COMMENT: I took my terrapin to the vet and paid $200

When I was gifted a terrapin as a teenager, the red-eared slider was the size of a finger - tiny and cheap, costing less than $5 at the time.

But the cost of owning the little creature, called Severus II after the potions professor in the Harry Potter series, has gone up significantly.

In July, I had to take her to the vet and paid nearly $200 for her to get X-rayed - a procedure that I did not even know was possible for such a small pet, even if by that time, she had grown to the size of a dinner plate.

Beyond the X-ray, the vet also recommended that the terrapin be brought back for a few sessions of scraping, in which bacteria that grew on her shell would be removed. Each session would cost more than $100, and more if any further treatment was needed.

If she could not stay still for the treatment, I might even have to pay for turtle anaesthesia, the vet said, after Severus II demonstrated some resistance and bit her.

Severus II - in case you are wondering, I thought she was a he when I named her - is 18 years old. That is 16 years longer than the two-year lifespan of my first pet, a hamster. She has far exceeded my initial expectations of how long she would live, although a quick search shows that these pets can apparently live for more than 20 years.

Her treatment also far exceeded my expectations of how much a turtle would cost me.

Unlike dogs, my turtle does not require microchipping, grooming, sterilisation, vaccinations or training schools, at least to my knowledge. She also does not need to go to a pet hotel when I take holidays, as my grandparents - who would baulk at taking care of a dog - have no qualms taking Severus II for a week or two.

And while dogs might require toys and specific food, Severus II is pleased with pellets and vegetables, sometimes the odd carrot. She is also very content with rocks, basking platforms and heat lamps from the fish farm down the road.

But she does not have any insurance to her name. I am not sure if there even is such a product available for tiny pet turtles.

Hence, the idea that I had to suddenly pay hundreds of dollars for a pet turtle that had been relatively affordable all along was a shock.

I also realised that as Severus II aged, I might need to start setting aside a specific budget for her care. Although I do not know how old an 18-year-old turtle is in terms of human age, it is clear that she is no longer a sprightly, tiny turtle and might require more health check-ups and vet visits in the future - especially if she lives to 30 years old, a grand age that some among her species have attained.

Often, people talk about the upfront costs of pet ownership - how much a dog or cat costs when purchased - which can go up to thousands of dollars, depending on the breed of the animal and where it is from.

But the ongoing costs of pet ownership - from a turtle to a dog - can really add up.

According to the Dollars and Sense website, it costs about $20,000 to $40,000 to own a dog over 15 years, without including the initial cost of adopting or buying a dog.

A survey commissioned by The Straits Times and carried out by market research firm Kantar found that some 25 per cent of young people listed "caring for pets" as one of their primary financial obligations.

The survey asked around 1,000 people aged 18 to 30 about their spending habits to get a better idea of the spending and saving patterns of youth in Singapore.

Indeed, having a pet needs to be factored into one's financial plan, especially when it comes to dogs, which might have more costly needs than smaller animals.

Having said that, small animals might cost an outsize amount too. When I was a child and had a hamster, I had to save up my allowance to pay for its needs.

Its bedding needed to be changed weekly, which meant buying bags of shavings to line its cage. It also required sand baths, different types of food and treats, and various types of bedding for different segments of its cage.

As a 13-year-old then collecting my weekly allowance from my parents, this was a huge outlay and I felt the pinch.

It was a bit of a deja vu moment that nearly two decades later, I felt the pinch again when I had to pay for my turtle's X-ray.

Of course, in that moment, nothing mattered except finding if there was anything wrong with Severus II. The "oh dear" moment came only later when I did my usual expense tracking and drew up the month's spreadsheet, and I realised just how much the vet visit - and any subsequent sessions - could add up to.

So how does one go about integrating pet expenses - especially unexpected ones that exclude their daily food - into a financial plan?

Perhaps I can start with putting aside a small amount every month - $50 or even slightly less - and it could grow into a sizeable pot that can be used when Severus II needs another check-up.

This can be separate from, or part of, the emergency fund that experts recommend people have, as a pot of savings set aside for a rainy day.

Experts recommend that full-time employees should aim to save at least three to six months' worth of expenses as an emergency fund.

For gig workers, setting aside at least 12 months' worth of expenses can act as a safety net during tough times, they said.

A way to ensure this fund is kept intact is to adopt a "pay yourself first" approach, whereby a small amount of each month's take-home salary is first ringfenced and put aside as savings before you pay for daily necessities, bills and other expenses, including leisure items, subscriptions and shopping.

This ringfenced amount can even be put into a separate savings account - a process that can be automated each month.

I have never spent all my salary each month, so I thought I was doing pretty well in terms of having an emergency fund.

But having to pay for my turtle's vet fees and getting my aching wisdom tooth X-rayed soon after, I found myself digging deeper into my savings.

Perhaps I can start this "pay yourself first" approach, which includes paying Severus II first as well. This could take the form of a little metaphorical piggy bank in my mind with Severus II's face on it, where I set aside $30 to $50 for her every month.

In the event that I have to drag her kicking and screaming - metaphorically, as I have never heard her make a sound in 18 years - to the vet again, at least my wallet will feel less of a pinch.

And I know I have the means to support Severus II so she lives to a ripe old terrapin age - and continues to bask in the sun for many more days to come.