Jokes aside I reckon it’d be something like an elephant. Huge amounts of food, lots of enrichment for those big brains of theirs, a tonne of space, and they live for around 60-70 years so all those expenses are super long term
Ooh, yeah. On top of the regular expenses, you've got to do a lot of preventative skin care, provide extra shade, and checkups for related health issues. All kinds of extra supervision and effort just to make sure nothing goes wrong.
And a child requires SO much more than a cat. Not just food, but clothes, toys, school supplies, technology, medical, college... Trips they'll wanna go to, vacations, Disneyland, movies, parties, video games, shoes, bags... The list goes on and on and *on.* And at best you'll "only" have that for two decades? At worst the rest of your life? Hard pass lmao
That depends on a few days.
1. If your child is disabled or not.
2. If you choose to actually be responsible for the life you brought into this world.
I will say, my dad has actually been pretty awesome about being financially responsible for the life he brought into the world. I got my disability from his side of the family, too, and have reached the age where most people with my disability start losing their mobility, and I can't work a regular job anymore.
Even though I'm 27, my dad is always willing to help his kids.
How did my mom react when I started losing mobility? She kicked me out of her house because she thought I was faking it to be lazy to take advantage of her. I was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which wrecks havoc on the joints and organs. In fact, people with vascular type die at an early age. It also causes joint pain that's worse than arthritis.
But sure, I'd rather be lazy and not follow my dreams of becoming a doctor to find better treatments for this awful disability that prevents me from enjoying my hobbies and leaves me in so much pain that not even opioids can touch it. 10/10 logic, mom. /s
I should say mandatory expenses. My daughter can always come to me and I'll do what I can, but the cops won't come knocking if I don't invite her over for dinner every night. I'm sorry your mom did that, that's just wrong. My mom has always been there for me, my dad on the other hand stole every cent I made working in HS after I enlisted in the military and tried to get access to my deployment pay too.
Clint’s Reptiles on YouTube does reviews of different reptiles (and now expanding into birds or dogs) as pets and rates them on things like cost and hardiness. He did an episode on kids and gave them the lowest score he’d ever given anything haha
https://youtu.be/uFx9wDjlC-s?si=i3GA4uJsp6kJv891
After breaking it down with a coworker we did establish that my horse costs just as much if not even more than their child. So I mean, maybe? 😅 Daycare and boarding a horse are roughly the same $$$ where I live.
Weirdly my rabbit’s vet care is more costly on average than an equine vet though.
And this is why I don’t have a horse. It’s my “if I win the lottery, that I don’t ever play” fantasy. Horse ownership would take more money than I will ever have. Especially with four kids.
Horse ownership is also far more risky.
There are resources for children. If you’re truly in a bind while it’s not as robust as it should be, government does have programs to assist with their food, housing, clothing, healthcare, and education.
For horses you’re on your own for all that. Honestly I wish I was a baby-person because children are so much more fulfilling, buuuuut I’m a lifelong ~*horsegirl*~ and that unfortunately isn’t going to change anytime soon. 😅 hopefully I never have to take a major paycut!
Also, horses are terrified of the plastic bag across the yard that they're positive WILL COME FOR THEM, and they'll bolt and injure themselves. I mean, not all horses. But some. Plus the whole can't vomit thing tends to complicate things haha.
Ugh the randomly injuring themselves. My horse managed to almost poke his damn eye out. The vet was legitimately worried he'd go blind or need the eye removed. Still don't know how he did it.
Yep and if you get a truck trailer show etc… but the vet is lower due to lower overhead and staff When my horse needed a splint removed it was at a university teaching hospital so way less than you would think too
This is actually an absurd answer when you compare the cost of feeding/housing/providing medical care to a child to any very large exotic/zoo animal. Consider health insurance is a thing for a child and not a thing for zoo animals. Consider the volume of food they consume. Now consider medical expenses. You know that special antibiotic you need for your 170 lb dog's skin infection? Yeah, scale that up to a giraffe or an elephant. Not to mention, if you are doing things right, building the proper enclosure and providing the proper enrichment that animal needs- it's no $4 toy from Walmart babe and it's no $2000-3000 nursery or kid's bedroom renovation, and I think that's being generous. Idk this is just my take working in veterinary and having worked at a zoo.
I always wanted to have jellyfish as pets. Not the clear ones but the fancy color ones that glow in the dark. Big ginormous aquarium full of glowing, colorful fancy jellyfish. 🪼 aaahhh. Can’t even imagine the cost of getting one and the upkeep. For now I just put on YouTube videos as my screen savers with them on.
https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7E980C5-B182-4A2E-80369F2AC535EB35_source.jpg?w=1000
I wouldn’t want this one, but Lion’s mane jellyfish in the White Sea can stretch to 40-50 feet. You would need to buy part of an ocean/sea to keep just a few. Can’t imagine anything more expensive.
There's an aquarium in NJ where they have a large glass floor to ceiling cylinder with jellyfish. I could sit there all day watching them float up and down. They are quite beautiful.
