Colleges/universities that allow snakes

I think a list of colleges and universities (in the US) that allow snakes in dorms would be very helpful to many people including me. I am starting to look at colleges but I need to know whether or not they allow snakes (and of what size). So if anyone goes to a perticular college/university that does or doesn't allow snakes could you please post the name. Hopefully we can compile a good list.

I think you're going to find that if you're planning to live on campus, most colleges/universities don't allow snakes. I know with my campus, and with the campuses of my friends (attending different schools) that they allow up to a 10-gallon tank of -fish only-. No small animals, reptiles, amphibians, hermit crabs...you name it.

I'm currently living on campus, and I've managed to keep my BP hidden. I go to UMass. I am, however, in an upper-classman apartment, so I have my own bedroom/bathroom (it's easy to keep a BP hidden in a closet when no one but myself comes into my bedroom). When you have to deal with roommates, and the rules saying "no pets unless it's a fish!", freshman/sophomore housing isn't ideal.

If you want to safetly keep ALL your snakes (from your sig, it looks like you have 3), I would suggest attending the college or university of your choice and looking for off-campus housing. It can be just as cost-effective to live off-campus, even if it lacks the convenience of being able to have a 10-minute walk to class.

Hope that helps!

Sounds about right.

Dorms are notorious for being nit picky about animals, considering that they are all in close quarters, and people are afraid and what not.

Best solution is to live off campus.

I go to Valparaiso University. We are only allowed to have fish in our dorms. You know what the even worse part is though? We have to be a senior academically to live off campus. That means until I have 88 credits no apartment for me. I have just been very good about hiding my snakes. Not many people know I have them. Luckily I will have exactly 88 credits after next semester so I will get off campus for my third year. Only one more semester in the dorms with these guys.

Ya the problem like you said is alot of colleges you have to live on campus at least when you a freshman. Also I am only looking to bring my RTB who will be probably 8 ft by (so a 6ft cage). My dad is going to take care of my Ball Pythons. Unfortunately it seems I am going to have to sell her.:tears:

I would recommend not taking the risk of even hiding a herp in your dorm. If you get caught by housing, they will make you get rid of it immediately. This usually isn't a good situation for said herp at all, and not cool for you.

Selling to a good home would be the best over-all solution. I know it sucks, but many of us go through it. I lived in the dorms for three years, and definitely waited until I had my own place before I got ANY animals. It was worth it in the end.

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

I would recommend not taking the risk of even hiding a herp in your dorm. If you get caught by housing, they will make you get rid of it immediately. This usually isn't a good situation for said herp at all, and not cool for you.

Selling to a good home would be the best over-all solution. I know it sucks, but many of us go through it. I lived in the dorms for three years, and definitely waited until I had my own place before I got ANY animals. It was worth it in the end.

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Ya I deffinately wouldnt hide my herps. PLus I couldnt even imagine how I would hide a 6ft cage in a dorm.

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Originally Posted by slither9192

Ya I deffinately wouldnt hide my herps. PLus I couldnt even imagine how I would hide a 6ft cage in a dorm.

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A lot of Resident Advisors will say it's cool with them, as long as you keep it hidden. But if one of the Director's comes around---and ours did a couple times---and catches you, you're toast (and you'd better believe the RA will cover their own butts).

Sucks.

I go to NC State and they only allow fish in the dorms. My room-mate and I moved off campus after our Freshman year because we couldn't handle the no pets rules. Off campus housing is definately comparable in price to dorm living; however, I would really suggest living on campus at least a year just to have the experience.

The idea behind the fish only in dorms is that if they get out, they're not going much further than the floor in front of the tank. Our school allows "anything aquatic" but nothing exotic.

I had my BP in my apartment for most of this semester, but I moved him home for a few reasons. My biggest finding is that it is incredibly hard to monitor the temperature here, my room fluctuates far too much to be healthy. I will probably attempt to bring him back up next semester, but it will be under certain conditions.

At my university (Manchester, UK) I got special permission to keep my snake. It is only a ball/royal python so its vivarium is only 4 feet. I think I might have had a problem if I had anything bigger. There's nowhere for it to escape to as my room was pretty much a concrete cell with painted walls.

I lived in campus housing at University of Kentucky last year. Like most schools, it only allowed fish. I don't know how I made it through the year, living in such a tiny "prison" cell without even a pet to distract me. :P

I now live in an apartment on the edge of campus (about a 10 minute walk to/from central campus) and I have my ball python and my hairless rats here with me. I like it a lot more (the dorm "experience" wasn't so great for me. I just... can't live in such a small, confined space. Oh, and I couldn't have a car so that compounded the problem as well) and it's just as affordable as living in a campus residence. I'm actually saving money because I wasn't forced to purchase a $1200 food plan of which I only used half! Which was the case last year.

