Other Turtle Discussion :: Utility costs of owning a turtle

[Lenzkid10]

Hello!
Being that I am a college student who lives with 4 roommates, I am wondering about the approximate utility costs of owning a turtle. Does anyone have a general idea of how much it costs to have the lamps and heaters on, in terms of electricity? Personally, I am not too worried about it, but a couple of my roommates are tight wads when it comes to forking over a little extra money for bills. Thanks in advance for the help and information!

[VeipaCray]

Things that consume power: filter, light & heater. Look up the wattage of each, how long they are on for an average day and multiply by your electricity unit rate in kilowatt hours.

[Lenzkid10]

That was much easier than I was making it out to be. Thank you for your help VeipaCray!

[theartbook35]

Utility costs do depend on where you live, too. For me, I rent and live in a cheap, smaller city, so, my utilities don't go up much. Even my computer doesn't suck up a lot of power. My mother keeps her TV running 18 hours a day, and that doesn't add to the electric bill much at all. So, my estimate is, probably pretty low. Nowhere near as much as you would spend on the supplies themselves. Turtles supplies run into the thousands, typically. I've spent a good 500+ on my turtles already.

[VeipaCray]

There's also a device called a "kill a watt". Plug your power strip into this thing and it will measure how much power is actually being consumed. You can multiply that out by your electricity unit rate and get an exact cost.

The downside is that the kill a watt costs $16 which might actually be more than your turtle's electric bill for the year. However, if your roommates are busting your chops about the turtle power... you can prove to them the actual costs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Electronic+Gadgets-_-P3+International-_-82715001


EDIT> I just re-read this post and noticed "turtle power". LOL TMNT anyone?

[steve]

LOL, good catch.

Your roommate's game systems, tvs and computers will use much more power

[Joao]

Slap them with a slice of bologna and tell them their vibrators take up more energy...they will get the point after that.