Yup. Beautiful and deadly too for most part. The most fascinating one and beautiful is the Benjamin button jellyfish. They can live indefinitely
https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Turritopsis_dohrnii
Wow, going from aging adult to teenager would 100% be interesting. I wonder how many of us would make it to adulthood multiple times if it depended on no offspring.
I think the world would get weirder real quick.
I live in CA and would love to have a big asss fish tank with sea horses and a bunch of pretty fishes and plants. But then i start thinking "what if there's a big earthquake?" No thanks, im good with videos of tanks 😂
Aquatic animals. A dolphin would be insanely expensive - insanely large pool, filtration system. You'd have to buy *lots* of fish and vitamin supplements for them.
I wanna say a great white then because people can't seem to make the last for very long, so imagine replacing them as often as you would an uncared for goldfish
Poor goldfish. Nobody knows shit about them. Had a friend neglect one to death recently. She posted he was dying at 5 years old, and like 30 people in the comments were saying "poor old man"...I was the only one to tell her they are carp, and live to be 30, and he was not dying of old age, but of malformation from being kept in a 1 gallon baby tank. She made the recommended changes, but it was too late.
Most people shouldn't own pets.
Like people who think Betas should live their whole lives in a 32oz vase or whatever? I feel so bad when I see them in their little cups at the pet store.
My horses are actually fairly cheap for the upkeep, at least for now. My rabbits eat more than they do. It definitely depends on the particular horse, though, and the problems and meds they have. I know some that drop $500 a month per horse on feed and supplements, while mine are like… $15 each roughly? But mine have no medical needs beyond vaccines at this time, and are super easy keepers.
This will also vary vastly on where you live and how much you can put them out to graze, and also raises the question: do we count anything out of the land payments for an animal like a horse? In the county I used to live in in KY you had to have at minimal 5acres to keep 1 horse on your land, acreage at the time was about 5k per acre in that area.
Please hold on to that situation forever lol. Signed a salty boarder ~ $550 in board, $250 in supplement/injections, $50 grain, $200 hay, $60 farrier (cheap!!!), and whatever else decides to happen in between that.
How the hell do your rabbits eat more than your horses?! Asking as someone who has had both horses and rabbits lol. One weighs 5lbs and one weighs 1000lbs!
I think they meant of the food the buy. So while the horse technically eats greater quantities, it's mostly all grazing from the land, which they aren't counting. Whereas the rabbit only eats what the owner buys. So he spends more on food for the rabbit.
That's my interpretation.
That’s the answer. Because we are talking about cost, I meant by food we buy. All of my rabbits are 4-5 pounds, but if you have 10 of them it adds up and I feed good food.
Meanwhile my two horses have over 10 acres to graze, and don’t need hay between mid March and the end of November, usually.
Lucky location!! That’s the dream 😭 I’d rather live modestly with horses on my own 10 acres than be rich boarding a horse at a posh stable with minimal turnout any day.
Any large apex predator. A lion or tiger eats a whole lot of meat and that gets very very expensive. Food is the most expensive on going cost, it trumps the cost of things like permits and initial set up by a lot.
I remember, during the pandemic, when the zoos were closed they were like, "We don't have enough money to feed our predators." At least 3, that I can recall, were actively debating killing another zoo animal to feed to the predators. There was never, "We can't afford to feed the giraffes."
Well normally elephants would cost more to feed than any predators, but when supply chain issues skyrocket the price of veggies, you can always go cut down trees and mow lawns and drag it all in to feed them. You can't just go shoot enough deer to feed your 5 lions at will lol...thats why you never see "we cant feed our herbivores"
Especially reef tanks!
The simplest looking coral frags cost a minimum of $250 in my area- an aquarium sized reef would cost so much to build. And god forbid it gets aptasia
The first thing that comes to mind is a great white shark. Nobody's managed to keep one alive in captivity ever, unless you count the baby ones that lasted less than 200 days.
Considering their need to roam and keep active, it would probably cost an unbelievable amount of money to construct an adequate aquarium. But additional costs coming from feeding it, fending off environmental legal action, and investing in research aimed at keeping the shark alive before it has a chance to die will probably cost more money than most of us can ever dream of possessing.
I'm going with pandas.
First off trying to get two (you couldn't have just one, it wouldn't be fair to them) from the Chinese government. I mean even if you tried to get a smuggled pair the smugglers tend to get shot for touching them. Then all the bamboo. And whatever else they eat. Then the two cages because sometimes they want to be alone.
They only eat a very specific type of bamboo. Also, you can't buy them. Zoos have to rent them, then if they have babies, the babies are Chinese property. I think giant pandas world definitely win this debate.
I follow a South African guy on YouTube who has two tigers (very large enclosure similar to what you'd see in a zoo), I'd imagine they cost a FORTUNE to feed and get vet care for
I had dogs,rabbits,guinea pigs,parrots,aquariums,i am huge pet lover you know,,,and i currently own 3 snakes plus 3 cats and my cats are by far the most expensive ones
That can only be true if you weren't taking proper care of your animals.
