# Cheap child's pet turned out to be the opposite!



## Snake eye 3 (Mar 21, 2014)

My kids wanted a pet, so I researched it and found out rats would be the best option. I thought it would be cheap and easy. I guess I didn't do enough research!I'm sure all of you already know this, but it came and still is a shock to me. First trip to the pet store we came out over 100$ for what we got. Then another 20$ for the rats. Then found out we need a much bigger cage. Another 65$ on c.l. .Then I found out about the fleece. Dropped another big chunk on different fleece, new scissors, etc. (all for the rat cage project) Then decided I needed a sewing machine because I didn't want to sew all this stuff by hand, (see the snowball effect!) then I needed a sewing machine cover, .....then one rat got sick 50$ vet visit, 30$ meds, (still have the other meds to pick up, not sure how much they will be) ....What originated as a cheap pet for my kids is turning out to be an expensive hobby for me!  (And yes, I am getting quite attached as well)


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## ratty_milkshake (Feb 24, 2014)

Hehe, yeah i was also unprepared for some costs but i found that lots of the costs can be managed. I do the following: 

*Hammocks/beds:* i cut up old rags/tshirts/towels and hang them with heavy duty safetypins. No sewing and you can throw them away without feeling bad. I also put old cereal boxes in for hide houses. also easier to chuck when they get stinky and no additional cost.

*Cage lining:* I use newspaper held down with bulldog clips. Much cheaper! 

*Toys:* I just give them old toiletpaper rolls, kids toys like little plastic buckets (you can also hang these for beds)

*Food bowls:* I use plastic/polysyrine takeaway boxes i get when we order food. I also cut the bottom of plastic drink bottles off and use these as bowls. Any larger container lids i also use as bowls. The only storebought thing i dont DIY id litter which i buy from the pet shop but use less of than reccomended as i find it makes no difference. 

*Health*: I give mine kids echineacea syrup on and off to boost their immune system. Also some raw honey is good as well as fresh foods.

*Food: *Here are 2 mixes i found on a local rat forum

#1
• 200g Puffed Rice - Any brand with the least sodium and sugar content works.

• 200g Rolled Oats - Any brand with the least sodium and sugar content works.

• 225g Tri-Coloured Pasta (raw) - Try get the natural flavoured ones (made from tomato, spinach and pumpkin) rather than the artificially coloured ones. Crush them slightly before adding for better mixing.

• 150g Sunflower Seeds- Preferably in the shell. Remember, too much protein can cause itchiness.

• 125g Puffed Wheat - Do not get the sugar-coated or flavoured ones.

• 100g Multigrain Cereal

#2
Rolled barley, pearl barley, rolled wheat, rolled spelt, rolled oats, oat groats, peas, corn, pasta, linseed, caraway seed, brown rice, quinoa, white sunflower seeds, mixed millet, puffed wheat, kale, calcium dried bannana.

Hope this helps. ;D


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Yep, the Initial output is a bit steep. But after that It is pennies.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

DustyRat said:


> Yep, the Initial output is a bit steep. But after that It is pennies.


While initial output is steep, it's not pennies afterwards. Vet visits continue for the rest of their lives, as do medications, neither of which cost pennies.


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## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

They just like all other pets are expensive. There is no such thing as an inexpensive pet. People think some pets are inexpensive until they get them and then realize how much care they actually need.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Our current rat cost $2.99, we have two cages she doesn't use much... she lives in the store room. She hasn't eaten any rat food in months and just cherry picks the trash. We occasionally change the litter in the cage and add water to the bottles as she goes there to poop pee and drink.... She's never been sick or seen a vet... I'm thinking she's cost us less than $20.00 since we got her over 8 months ago...

She's actually rather remarkable though...

This was Max when we brought her home at 1 oz...










This is Max doing a meet and greet at the local town fair...









This is Max doing her final true shoulder rat test...








It doesn't take much money to raise a rat... 

But yes, sometimes it helps to not be broke if your rats get sick or you want to do special projects with them. Some years ago we bought a cat ball for our first rat, she hid it and never played with it much... since then every rat has found that ball and rolled it to her own special secret nest... It's the one valuable possession every rat has passed on to the next... otherwise they just find and shred papers and make their own fun with stuff they find laying around the house. 

I'm not advocating being cheap... if you can afford it, go for it, but remember, rats really require very little other than your friendship and companionship to be happy.


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## BethC (Apr 6, 2014)

I think beta fish are pretty cheap to raise. Maybe $200 I their two year life span. That is on food and cleaning things. But I have to say, my beta was kind of boring. Any other pet becomes part of your family. It's not cheap to take care of your family. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## brundlefly (Mar 27, 2014)

BethC said:


> I think beta fish are pretty cheap to raise. Maybe $200 I their two year life span. That is on food and cleaning things. But I have to say, my beta was kind of boring. Any other pet becomes part of your family. It's not cheap to take care of your family.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


That depends hehe.. If you have an algae outbreak or ich outbreak that's a whole different story. Although many people consider fish to be disposable pets so most of the time they don't care. And many people are conned into those TINY little betta tanks which are cruel. However, I do agree that bettas are fairly cheap compared to saltwater like I have.. most expensive decoration EVER.


