campus pet policy trouble

hey there ya'll, not sure if this is the right section this forum thread should be in, but my roommate and i and many a student at my school have come into a severe pickle. the school has decided to change it's rules regarding having pets on campus to only allow fish, and maybe not even that before too long. needless to say as the owner of four lizards this is a bit of a predicament. we're looking for good counter arguments and support for maintaining our right to own reptiles on campus. and not just reptiles, but also pets like hermit crabs and other pets that have to live in a small under 30 gallon tank. we've already got some of the basics, ease of maintenance and far lower amount of property damage if a reptile tank breaks as opposed to a fish tank. anyway, any input we can get will be simply wonderful. first hand info, links, books and articles will be incredibly helpful. anyway, thanks in advance!

-Nate

 

Has the school given you reasons why they're thinking about banning the animals? I'd say find out what their reasoning is and then we can from there.

 

Lizards don't make any more noise than fish. I would make an appeal to whoever makes the rules....

 

i do not miss dorm life...especially the housing administration. i fought the fight to have reptiles in my dorm when i was in college 5 years ago and lost. their main argument for banning pets: "because we say so!" and they said that pets are a hassle for the housekeeping staff and can cause health problems. they only allowed gold fish bowls...most of my friends had betta fish. my best friend had hermit crabs in a 5 gal tank, he was a resident assistant and he talked to the housekeeper of his floor. the housekeeper didnt care he had hermit crabs so she never complained to the housing administration.
i ended up just moving off campus...the rent was cheaper anyway.

 

the reasoning for not allowing reptiles is merely an impulse decision on their part when someone's snake escaped and freaked out a few other people for the hour it was out before the owner caught it. they want to get rid of fish because one time last year someone was cleaning the pebbles to their fish tank in the sink and some got down the drain and clogged it and maintenance had to tear out the wall to get to the pipes to fix it. other pets are pretty common sense as to why they're not allowed, dogs, cats, rodents, birds, etc. noise and allergies and danger of them getting loose and causing damage, but really there is no such danger from reptiles. unless it is venomous of course, but those aren't exactly what you'd call common pets, lol. We're presently preparing a case to take before the judiciary board, and have started an Facebook group for our school for students who're behind us on this. we presently have 30 members (we just started it and started sending out invites last night) and already we have 315 groupies (who will be receiving invitations shortly).

-Nate

 

i would argue that reptiles are easy to keep, they dont make ne noise, they cause no allergic reactions and if the owner is responsible and has a secure lid they cant escape

 

in my case, i argued that reptiles live in a controlled, self contained environment. they dont have dander or anything else that would cause allergic reactions among other residents. and that they were very clean animals. i also said that if we were allowed reptiles that the tanks' lids would have to be secured with some sort of locking device to prevent escapes or other residents from accidently leaving the tank open.

 

Also, maybe you can compromise. Perhaps the administration can have a list of every person who owns reptiles and what reptiles they own. That way they can feel like they have more control over the situation. Definitely stress the fact that they don't smell, they're harmless, and that you keep breeds that don't get large. Good luck! I'm also living off-campus when I go to Cornell this Fall. I figured if reptiles inspired me to go to college for their professional care, then dangit I'm bringing them with me!

 

that is indeed one of our primary arguments here as well, FLBlue. but we feel that we can pull this off yet. my roommate and i are attempting to rally the entire school behind us, faculty, staff, student body, etc. our group we started last night, S.P.O.C. (Students for Pets On Campus), now has 54 members and over 600 groupies and is gaining a new member every 5 to 10 minutes. for the most part the school doesn't care. i'm learning more about what is going on here. the people in charge of housing (the ones spearheading this anti-pet crusade) are people who by one means or another aren't going to be in that department anymore. we also found out that the school caught wind of 2 students who had poisonous pets (a pit viper and 2 scorpions) and is part of why they're doing this now. we know the two people who had them, and when they did the fire drill/search today there was only one person that checked our house (even though we know that they know we have them, but we still hid them QUITE well, lol) while 5 checked out their house. so in terms of me and my roommate we're safe more or less, tey don't care. the problem is this rule is still too restrictive and unfair, for everyone on campus. so we're still rallying the school around our case, and will continue it even if we have to move off campus. sorry if i sound like i'm being preachy here and sounding like another single-interest group, but i truly believe this is a bad rule and should be changed to accomodate people that don't want fish but still want a pet. look in any medical journal on the subject, almost all of them will say that pets are a positive thing. while i had my lizards relocated until this initial wave blew over, i was so freaking depressed it wasn't even funny . i just felt so bad to be sittign at my computer and not be able to turn around and look and watch Baby playing around in her water dish or eating, or Indy in his perpetual mission to figure out just how the hell Scooter climbs the glass, lol. but now i can put them back and not worry for a whlie now until we're prepared to take our case before the judiciary board and the new staff running the housing office who'll take over this friday. wish us luck and keep the ideas and facts coming!