With that in mind... not all apartments allow pets. Some will allow anything (some with a fee) and others are stricter than dorms. If you look for off-campus housing, make sure to check with the landlord about their policy. My complex strictly prohibits dogs and cats but anything in a cage is fine. :)

I got to Colorado State University, and, like every other university, it does not allow herps. However, if you were to financially be able to pay for a single (no roommate) it would be hard for them to find a small snake. fortunately, I got into snakes after moving off-campus.

When my wife was at school at the university of Minnesota in Morris she had a pet hamster hidden in her closet. One day the school was doing routine maintenance of putting grud eating powder down the drains to keep them clear, for some reason the guy was going threw her and her roommates closets too (kinda scary when you think bout it) but ended up finding her hamster's cage hidden under her clothes and fed it something to along the lines of rat poison. Then had the balls to leave a note saying, "Only small fish bowls are allowed on campus your hamster was against the rules, but not to worry I took care of the problem"

There are some real sick people in this world and no matter how much I disagree and was pissed off about what that guy did no matter what we did couldn’t bring her hamster back.

Just something to think about b4 sneaking a very loved pet onto campus

This thread is a good one I think to help our younger members start to really think and plan ahead for a college experience if you happen to keep snakes. Since these are long living creatures what is your plan? Trying to hide a living creature in a dorm room just isn't a good idea as many of the posts here have mentioned.

If you're a teenager contemplating a snake purchase I think this is a very valuable thread to get you thinking about the future for your snake. Will your parents care for it while you are away at school? Can you board the snake with another keeper during the school year? Is it fair to the snake to buy it now but then have to rehome it permanently in a few short years?

Im one of those fellows that kept their snake hidden in the dorm freshman year... Not the best plan in the world but my BP was just a baby so the 10 gallon tank was easy to hide. This year i live off campus in an apartment so I bought a second snake.

Im not sure wether apartments alow reptiles or not, however, snakes don't bark so they should not draw attention to themselves.

Good luck with your situation.

my brothers gonna take care of my snakes during my feshmen year, and then im gonna rent an apartment and bring them both up, but i do know of two colleges that allow you have snakes. shimer college in chicago and SUNY in canton, upstate new york has a dorm for pet owners

This is where I'm lucky- going to a comunity collage for two years, THEN a university with my boyfriend, off campus :) No worries of people trying to get me to get rid of my pets... Though the dog and bearded dragon will probably stay with my parents- sense living in an apartment AND going to MSU, I dont think Ill be able to afford those two, and my mom loves em so again, it works :)

This is a great thread. I've been wondering about all this. I have 2 snakes so far, and am definitely getting another. They're just corns and a king, but they will get to be pretty big. I can't imagine living anywhere without pets. :tears: My dad will probably have to take care of them for me.

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Originally Posted by mischevious21

This is where I'm lucky- going to a comunity collage for two years, THEN a university with my boyfriend, off campus :) No worries of people trying to get me to get rid of my pets... Though the dog and bearded dragon will probably stay with my parents- sense living in an apartment AND going to MSU, I dont think Ill be able to afford those two, and my mom loves em so again, it works :)

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stay at the comunity college you will get a better education than at msu

go blue!!!

LOL

Yup...I went to the University of Illinois and they had a fish only rule...and what college student can afford cool fish!? I had a really cool RA on my hall and he didn't care at all...so I kept tarantulas and scorpions; and when the big guns came around he gave me a heads up and I stashed them or moved them somewhere safe (there were some really easy hiding spots).

And it wasn't just my RA...at one point a 5 foot retic. got loose in the dorm somewhere and vanished, everyone was searching for months! Sad for the snake, but goes to show just why they don't want pets around drunk college kids (my cages had actual locks on them just to kill the 2am "lets play with the spider" ideas)

I've got my BP in my dorm room. I didn't get into snakes until after I started college, and I've been on campus the whole time. Like many people have said, it's really not the best idea, but since I couldn't get off campus this year, I can't quite help it. I keep the tank hidden in my closet, and not many people know about her. The up side of the dorms here (Oklahoma State U) is that they don't check your room with out you knowing about it....They post when they are going to do any maitnence over the breaks, so I just take her with me on the longer breaks (like this past Christmas break). I also have someone who would take care of her if I was to get caught and forced to get her out of my room. But they really aren't very strict on the rules here....the vet I go to graduated from here, and claims he always had several lizzards or snakes in his dorms :P

