The Home Depot on Warren Ave in Portland Maine has Stove Chow pellets for
$3.00 a bag (I can't remember how big the bag was, I regretted not getting
a shopping cart to carry it in though!).
 
Pet Quarters in So. Portland is selling some large cardboard tubes (10 to
12 inches long) in the ferret section for about $4.00.  They also sell the
fleece lined carry bags for under $15.
 
If you live near Portland, Maine you can drop into the Creative Resource
Center on Forest Avenue and buy the same cardboard tubes for 25 cents.  If
you feel like spending a bit more you can get a three or four foot length of
new plastic piping for 50 to 75 cents.  You can buy polartec or berber
fleece scraps and make your own carry sack (a grocery bag of pieces is 75
cents).
 
If you live elsewhere you can look in your local phone book for a similar
non- profit group that collects and resells (recycles) odds and ends from
manufacturers.  Just watch the material as you would normally and make sure
you are buying new materials (you don't want to give your ferrets used
plumbing pipes for example).
 
Roberta
Portland, Maine
[Posted in FML issue 2243]