Food Prices went up...a lot

[Lolaris]

The price for the Oxbow chinchilla food I buy went from $12.99 a bag to 13.99 and now 15.99! Anyone have suggestions on an affordible bulk chinchilla food I could purchase? I also have to make sure w/ shipping it is still a better deal than I am getting. With 6 chinchillas the food costs are really adding up!

 

[threewingedfury]

You can get 8 lbs of Zupreem hay from horseloverz.com for $15.30 including shipping. Just make sure you decline the insurance, or its $2.25 extra.

http://www.horseloverz.com/Western-Timothy-Hay---8-Pounds-pr-314061.html

Code is FW2009FREESHIP

Edited to Add:

Just realized you wanted pellets, not hay. When I see Oxbow, I think of hay. My mistake!

 

[jmdebb]

I know alot of people had problems using Mazuri food due to some soft poop, but it always worked well with mine. And if you go to their site and put in your zip code it will come up with feed stores that sell it. I used to get 25 pounds for just $13.

jean

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I've used Mazuir for over 10 years with no problems

 

[addictedtochins]

I feed Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit Show PANR Show. It's about $22.00 for 50 lbs. Check the mill date and make sure it's a fresh bag, and I use super giant Zip-loc bags to keep it fresh. The boys like it so much more than Mazuri, which they used to sniff, then toss as far as possible.

 

[Becky]

I feed tradition and the cost actually went down this time.

 

[naturegirl240]

Yes. Tradition is very very cheap and still very high quality. You can purchase it in 25 lb. or 50 lb. bags or by the pound from ryerson's.

 

[starleomach]

I feed Nutrina Rabbit I get it for 12.00 a 50lb bag

 

[Tulula]

i buy Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit Show for 15.99 for a #50 bag at Dodge Grain in Salem, NH. My chins love it. I switched from Mazuri a little more then a year ago and they have all gained weight and seem to love it. Can't beat the price.

 

[Lolaris]

Thanks so much for the help. I read before that certain rabbit food did not contain the right nutritional ingredients for chinchillas. Has anyone else heard this before? For that reason I have steered clear, but the Purina option sounds like a good way to go. I am actually going to write Oxbow and complain. My chins love the food but that kind of increase in 1 yr is just crazy.

 

[AZChins]

All the food prices have gone crazy over the last couple of years. I had to be under contract for my price with Mazuri last year to keep from having to pay an absolute fortune. The food price has dipped down quite a bit and has held very steady the last few months.

Oxbow is probably just trying to maintain their profit level on the food. They are a business and that's what they do. I remember last year when Mazuri went up over 20% in one month - I felt betrayed for sure! I hope that Oxbow cares enough about customers to keep the price down or they are going to lose customers.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

My feed price went up last month due to the cost of alfalfa. There must be a shortage this year.

 

[Snickers]

PANR Show has been going up every year sometimes twice a year. I pay $16.14 for 50 lbs now. Earlier this year it was around $15.14. I noticed that timothy had at feed stores has gone down about $3.00 which is nice.

 

[AZChins]

You are right, the nice timothy I end up with has gone down a bit in price. That's interesting! Some years there are different shortages with certain commodities and that drives the costs up. Last year it was corn that caused the problem...that made everything even alfalfa go up.