# How much should I pay my pet sitter?



## Kayti (Dec 15, 2009)

I am going home for the week of Christmas, and my boyfriend is going home for 4 days around Christmas, so I asked a friend of mine (who's a vet tech yay!) to come and look after all the animals. She is really busy and can only come once a day, (plus I am pretty sure I can only afford to pay her to come once a day) so I made a VERY skeletal care schedule for her. My plan is to leave the tortoise's basking lights on 24/7, so they can have the heat and hopefully they will just go into their dark hides to sleep. Hopefully it won't mess them up too much for just 4 days. 
I've re-written my list like 8 times trying to cut it down, and it's still pretty extensive. But here's what I've got:



> IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m going to leave the heat on set at 62 degrees so that the pipes in the house donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t freeze, and the animal room will stay above 60. Make sure the door is closed all the time!
> The tortoiseÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s lights should be on 24/7.
> Tortoises:
> Ã¢â‚¬Â¢	Please soak each tortoise for about 5 minutes is luke-warm water up to their necks. The bigger tortoises that are together get soaked in the blue pan together, and the smaller light-colored tortoise gets soaked in the ceramic bowl by herself. Make sure the small tortoise does not fall asleep in the water!
> ...



I'm leaving out the tortoises's Mazuri because they still can't eat it unsupervised. The Russians get aggressive over it if I let them free-feed, and Delaware will only eat it from my hand. I'm also leaving out all vitamins and treats/food variation for all the animals, for simplicity's sake. 

So my question is, how much would you pay a pet-sitter for all this? The professionals around here charge $25 a day for one visit (yikes). She lives pretty close so it's not that far of a drive, but it does seem like a lot of work.

Help greatly appreciated!


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## dmmj (Dec 15, 2009)

Personally I don't pay my friends for helping me out, and I don't accept payment from friends who I help out, whether it is helping to move or installing something I am usually happy if they buy apizza and some beer. I guess it would depend on how good of a friend she is and how much you appreciate her help. I would say a small gift might suffice if she is a good friend, you could always ask her how much she wants for this service and then go from there, or offer a token amount of say 10$ a day since she is not gonna be there very long.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 15, 2009)

My daughter does pet sitting. She normally takes care of dogs and cats, and she only goes over once a day. During that time, she feeds, waters, plays with the cats and walks the dogs, picks up poop and cleans litter trays. Sometimes the pet owner has special instructions, but mostly its just the above mentioned. For this service she gets $20 a visit.


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## -EJ (Dec 15, 2009)

Why pay a pet sitter? Tortoises can go weeks without food or water. If you drop the temperature... they can go longer.


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## Kayti (Dec 15, 2009)

dmmj said:


> Personally I don't pay my friends for helping me out, and I don't accept payment from friends who I help out, whether it is helping to move or installing something I am usually happy if they buy apizza and some beer. I guess it would depend on how good of a friend she is and how much you appreciate her help. I would say a small gift might suffice if she is a good friend, you could always ask her how much she wants for this service and then go from there, or offer a token amount of say 10$ a day since she is not gonna be there very long.



I had one friend who I didn't pay $$ to take care of my pets because she basically lived with me at the time, but generally I think it's important to pay a pet sitter. People are more likely to do things well if there is a monetary value placed on it. She did say she didn't want me to pay her, but I said that I would and I think I should. 



> My daughter does pet sitting. She normally takes care of dogs and cats, and she only goes over once a day. During that time, she feeds, waters, plays with the cats and walks the dogs, picks up poop and cleans litter trays. Sometimes the pet owner has special instructions, but mostly its just the above mentioned. For this service she gets $20 a visit.



That seems really fair, and I kind of tend to think "exotics" should cost more to care for than cats or dogs, but they are in a cage and don't require any walking/cuddling, so may be not. 

I'm kind of leaning towards 15$ a day. 
In case you haven't noticed, I am a total cheapskate so this is all really hard 
Thanks for all your advice.


