African pygmy hedgehogs are the new must-have pets in Britain. The eggcup-sized hogs have won the hearts of tens of thousands of British pet owners, who simply can’t resist their button black eyes and soft pink noses.
And a husband and wife team from Wiltshire have turned their love of the spiny pets into a business, using Buy Buckets plastic buckets to make exercise wheels specially for African pygmy hedgehogs.
Despite their exploding popularity, African pygmy hedgehogs still don’t have an established range of accessories in the major pet stores.
This gap in the market has opened the door for entrepreneurial hedgehog enthusiasts like Amanda Mitchell and her husband Stuart. When the couple couldn’t find a good exercise wheel for their 11 hedgehogs, they decided to take matters into their own hands and make their own using brightly coloured plastic buckets and scooter wheels.
As pets, African pygmy hedgehogs tend to live in vivariums, but they can run up to five miles each day, so they need exercise wheels to keep active. And because they are nocturnal creatures, their wheels need to be silent.
Amanda told us: “Finding a suitable wheel in the UK can be difficult, the major manufacturers don’t make specialist ones for pygmy hedgehogs. There are some that you can buy for rats and other pets but they’re usually difficult to clean, which is a problem because pygmy hedgehogs are pretty animals.
“The only option for most pygmy hedgehog owners is to import good quality exercise wheels from America, but we thought that was crazy, so we decided to make our own.”
Amanda and her husband make the exercise wheels by cutting down and sanding a plastic bucket, before mounting it on a plastic frame with a scooter wheel mechanism acting as the rotator.
After sourcing plastic buckets from a number of suppliers, they chose Buy Buckets because they produce straight sided containers, in lots of different colours, at a reasonable price.
Amanda said: “The straight sided containers are better at holding the weight of our pygmies. Not many other bucket manufacturers make buckets with straight edges. People buying our wheels also seem to really like the bright colours. The baby pink is particularly popular with female hedgehog owners. Buy Buckets containers are also food-safe meaning that it’s ok if the hedgehogs decide to nibble on the edges.
“We also like how they are manufactured in the UK. And because we’re only small, it’s good that they’re so cheap because it means we can keep costs down.”
The Wiltshire-based husband and wife team has so far only sold wheels to other members of the African pygmy hedgehog owning community, but they are looking to grow their ‘cottage industry’ business by opening a Facebook page and starting a website in the coming weeks.
Spring has almost sprung in the UK and for keen anglers that can only mean one thing – that the fishing season is almost here.
To ring in the start of the fishing pre-season, when anglers start selecting their kit and bait shops begin to stock up with the latest gear, we’ve launched a brand new fishing category on the Buy Buckets retail website to make it easier to find the best bait buckets at a fraction of the price charged by specialist fishing retailers.
In this new section, anglers will find high quality bait containers in the most popular colours – moss green and pitch black.
The camouflaged buckets are available in 10L, 16L and 25L sizes and they are perfect for storing and transporting bait. They are also useful containers for mixing groundbait in.
Buying direct from the UK manufacture is volumes cheaper than buying from a specialist fishing supply store. And the products are all but identical.
Our containers are made from a high quality Polypropylene (PP), and they are all 100% food grade, so you won’t unknowingly release any chemicals or toxins into the fishing ecosystem.
Our containers also come with fastening lids, perfect for storing live bait if you or your partner is squeamish around that type of thing.
You could even turn one of our 25L containers over and use it as a stool for those long spring afternoons spent at your favourite fishing pond.
It might be a little uncomfortable, but you can rest assured that H&O containers are sturdy enough to support you.
For fishing retailers and suppliers, we also offer the opportunity to get your company logo printed onto plastic buckets, when ordering in larger quantities.
Logo printed containers are perfect if you want anglers to promote your brand when they are out catching fish.
In the past, we have worked with companies that give these printed logo containers away for free at trade shows. One client gave the containers away with some other promotional materials at a farmers fair, and by the end of the event there were dozens of potential clients walking around the grounds holding his merchandise and advertising his company.
The logo containers are an investment in your company brand name, and because the containers aren’t readily disposable like plastic bags, it is an investment that will stand the test of time.
If you would like to know more about our container logo printing service the please get in touch by calling: 0151 639 0002.
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