It is also usually cheaper to live off campus if you can. My lack of "real" money was my issue this year (I have scholarships and what not that go right to the school) but as soon as I can, I'm getting off campus.

you could go to a college near to your home and keep your herps there. lol. but that was probably not the answer you were looking for.:rofl:

I think there's an issue here that hasn't been addressed yet:



What do you do when you finally move off-campus and your LANDLORD doesn't allow pets? I found a great off-campus apartment and am living with my two snakes in my closet of a room. Unfortunately, my lease technically prohibits any pets - I did check with my landlord first about my snakes and he said it shouldn't really be an issue, since my snakes don't make noise, don't smell, and don't bother anyone else in the house.

However, I was not able to bring my beloved adult bearded dragon because of his absolute voracious appetite for big, ugly insects. Not wanting to get on bad terms with my new landlord I opted to find my beardie a new home.

How do you find a landlord that, on top of everything else, allows herps? Any thoughts on that?

:weirdface

I am currently a sophomore in College. During my Freshman year I lived on campus, and consequently was restricted by the University's no pet policy. I think most colleges and universities prohibit anything but fish in their dorm rooms due to the obvious concerns involving noise/mess/property damage/ potential escapes. This year, however, we moved into an off campus apartment that is tolerant of all 'caged' pets (no cats, dogs, or rabbits but anything else goes). As for finding an apartment that allows animals, your best bet is to go for housing that isn't specifically geared towards students. If having pets is something you desire, then you need to make finding a pet friendly landlord a high priority. For next year, my roommates and I are moving to another complex. During the search for a new apartment, we went through a LOT of trouble finding a place that would allow our pets. In our apartment we now have 10 snakes, a bearded dragon, a pac man frog, and 2 ferrets, so finding an apartment that not only tolerated but allowed pets was a must. We eliminated MANY, MANY apartment complexes that were otherwise suitable for our needs but that would not allow pets. There are pet friendly apartments out there, but most of them charge some pet related fee. For example, the town homes we are moving to next year allow all pets, but charge a pet fee of $250 dollars nonrefundable up front. Pet Friendly apartments are out there, it just takes a lot of searching and sometimes a little more money to find them.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences! I'm heading to college next year and this thread has been very helpful.

I go to UConn and live an hour away from here (I have an on campus dorm and a roommate who is terrified of snakes so no hiding them in a closet!). I go home every weekend to take of my animals, so yes I miss out A LOT of my college experience by having pets at home, but I don't regret it at all. To me it cancels out, I love my snakes/beardie and wouldn't give them up for anything.

UConn is considering having an 'animal friendly' dorm for next year. But its still shaddy on what​ animals those will include.

I went to Mount St. Mary's University and we had to take everything home with us when we left, so we couldn't even keep the tank or remnants there for our fish.

One of my ex-roommates had a hamster and got kicked off campus for it... thank god.

I think a list of apartments that allow snakes would be more useful, not just to those attending college/universities, but to those just trying to find a place to live. The least we can do is point out apartments near campuses.

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Originally Posted by slither9192

I think a list of colleges and universities (in the US) that allow snakes in dorms would be very helpful to many people including me. I am starting to look at colleges but I need to know whether or not they allow snakes (and of what size). So if anyone goes to a perticular college/university that does or doesn't allow snakes could you please post the name. Hopefully we can compile a good list.

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This may not make me many friends on this thread....but I feel it needs to be said....(in my opinion and personal experiences) pets should NEVER be the sole reason for not attending the college of your dreams...especially for undergrad.
The 3-5 years that undergrad represents are some of the most formative of your entire life and letting pets hold you back is only doing yourself a disservice. I am pretty sure the vast majority of colleges have a no pets policy for dorm residents...I know Shenandoah University, U of Colorado @ Boulder and The George Washington University all have 0 tolerance policies for pets in the dorm...With the RARE exception maybe for legally certified and paper worked service animals.

and running the risk of potentially getting kicked out of the dorms for a pet just isn't worth it...especially the kind of stress that would add to what can be a stressful first year...

All University of California campuses do not allow pets other than fish in a 10 gallon tank.
My campus (UC Davis) only allows first years in the dorms before you're kicked out to find off campus housing anyway so it's not that big of a deal to wait one year before getting pets.