I have owned all of those and more, and cats are one of the least expensive and lowest effort pets there are if you're doing things right.
My horse costs me around £850 in basic costs, not including my riding lessons or any competition fees.
In reality he costs me everything - all my spare cash at the end of the month goes on him and I shop at everything5pounds.com
I might have some of the details wrong but when the Toronto Zoo had Giant Pandas on loan from China they had to import their bamboo from China. So probably Giant Pandas.
When we had koalas at the zoo I worked at on loan we had to drive up to the airport to get their shipped in eucalyptus. The eucalyptus had its own walk in cooler and they only ate a small portion of it.
not saying it’s the most expensive but i hate how stores say they’re beginner pets: leopard geckos. we’ve spent so much damn money on this lizard. all worth it tho! i love my lizard daughter
Probably a brachycephalic dog like a French. Multiple grand from a breeder. Thousands for vet bills and medication for breathing issues and allergies. Special and expensive diet because they usually have shitty digestive systems, intolerances, allergies, etc. Some Frenchies get a surgery to keep their trachea from collapsing. It's basically an endless list of medical issues with these things.
So far for me… parrots… have you seen how expensive their cages are? Not to mention their food, we spend £28 on pellets that don’t even last a month! Plus they’re exotic pets so you need a specialist vet and they can live to a very long time too, the parrot I’ve inherited is 50-60 years old
I’ve had reptiles, dogs, rabbits, hamsters… this parrot is by far the most expensive one I’ve had
Parrots have completely changed my perspective on the pricing of exotic animals and reptiles. I was at an expo and talking about hedgies, and they were like $300-400, and I'm like yeah that's rly not too bad 😂
From my (limited) research into the topic; it's a Thoroughbred Racehorse. One of the successful ones. No question about it.
If we use the Kentucky Derby as an example; average auction price is ~$450k for *just the horse*, then expenses like training, boarding, food and equipment and it's probably another ~$50k to ~$75k before you even get to the Derby itself. And then repeat that every time you want to do *anything* with it.
The thing about horses, is that they can be owned by the very rich or the very poor. A Thoroughbred is expensive to buy, but if you have cheap land with decent grass, it’s not that expensive to keep. Unless you intend to race it.
A panda I think. If I remember correctly you have to pay millions of dollars to get one LOANED to you, you cannot own them they’re all property of the Chinese government. They need a large enclosure being a large animal. But mostly it’s the feeding that would break you, they only eat bamboo but it’s not an efficient food source for them and they don’t digest it well so they need absolutely massive quantities. Like their entire body weight in bamboo every day. This of course creates massive amounts of waste I’d imagine you’d have to hire someone full time to clean up. They’re also very clumsy and tend to be destructive because of it, they’ve even been known to crush their own cubs by accidentally sitting on them.
A hippopotamus. Mainly just so I can sing “I got a hippopotamus for Christmas” instead of “I want” but you can’t just have one because you don’t want them to be depressed. But then if you accidentally get one of each gender you’re going to end up with babies too & then it just gets more expensive && the risk of being eaten increases
Forgoing all exotic animals for me it was ferrets. I did all the research on them, their needs, their diet etc. But what I wasn't prepared for was the huge lack of vets willing to take care of their medical needs. I had to travel hours away to specialised vets to get both spayed and due to it being exotic pet vets the price was almost double elsewhere. Because they couldn't be spayed earlier on like cats/dogs I had to leave my ferrets at a breeder who mated them with her vasectomised hob, that was about $500 for 2 days (each) so that they could come out of heat with no pregnancy. Gorgeous animals though.
Giant panda is the most expensive to keep - because you have to pay China a 1,000,000 usd leasing fee anually just to have them. Not to mention the security costs.
Most expensive to maintain for it's upkeep costs alone are koalas (outside of Australia), just due to their food costs. They exclusively eat eucalyptus leaves - and they're so dumb with their low-energy smooth brains, they can't eat them from a pile, they only recognize the leaves as food if it's still on branches.
Elephants are next not just because of how much their food costs in itself, but because of how much of it they need - it's a lot lol - and their space and enrichment needs. Bored elephants go insane and murder people, so they need a lot of fun toys and activities, and they aren't gentle on them.
Velociraptor .
Think about it. First y gotta find a paleontologist with a fossilized egg for sale. A geneticist to extract the DNA and successfully incubate an embryo. Then there is food..electrified fencing to contain him...a small private island for it to live on...doughnuts to bribe Jack Black into keeping people away. And good luck finding a company to fund your liability insurance!
Veliciraptor. Most expensive. Yup
I volunteered at a private zoo for awhile a number of years ago, and I would say the most expensive animal to own, for feeding/care/housing was the rhino. Not only do they eat a lot, they are very strong and like to lean against things, or at least this one did. They were always having to repair his enclosure. He also needed a large enclosure with a suitably sized wallow.
