What Does It Cost to Care for a Chinchilla? & Costs of Running the Rescue

I think I once priced this out before, but let's do it again, to sort of piggyback on the previous post. 

The cost to care for one chinchilla per month:

Pellets -- 3 pounds -- $3.75
Hay -- 2 pounds -- $2.00
Dust -- 2 pounds -- $2.50
Chew toy -- $5.00
Bedding -- $8.00
---------------------------------
$21.25

(obviously, this is not including the necessities like water, food bowl, water bottle, that sort of stuff, this is assuming you have all that... this is just monthly cost)

Now, these are the prices if you were to buy the stuff from us... so it is slightly cheaper for us to do it, since we are buying in bulk (and it would be a bit more expensive, if you were to go get these supplies at the pet store).  However, you may or may not know... we do not make a lot of money on stuff!  For example, the last batch of bedding that I bought, I paid I think $7 per bag... and sold at $8... so not making loads of profit here (we are still low on bedding and do not have any to sell, in case you are wondering).  Since we do get stuff at a slightly lower cost, though, let's say it costs $20 to care for one chin per month, just in actual costs (as in, not including cleaning, watering, caring for, etc).

At the time I am writing this, we have...

57 Chinchillas
13 Guinea Pigs
14 Rats
2 Prairie Dogs
11 Birds (4 doves, 7 quail)
1 Hamster

Just to make it easy, let's say they all cost about $20 / month per animal to pay for their food / hay / etc.... and to be fair, most will cost at least that, though some of the animals (like the guinea pigs, which also require fresh food daily) cost considerably more than $20 / month per animal.

This equals out to a total of 98 animals.  At $20 / month / animal, that's $1,960 per month just in actual costs to care for them.  Does that seem high to you?  Not to me, actually... because we tend to average $2,000-$3,000 per month in expenses!  And this isn't counting the electricity, air conditioning, gas for vehicles, event fees, paying paid help, or even vet costs (among other things, of course).

So what do the adoption fees and supply sales pay for?  Paying for all of this!  Basically, keeping the rescue open!  So please, keep this in mind... both when you go to adopt an animal (there will be costs involved in keeping it!  the adoption fee is not the only cost) AND when you think about complaining about prices... there is a reason they are what they are!