Vets and Vet Bills???

Hey all,
I'm still waiting for April 23rd to roll around so I purchase my first ball. I was wondering, how many times a year or month do you need to bring your ball in for a check-up or emergency? And how much does it usually cost?
I'm still a college student and I need to know of any expenses before they occur (budgeting is rough as a student). Your help would be much appreciated.

you never really know when or if an emergency will pop up. i suggest finding a reputable reptile vet in your area and calling to find out how much an emergency visit would cost and set the cash aside.

hope that helps...

Great suggestion Aleesha. Find yourself a herp vet and heck you can even take a bit of that tax money and start an emergency account there if you are worried about something happening down the road (drop a $100 bucks off and have a credit with the vet sort of thing). Basically though if you buy your snake from a reputable breeder, who has it already well started, it's healthy and has been sexed for you, you are already way ahead of the game. If you buy it from a petstore you may be setting yourself up for issues and expenses. If I was worried about vet costs, I'd probably go with the breeder option as it tends to work out better usually.

To help you find a qualified HERP vet (not one that primarily sees dogs and cats and an occassional reptile) near you, here are two links for you:


http://www.arav.org/Directory.htm

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/index.html#vetlist

I generally take mine when I first get them for wellness check. I've not had an emergency yet (knock on wood).

My vet is the exception to most vets, he charges me $0-$15 for the office visit, plus any tests. Most vets will charge about $50, for an office visit. But find one from those links and call to find out!