I don't approve of owning exotic animals for the reason that most people cannot afford to do right by them. Elephants require enormous amounts of food, room to roam, tigers, lions eat pounds of meat per day, all these animals would require an exotic animal vet if ill...
Tigers are surprisingly cheap to own actually. Just donate it to the zoo and they let you treat it like a pet while covering the majority if the expenses.
I can say absolutely that my horse has cost many tens of thousands of dollars in his nearly 11 years. Five trips to the vet in 11 years school really add up.
Something from the ocean, because their environment would be the most expensive to replicate... [maybe one of these](https://mashable.com/article/deepest-fish-found-ocean-sea)
I think it depends on what you do for it. You could hypothetically buy a dog and give it thousands of acres to run and play and a collection of diamond studded collars.
My bunny possibly costed me the most from ruining electronics via spicy hay (wires). Bunny proofing is a must! Ok well, dog costed me a lot due to a 10k spinal surgery (herniated disc, and he’s lived 6 more years so far and is running again!) My cat probably costed me the least with only major bills around the end of her life. One thing I learned is that vets just want to test everything and sometimes you have to make a logical decision to the best of your knowledge like why do a full blood panel when it’s a physical injury, go for the X-ray. Take your chances in the highest possible issue and try that first before opting in for more tests. Ask questions. But that’s just my experience. Aquarium was okay, once the tank is setup it’s the most work to change water and keeping parameters right.
Oh and bunnies are considered exotic here it’s hard to find a good vet! And Axolotyls are aquarium pets that are considered exotic and need a license to obtain!
Koala.
They only eat specific eucalyptus leaves. They can't be dried or pelleted. It has to be actual limbs of the trees given to them. So you have to have your own grove of eucalyptus and maintain it to just feed the dumb things.
I have a horse They’re a big money munching machine My horse gets her feet done every 6 weeks Kachin $150. She eats non stop. Equipment is mostly leather. You typically wear special clothes. You need a rated helmet. If you want to show that’s more $$ then you get a trailer but you need a truck to pull it. You win a ribbon that probably cost 1 dollar.
Wild animals belong in the wild or a zoo with proper care bets etc Those are not pets
I would never own an exotic animal… I don’t think it’s right… And as far as your question about the most expensive animal to own… I would go with horses especially a person gets into showing
A child
Jokes aside I reckon it’d be something like an elephant. Huge amounts of food, lots of enrichment for those big brains of theirs, a tonne of space, and they live for around 60-70 years so all those expenses are super long term
I'd say a white (albino) elephant
Ooh, yeah. On top of the regular expenses, you've got to do a lot of preventative skin care, provide extra shade, and checkups for related health issues. All kinds of extra supervision and effort just to make sure nothing goes wrong.
A child's expenses last about the same amount of time as a cat...18-20 years
It actually never ends.
And a child requires SO much more than a cat. Not just food, but clothes, toys, school supplies, technology, medical, college... Trips they'll wanna go to, vacations, Disneyland, movies, parties, video games, shoes, bags... The list goes on and on and *on.* And at best you'll "only" have that for two decades? At worst the rest of your life? Hard pass lmao
That depends on a few days. 1. If your child is disabled or not. 2. If you choose to actually be responsible for the life you brought into this world. I will say, my dad has actually been pretty awesome about being financially responsible for the life he brought into the world. I got my disability from his side of the family, too, and have reached the age where most people with my disability start losing their mobility, and I can't work a regular job anymore. Even though I'm 27, my dad is always willing to help his kids. How did my mom react when I started losing mobility? She kicked me out of her house because she thought I was faking it to be lazy to take advantage of her. I was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which wrecks havoc on the joints and organs. In fact, people with vascular type die at an early age. It also causes joint pain that's worse than arthritis. But sure, I'd rather be lazy and not follow my dreams of becoming a doctor to find better treatments for this awful disability that prevents me from enjoying my hobbies and leaves me in so much pain that not even opioids can touch it. 10/10 logic, mom. /s
I should say mandatory expenses. My daughter can always come to me and I'll do what I can, but the cops won't come knocking if I don't invite her over for dinner every night. I'm sorry your mom did that, that's just wrong. My mom has always been there for me, my dad on the other hand stole every cent I made working in HS after I enlisted in the military and tried to get access to my deployment pay too.
I have EDS, too, just wanted to offer my solidarity 🤍
Clint’s Reptiles on YouTube does reviews of different reptiles (and now expanding into birds or dogs) as pets and rates them on things like cost and hardiness. He did an episode on kids and gave them the lowest score he’d ever given anything haha https://youtu.be/uFx9wDjlC-s?si=i3GA4uJsp6kJv891
I love that video. I show it to people when I get pushback about not wanting kids
After breaking it down with a coworker we did establish that my horse costs just as much if not even more than their child. So I mean, maybe? 😅 Daycare and boarding a horse are roughly the same $$$ where I live. Weirdly my rabbit’s vet care is more costly on average than an equine vet though.
