When we were still looking for cats, we went to several breeders. One had a silver Bengal and a traditional Bengal. The difference? Appearance. Xena is a marbled Bengal, which is why only her stomach has spots. I remember this breeder in particular because he wouldn't let us touch them. He said once a family came to look at his cats, played with them, held them. Then a couple hours later they died which I suppose is understandable why you don't want people touching your cats after that. It was also his kittens first time outside, and their first time away from their mother so they were skittish. He wanted $800 for each. At the time, we were only looking for one cat. We decided to pass on him, although I had already picked out a name. (Fun fact: Turbo's name was going to be Armani, but then my brother named him Turbo) He did have one adult cat I remember, his name was Bear. He was born with defects such as he was bow legged, had an offset jaw, and only had one eye. But my god, he was beautiful. Plus he had an amazing coat, it was like velvet.
The next breeder we went to was the one we ended up buying from. She lived about 3 hours away. In her "cattery" (Thats what breeders usually call the room they have the kittens in) there were four large cages. Two of them had adult males in each. They slept the entire time we were there but they were beautiful. The other two each had a mother cat and a litter of kittens. The first litter had 5 kittens, 4 of them had the traditional spots while 1 one them was marbled. In the other litter, there were 3 girls. The only ones that were left for sale was the Marbled Bengal girl, and two spotted boys from the first litter. (usually people tell the breeder what they want before the kittens are even born, and then when a litter is born matching the peoples description the breeder will call them and let them know that their kitten was born.)
So of the available kittens, there was Xena (the female marbled Bengal), Turbo (The male light spots), and one other male with dark spots. My mom loved Turbo right away, and his spots were easier to see. At this point, we were still only looking to get one cat. While all of the other cats were running around like crazy, little baby Xena came and started rubbing against my legs right away. She was cuddling and purring and felt asleep in my palm (She was small enough to do that). Thats when my nurturing instinct kicked in and I just knew this little baby kitty needed my love. I begged my mom for us to get Xena, and then the breeder said since she didn't have spots that we could get her for free. Somehow, I talked my mom into us getting two cats.
We bought Turbo for $700. Xena was free. At this time, they were about 5 weeks old, so we couldn't take them home yet. They were scheduled to come home September 18th, 2013. That would be their 8 week mark. The wait was terrible. Its like showing a 7 year old their new bike, and showing them everything thats great about it and then saying they can't ride it for a few weeks. They could look at pictures though! I had videos of them and pictures and we showed my dad and my brother. It was probably the longest time I have had to wait for something ever, because I was so excited.
That is my story about my experience with breeders, and Turbo & Xena's breeder. Their breeder is the sweetest lady ever, and I suggest if you do decide to get a Bengal or any breed that requires you go to a breeder, find someone nice. We had to call her a couple times with questions and it made it so much easier knowing that she actually cared what happened to the cats after they left. As always, if you have any questions let me know.