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## TylerStewart (Dec 15, 2009)

I used to "sleep" my chameleons through my vacations or weekends out of town, and I had hundreds of them. They'd be better off with the heat turned off and light dimmed or shortened than with everything on... No food, some automatic misting of water and that was it. Sometimes I even packed them like I was shipping them, and left them in a cool closet. I never had any problems with this. Tortoises are 100 times more hardy than chameleons, so I don't see why not just do that. Heat and light just create the problems by drying them out. The best thing about tortoises is that you don't need a babysitter.


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## Chipdog (Dec 15, 2009)

When I go out of town I pay a friends kid (read friend has to go too to drive the kid) to check up and take care of the animals. At the time I had my 2 aldabras a fresh and saltwater tank one dog and one sun conure. The other children in the family would fight over getting to go too. When you have cool animals like we all do they really enjoy the time they get to spend with them. I paid $10 a day and they would stop in twice a day. The best thing you can ever do is leave detailed instructions. Especially with feeding. For my fish tanks I would portion out how much to feed everyday in little cups.

I don't think the torts need to be soaked. As long as they have a water dish they will be fine for way more then 4 days. You can skip the feeding also. I know my torts are bigger but they will sometimes spend days in there box and not come out for food or water.
I think the only thing you would have to worry about would be the rats. I have seen rats conditions get horrible overnite.

I hope I helped you out instead of making you more confused. All in all if you want to go overboard have a neighborhood kid drop in every day and have the vet tech friend drop in once.


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## Kayti (Dec 15, 2009)

TylerStewart said:


> I used to "sleep" my chameleons through my vacations or weekends out of town, and I had hundreds of them. They'd be better off with the heat turned off and light dimmed or shortened than with everything on... No food, some automatic misting of water and that was it. Sometimes I even packed them like I was shipping them, and left them in a cool closet. I never had any problems with this. Tortoises are 100 times more hardy than chameleons, so I don't see why not just do that. Heat and light just create the problems by drying them out. The best thing about tortoises is that you don't need a babysitter.



I have to hire a pet sitter for all my other animals too, so it's not really any extra problem to have her take care of the torts as well. And as it's only 4 days, I don't really want them to have to re-adjust to ant kind of brumation, especially when I can't monitor them and such. 
Also, I just got Delaware the sully to actually eat like a sully should, and grow, and I don't want to interrupt that!

Would you recommend just 'storing' even a non-hibernating tortoise? I think I remember reading that Sulcatas have a sort of hibernation/period of inactivity too, but I thought that was due to heat, not cold. 
Thanks,
Kayti


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## Shelly (Dec 15, 2009)

-EJ said:


> Why pay a pet sitter? Tortoises can go weeks without food or water. If you drop the temperature... they can go longer.



Exactly what I was thinking.


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## Kayti (Dec 15, 2009)

Chipdog said:


> When I go out of town I pay a friends kid (read friend has to go too to drive the kid) to check up and take care of the animals. At the time I had my 2 aldabras a fresh and saltwater tank one dog and one sun conure. The other children in the family would fight over getting to go too. When you have cool animals like we all do they really enjoy the time they get to spend with them. I paid $10 a day and they would stop in twice a day. The best thing you can ever do is leave detailed instructions. Especially with feeding. For my fish tanks I would portion out how much to feed everyday in little cups.
> 
> I don't think the torts need to be soaked. As long as they have a water dish they will be fine for way more then 4 days. You can skip the feeding also. I know my torts are bigger but they will sometimes spend days in there box and not come out for food or water.
> I think the only thing you would have to worry about would be the rats. I have seen rats conditions get horrible overnite.
> ...



I do like to soak them everyday just because Delaware is young and her health has been so fragile in the past. I know hydration in the most important aspect of raising baby animals and sick animals. But, the Russians would probably be fine without soaking. I'm just a chronic over-motherer 

The rats I am not worried about at all. I only have 2 in a huge cage (they're pets) and they are very well-behaved ladies. Of all my pets, they require the least maintenance. Even if they can't be out for exercise/cuddles, they have a nice new huge wheel now that they both run on. 

Man I wish I could get paid to play with 2 aldabras!


