Cost of Parrothood.

I was thinking about what my average parrothood costs are, and was wondering how much everyone else spends on theirs per year.

For three parrots, I spend the following:
$186 for the base "well bird" visit
$165 for annual swabs and samples
$80 for custom seed blend
$110 for pelleted diet
$240 for toys
$360 for fresh, frozen, or dried produce
$40 for perches, dishes, other hardware

O boy, I prefer not to count, take only cost a vet yearly for five... No, I'm not going further

But good you did it. For somebody who want to have more parrots in the future it's like a red light(or red light to work more)

Margaret wrote:

But good you did it. For somebody who want to have more parrots in the future it's like a red light (or red light to work more)

The only thing for me that would increase are vet costs. I have a supply of toys, food dishes and perches readily available. I buy my pellet and seed diets in bulk and can often get them on sale or at better prices.

I'm looking to do my own swabs yearly which would greatly decrease my vet bills. Also, I'd like to be more proactive in my birds' health.

Kaylayuh -
What does your vet's well bird visit entail?

patdbunny wrote:

Kaylayuh -
What does your vet's well bird visit entail?

You know, I've never really asked what they were doing aside from the swabs and samples. Those cost extra. I'm guessing that particular office's well bird visit entails just looking at the bird and listening to the heart and lungs.

When I took No Name in, I opted not to do the samples since I paid the rescue I adopted Cheney Bird from to do them on all three. When I was there, they looked at his leg, weighed him, listened to his breathing and heart, and watched him walk around a little bit. :don\'t underst

I don't really particularly like that new vet. My old vet was much better with the birds and more personable. He also would only charge for one bird's well visit, but three sets of samples. The new one charges for absolutely every bird she may see.

eek, I'm a cheepo! Since I can get things like perches for free (I have several bird-safe trees to get perches from) and I make/reuse/remake the toys I have I don't end up spending all that much on rainbow. Maybe 50-70$ a year for toys/perches but I hardly ever buy them anymore. If I had a more destructive bird it would be a whole 'nother story. 15$ every few months for pellets plus maybe 20$ on seed treats a year. For fresh produce I just give her a bit of whatever I'm having that day or what's in the fridge so I don't count that in the cost of keeping her. Overall I dish out something along the lines of 200$. I'd probably spend waay more if I had more money, gotta get me a summer job

i had to click on the big number,but i'm not normal(so josie says)

henpecked wrote:

i had to click on the big number,but i'm not normal(so josie says)

It makes you feel better when you see more not normal people here?
I don't mind money spend for parrots. Money come and go in life. It make me feel happy when I'm buying a new toy, changing cage for bigger, etc..

I kinda guessed on my answer. Mainly because it's 0330, but also because I don't really want to know.
I was thinking that buying my pellets direct from Roudybush was going to be cheaper than buying them from the store, but when I went to check out and had to pay the ridiculous shipping they charge, I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. Also, I'm still in the early phases of my bird years, so I'm still kind-of feeling my way in some areas. I bought a LOT of toys at first, but now I'm starting to make my own and give them more stuff from around the house. That's what they seem to like anyway, so why buy it? So I'm probably spending more right now than I'll be spending when things level off.... and my spending estimate is probably low!

Anyhow, I hope that helps.

KayLayUh wrote:

patdbunny wrote:

Kaylayuh -
What does your vet's well bird visit entail?

I don't really particularly like that new vet. My old vet was much better with the birds and more personable. He also would only charge for one bird's well visit, but three sets of samples. The new one charges for absolutely every bird she may see.

The vet here is much the same I think it rediculous to charge an office visit to wing clip I haven't many options here though and am hoping to have a much better expierence in Fl. As for the cost wellll I order my food shipped to door there is 1 pet store within 100 miles.
and the vet bills are minimized as I keep a stock of antibiotics on hand and clip most of the birds our selves. The only ones I now won't clip are the rescues (they need to learn trust not fear) and Lady Kong, to date I am the only household member ( she LOVES the Fed-Ex lady ) that can touch her and the trust thing You Know. Not sure if this is a by month poll or what but the average is about $300 a month (just food and veggies) I have long past the cage and toy game, we make a lot of our cages and as for toys I buy bulk shape wood in the craft stores drill them and string them on dog chains that my hardware store cuts for me in the chain isle. In baby times I can easily go up $100 depends on the # and species feeding.

CaptHappy and any of us with a truck load of birds messes up the poll. We spend a lot every month just on food and we buy stuff that you "normal" people don't like nest boxes or supplies for nest boxes, baby formula, baby feeding implements, baby bedding, etc.

If we only had one bird, I'd easily click the less than $200/annually (not counting initial outlay for cages or any emergency vet visits, but just annual maintenance costs). I'm with Moa, I'm a cheapy and try to recycle stuff into bird usable items, etc.

Well I clicked the second highest number, but I'm guessing, I haven't really tried to sort it out.

The well-bird visits alone, 1 per bird, put us in the $400 category to start with. I think about $10-20 a week of my grocery bill is dedicated to stuff I'm feeding the birds, so that's $200 right there. Then there is pellets/seed/nuts at maybe $20 a month. Then cage paper, poop-off, paper towels, trash bags, disinfectant, toys, toy parts, emergency vet visits... I probably should have hit the $1000 category! if I had to cut it down to a minimum I could clearly conserve, but with two birds it's not going to get much less than $500 each annually.

But they seem a bargain compared to boarding a horse in the LA area, where $500 a MONTH is a rock-bottom minimum and I've spent as much as $2000 in a given month for board, vet, feed, shoes, training, show fees, tack, supplements....

Our 3 cats also don't come for free... with prescription food, meds, litter, toys, vet I estimate $2000 per year for all 3 or $666 each (interesting number).

Pets are expensive.