# How much should a Syrian Hamster consultation be?



## Ryan Thompson (Jun 30, 2018)

I have booked an appointment for my Syrian Hamster as he has a brown dry lump on his ear. I called today and found out it would be £27 just for the consultation... Is that a lot and if so can anyone recommend me a cheaper place?


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

£27 is reasonable for a consult fee - my Vet charges £28.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

My vet charges similar. You are paying for the consultation time and not based on the animal. So the fee would be the same regardless of whether the vet was examining a cat dog hamster or snake.

Small pets are generally cheaper to medicate though as they need a smaller dose of medication than a larger pet would but if you are paying for the vets time then that would generally be the same regardless.


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## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

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exotic pet vet-care in the USA is a good deal more costly than dog / cat vet-care. The office fee or consult isn't that much more, but meds, Tx, etc, can be very steep.
Figure about 2 to 3X the price of cat / dog meds & vet-costs, for any exotic surgery, tests, etc. [Bunnies, ferrets, rats, sugar-gliders, pouched rats, snakes, fish, parrots, ______ ]

I bought a domestic-morph corn snake some years back from a breeder, he'd bred her several times & wanted "new blood", so i paid $35 for a F hetero that he didn't want any more.
A few days later, she's got a lump... several lumps - & she's not feeling chipper. // Off to the vet, she's egg-bound, which will be fatal if not treated, & when i contact the breeder, he says, "I wouldn't pay a vet, I'd just feed her to a king snake, if she's egg-bound."
A - i don't OWN a king-snake; B - i bought her as a pet, not a feeder! 
The vet quoted many-hundreds to remove the eggs surgically, which i couldn't afford; it was under a grand, but over $400. I'd gone to the vet's before work, & left in tears, leaving her with the vet, after signing authorization to euthanize her if necessary. // When i phoned later, he'd super-hydrated her & lubricated the cloaca, & she delivered them on her own, over 2-hours.
I was very thankful.  . I thought i'd be picking up a corpse.

*CandyCorn* was as sweet as sugar, & pretty brainless - very different from my many wild-caught snakes. But i had her for 7 or 8 years, after that, & never regretted the significant bill for her sub-Q IV fluids. // She also developed a URI after we evacuated for Hurricane Bonnie, I couldn't keep her warm enuf in the hotel room; I slept wth her & carried her inside my shirt, in her cotton bag [all 3 1/2 ft of her]. I couldn't bring her 75-gal long tank with the undertank heater, & she chilled. That required 10-days of sub-Q antibiotics & twice daily warm-baths, which she hated, to raise her core-temp. Another whopping vet bill.

She finally died one night, with no preceding illness & no pain, in her sleep. I thought she was still sleeping; she was in a very relaxed coil. Sweet girl - the 1st snake many ppl ever touched. // She'd have been between 13 & 15-YO; i think the fella who sold her knew she was egg-bound when he listed her.

- terry

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