I Paid $200 for My Pet Terrapin's Vet Treatment — Here's What It Taught Me

Having a pet means budgeting for its long-term care, including emergencies

- Sue-Ann Tan

When I was gifted a terrapin as a teenager, the red-eared slider was the size of a finger – tiny and cheap, costing less than $5 at the time.

But the cost of owning the little creature, called Severus II after the potions professor in the Harry Potter series, has gone up significantly.

In July, I had to take her to the vet and paid nearly $200 for her to get X-rayed – a procedure that I did not even know was possible for such a small pet, even if by that time, she had grown to the size of a dinner plate.

Beyond the X-ray, the vet also recommended that the terrapin be brought back for a few sessions of scraping, in which bacteria that grew on her shell would be removed. Each session would cost more than $100, and more if any further treatment was needed.

If she could not stay still for the treatment, I might even have to pay for turtle anesthesia, the vet said, after Severus II demonstrated some resistance and bit her.

Severus II – in case you are wondering, I thought she was a he when I named her – is 18 years old. That is 16 years longer than the two-year lifespan of my first pet, a hamster. She has far exceeded my initial expectations of how long she would live, although a quick search shows that these pets can apparently live for more than 20 years.

Her treatment also far exceeded my expectations of how much a turtle would cost me.

Unlike dogs, my turtle does not require microchipping, grooming, sterilization, vaccinations or training schools, at least to my knowledge. She also does not need to go to a pet hotel when I take holidays, as my grandparents – who would baulk at taking care of a dog – have no qualms taking Severus II for a week or two.

And while dogs might require toys and specific food, Severus II is pleased with pellets and vegetables, sometimes the odd carrot. She is also very content with rocks, basking platforms and heat lamps from the fish farm down the road.