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Gus308 Constrictor Gus308 Constrictor Gus308 JackAsp Gus308 Cornsnake JackAsp Ameivaboy JackAsp Cornsnake Gus308 Aandfsoccr04 Aandfsoccr04 Gus308 T man Geckogirlemi T man Broceaus Gus308 T man

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#2058361

Gus308
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College

I was just thinking about how the reptile stuff will go when I head to college. I thought for sure someone here had owned herps before college and made it through without selling everything.

Any advise?

I currently own:

1 red tail boa (550gal)
2 Grozny’s lacertas (120gal)
"Potentially" 1 Bearded Dragon

~Gus

08/16/09 07:47pm

#2058382

Constrictor
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2058361

College

What i had to do was move into an apartment close to the school

08/16/09 08:23pm

#2058395

Gus308
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Message To: Constrictor In reference to Message Id: 2058382

College

That is what I imagine I will do, but I wanted to hear the words of experience. I’m still not sure about any of it though.

~Gus

08/16/09 08:52pm

#2058429

Constrictor
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2058395

College

Thats pretty much all you can do unless you go to a close to home school. Dorms dont allow pets for the most part. Alot of apartments dont allow them but some do and if not just store them in tubs when they come for inspection

08/16/09 09:43pm

#2058477

Gus308
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Message To: Constrictor In reference to Message Id: 2058429

College

I don’t even have a "close to home" town.

Apartment Inspector: What’s with all the empty tanks. ( suspiciously)

Herper: Ohhh... Those are my ummm... gardens. They are quite relaxing, really.

Apartment Inspector: Silk and plastic plants? (critically)

Herper: Yep... same relaxing effect with less maintenance.

Apartment Inspector: With UVB? (again, quite critically)

Herper: Well... you gotta do something. (desperately)

Apartment Inspector: I see.(looking at the Rubbermaid’s stacked to the ceiling.)

~Gus

08/16/09 10:56pm

#2058544

JackAsp
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2058477

College

Keep the snake in your bedroom and KEEP it there. People you trust can go in and look, but don’t play show and tell in the living room, because that makes it an "open secret" which is in fact not a secret at all. All it takes is one neighbor who knows that "everybody knows anyway" and figures "oh, the lanlord is cool," and trouble starts. Plus, a cool snake cage in the bedroom is a great way to get girls in there.
The lizards aren’t really going to be a secret anyway, because the whole building will be able to hear the crickets chirping. You can ask about them and expect to be told it’s not a big deal, because nobody really cares about lizards. Be very aggressive about cricket control, though. To be honest, I’m amzed I haven’t had the neighbors come up and lynch me yet. I’ve had more than my share of escapes, and I’ve heard them chirping all over the building.
Snakes not only have a reputation for being able to magically poof themselves out of cages anbd through toilet pipes, but they also have a lot of haters who will try to get free rent by claiming that the landlord is somehow violating their rights by making them live with something that is so terrifying and heart-attack-inducing. And there’s at least a 50 per cent that the judge will be just as phobic. Plus, exotics laws are usually so vaguely phrased that anything anyone feels like making trouble over can be a pretty big grey area in most cities anyway.
As long as there are no fuse boxes or anything like that in your bedroom, the landlord won’t look in there anyway. I keep collared lizards, turtle, and non-roach feeder bugs in the "public rooms." I keep roaches, most snakes, and everybody who eats roaches (and therefore might have one in their cage if the landlord visits) in the bedrooms. I do have my bullsnake in the living room, but his cage is light enough that I can lug it back out of sight if I’m expecting the toilet to be fixed or something.
It’s not the ideal solution, but if you can’t afford to be choosy then you work with the options you’ve got.
By the way: How big is a 550 gallon tank?

08/17/09 02:50am

#2058669

Gus308
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 2058544

College

I have been feeding lobster roaches as a staple food, since I breed/sell them it’s free, but I imagine in any rented residence you would need them in maximum lock down security. Even if they can only survive a couple weeks in sub 60 temperatures, the sight of a roach immediately rings up the thought of cockroach infestation.

