Pet expenses

Apparently, 'unconventional pets' can also make 'inexpensive pets.' According to an article on Free Money Finance posted on June 08, 2005 the "Cost of a pet is $48,000!!!"

This highlights the fact that buying a pet always requires commitment. Although the article refers to conventional pets, some large exotics probably cost even more. Buying a Macaw can cost between $800 to $12,000 and certain species can live to be 50 years old! That makes even the most long-lived dog seem an ephemeral burden.

However, if you're looking for a pet that won't cost more than going to college, this is the blog for you... A number of the pets I've kept have, quite literally, not cost me anything. They could survive very happily on left-over food (either from the kitchen of from other pets) in recycled aquaria. Besides, you can't take a Giant African Land Snail for acupuncture (nor a wild-caught reticulated python, unless you intend to have it perform the acupuncture).

I can't really calculate how much any of my pets cost because many of them share 'resources.' For example, the blood worms I buy are shared between my crayfish and my newts, but I occasionally give them to my narrow-mouthed toad, my fresh-water shrimps and my feeder fish as an occasional threat. Given the current values of the Philippine peso and the US dollar, I spend less than $2 every six months to feed all of these pets (taking into account rises and falls in prices). Apart from that, the only other costs for both the newts and the crayfish is the light cost for the newts' aquarium (the crayfish do fine with natural lighting as they don't have real plants in their aquarium and I don't intend to breed them) and the cost of changing the water in both aquaria (a third of the water twice a week).

Therefore, while a skink gives very different rewards from a dog, the skink probably won't cost as much as a car. On the other hand, if you really want a dog, adopt an adult cross-breed. Especially if you're living in areas where a 'responsible breeder' is somebody who actually feeds his dogs. I constantly hear nightmarish reports of horrible puppy mills here in the Philippines. Personally I would never buy a pure-breed. With an adult cross-breed (I could never call them 'mongrels') you know exactly what you're getting and hybrid vigor means you'll probably have to spend less on veterinary care...

Probably my most expensive, single pet is my Philippine Hanging Parrot.