Exotic Pet Fees Skyrocket By Over 10 Times: Highest Ever

The Yearly Price Of Owning A Pet Monkey Just Went Up By 10 Times The Original Amount!

Fees

In 2018 when we first got Ollie, our rescued squirrel monkey, we had to register him with the local animal services. The yearly exotic fees were $25 per exotic pet up to x amount which then went to a flat rate. This was extremely manageable in our eyes. We do not breed Ollie, and do not have any other pets that fall into the exotic category according to our county ordinance. Before covid, we went through the process to have Ollie USDA certified. This allowed us to be able to travel with him over state lines as long as we got approval before hand with the agency. The yearly fee for the USDA license was $120 per year and also had additional requirements. We were scheduled 2 mandatory house visit by our assigned agent, and he/she was allow to drop by at any point throughout the year to do random inspections. This certainly didn’t bother us because we always had everything squared away exactly by the book. Once covid hit, the home inspections had to be pushed due to the government mandates and such.

Ordinance

Our local county ordinance for animal service/control hadn’t been revamped in almost 3 decades according to their website. When the new ordinance was finally made viewable for the public, Luke and I about spilled our coffee! The exotic pet fees not only changed but got reworded as such. “Exotic Pet Yearly Fees- $250 per household” This means if I have 1 exotic pet or 10 exotic pets I now owed $250 vs the mere $25 it was before. I personally feel this is not fair at all to skyrocket the yearly fees in such manner. I also feel this is not fair to others who may have a pet turtle that is considered an exotic.

Inflation

Inflation is hitting us hard as it is for everyone else. Between the rising cost of food, gas, natural gas, electricity, and merchandise ones who are on fixed incomes like Luke and I are, are finding it much harder to stay a float. As everything goes up, but my paycheck, I’ve had to reevaluate what 2023 will look like for us. Unfortunately, I do not see the situation getting better and indeed will only get worse. Moving forward with our 1 exotic pet, I will be looking to save money in other places this summer. We have plans for a bigger garden to maximize the growing season and provide more foods for not only ourselves but for Ollie as well. I will also be making small changes here and there to help save on electricity cost, such as, only running the washer when it is absolutely full, hanging laundry on the line to dry vs using the dryer, using appliances during non peak hours to lower our electric bill, and getting a bit more self reliant in the kitchen. All these things can help little by little. I’ve put together a list of my top items that I will be using in 2023 to save money.

In Closing

If you’ve been considering getting an exotic pet, I strongly suggest you check with your local laws and county ordinances to see how long it has been since they were updated. Owning an exotic pet was expensive before but has now gone up by10 times the amount. You can also read about Buying A Pet Monkey and some of the additional cost.

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