The 550 was just a number to give an idea on how difficult it would be to hide. It is a homemade wooden enclosure with a bunk-bed on top, so it’s about 6’3" long x 3’6" deep x 3’6" tall. With the exact measurements, it comes to 547 gallons.

~Gus

08/17/09 10:06am

#2058699

Cornsnake
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2058361

College

I’m having the same trouble.
As far as reptiles go I have one corn snake and one leopard gecko that I refuse to get rid of. My leo might be fine with my family but my corn my family will not take care of for me. I wouldn’t want to run any risks when it comes to dorms or those college apartments, so as stated before I’m thinking a regular apartment that’s close.
My mom works for a doctor who actually had an iguana in his college, have no idea how he was able to manage it so well.
Maybe a close community college where you can just go and come back home? That’s also one of my own options.

08/17/09 10:40am

#2060542

JackAsp
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Message To: Cornsnake In reference to Message Id: 2058699

College

You might be able to sneak a corn snake if it’s in one of those underbed tubs, but keep in mind that you don’t necessarily know who you’ll be rooming with. or if you do, you don’t necessarily know what stupid drunken thing they or thei friends or their friends’ friends might decide is brilliant. So to keep the snake from being used as a prop in some idiotic prank that ends very badly, make absolutely certain that you rig some kind of lock onto the cage. But still:
Try to keep people on need to know basis.
Do not play show and tell in the living room. Bedroom secrets are often kept for decades, but living room secrets are lucky if they last half an hour.
And have some kind of backup plan anyway, as far as somebody you can keep it with if you really have to.

08/19/09 08:40pm

#2060553

Ameivaboy
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 2060542

College

Quote:
Even if they can only survive a couple weeks in sub 60 temperatures, the sight of a roach immediately rings up the thought of cockroach infestation.

In my experience Lobsters will find any place to hide that will protect them from lethal temperatures and survive. After I got rid of my lobster colony adults would pop up more than a year later. None of the other species that I kept (and of course got out) managed to last like Lobsters.

My old landlord was pissed when the took out the carpets after I moved and found a bunch, haha

08/19/09 08:56pm

#2060686

JackAsp
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Message To: Ameivaboy In reference to Message Id: 2060553

College

I will never buy lateralis again. got EVERYWHERE! There are probasbly still a few around here.
I also had a Death Head survive loose in my apartment for at least six months, probably longer. I know it had been quite a while since I was raising pure, non-hybrid death heads. And it almost dashed under something to re-lose me, too. However, I was doing some deep under-furniture cleaning, and finding all kinds of things under desks I hadn’t seen in forever, and it just so happened that a split second before I found the roach, I’d found my Bowie knife... so I was holding it like "Hey! So that’s where it went! What the-is that a death head! Hey, stop!" CHOP! At least they’re a big target.
It’s a valid thing for a property manager to be concerned with. People don’t really care if the roach was born in their apartment, your apartment, or whatever, all they really want is for there to be no roaches in their apartment at any time. What’s funny, though, is my collareds are kind of sporadic in their roach consumption, so I’ve been buying a lot of crickets, too, and I know those things get all over the buidling sometimes! I’ve never heard a word about it from anybody though. If giant roaches got around like that, they’d be fumigating every unit here, including mine.

08/20/09 02:22am

#2060845

Cornsnake
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Message To: Cornsnake In reference to Message Id: 2058699

College

My original plan was to go to a community college for two years, and hopefully transfer to a university. I would really love to go to Michigan State. I don’t know how much trouble you’d get in to if you get caught though, I mean, could they expel you or something if they found a reptile? Do colleges do dorm checks or anything like that?

08/20/09 11:51am

#2061113

Gus308
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 2060686

College

I guess the climate here just doesn’t agree with the lobster roaches, because I have had some serious security breeches. Two weeks later I would find most of them dead in a corner or under something. If I was somewhere else, at school, with a different climate, they may be more of a problem.