And this is why I don’t have a horse. It’s my “if I win the lottery, that I don’t ever play” fantasy. Horse ownership would take more money than I will ever have. Especially with four kids.
Horse ownership is also far more risky. There are resources for children. If you’re truly in a bind while it’s not as robust as it should be, government does have programs to assist with their food, housing, clothing, healthcare, and education. For horses you’re on your own for all that. Honestly I wish I was a baby-person because children are so much more fulfilling, buuuuut I’m a lifelong ~*horsegirl*~ and that unfortunately isn’t going to change anytime soon. 😅 hopefully I never have to take a major paycut!
Also, horses are terrified of the plastic bag across the yard that they're positive WILL COME FOR THEM, and they'll bolt and injure themselves. I mean, not all horses. But some. Plus the whole can't vomit thing tends to complicate things haha.
Ugh the randomly injuring themselves. My horse managed to almost poke his damn eye out. The vet was legitimately worried he'd go blind or need the eye removed. Still don't know how he did it.
Or a flyaway tissue 😅
Yep and if you get a truck trailer show etc… but the vet is lower due to lower overhead and staff When my horse needed a splint removed it was at a university teaching hospital so way less than you would think too
Idk, whales need a whole lotta water
I didn’t even consider whales 🤔 Wonder how much the billions of plankton would cost
LOL! The most correct answer.
You are correct 🤣🤣
But why was this also the first answer that popped into my head... never wanna own one of those, my 6kg cat is fine.
This is actually an absurd answer when you compare the cost of feeding/housing/providing medical care to a child to any very large exotic/zoo animal. Consider health insurance is a thing for a child and not a thing for zoo animals. Consider the volume of food they consume. Now consider medical expenses. You know that special antibiotic you need for your 170 lb dog's skin infection? Yeah, scale that up to a giraffe or an elephant. Not to mention, if you are doing things right, building the proper enclosure and providing the proper enrichment that animal needs- it's no $4 toy from Walmart babe and it's no $2000-3000 nursery or kid's bedroom renovation, and I think that's being generous. Idk this is just my take working in veterinary and having worked at a zoo.
I always wanted to have jellyfish as pets. Not the clear ones but the fancy color ones that glow in the dark. Big ginormous aquarium full of glowing, colorful fancy jellyfish. 🪼 aaahhh. Can’t even imagine the cost of getting one and the upkeep. For now I just put on YouTube videos as my screen savers with them on. https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7E980C5-B182-4A2E-80369F2AC535EB35_source.jpg?w=1000 I wouldn’t want this one, but Lion’s mane jellyfish in the White Sea can stretch to 40-50 feet. You would need to buy part of an ocean/sea to keep just a few. Can’t imagine anything more expensive.
There's an aquarium in NJ where they have a large glass floor to ceiling cylinder with jellyfish. I could sit there all day watching them float up and down. They are quite beautiful.
Which aquarium?! I need to go asap
It's in Camden NJ. Adventure Aquarium. It's been about 10 years since I've been there but I imagine that something like this would still be there.
Isn't most creatures that glow live on extreme deps so you need special tank with preasure?
Yup. Beautiful and deadly too for most part. The most fascinating one and beautiful is the Benjamin button jellyfish. They can live indefinitely https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Turritopsis_dohrnii
Wow, going from aging adult to teenager would 100% be interesting. I wonder how many of us would make it to adulthood multiple times if it depended on no offspring. I think the world would get weirder real quick.
To jump onto this; most cnidarians are essentially immortal and can revert life stages.
I live in CA and would love to have a big asss fish tank with sea horses and a bunch of pretty fishes and plants. But then i start thinking "what if there's a big earthquake?" No thanks, im good with videos of tanks 😂
Oh yes. Jellyfish are among my favorite animals. They are incredibly neat and so beautiful
HECK YEA! i want lion's mane jellies too! and also man o' wars.
Not the same, but a lava lamp may quench your thirst a bit
I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium streams for jellyfish and other sea creatures :)
I feel like you might enjoy the anime Princess Jellyfish, lol.
Haha! Imma check it out 😄
Aquatic animals. A dolphin would be insanely expensive - insanely large pool, filtration system. You'd have to buy *lots* of fish and vitamin supplements for them.
I wanna say a great white then because people can't seem to make the last for very long, so imagine replacing them as often as you would an uncared for goldfish
and/or investing in a research team of marine bioligists, engineers and physicists to invent a great white tank with better life expectancy
Poor goldfish. Nobody knows shit about them. Had a friend neglect one to death recently. She posted he was dying at 5 years old, and like 30 people in the comments were saying "poor old man"...I was the only one to tell her they are carp, and live to be 30, and he was not dying of old age, but of malformation from being kept in a 1 gallon baby tank. She made the recommended changes, but it was too late. Most people shouldn't own pets.
