Cheaper Alternatives

[HeatherK]

Originally posted by marisa
So I guess Dollarama gets this years "Herper's Best Buy" award? LOL

LOL. Forget the pet store, I'm going to the dollar store! I already hang around the children's toy section to find toys for the rabbits.. what's the difference

[Danothemano]

Hey,
I found heat bulbs at home depot, you can get red and clear from 50watts to 250watts only 6 to 12 bucks!
ps
cool thread
Dan

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by HeatherK
Plastic plants are also expensive at the pet stores. Cheaper in the crafts stores. Get some suction cups (dollar store item!) to affix them to the sides of the tank and you're good to go

I have used that many a time, suction cups............I find the placement that I want and clamp the hook on the suction cup (with pliers also from the Dollarama...lol) and then they stay put.

[Linds]

Co-op for stuff like shavings, medication, medical accessories, cleaning agents, etc.

Garden center for bulk substrates such as mulch, moss, and vermiculite, as well as plants.

The great outdoors for rocks and wood.

[Yness]

I am constantly perusing dollar stores and not just for herping...you can find anything you need at a dollar store...you just have to look and think laterally...

[Stockwell]

I completely agree, and am super happy to see that other herpers have discovered Dollarama.. There are other dollar stores, but it's the best by far.
I buy dozens of those little Ramakin bowls... They are 2 for a buck and just great for raising babies. They are ideal for adult rosies, and sand boas as well, things that you don't want soaking.

They even have a 3 for a buck Ramakin, with a blue lip. Those are an exceptionally good deal and great for babies in show boxes.
I might mention power cords too. If you need to wire heat tape, just get a one buck power cord and cut the female end off... They have cube taps and other electrical stuff all for a buck.
Dollarama has great tools as well for occasional herp use. They have some great tape measures for only a buck, I just bought a few... I also buy my paint brushes, sand paper and all kinds of stuff there, including brooms and dust pans, oh yeah, and incense!
And How about Mars and Snickers bars, 2 for a buck. You need that sugar kick when doing a power cleaning session. Batteries for the walkman too
They should just call the place Herp-o-rama LOL

Rens feed in Oakville is great if you can get there. I buy all my mouse chow and Beta chip and Aspen there... It's surprisingly cheap.. Huge bags of Aspen, Alpha and Beta Chip, all under 10 bucks.

I use alot of bark for hides. It gives the wife and I an excuse for exercise. We go for "bark walks" where we look for old dead elm or similar.
It's free and beats buying endangered Cork, which is very expensive. By the way, I never clean the bark other than brushing it off with a Dollarama paint brush.. LOL

[Dom]

Home depot . so many things there for so much cheaper .. from light bulbs to wiring the cerami heat lamps and all that if u can do it yourself..

Dirt .. othing is more free then outside dirt.. Rocks ... outside rocks..

[Ducksarefun]

I would not suggest buying power cords from the dollar store. Only use CAA aproved ones (or whatever approves electric things). I know a guy who's barn burnt down because he was using a dollarstore extension cord.

As for mulches from the garden centre: are they ok to use? I was concerned there may be chemicals in them.

[Jeff Hathaway]

Mulches from the garden centre are fine, but there are many different kinds out there. Cypress mulch is not available at all garden centres (Bradford Greenhouses generally carries it). Many sell cedar mulches that have been dyed different colours, and sometimes they are dyed to look like cypress. They may even have a label saying 'cypress' that refers to the colour, not the mulch! And of course, cedar is considered toxic to herps, though I know of people who've used it quite successfully with some reptiles.

Dollarama has become Jenny's favorite store! We get lots of great stuff there. We're also big fans of cardboard boxes, margarine tubs, etc. When we go to Costco, we take lots of extra small flat boxes, and occasionally one of their staff asks why we want so many- it starts some interesting conversations sometimes!

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

[MouseKilla]

I've found the same thing with Dollarama but I like Canadian Tire because you can find ever single thing you could ever need, aside from feeders, there. They have a great selection of Rubbermaids, heat pads, garden stuff like perlite, vermiculite, clay pots, any electrical things you might need like rheostats, bulbs, light fixtures, tools. And better still it doesn't have that icky Walmart vibe that seems to linger also in Home Depot... I don't know, I just smell evil in those places, I'm pretty sure all the money goes directly to Satan.lol!

[HeatherK]

Originally posted by Stockwell
Rens feed in Oakville is great if you can get there. I buy all my mouse chow and Beta chip and Aspen there... It's surprisingly cheap.. Huge bags of Aspen, Alpha and Beta Chip, all under 10 bucks.

Luckily it's about 10 mins from me, I get a lot of my stuff there.. not sure what I'd do without the place. I usually use get the aspen, wasn't aware of the Alpha? They have lab block rodent chow for extremely cheap as well.

[Stockwell]

The Dollarama extension cords are fine! They are all CSA or cUL approved. I work with CSA and am involved with inspections, and getting products certified. I check that kind of thing.
It's illegal to sell electrical products that aren't approved. They'd be pulled from the shelves if that was going on in such a big chain store. cUL is also fine in Canada.
It means they have been UL approved(the US underwriters agency) but in harmony with Canadian Standards as denoted by the small c prefix

If somebody's barn burnt down because of an extension cord, it was probably overloaded or damaged, and that can happen with any make, whether its approved or not. It can also be the result of a bad plug or short in the load that plugs into the cord, and not the cord itself

[condabroad]

For my large snakes I bought a x large dog dish for them, they dumped everything we had tried. It was a deal for $8.99 at walmart.

[Drew S]

Sort of along the same lines, SuperPet often runs 50-70% off sales on lots of their reptile supplies.

Just last week I picked up a bunch of ZooMed heat pads and rheostats for 60% off. $19 for the pads, and $12 for the rheostats. It was a steal.

[HeatherK]

Oooh I saw those too, actually never noticed any sales like that before there. Great deal. Too bad I didn't need anything