[muntjac]

went to get my bedding and feed supplies for rabbits ferrets etc ,bedding is shavings what the horsey folks use basically .. and they put the price up by  £1 ,when i asked why they said cos all feed prices are going up because grains etc have gone up in price .,what the effing ell  has that got to do with wood shavings,well the boss told us to put all the stock up to take care of the increases  but not to put up the rabbit and gunea pig feed so pet folks dont suffer ,so we stuck it on the shavings  :roll: £6.30 a bale now oh " and we cant say its not going up again " and the faffing crushed seed grains now £8 .40 a 20kilo  sack ( glad im not buying that  )which was £6 .50a fortnight ago  so i reckon the thieving ass is profiterring.. told em im buying elsewhere .bobbing rastucks  :x  :x  :x

[yorkshirerose]

:x Thats outrageous - just bought a pallet of 18 bales of shavings - £100.
Dont blame you for looking else where munty.

[Zak the Rabbit]

glad you told em where to shove it!

i use shredded paper for the piggies and bunny, got an endles supply from mine and the wifes works,

[si-mate]

Shame they couldn't give you a better explanation than that.
Shavings have gone up and likely will go up further for several reasons:
firstly, wheatstraw the traditional bedding for horses, will be extremely short this winter because of the bad weather. This increases demand for shavings.
Secondly, shavings are a byproduct of the timber industry which has slowed up a lot over the last 2 years because of less house building, DIY etc. and particularly increased imports of finished timber.
Thirdly, shavings, like cereals, are in increased demand for biofuels and biomass.
Lastly, there are less imported bales around from Germany and Eastern Europe because they can sell the product for more in their home countries now because of biomass.

It does seem an unusual pricing policy that store has though.

[SMIFFY]

Munty, I don't know if this will help, but I looked up all my local carpenters and furniture restorers. I gave them a ring and out of about 6, I now have an agreement with 3 of them. It cost me a bottle of Scotch each(to say thankyou), and I give them a dozen eggs each time I go and collect all the woodshavings I need (which they obviously don't charge me for)
Might be worth a try mate.

[si-mate]

The problems with shavings from carpenters are that they are not dust extracted (so could potentially cause your birds and possibly yourself)respiratory problems) and they usually contain hardwood  which is nowhere near as absorbent as softwood and also are unsuitable for chicks as they may think the hardwood flakes are food which then become inpacted.

[SMIFFY]

I only get Pine shavings from them, and I wash the shavings in hesion(I think thats how you spell it)sacks.I then allow the shavings to dry out totally and then their ready to use. Maybe this is wrong, but I don't seem to get any dust whatsoever off of them. If it's wrong PLEASE let me know.

[muntjac]

have a pal who owns a builders shop mate he makes all his own doors n windows stairs etc i dont use em fer nowt but me rabbits n ferrets .reasons because of what simate says .ty anyways