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## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

I think my rats (and all my other pets for that matter) are worth every penny, considering the happiness, stress relief and unconditional love they give!!


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## pookycb (Feb 14, 2014)

evander said:


> I think my rats (and all my other pets for that matter) are worth every penny, considering the happiness, stress relief and unconditional love they give!!


I agree my dogs and rats are worth extra costs because I love them and they are part of my family and they make me laugh and smile and do relieve stress.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

I have a ton of animals, many who are advertised as cheap...NO. 

They cost a fortune.  But worth it.

The rats major costs come from vet bills, food, and carefresh, which is actually really pricey surprisingly. Same with my mice.


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## Snake eye 3 (Mar 21, 2014)

Thanks for the advice on inexpensive/ free stuff! Growing up all of our pets were cheap! We had all kinds of critters and my parents wouldn't have even considered taking one to the vet. My brothers had a rat came for free with a cage, it died and they got gerbils which ended up breeding and after they got a little bigger they let them go in the woods. (Yes, I know terrible) we loved our dogs, (free mutts) but I'm sure my parents fed them the cheapest stuff they had, and I don't remember them ever going to the vet. We didn't have any $ so wouldn't have been able to take them. I also know we probably shouldn't have had pets if we couldn't afford them, but that didn't stop my parents from having 6 kids either. HaHa! So although as an adult having my own dog it has been expensive with yearly vet visits, plus others when needed. I never thought much of it, because we had him before our kids, he was (and is) our baby. I NEVER even considered having to take a rat to the vet, or having to get two, huge house, and all the other stuff. So I'm sure for people that bother to get on a site like this, take good care of their pets and they cost $, I think a lot of people are how it was when I grew up, and they are pretty cheap. Look at c.l. And all the free pets with cage included. But even though it has been news to me, I do enjoy having them.


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## Juliah456 (Mar 12, 2014)

I agree with dusty rat, it seems a little crazy at first.. I was worried it would stay costing that much! But once they're healthy, they'll stay healthy for the most part if kept well. Four out of five of my rats came to me sick and one injured. But they're happy and healthy now  And once you have a cage (which is the big URL front payment, haha) you don't have to worry about it, besides replacing fleece! Worth it though


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Oh goodness yes the cost comes at a bit of a surprise. When I first decided that I was going to get rats I did about a month and a half of research and thought I knew a good bit about them, especially cost wise. Nope. I was so so wrong. Everything I read assured me that the cost of a pair costs about 50 bucks a year. Man did they fib! I'm guessing that the idiots that wrote all that nonsense thought that two rats would be fine in a one level cage eating dogfood with no toys. They didn't even factor in vet visits. My girls have already upgraded cages and will upgrade one more time because the 4 1/2 ft cage their in now is going to get awfully crowded when I add my two new babies in a few months, the cage I'm looking to get is about $288. I buy a yard of fleece every three weeks and swap the old with the new, it costs anywhere between 4 to 8 bucks depending of the sale. A bag of adult oxbow runs about $11 and a bag of young oxbow costs about the same, I buy a bag of both every month. Toys run about 10 to 15 bucks every few months, they've inherited the family birds toys because she died. Treats run for anywhere between 5 and 15 dollars, I buy them more every few weeks. Water runs 88 cents a gallon and I buy in bulk, so around $6 bucks every month. 
Vet bills run from $100 to $200 each visit because the vets up here charge a ridiculous amount, you have to sell a freakin kidney just to have you rats seen, then the other to pay for the medicine. 
I can safely say that rats are very expensive to keep, dogs are cheaper in my opinion but I don't want dogs over my rats. I love my girls and I don't care about the cost of upkeep. 
They cost way more than $50 bucks a month though!


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## veimar (Feb 19, 2014)

I used about 10% of the expenses you listed, and my rats are very happy ones. You can get a used cage in craigslist for close to nothing (well, I didn't - I spent $60 for it and I regret). I also probably spent a bit over $100 for everything including rats from a shelter at the start, and about 30% of it was useless! You don't have to buy a sewing machine and brand new fleece to make hammocks for the rats, that's ridiculous!  I use the sleeves of old t-shirts/sweatshirts and my hubby's old pants.  Well, I had a piece of fleece at home that someone gave me, so I used it first and now they have my t-shirt. I don't mind sewing by hand - it takes about 10 min to make a hammock. If you have many pets and not too much money to waste you find all sorts of tricks how to keep the costs down.  For example I use the heavy duty paper grocery store bags for the cage lining, and it works great - much better than Carefresh (and it's absolutely free). I use Carefresh only for their "restroom". And if you buy good organic food for yourself and just share it with your rats, plus Oxbow, of course, that doesn't cost that much either. The vets are expensive, yes, I'm so afraid of that… I empty one echinacea pill and mix their food once a week to keep their immunity good. 
As a parrot owner it just makes me smile when people say that rats are expensive and high maintenance.  BTW - right now my rats have a luxury of using my parrot's "happy hut" which he didn't like.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I make most of my hammocks out of old clothes. I buy new fleece for the cage because the big girls like to eat holes in the liners :/ and i just pick some up when I buy fabric for my business.


