[Alusdra]

It's all a matter of perspective. I think most people think 'cheap pet' and expect no monthly cost. They resent even buying food. So $20/month is a big deal.

As a comparison- I've had two of my geckos for 7 years now. In that time I've spent... let's see, like 3 roll of paper towel= $10 and mealworms when my colony has low production... maybe $40... I bought them new cages and some rocks and stuff... maybe $50... so that's $100 over 7 years or... um... (calculator)- ok! $1 a month. Since I have my own mealworm colony, I can go months or years without spending a thing so I anticipate keeping them for 7 more years +on that amount or less or even with no more cost at all (and I rounded up a lot). And the $50 or new stuff for the geckos was fairly unnecessary. That is, I had perfectly adequate stuff before but I wanted new cool looking stuff to spice up their tanks. And I have been looking into better housing (it's a bit ridiculous how impossible it is to find decent reptile enclosures) and I anticipate spending ~$10- $60 on that. Once I have a decent set-up I won't spend a cent on any gecko I ever have in the future (barring new improvements in our understanding of their care or if I go crazy and end up with 15 or something). And really, if you consider I've been keeping geckos for 14 years, you could say that I've really spent less than even the $1/month. (Most of my so-so set-ups were free from people who gave me the geckos or who had their reptiles die and didn't want any more).

So as a comparison- geckos and gerbils would perhaps be what people really mean by "cheap" (I think I spent maybe $30 for the 5 1/2 years I had my gerbils- again hail to free stuff, though!)

My bird, though- even though I got a ton of free stuff from the rescue, thinking about and starting to calculate it out since this thread made me think of it... ouch!