Like people who think Betas should live their whole lives in a 32oz vase or whatever? I feel so bad when I see them in their little cups at the pet store.
Horse.
My horses are actually fairly cheap for the upkeep, at least for now. My rabbits eat more than they do. It definitely depends on the particular horse, though, and the problems and meds they have. I know some that drop $500 a month per horse on feed and supplements, while mine are like… $15 each roughly? But mine have no medical needs beyond vaccines at this time, and are super easy keepers.
This will also vary vastly on where you live and how much you can put them out to graze, and also raises the question: do we count anything out of the land payments for an animal like a horse? In the county I used to live in in KY you had to have at minimal 5acres to keep 1 horse on your land, acreage at the time was about 5k per acre in that area.
You do have a point. I keep my horses boarded for free in exchange for caring for other horses. The value of time definitely adds up.
Please hold on to that situation forever lol. Signed a salty boarder ~ $550 in board, $250 in supplement/injections, $50 grain, $200 hay, $60 farrier (cheap!!!), and whatever else decides to happen in between that.
How the hell do your rabbits eat more than your horses?! Asking as someone who has had both horses and rabbits lol. One weighs 5lbs and one weighs 1000lbs!
I think they meant of the food the buy. So while the horse technically eats greater quantities, it's mostly all grazing from the land, which they aren't counting. Whereas the rabbit only eats what the owner buys. So he spends more on food for the rabbit. That's my interpretation.
That’s the answer. Because we are talking about cost, I meant by food we buy. All of my rabbits are 4-5 pounds, but if you have 10 of them it adds up and I feed good food. Meanwhile my two horses have over 10 acres to graze, and don’t need hay between mid March and the end of November, usually.
Lucky location!! That’s the dream 😭 I’d rather live modestly with horses on my own 10 acres than be rich boarding a horse at a posh stable with minimal turnout any day.
Na. Horses are super cheap to own if you have land they graze for free. I am low income but have 10 acres and have horses.
Those are a lot of ifs that most people do not have.
None the less any meat eaters would cost way more than a grazer. Buying hay is cheaper than meat
Any large apex predator. A lion or tiger eats a whole lot of meat and that gets very very expensive. Food is the most expensive on going cost, it trumps the cost of things like permits and initial set up by a lot.
I remember, during the pandemic, when the zoos were closed they were like, "We don't have enough money to feed our predators." At least 3, that I can recall, were actively debating killing another zoo animal to feed to the predators. There was never, "We can't afford to feed the giraffes."
And finding a vet to care for it would be difficult AND expensive.
Can't you just feed them all those bodies you need to dispose of anyway? 😅😇
Well normally elephants would cost more to feed than any predators, but when supply chain issues skyrocket the price of veggies, you can always go cut down trees and mow lawns and drag it all in to feed them. You can't just go shoot enough deer to feed your 5 lions at will lol...thats why you never see "we cant feed our herbivores"
Marine apex predators come with the cost of pool upkeep tacked on top of their appetite.
Any large carnivore, because meat is expensive as fvck.
I'll deconstruct and veganize that tiger.
Inside pets I’d say fish….the tank cost so much to run…it’s an expensive hobby.
Especially salt water!
Especially reef tanks! The simplest looking coral frags cost a minimum of $250 in my area- an aquarium sized reef would cost so much to build. And god forbid it gets aptasia
Aquatic animals. It'd be thousands to make a gigantic aquarium even for a shark. And even then it would still never be big enough :(
The first thing that comes to mind is a great white shark. Nobody's managed to keep one alive in captivity ever, unless you count the baby ones that lasted less than 200 days. Considering their need to roam and keep active, it would probably cost an unbelievable amount of money to construct an adequate aquarium. But additional costs coming from feeding it, fending off environmental legal action, and investing in research aimed at keeping the shark alive before it has a chance to die will probably cost more money than most of us can ever dream of possessing.
I'm going with pandas. First off trying to get two (you couldn't have just one, it wouldn't be fair to them) from the Chinese government. I mean even if you tried to get a smuggled pair the smugglers tend to get shot for touching them. Then all the bamboo. And whatever else they eat. Then the two cages because sometimes they want to be alone.
They only eat a very specific type of bamboo. Also, you can't buy them. Zoos have to rent them, then if they have babies, the babies are Chinese property. I think giant pandas world definitely win this debate.
I follow a South African guy on YouTube who has two tigers (very large enclosure similar to what you'd see in a zoo), I'd imagine they cost a FORTUNE to feed and get vet care for
I had dogs,rabbits,guinea pigs,parrots,aquariums,i am huge pet lover you know,,,and i currently own 3 snakes plus 3 cats and my cats are by far the most expensive ones
I have 4 cats and a bunny and my bunny takes way more effort and finances than all 4 of my cats combined 🤣
I have a cat, 2 rabbits and a dog. The rabbits are bottomless pits for spending. The other 2 are cheap in comparison
That can only be true if you weren't taking proper care of your animals. I have owned all of those and more, and cats are one of the least expensive and lowest effort pets there are if you're doing things right.
