Money Saving Tips

[Cass C]

I searched the forums and could not find a post on this, so I figured I could start one. I wanted to share some tips to save money on our furry and sometimes expensive friends that I wish I knew as an owner starting out. Seeing how I am now completely financially responsible for their well being it has made a huge difference to my pocketbook. I would love to hear other people's tips as well.

• Use Good Chinchilla food (It will save in expensive vet bills later)
• Use Aspen Bedding (Some feed stores sell this in bulk) or for reusable bedding use fleece liners. I used carefresh and it got expensive fast.
• Buy a high quality wheel instead of cheap wheels you will constantly be replacing.
• Buy bulk hay whenever possible. If there are a lot of horses in your area chances are horse grass hay is cheaper and just as good for your chinchilla.
• Do NOT buy wood/toys at petstores the vendors online are often safer and cheaper. Especially the ones supported by this site.

So does anyone else have a way they save money on their chinchilla care? Obviously without putting the chinchilla at risk.

 

[Shenanigans]

I buy Mazuri straight from them- www.Mazuri.com even with the shipping it's cheaper than buying any other food from nearby stores after the petstore's markup. Im sure other companies have the same thing, I just havent looked it up ever.
Doing your own sticks or buying on here is probably my biggest money saver with how much mine chew.
fleece liners are great- I would get a couple though so you can ave some in the cage while others are in the wash.
checking out natural food stores for treats can be a cheaper way to get them too.
finding cages on sites like craigslist can be a huge money saver compared to buying new. just make sure to clean them really well.

 

[ticklechin]

Flip hanging toys upside down to expose a new chewing surface.

 

[Justin5609]

Get a job at a pet store

My girlfriend works at one and the discounts allows us to spoil our chinnies even more

 

[lightningturtle]

Get a job at a pet store

My girlfriend works at one and the discounts allows us to spoil our chinnies even more

Oh man, that was the best part of my time working at Petco: All of my pets were always being spoiled with discounted goods.

 

[Vyxxin]

Buy in bulk whenever possible? If you're close to a blue cloud distributor for example, you can purchase 50lb bags for maybe $30-35 I believe? And guess what, it doesn't go bad LOL Same for feed, even if you have a smaller number of chinchillas, if you purchase a bigger bag it may turn out to be cheaper. I have customers who tell me that even after throwing away the last 15lbs of a 50lb bag, they save money on the bigger bags. Same for wood/toys...a LOT of vendors (myself included) often give discounts on larger orders

OH! And DIY...do anything you can for your chinchillas. From making pine shelves, to hammocks to even building cages...it's always cheaper if you have the ability, to make them yourself!