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## K9KidsLove (Dec 15, 2009)

Hi...No matter how you get things set up, you will still worry!! I always do.
Instead of leaving the lights on 24/7, go to Walmart and get a timer...$5...and set the lights to go on and off on the same cycle as you are doing now. It will be too stressful to leave them on.
Also, you mentioned to put "a lot of water" in if it was dry...be more specific with the amount. 'A lot' could mean 2 cups to one person, or 5 gallons to another!
And, it is better to have too many details than not enough. Make sure the sitter has you phone number, just in case. 
I think $15 is fine. 
Good luck
Patsy


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## Kayti (Dec 15, 2009)

K9KidsLove said:


> Hi...No matter how you get things set up, you will still worry!! I always do.
> Instead of leaving the lights on 24/7, go to Walmart and get a timer...$5...and set the lights to go on and off on the same cycle as you are doing now. It will be too stressful to leave them on.
> Also, you mentioned to put "a lot of water" in if it was dry...be more specific with the amount. 'A lot' could mean 2 cups to one person, or 5 gallons to another!
> And, it is better to have too many details than not enough. Make sure the sitter has you phone number, just in case.
> ...



Good points, thank you! 

And I might go with the timer idea, but I'm still really leaning towards keeping the lights on. Since everyone sleeps in a hide and I'm mostly worried about it getting too cold :/ My house gets REALLY cold, except for my room, because of the tort lights. Even with the heater on full blast, we can sometimes see our breath in the living room.


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## -EJ (Dec 15, 2009)

First... what is the species?

If there are other pets that are not reptiles or amphibians... this conversation is a moot point.

Unless you have Egyptians, Colombian RFs or golden greeks... you can easily drop the temperature to at least 40F.

Again... it is your loving pet and the final decision is yours.





Kayti said:


> K9KidsLove said:
> 
> 
> > Hi...No matter how you get things set up, you will still worry!! I always do.
> ...


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## K9KidsLove (Dec 15, 2009)

A 2nd timer would turn on either a red or a black light or a ceramic heat emitter in the evening when the daytime lights go off. When it is cold enough for night heat here, I leave a red light on 24/7 and add the incandescent lights during the day.
Good luck
Patsy


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## Nay (Dec 15, 2009)

Kayti,I know it's so hard to leave, and I do the same thing as you. I rewrite that list over and over the weeks before I go anywhere. You know what's best for your torts, but personally I am with Chipdog and the not soaking. I would worry more about something happening, her forgetting, too much water etc. Just my take on your situation. I think the timers are the way to go also, I have all my lights on timers now and we can see our breath in our icebox house also(sometimes!)
Have a nice time anyway.
Na


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## -EJ (Dec 15, 2009)

I'm storing about... 50 tortoises for the next 2 months. They include Redfoots, Aldabras, Russinans, Leopards and Greeks. I've been doing this for anou 4 years now... actually longer.


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## bettinge (Dec 15, 2009)

-EJ said:


> I'm storing about... 50 tortoises for the next 2 months. They include Redfoots, Aldabras, Russinans, Leopards and Greeks. I've been doing this for anou 4 years now... actually longer.




EJ, What is storing? A cool down period or hibernation?


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## terryo (Dec 15, 2009)

$15 a day??? I don't know where you live, but here in NY people get $25 a day just to let a dog out in the yard for a few minutes once a day. Something like you want done would cost at least $30 or more a day here. My son pays a girl $35. a day to let his dog in the yard twice a day and make sure he has water and play with him for a while in the yard. I guess it's all according to where you live.


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## DoctorCosmonaut (Dec 15, 2009)

Doesn't leaving your tort(s) alone for a vacation depend on the type of tort? Because Redfoots don't hibernate. I wish I could just sleep them.


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## TylerStewart (Dec 16, 2009)

DoctorCosmonaut said:


> Doesn't leaving your tort(s) alone for a vacation depend on the type of tort? Because Redfoots don't hibernate. I wish I could just sleep them.



They don't have to be a hibernating species to sleep for a few days or a week. My sulcatas, redfoots, yellows, pancakes and leopards and others go into "sleep mode" most of the winter, where they'll run around an hour a day (spending the other 23 hours in heated hideboxes). They eat almost nothing all winter, although food is offered. If they cool down and have little light, almost any reptile will go into "sleep mode" for a while.


