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Post by natnat899 on Dec 12, 2014 7:51:54 GMT
Just a bit of market research really. My friend is thinking of starting up a business making woodern items for chinchillas and degus, which I think would be wonderful, I really do struggle to find unique toys.
What sort of toys would you be looking for?
What price range?
Suggestions?
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Post by deguconvert on Dec 12, 2014 17:06:05 GMT
Hmmmm!! I'll be giving that some thought!! Something that would be good, is to know what species of wood is safe for the animals he is building for, as well as what kind of fastenings he will use to build all these things. Many animals are reactive to soft woods like spruce and pine, and they need to be kiln dried to remove the resin, which is toxic to degus. Some glues are safe, many are not. Screws stay more secure than do nails, and so on.
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Post by natnat899 on Dec 12, 2014 20:39:09 GMT
Definitely, and I will be looking into that. There is a safe woods thread on this forum for degus, and I will be researching safe woods for chinchillas, though I believe once again it's probably already written on a forum. Fastenings and glues I will have to talk to him about, where possible I would like to avoid any screws/nails and glues. But of course, it's impossible in some cases. If you have any ideas then I would be thankful  |
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Post by Karma on Dec 13, 2014 1:14:07 GMT
From being in the pet industry also think about how you are getting the products to the customers ..... If it was possible to make items grooved in some way so you need minimal/no glue then you could sell them in flat pieces and the customer could build them up - saves you on shipping costs and the possibility of damage during shipping Large seesaws!! I want one lol Larger sized houses with multiple levels Wooden tubes (longer lasting) Agility items - a frame, jumps |
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Post by natnat899 on Dec 13, 2014 8:29:27 GMT
The grooved idea is good - sort of like flat packed furniture! The larger items will be the tricky part though, we would have to design it carefully.
I was also a thinking to have a tunnel with a metal fastening so you can attach it on the side of the cage - creating a suspended running space.
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 13, 2014 12:07:49 GMT
I use screws when I make wooden things for them, I tend to think it's best to have something big enough that they wouldn't swallow by accident.
I have a set of flat wooden pieces with bits sticking out all the way round (like mortice and tennon all the way round, not sure if that is the right description) so you buy flatpack and you can slot together to build into anything you like. The set I have isn't really big enough to be useful for degus, so a bigger version of that would be appealing.
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Post by natnat899 on Dec 13, 2014 18:37:58 GMT
Yes, I would defiantly favour larger screws than smaller - less chance to hurt themselves by swallowing etc.
I am not sure what you mean, do you have a picture of it at all?
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 13, 2014 21:28:38 GMT
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Post by natnat899 on Dec 14, 2014 8:38:04 GMT
Ah, yes - also loads of the hamster toys on various websites look interesting, but far too small - we will probably take ideas off those and create a larger model - which hopefully can be flat packed for easy shipping  |
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Post by klbishop on Dec 14, 2014 10:53:26 GMT
definitely, weve made quite a few custom items. They al;l get destroyed after a amount of time so I am always reluctant to buy from PAH or pet stores as the seesaw lasted 3 minutes
good idea !
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