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## Snake eye 3 (Mar 21, 2014)

Lol! I know I don't NEED to buy a sewing machine and fleece for the rats... But it has turned into a bit of a hobby. I like making things, and needed a sewing machine anyway. That part was a joke, (the snowball effect) anyway, ...the rest wasn't. The start up cost, was unexpected, plus size of the cage. But the part I was really not expecting was the vet! And I just picked up his second meds for 43$! So just for the vet so far, a rat we've only had going on 3 weeks, that I expected to pay next to nothing for, is close to $150! Now if he gets better it will be well worth it, because he is a sweety. But if he dies anyway, this will have all been for nothing and I will probably never get another one.....oh wait, I will have to because his brother will then need a friend. See! Snowball!


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

The only animal that I had that was more expensive than my rats was my horse.( not in totality, but relative) Rats with lotsa little ailments, nuter/spays. My one rat had to go in every 5 weeks for a tooth trimming at $80 a pop. Yet my daily expense is low. If I order care fresh online it is 13.50, it is 20$ at the pet strore. (fosters and smith, free shipping if you buy in bulk. a 50$ order) We just acquired a new rat. My Hubby said, "The cheapest thing about getting a rat is the purchase of the animal!"


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## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

I was stunned at the amount of money my guys have cost myself and my family already. I dropped all $300 of my Holiday money before I even had the rats themselves, then $20 for the rats, then $100 for a vet check up. They're lucky that their daddy loves them so much! The love that they give me is worth it though, it's more than a horse or dog has ever given, and we've dropped thousands on those. I mean, compared to the cost of my doctors visits it's a surprise my mom doesn't kick me out and keep the rats!


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## ratswithfoxandbear (Feb 12, 2014)

Watching how little and how much everyone spent in this thread is fascinating to me. This inspired me to make a quick recording of the total spent for me. Two of my rats were from a breeder and $25 each. My other three girls were rehomed and free. (Yay tumblr!)

Between the cage (DCN bought for $140!!), toys, food dishes and water bottles, litter pans, hide-aways, perches, travel cage/ quarantine cage ($20 Quality Company Cage- score!!), a vet visit (only one so far)... nearly $400. Their monthly food budget is around $25-30.

Now, I will say that I went all out. I traveled to Bird Paradise Shopping Outlets to buy toys and perches for the girls. We bought a SuperPet Ferret Deluxe and quickly replaced it with a DCN. Luckily, I resold the SuperPet for the same price I bought it. I have switched food, made special mixes and will be switching to CagedBirdSinging's mix. I already feed them the Rat Salad she suggests. My girls are living a life of luxury because this is where I put all of my holiday, birthday and hobby money. I definitely have committed to long-term rat hang-outs and cuddles.

As much as I have spent a ton, I don't think it has to be that way or anything. I get overzealous and do it because they are my life. I am "childfree" or whatever (I don't want human babies ever), and pet ownership is where I put all of that "maternal" (haha) energy. (The way I see it, I don't have enough for a human child... but I have plenty for rat babies!)


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## TheBears (Aug 8, 2013)

I too fell into the rat trap. I started out with a Rat Manor, bedding, scrap fleece, small bag of food for about $100. The boys were "free" (from rescues), but we did get them neutered. Then I realized that I NEEDED a CN, which also required me to get a sewing machine and learn how to sew so they could have matching hammocks.  But I enjoy my new hobby (the rats and the sewing) and don't regret any of my purchases even though I realize the upgrades weren't really necessary. I agree with everyone that says rats don't have to be expensive (although we should all be prepared for unexpected medical bills) but if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket they sure are a good way to get rid of it.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I think folks should realize that many of the expenses that are listed here are optional and unnecessary. (Necessary vet expenses aside) They are "nice to haves" not "life or death". 

There's certainly nothing wrong with doing a top of the line cage and buying the niftiest toys and spending big bucks on your rats. It should even be encouraged... But most of all your rats need your love and your time.

Rats really are very inexpensive pets if you keep it basic, but where's the fun in that?


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## veimar (Feb 19, 2014)

I guess I'm not a crazy rat person. I don't think I spend over $15 a month on my boys. The vet is expensive if you have to use it, but as the previous person said, all other stuff is optional. I don't think the money spent on them is what makes your rats happy.  It's the interaction with you and free playing around.


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## Snake eye 3 (Mar 21, 2014)

The Bears: Rat trap! Lol Veimer: you are absolutely right! Except the vet bills and the cage, those are pretty pricey. I know I don't NEED all the homemade hammocks and liners either, that is more of a project/hobby thing for me anyhow. I haven't had time to use the sewing machine or wash the fleece I got yet, and right now they are using a no sew hammock that I already had (had made it for a burp cloth, a dollar store box, with paper, and a Kleenex box, and they seem pretty happy.


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