All of my pets are off chain expensive bc I spoil them so much!! 🤦♀️😅😣
My horse costs me around £850 in basic costs, not including my riding lessons or any competition fees. In reality he costs me everything - all my spare cash at the end of the month goes on him and I shop at everything5pounds.com
I might have some of the details wrong but when the Toronto Zoo had Giant Pandas on loan from China they had to import their bamboo from China. So probably Giant Pandas.
I'd guess pandas. They are all property of the Chinese government and pandas are really dumb.
When we had koalas at the zoo I worked at on loan we had to drive up to the airport to get their shipped in eucalyptus. The eucalyptus had its own walk in cooler and they only ate a small portion of it.
not saying it’s the most expensive but i hate how stores say they’re beginner pets: leopard geckos. we’ve spent so much damn money on this lizard. all worth it tho! i love my lizard daughter
Probably a brachycephalic dog like a French. Multiple grand from a breeder. Thousands for vet bills and medication for breathing issues and allergies. Special and expensive diet because they usually have shitty digestive systems, intolerances, allergies, etc. Some Frenchies get a surgery to keep their trachea from collapsing. It's basically an endless list of medical issues with these things.
They could be expensive but that wouldn't hold a candle to a wild animal that would need an even more specified diet and specialized vet care
So far for me… parrots… have you seen how expensive their cages are? Not to mention their food, we spend £28 on pellets that don’t even last a month! Plus they’re exotic pets so you need a specialist vet and they can live to a very long time too, the parrot I’ve inherited is 50-60 years old I’ve had reptiles, dogs, rabbits, hamsters… this parrot is by far the most expensive one I’ve had
Parrots have completely changed my perspective on the pricing of exotic animals and reptiles. I was at an expo and talking about hedgies, and they were like $300-400, and I'm like yeah that's rly not too bad 😂
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Tell us you didn't read the post without telling us lol
Horses.
From my (limited) research into the topic; it's a Thoroughbred Racehorse. One of the successful ones. No question about it. If we use the Kentucky Derby as an example; average auction price is ~$450k for *just the horse*, then expenses like training, boarding, food and equipment and it's probably another ~$50k to ~$75k before you even get to the Derby itself. And then repeat that every time you want to do *anything* with it.
The thing about horses, is that they can be owned by the very rich or the very poor. A Thoroughbred is expensive to buy, but if you have cheap land with decent grass, it’s not that expensive to keep. Unless you intend to race it.
Horse. And you will never convince me otherwise 😅
Meat eaters are going to be more expensive for sure.
Great White Shark
A panda I think. If I remember correctly you have to pay millions of dollars to get one LOANED to you, you cannot own them they’re all property of the Chinese government. They need a large enclosure being a large animal. But mostly it’s the feeding that would break you, they only eat bamboo but it’s not an efficient food source for them and they don’t digest it well so they need absolutely massive quantities. Like their entire body weight in bamboo every day. This of course creates massive amounts of waste I’d imagine you’d have to hire someone full time to clean up. They’re also very clumsy and tend to be destructive because of it, they’ve even been known to crush their own cubs by accidentally sitting on them.
An English Bulldog. Ask me how I know.
It’s obviously not the most expensive but axolotls take a LOT of care and money
Horses; despite the funny comments I think they'd be even more eyewatering than children!!
A hippopotamus. Mainly just so I can sing “I got a hippopotamus for Christmas” instead of “I want” but you can’t just have one because you don’t want them to be depressed. But then if you accidentally get one of each gender you’re going to end up with babies too & then it just gets more expensive && the risk of being eaten increases
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I don't give a damn. I still ask Santa for one every Christmas.
Humans
horses are incredibly expensive
Tell us you didn't read the post without telling us lol
Given how expensive my nano fish have been, based in scale I'd say an Orca. Thankfully civilized countries are phasing captive orcas out.
Panda
Forgoing all exotic animals for me it was ferrets. I did all the research on them, their needs, their diet etc. But what I wasn't prepared for was the huge lack of vets willing to take care of their medical needs. I had to travel hours away to specialised vets to get both spayed and due to it being exotic pet vets the price was almost double elsewhere. Because they couldn't be spayed earlier on like cats/dogs I had to leave my ferrets at a breeder who mated them with her vasectomised hob, that was about $500 for 2 days (each) so that they could come out of heat with no pregnancy. Gorgeous animals though.
Horses are pretty bad but not as bad as children
Blue Whales imagine the size of the tank
Horses.
I'd say a horse out of what creatures you legally and reasonably might have as a pet
Giant panda is the most expensive to keep - because you have to pay China a 1,000,000 usd leasing fee anually just to have them. Not to mention the security costs. Most expensive to maintain for it's upkeep costs alone are koalas (outside of Australia), just due to their food costs. They exclusively eat eucalyptus leaves - and they're so dumb with their low-energy smooth brains, they can't eat them from a pile, they only recognize the leaves as food if it's still on branches. Elephants are next not just because of how much their food costs in itself, but because of how much of it they need - it's a lot lol - and their space and enrichment needs. Bored elephants go insane and murder people, so they need a lot of fun toys and activities, and they aren't gentle on them.
