighs 250g+ at the moment and seems fairly big (at least in my opinion)

Eish... I'm confused and I hate not knowing the -exact- information about him... and now I'll doubt anything she tells me because the story has changed so much.

[Nancy]

Non of the hedgehogs in the pictures are S&P. To me, Harley looks like he could be a Algerian grey. His quills are quite dark and he has a darker mask than chocolates do. His nose looks dark brown though.

Of the photos with the orange backgrounds. The second one and the very last one look like Harley. The others look to be too light.

As for the birthdate, that sucks not to know for sure. She must have alot of litters close together to get them confused like that. Weight tells you nothing as there are litters with large babies and litters with smaller babies.

So who is his mom? She should know by that when he was born. I take it she didn't give you a birth certificate for him.

[Breigh]

She didn't give me a birth certificate, no :( I should ask her to mail me one.

The problem is that she and I can hardly talk because of the darn language. *sigh*

Today in her mails she has told me two different sets of parents. I don't know which one is true.

She sent me some photos and I picked out the one I liked, she said he was Algerian Chocolate and I said I'd take him. Then today I saw that same photo on her website saying it was S&P ...

I don't know.

I will love Harley regardless but I don't like not knowing the details and had I not seen that photo on her site today I wouldn't have doubted anything. I would have thought he was Harley, born April 11th and Algerian Chocolate... now I don't know what is true and what isn't.

http://static.flickr.com/88/231672553_ae8b9f3cb3_m.jpg

That's the photo she sent me that I chose him from.

Now go here and click on kinderstube on the sidebar:

http://www.afrikanische-weissbauchigel.de/

You'll see that same photo saying April 19th, with mother Guibi and father Pieksi. Those are the parents she told me in her last mail.

In her mail before that she told me he was born April 29th and his mother is Mary and father was Loki.

When I spoke to her the day I got him, she told me he was born April 11th.

I find this very frustrating. It's not like I'll return him, I already am in love with him... but I want to know these things.

[Nancy]

Many people call the dark hedgehogs S&P. As a breeder she should know better but not all do.

I agree, when you get an animal from a breeder you should be given an exact birthdate. Have you tried going to http://www.freetranslation.com/

What is his birthdate? is Was ist sein Geburtsdatum?

[Breigh]

I did ask his birthdate and so far she's told me April 11, April 19 and April 29. I have absolutely no idea which is true.

She's also told me two different sets of parents.

It's as though she has no idea which group of babies he actually came from.

[Breigh]

Ok I just heard from her again, she told me the information I have for him is correct and I have the right hedgie.

Problem is, I don't know -which- one of the group of different information she gave me is the right one.

She did give me his registration number ( D-Z-RK08028 ) but I have no idea where he would be registered. Is this universal? Is there somewhere I could look this up?

I contacted a Dutch friend of mine who is living in Germany and is fluent in German, he is going to be a middle man and translate for me. So I just sent her a mail in German and he'll translate her reply for me.

I also asked about the birth certificate.

I'm not angry with her or anything, she's been very very sweet all along... I guess this is just one of those things about living in Europe as an English speaker. Mass confusion!

[Tsukiko]

Maybe she had to foster the little guy for some reason and she's giving you the set of parents he came from and the one that raised him too? That's the only thing I can think of besides maybe she's just unorganized. Mixups happen, and at least you know the general time of when he was born. Some people with rescues don't have the slightest idea.

[illinidairychic]

That would be frustrating. :( I'm try to keep a couple different copies of records when I have a larger round of babies. I keep a color code of who is marked and what litters they came from. I have litter sheets on all my females and I put in there as well which babies are marked with which color. I also have a spread sheet that I keep track of who got what hoglet from what litter and what birthdate. I know it tedious but if it works in the end then I know it's good. :)

[Breigh]

Yeah it's a bit frustrating.

I have been staring at the color guide and I'm really not sure what I think he is. He's definately not as dark as the S&P pic on there, yet his quills are slightly darker than in the Algerian Chocolate.

His nose is chocolate brown, not at all black.

[Missmegz]

It may just be me but this lady seems to have stolen some pictures and placed them on her hedgehog colours page. The "uber-pinto" picture is clearly from Hedgehogs by Vickie (http://www.hedgehogsbyvickie.com/hedgehogsforsale.htm). That's definitely an infringement... and the sad this is I noticed that right away... I wonder how many of the others are stolen.

And aside from that, wow Breigh, you must have paid a fortune for your hedgehog. :)