Who are your favourite suppliers?

[Maz]

Whether it's a product or a store - just wondering if you have favourites and why

 

[elusive]

I think my favourites would have to be both Mixerama & Getzoo for the wide range & quality of suitable products.
I also use Rat rations quite a bit, delivery is expensive but it’s really convenient to be able to buy a lot of things like seeds, grains & other food stuff in small amounts, good range of products too.
I haven’t had to buy much new hamster stuff for such a long time there are probably suppliers I’ve forgotten now!
For elderly hams my go to are Ella’s kitchen & Lily’s kitchen.

 

[RainbowBrite]

My favourite sites for hamsters are Happy Henry Homes for the fantastic safe hamster products they make. Orko loves their dig boxes. The company uses sustainable wood which is important to me. They also have great customer service.

Hopes Healthy Treats for the wide range of hamster supplies and low prices. I have bought a lot of items from there.

Rodipet for their cork logs and grapevine wood. I find those things tricky to get but the ones I bought from there are excellent.

Hamsters we love for their forage and things like sunflower heads.

Mixarama for their huge choice of food which we buy to create Orko's seed mix.

 

[Maz]

I also haven't had to buy anything new for a while, apart from food, but have used some of the ones above and agree. Still haven't found "Hamsters we love" on Etsy!

I was thinking about this topic after coming across an email last night. So one of my favourites would be a cage manufacturer - Savic! I know not all their products are great but I emailed them 7 and a half years ago and asked them to make a 100cm hamster heaven - ideally with a 30cm deep base for deep bedding!. I found them great to deal with and they listened to hamster owners. I said I was active on forums and many owners wanted 100cm cages and out of the ones available, none of them had a big front door like the Hamster Heaven.

My first response was a fairly generic one when I received a fairly long reply from someone in a customer services capacity saying they do consider larger products but what is considered a "large" cage in one country isn't considered "large" in Germany etc etc. I replied saying I think many people in the Uk would buy it as the hamster heaven is very popular but it doesn't fit a 12" wheel very well and needs a bit more space.

However shortly after I received a personal email from someone in the design team, who continued to deal with me, throughout production of the Savic Plaza Which didn't have a name at that time. He said they were considering making a 100cm hamster heaven and it would be a similar design to the Xeno rat cages - ie knockdown - as they could use the same manufacturing rig - and he would keep me updated.

He said they couldn't change base size due to that needing a whole new manufacturing plant. He consulted me about height saying the design team had 50cm but he thought that was too tall for hamsters, what did I think - I said about 45cm. He assured me it had a big front door like the Hamster Heaven. He sent me mock up photos! Then told me where it was to be released and when.

The product was the Savic Plaza cage. And at first quite a few of us were disappointed it was 50cm tall - they were trying to double up catering for rats too maybe thinking they wouldn't sell enough of them otherwise. But - it's a 100cm cage with a big front door and there are ways of getting around the height!

So I was hugely impressed with them as a manufcturer - they listened to hamster owners, they pitched the price not too high and they eventually got it into a main Uk stockist. And it has become very popular. I now have two

As it happens, Brexit came along meaning the Alexander and Barney cages were no longer available from Germany and for a while the Savic Plaza was the only 100cm cage available - until Little friends made the 100cm ritz and grosvenor more recently (but no big front door).

It may have been pushing it a bit but not long ago I wrote to them again and said how popular the Savic Plaza was with hamster owners and any chance they could produce a bigger 120cm one with a bigger front door! I had a response saying this would be passed to the design team. And it seems they have listened to that too! As there is now a 120cm Savic Plaza (which was released in December and apparently will be available in the Uk at some point this year).

So I am really impressed with them. The Hamster Heaven is one of the better made 80 x 50 cages anyway. I am also hugely impressed that they still supply stock to the Uk, unlike most other European manufacturers. If we were limited to Uk production only there would hardly be any suitable cages.

I'll just add I have no financial interest whatsoever!

 

[Maz]

My other favourite suppliers are the same as some of yours above - Rodipet, Getzoo (also both German manufacturers who negotiate the horrifically difficult customs requirements now and still ship to the Uk). And also Rosewood who (mostly) make a lot of safe hamster acessories, toys and treats.

It's great some good new Uk suppliers have emerged as well (like Hopes Healthy treats and Happy Henry Homes) - stockists of hamster safe products.

Viking laser are a small company who make perspex panels for the Plaza cage too (for deep bedding) so that is an innovative company (but they're not cheap).

 

[RainbowBrite]

I forgot to mention Niteangel. I absolutely love their stuff especially their wheels. I have found their wheels hardly need adjusting or oiling unlike other wheels I have used. They make really nice bridges which are perfect for robos and dwarfies as well as bigger bridges. I have quite a few of their items. I spoke to somebody from their team who said they are planning on slowly introducing items in the UK via Amazon so this means people here will not need to pay the shipping we used to when we ordered via Amazon.com.

 

[Maz]

That's great news if we don't have to pay shipping from the US! The items are fairly reasonably priced in the US, but with shipping they are really expensive in the Uk.

Another favourite manufacturer many of us use! Whimzees (for chews).

 

[Member ID2]

I rarely buy online because there are good, independent pet shops in my area.

For anybody living in the Wiltshire area i'd recommend the petshed (little and big shed) at Butterfly World off J16 M4.

Been there today to stock up on Pick n' Fly. Petshed does a good variety of forages, ceramic hides, Ferplast sin houses and lots of other stuff incl xs toothbrush whimzees loose at 25p ea.

Aqualush in Swindon is an aquatic/reptile shop with a small rodent supply incl Little Ones mixes and a good variety of substrates.

Paradise Pets in Swindon sells the Dyang wheels, colourful bendy bridges without gaps, sputniks and yellow and red millet loose amongst other things.

Toomers Garden centre near Purton sells 85l bags of white Kaytee at £22.99.

Rangebourne pet shop in Devizes has some unexpected stock sometimes ranging from multichamber houses to a spiral staircase.

Porton Aquatics near Salisbury has an interesting range of supplies.

I'm sure there are other independent petshops but those are the ones where i buy my supplies.

 

[Maz]

It's great you have so many local independent shops. Just to add that Porton Aquatics sell online as well Didn't realise you lived near Salisbury - it's a lovely place.