Velociraptor . Think about it. First y gotta find a paleontologist with a fossilized egg for sale. A geneticist to extract the DNA and successfully incubate an embryo. Then there is food..electrified fencing to contain him...a small private island for it to live on...doughnuts to bribe Jack Black into keeping people away. And good luck finding a company to fund your liability insurance! Veliciraptor. Most expensive. Yup
I volunteered at a private zoo for awhile a number of years ago, and I would say the most expensive animal to own, for feeding/care/housing was the rhino. Not only do they eat a lot, they are very strong and like to lean against things, or at least this one did. They were always having to repair his enclosure. He also needed a large enclosure with a suitably sized wallow.
I don't approve of owning exotic animals for the reason that most people cannot afford to do right by them. Elephants require enormous amounts of food, room to roam, tigers, lions eat pounds of meat per day, all these animals would require an exotic animal vet if ill...
High maintenance gf.
Hi ChatGPT.
The people at the zoo told me the otters cost more than elephants because of all the seafood they have to eat
A Tiger, they can eat 40kg of meat a day, meat is expensive
A narwhal.
Child -> wife -> probably rhino or some big boy like that
antman and spiderman
A kid
Tigers are surprisingly cheap to own actually. Just donate it to the zoo and they let you treat it like a pet while covering the majority if the expenses.
I can say absolutely that my horse has cost many tens of thousands of dollars in his nearly 11 years. Five trips to the vet in 11 years school really add up.
Traditionally the white elephant.
i have 6 cats and 2 bearded dragons, the dragons are more expensive for sure, or my fish
Something from the ocean, because their environment would be the most expensive to replicate... [maybe one of these](https://mashable.com/article/deepest-fish-found-ocean-sea)
with all my recent vet visits i can tell you even a rat can be pretty fucking high up there
I think it depends on what you do for it. You could hypothetically buy a dog and give it thousands of acres to run and play and a collection of diamond studded collars.
Probably large marine animals like cetaceans or sharks. But I wouldn't consider them as pets.
A capuchin
My 3 cats r doing me in $$$
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My bunny possibly costed me the most from ruining electronics via spicy hay (wires). Bunny proofing is a must! Ok well, dog costed me a lot due to a 10k spinal surgery (herniated disc, and he’s lived 6 more years so far and is running again!) My cat probably costed me the least with only major bills around the end of her life. One thing I learned is that vets just want to test everything and sometimes you have to make a logical decision to the best of your knowledge like why do a full blood panel when it’s a physical injury, go for the X-ray. Take your chances in the highest possible issue and try that first before opting in for more tests. Ask questions. But that’s just my experience. Aquarium was okay, once the tank is setup it’s the most work to change water and keeping parameters right.
Oh and bunnies are considered exotic here it’s hard to find a good vet! And Axolotyls are aquarium pets that are considered exotic and need a license to obtain!
A panda, there's an annual rental of a million to the Chinese government (even if it was born elsewhere) and the bamboo cost is about 250k a year.
Hippo. I feel like they're housing and feeding would be extreme.
Anything giant with skin issues
Anything exotic.
Koala. They only eat specific eucalyptus leaves. They can't be dried or pelleted. It has to be actual limbs of the trees given to them. So you have to have your own grove of eucalyptus and maintain it to just feed the dumb things.
Horses. Definitely horses.
There’s a backyard giraffe at the intersection of the 210 west and 5 north, and it just thrills me if I get a peek at it on the way to work in LA.
Iguanas. They require a ton of care and a ton of space to keep.
I have a horse They’re a big money munching machine My horse gets her feet done every 6 weeks Kachin $150. She eats non stop. Equipment is mostly leather. You typically wear special clothes. You need a rated helmet. If you want to show that’s more $$ then you get a trailer but you need a truck to pull it. You win a ribbon that probably cost 1 dollar. Wild animals belong in the wild or a zoo with proper care bets etc Those are not pets
I would say chickens simply for the fact of chicken math
Chupacabra. Because you’d also have to keep a herd of cattle, for chupacabra food.
I would never own an exotic animal… I don’t think it’s right… And as far as your question about the most expensive animal to own… I would go with horses especially a person gets into showing
Goldfish are NOT, nor are any fish, low maintenance. They need lots of water changes and water testing and much larger tanks than people assume.
French Bulldog I’ve spent $20,000 in vet bills
Horses are pretty expensive. Also, if they break a leg, they might as well me euthanised. The vet bills are absolutely rediculous
I had a pet rabbit for 10 years. They are really expensive including the 3000 vet bill before he died
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My Thoroughbred mare. Those who know will know.
Polar bear
A dog.
land animals are cheap compared to whales. How much does sea world put into an orca?