Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright im going to college soon and was wondering if anyone has ever brought their lizards to college. I have to live on campus, so dorm space is limited. Now if i can bring them i most likly can only bring one since cages are pretty big. So 2 year old Ackie or 6 year old beardie would join me. Any reccomdations?

I'm currently in my junior year of college, living in an appartment with 4 snakes and a timor monitor. Pets in college housing is a relatively problematic area.

First off, and most importantly: look at the dorm regulations where you plan to go. The vast majority of dorms do not allow any pets beyond a 10 gallon fish tank (that is the actual wording in my college's housing contract). In my college of somewhere in the vicinity of 13,000 undergraduates, a large portion of which live in campus housing, only one dorm allows pets (beyond the 10 gallon tank), and it only houses about 100 students. Also consider that most places assign you to a dorm freshmen year, so even if there is a dorm that allows pets, you may not get to live there.
Next, if you find that you are in fact allowed to have pets, consider that you will be VERY busy during college, especially if you go to a good school. Will you have time to continue to properly care for your animal while there? Will you be able to get food for them? Make sure there is a good pet store nearby to get feeder insects at unless you plan on keeping a colony.
Next consider your roommate: unfortunately a lot of people don't really feel comfortable with herps, so you need to contact them and make sure they are cool with it.
Also, when you take a tour of the campus, a lot of the time you can take a look at an average dorm room, make sure you do and try to picture how your cage will fit in there. You did mention that you had thought about this, which is good, but consider that a suitable sized cage for either the beardie or the ackie will most likely not fit comfortably in the average dorm room.

Good luck with it, most of the info you need (other than nearby petstores) should be easily to find on the college website). Any ideas where you want to go or major?

ok thanks i'll look into dorm info at colleges im looking at. Im hoping to major in envirmental science or biology, but hell anything can change.

The best idea would be to get a apartment near the college instead of a dorm. However if a dorm is the only option then I wouldn't even ask them permission afterall what they don't know won't hurt them.

This is why I go to college locally. I've got a 36"x18"x24" enclosure, a 48"x20"x19" enclosure, three 48"x24"x24" enclosures, and one cattle trough that is roughly 6'x3'x3'.

Clearly I'm a case for staying home while going to school. It's pretty nice too. I get to come home every night and sleep in my own bed. I get to continue working with all of my reptiles. It's a pretty good deal. Granted, I'm paying a little more for my classes (because I had to go to a private school), but it definately evens out since I don't have to pay for a dorm room, meal plan, etc.