~Gus

08/20/09 08:40pm

#2064364

Aandfsoccr04
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2061113

College

I currently have an argentine red tail boa, brazilian rainbow boa, hognose, 8 ft carpet python, jeweled lacerta, leopard gecko, gargoyle gecko, 125 gallon fish tank, 100s of dubia roaches, tokay gecko, and lightening gecko and i am in college. If you know anyone that is going to school with you just move into a house that you rent for the year and you can just keep them in your room. most landlords will say no pets and they mean cats and dogs and you just say yeah i have some rats and reptiles and they just say ok and write it on the lease. I am now a junior and have had everything in more than one house.

08/27/09 07:51pm

#2064365

Aandfsoccr04
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2061113

College

oh yeah and a tegu in a 55 gallon.

08/27/09 07:53pm

#2064417

Gus308
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Message To: Aandfsoccr04 In reference to Message Id: 2064365

College

I have to say, you have a pretty serious menagerie. I don’t think I could handle that much at once, it’s got to be darn near a full time job until you’ve got the work down to habit. I am content with a couple lacertas, a Colombian red tail boa, one fish, and maybe a bearded dragon and/or a chameleon.

Good luck, and thanks for the advise,

~Gus

08/27/09 09:39pm

#2066466

T man
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2064417

College

Good luck but all in all staying in res a lot better. I would give up the reptiles to have a good time but thats me.

09/01/09 07:49pm

#2066541

Geckogirlemi
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Message To: T man In reference to Message Id: 2066466

College

The idea "having a good time" varies from person to person. Honestly, being in a dorm getting drunk and being an idiot doesn’t appeal to some believe it or not. And honestly I hate the idea of dorms if I was stuck with a DA I would be horrified. I love my herps/dogs, much MUCH MUCH more than I love most people, and luckily I’m located next too two really good colleges, one which I will be attending next fall. I’d go with the renting a house with other people Idea. but if you didn’t know the peeps too well......I’d make sure too keep my bedroom door locked when I wasnt home for sure.

09/01/09 11:15pm

#2066629

T man
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Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 2066541

College

There’s more things to do at Rez then get drunk. I’m really athletic so at the one I’m going to has a huge recreational center, a games room, theatre, and a bunch of other stuff. To me meeting a lot of people will be a better time. I won’t want to come home from college and feed and clean reptile cages for 5 hours. But your right every one has there own preferences. So I’m working on selling everything and then most likely buying more when Im done school.

09/02/09 11:03am

#2066841

Broceaus
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Message To: T man In reference to Message Id: 2066629

College

I have 4 redtails a savanna monitor and 3 dogs. Caring for them is really just habbit; doesnt seem to take much time. Plus I enjoy doing it.

I’ve lived in 2 apartments and now a townhouse. As long as my landlords get rent on time and dont get complaints everything is fine. None of the leases I signed said anything about reptiles. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Just make sure your snake doesn’t get out of the apartment.

Someone should start a reptile boarding place. Like they have for dogs.

09/02/09 07:40pm

#2066944

Gus308
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Message To: Broceaus In reference to Message Id: 2066841

College

I would probably live out of the dorm anyhow, I tend to lean towards hermitism.

~Gus

09/02/09 11:19pm

#2067055

T man
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Message To: Gus308 In reference to Message Id: 2066944

College

For you guys the choice is quite easy since you don’t have over 100 reptiles it is easy to move them from place to place but as a breeder I have 48 leopard geckos, 16 Bearded Dragons, 4 Ball Pythons 8 Uromastyx, 1 Savannah Monitor, 4 Water Dragons, 2 RTB’s. I had a lot more but this is what I have left and after Today I should be down to 20 Leopard Geckos, 4 Bearded Dragons, 1 Ball Pythons, 1 Uromastyx, 4 Water Dragons , 1 Savannah Monitor. It kinda sucks selling everything but I don’t feel like the attachment to a reptile is near as great as if it were my dog. With reptiles it is something I know I’m going to get back in the future and right now it’s at least great to know the homes of my reptiles are going to be great. But anyways good luck with moving your reptiles in.

09/03/09 09:21am

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