 

another good idea we're looking into, Hades. one of our main suggestions is a pet registry much as you said. hell, if there's even a fee added to it, 25 a year to have a pet that's not fish, i wouldn't bat an eye at paying. we're also aiming for restrictions, such as no pet that requires a larger than 30 gallon tank (the current size restriction). i know this puts me in the line of fire for my water dragon, Baby, but she's only a month old right now and next year i'm moving off campus without question so tank size is no problem w/my 29gal.

 

hide them when room inspection time comes, don't give security or dorm authorites an oppurtunity/reason to be in your room when they dont need to either. When I lived in a dorm last year I new people a few people that kept herps in their room, one girl even had a cat, others had hamsters and guinea pigs. All that was allowed was fish

 

lol, i did that too, and i'm not one to toot my own horn but i tell you what i'm patting myself on the back for being able to successfuly hide a 29 and a 10 gallon tank in a closet 4'x4'x8' w x d x h, lol. on very short notice. part of the advantage of living w/a member of security. we know at least 2 days in advance of evrey fire drill(search), lol. unfortunately it doesn't always help, and we're still going to fight about this issue. the amount of support we're getting both on and off campus is astounding and extremely encouraging. on campus we have people all the way up to faculty status backing us up, including the herpetology and entomology professors. in a couple weeks (we have lawyers too i might add) we should be fully prepared to take this to the school board.

 

damn, ya'll do it big in michigan, good luck!

 

btw, we're not up to 80 members in our group and continues to climb and it's only been one day

 

haha! we are indeed doing it big . we really didn't want to, we'd hoped just a simple committee could be formed to get what we needed done, but it's turning out it's gonna require a lot more than that to actually get this done. we're even going to have our own website before too long, lol. i misstated myself however on the lawyers part, i meant more that we have access to lawyers. the student who had the pit viper ended up more or less having to leave the school, not just move off campus, but leave altogether. he was fed up with the school in general and this was more or less the final straw. plus he didn't have anyone who could handle them (he's licensed to own them) or anyplace he could really move to off campus. however, he has offered to have his family's lawyers (i'd never have guessed up apparently he is rather well off :-S) assist us in this if it comes down to it. when the website's up and running you'll all be able to check up on how it's coming along. maybe we'll start a new precedent , and a chain reaction, lol, spreading to other schools. all i gotta say is, get connections, lol, they pay off!

 

I'm glad for you Scooter! It's good to see people fight for their reptiles instead of sitting back and let the rest of society look down on us just because we may not own cute, fuzzy animals (unless they are frozen or about to be eaten!) Definitely let us know about the website and keep us posted!

 

I really hope this gets somewhere. If I can't take Yavie to College with me this fall... I have no idea what I would do. No one in my house knows how to handle her let alone feed her and to all the daily/weekly care that she gets.

Let me know about that website when it becomes available.

 

schools

well i'm going to a herpotology school so i bet they will let pets be on campus.

John_

 

RE: schools

A herpotology school eh? I never found a school that even had it as a major. The closet I found was Delaware Valley College zoology with a concentration in herpetology. What school are you talking about?

 

Re: RE: campus pet policy trouble

does the college that you are planning to go to have a biology/zoology dept? i'd contact them to see if you could "loan" Yavie to them while you're in school. at least then he can be on campus with you and you can care for him. in case this doesnt get anywhere.
i can tell you many horror stories of my friends leaving their herps home while they went away to college...many of their pets died or ended up missing.