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## -EJ (Dec 16, 2009)

In my eyes there is no difference. Tortoises don't truely hibernate. This is a point I've been trying to get across for many years but people don't seem to get it.

There is not a tortoise in the world that I can think of that does not occasionally go through either a cool down or a heat up period to where they go throgh some kind of rest period.

The cool area where I keep them will get down into the 40s on really cold nights... some would consider that hibernation... I consider that dropping the metabolism to an inactive level.



bettinge said:


> -EJ said:
> 
> 
> > I'm storing about... 50 tortoises for the next 2 months. They include Redfoots, Aldabras, Russinans, Leopards and Greeks. I've been doing this for anou 4 years now... actually longer.
> ...


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## Jacqui (Dec 16, 2009)

Does the Betta have a heater, because won't 62 be too cold for him? 

Also have you really checked to see what temps the spots they are all living in stay at when the thermostat is set at a certain temp? I did this last time I was home just to be sure I had fans, heat emitters, UTH, ect.., where they actually were needed to keep temps where I wanted them...not just where I thought they already would be according to the thermostat. House thermo was set at 80 all day and night, but some spots still got down to 65 at night. The flip side was the way our furnace kicks out heat high up, some upper cages could get upper 90s. 

Do you have a plan incase a winter storm blows in and electricity goes out?

I agree with using timers, have the food prepared ahead cut up as you want it and maybe even each day already bagged for each enclosure where possible.

A list of emergency numbers to reach you at any time?

When I am on the road, my firend cares for my animals when my son is at college. She got a propane tank fill (which is what she wanted and needed the most) for $350 to do them all winter. She ended up having to do more then planned on (or even asked to do), so I gave her a $100 bonus gift one week. Now I have a huge herd of turtles, tortoises, a bearded dragon, geckos, geese, cats, and dogs so it is a lot of work to keep up.

Talk with this person and see what they think. For just this short of time, if a friend asked me to care for the few animals you have, I would have done it for free. Come to think of it, I have done it before for my current caretaker. She usually gave me a gift...something turtlish of course...lol. It's just as a friend, I felt it was part of our friendship to step in and help out, perhaps your person will feel the same way.


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## -EJ (Dec 16, 2009)

I just read where they are Russians...

Drop the temperature a week or two before you leave. Place them in a container where they can burry down or be buried. 

They will be more than fine as long as the temperatures stay above freezing.


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## Kayti (Dec 16, 2009)

> Does the Betta have a heater, because won't 62 be too cold for him?



YES all my bettas have heaters! And they don't live in vases either.  It's really nice to hear good betta advice though, as it's so rare. 

I'm testing leaving the thermostat at 62 while we're still here. I think it'll ends up making the room stay around 75, with the door closed.

Good point about the electricity going out. I wouldn't even know what to do if _I_ was here. I think we have a gas heater, would that still work with no electricity? I'm really ignorant in the ways of houses.


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## Jacqui (Dec 16, 2009)

Kayti said:


> > Does the Betta have a heater, because won't 62 be too cold for him?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It's just that people were focusing on just the reptiles, mainly the tortoises which is natural considering what kind of a forum this is, but you need to look at each of them. 

Those unexpected things happen, that's why it's always best if you can, to have somebody daily check on any animal at home alone. Furnaces go out, electricity can go out, shorts can cause fuses to blow and electricity to stop, bulbs burn out, bulbs fall, and animals escape where they never have before. Always prepare for the worst. 

Our home is heated with a propane furnace, but the fan to move it runs off electricity. Just before I came home for Thanksgiving unknown to me, a snow storm had taken out our electricity for several days. So this point was just freshened in my mind. I have freestanding propane heaters and even handwarmer packets as backup, but had never thought to tell my sitter. She failed to call me about the situation and was making plans if the electricity had not come on when it did, to take over a couple of propane heaters she had in storage. Some of my animals did end up getting cooled lower then I feel they should, but all seem to be coming out of it okay. 

As for your gas heater, you may also need electricity for the fan...some do and some don't. Also depending on what it uses to tell it to turn the heat on/off, that too may use electricity. Only way to know, is to check what yours is like.


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