Wood Chews

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

Where do you buy your wood chews for the best price?

Personally, I hate that wood has gotten so pricy. When I first started buying it it was $6-$8 a pound. Now it's $11 and $12 a pound.
With 9 chins and 2 degus, that is a painful price. lol

So, I was wondering where everyone has found the best prices on their wood.

I like to buy them a variety, so I usually end up buying it by the pound from different people.

 

[ticklechin]

I have found you get what you pay for, the cheap wood I got was crappy quality, moldy or over cooked, for consistant good quality and wood the chins actually eat I like Rondas wood. Cause if they don't eat it its a waste of money to pay for 6.00 a pound wood and wood processing is a pain in the arse and time consuming so those that do it should be compensated.

 

[Sandi]

I also buy it from different vendors. I agree the prices are higher than when I first started buying wood but I also can understand why they have. I used to buy from ppbn when they were in business selling to us regular folks but I also think that was their main source of income as they also sold bird items. They had a few (maybe more) x-large ovens for all the wood they had to process. Their set-up was made to process a lot of wood as quickly as possible. Most of the sellers now are not set up like this so it may take longer (time) to process wood and require more labor so the cost is higher. I personally cannot even fathom taking on a challenge to first "find" safe wood and then have to prepare that wood in my kitchen... my family gives me grief just for baking chin hay cookies let alone bring in piles of raw wood to clean, lol!

ETA: And yes as Dawn said, you get what you pay for and learned that the hard way one time.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I've tried preparing it, very time consuming

I do prepare my own blackberry though.

I was also ordering from PPBN when they were opening. I'd order 2 and sometimes 3 times a month. My guys defiantly cried when she shut down

 

[yummychinchillatoys.com]

I do agree with you guys to some extent. I have bought wood cheap and it was moldy or over cooked, but I have also bought expensive wood and it was the same way. Part of the reason i started doing my own wood and selling it. I believe I sell my wood at the lowest price. I get complements on my wood from everyone. People tell me all the time that they have bought mulberry from other people and their chins wouldn't touch it but my mulberry they gobbled up. Preparing wood is very time consuming. I don't make hardly any money on my wood. the electricity it takes me to bake my wood cost a lot. But I love that I can offer my wood cheaper.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I had that issue as well Heather. My chinchilla, Shiloh, will chew your mulberry wood but I couldn't get him to chew mulberry from other people.

 

[yummychinchillatoys.com]

I had that issue as well Heather. My chinchilla, Shiloh, will chew your mulberry wood but I couldn't get him to chew mulberry from other people.

Its because I put love into baking my wood. Lol. I like baking mulberry. It makes my house smell so good.

 

[ticklechin]

I can vouch for your wood, my chins love it!

 

[Spoof]

Hats off to the wood processors, people don't see what goes into making it available. )

I only do it once a year for my gang, if I run out it's tough love until the next time.

You figure they've got to either have a tree or find one someone will let them have then cut on it. This can involve a ladder and climbing up into the tree in all sorts of weather. Strip the leaves if it's that time of year or freeze to death when there are no leaves. Stuff it in the vehicle.

Wash it - very wet, cold and time consuming depending on where your washing area is.

Then they cut everything to size - have you ever tried cutting 1,000 twigs to the exact same size? I did a pound and a half of twigs when I was at Ronda's and had blisters for a week. You have to use clippers as a saw will destroy the little ones.

Then you bake for hours to dry it, lots of electricity. Smells lovely though. Just don't forget them in the oven.... funny how wood catches on fire when it gets too dry.

Then you have to sort everything into same diameter size...

Then you have to box it up when people order it. Now imagine doing that with 8 different types of wood cut into 6 different sizes... and laugh insanely!

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I wouldn't be laughing insanely - I would be crying insanely and wondering why the blank I was processing wood when I could pay for it

 

[Ronda]

And now you know why I'm insane....

 

[WhiteTree]

I get my wood from Ronda. I feel it's reasonably priced for the amount of work that goes into it. I wish the drilled coins and twirlies were cheaper but that's just because my boys devour them so fast. The way it works is either you put out the cash for someone else to do the labor for you or you do it yourself. I personally don't have a tree to cut from, don't have the time to process the wood and have no willpower to torture myself in such a way, so I open my wallet and hand my money over. No complaints from me. Thank you for the wonderful wood ronda.

 

[PebblesAndAbby]

rondas wood is the best! my girls chew her wood sticks down to splinters and they always just chew the bark off of their wood sticks. i recieved some mulberry from her yesterday, and my girls were going to town!!:thumbsup: