RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:07 pm

Well, this isn't exactly a pressing matter, seeing as I have four years until I even become a freshman in college, but I thought I'd ask so I can get a jump on planning.

Since, most of the time, you're required to live on-campus as a freshman, and many campuses don't allow pets... I'm wondering, has anyone successfully kept rats in a college dorm? I'll have to stay in a pet-free dorm due to allergies (and yet, I want to sneak in some rats... how ironic). Once I'm a sophomore, I can spring for an apartment that allows pets and keep my babies freely, but how can I live ratless for a whole year? xP

So has anyone had any experience with keeping rats in a very sneaky manner? Closet-cages? Under-the-bed habitats?

Or would you really not reccomend this? I'm just wondering, because if I get an overwhelming "NO!" with good reasoning attached, I'm smart enough to listen.

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Cera (Sarah) and The Girlies:
Grace and Lenore

Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:50 pm

Welllll, I've lived in places where pets are not allowed before. I was just careful to keep everything immaculate. The difference is though, if my landlord was ever visiting I had some notice, and I had time to hide everyone or send them to a friend's house for the day.

Most college dorms are subject to unnanounced searches and inspections, so I'm really not sure how you'd get away with it. All I can say is, try to keep your cage well hidden, and don't allow anything to get chewed up/peed on. Shrug

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:38 pm

I'm not sure on how you'd keep them in a dorm, but where I live we can only have 1 pet wink

The people who fix things or whatever come without warning and even when no one is home. I keep my door closed when I leave, but I have no clue if they have ever seen them. I am going to be getting a lock and key for my door for other reason's, but at least then I won't have to worry.

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33 rats
5 mice
4 hammies
4 Dogs
3 guinea pigs
3 rabbits
1 cat
R.I.P. Sebastian, Brently, & Bethoveen

Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:26 pm

I would encourage you not to take pets if you're not allowed them. It can be incredibly nervewracking for you if you're the anxious type about rule breaking. wink

Not only that, there may be consequences for you if you are caught with them, if they disturb anyone (in my experience, dorms have walls made out of tissue paper) or if the rat scent gets on anyone's nerves. Plus, there is the worry that you may be asked to rehome them - and finding someone to care for them properly in a hurry isn't always easy.

On the other hand, I know that lots of people keep pets they're not supposed to have (usually because of local laws, regulations etc) and are perfectly content doing so, and don't worry too much about the consequences.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sat Aug 27, 2005 1:17 am

Andy - Eee, never thought about that. >.< I'd be insane 24/7 worrying about them making noise or something. I'd also be worried that my room mate might be less than thrilled with their presence. Though it's still hard to believe that there are anti-rat people in this world.

I guess I can go one year rat-free, especially if it would be safer for them.

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Cera (Sarah) and The Girlies:
Grace and Lenore

Sat Aug 27, 2005 1:42 am

Aye - my soon to be ex neighbour is anti-all-animals, and so I've had to be careful not to advertise their presence (she's not adverse to threatening legal action over a dead plant on the windowsill or keeping your curtains closed too much, so goodness knows what she'd try if she took offense to my furbabies). There were times when (combined with my anxiety problems) I'd be going nuts worrying about rat smells and glack-glack-glack-thud-squeak-gnaw-gnaw-gnaw - even though they're kept spotlessly clean and my walls are solid reinforced concrete! LOL

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:12 am

My main concern about sneaking them would be that many schools will take your rats away from you if they find them and who knows what would happen to them. That would just break my heart to have my ratties that I loved snatched away and be subjected to who knows what. Sad

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Christy
RP Admin
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Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:51 pm

my baby sister considered keeping rats in her dorm for a while, we had it all planned out.... the type/size cage she would need to be able to hide it, everything..... but it was one of those pipe dreams we spent a lot of time talking about, but knowing would never happen. instead, she had to wait until next year when she can move out of the dorms. until then, i'm workin on knitting her a stuffed rattie to keep her company. i know some dorms with "no pet" policies are more lenient, it would just depend on your school, but i definately wouldn't do it unless you where 110% sure you wouldn't get into trouble and your babies would be safe....

kudos to you for advanced planning, but four years is still a looooooooooong time and lots can change between now and then. i'd worry about that hurdle when you actually get there!

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i miss you dove, oz, briar and fern. liam, my love, i 'll never forget you.

Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:40 pm

I'd say these are your biggest problems (I know from experience, but let's not discuss how...): 1) fire drills- no one thinks of them, but they're LOUD, they're OFTEN and the Resident Advisors' INSPECT your room while it's going off, 2) holidays- you will most likely be forced to vacate for holidays, and if you fly home, there won't be many airlines that will let you take your rats; and in addition, you won't like having to sneak them back out again another time, 3) vet care- it's rather a pain to have to load up your babies in a "non-conspicuous" box and take them to the vet, past the front desk that will likely have someone on it at all times, watching you enter and leave the building.

There are more, but those are the main ones. Sooooo not worth it. Wait your year, and remember that absence makes the heart grow fonder

.

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Sun Sep 04, 2005 6:28 am

Although your room would be subject to unannounced inspections, many schools do have a privacy policy - they wont look in your drawers or closet.

Schools don't usually take your pets away from you. They like you to think that so you wont bring them in. When housing finds out that you do have pets, they will either speak to you directly or send you a letter. Many times this task is left up to your RA. They tell you that you need to find a new home for your animals, or your housing contract will be canceled. They will inspect your room again (unannounced, of course) to see if you've complied.

Honestly, you can just hide your pets in your closet or ask a friend in the dorm to look after your pets for a few days. Once housing checks, you can move them back in.

The thing to me most concerned with is your potential roomie. A lot of people don't want to live with pets in a dorm room. A friend of mine had a friend who kept two rats hidden in the dorm. The roomie hated them because they were nocturnal. The roomie, however, was considerate and did not report the rat owner. Instead, the rat owner found a new room to move to...but she never told her new roomie she had rats. The second room mate was not so considerate and told the RA. Eventually, the rats had to find a nearby foster home for the year.

I hid my hamster in my dorm last year (I've since graduated). I had a single room, so there weren't any problems with room mates. When housing came for routine inspections, I just stashed his cage in my closet (it was a Crittertrail One). The biggest problems I had were my neighbors/friends. They loved him so much that they couldn't stop talking about him in the halls! They kept visiting me to play with my hamham that my RA kept wondering what was going on. In the end, when I was moving home, she met him and was disappointed that she didn't get to play with him, lol.

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Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:12 pm

I am so pro rats in the dorm room. I have them with me right now! They are the best school therapy I could ask for when I am bored or stressed out.
Poor Honda has mites right now, but thats for another post.

Yes I would say the hardest part is the roomie, mine happens to love them to death so much that she set up a second cage with 2 of her own! We have the option of lofting our beds here at Adelphi University so I keep mine under my bed and behind the dresser.
I always make sure they have enough lighting, air flow, and a comfortable climate down there. Most of the time when I am in my room they run around my desk and bed. And like the person above, the RA is not allowed to look in closets, drawes, or touch anything you own when inspecting the rooms.

The smell- well Dana and I happen to keep our cages very clean, and I am sure that if they do smell a little anyone would contribute that smell to the fact that we live in the dorms.
The noise- we leave light music on or the TV when we leave the room, my ratties are big country western fans (I hope)

As with the RA. I know she knows we have them, her best friend comes in to play with them all the time.

It sounds like a hassle but I think it is worth it, honestly.
One word of caution. Do not bring your rats to school if you don't have a vet near by. Unfortunatly we have to drive 45 mins to get to our regular vet (we do have emergency care near by)

Thu Sep 08, 2005 7:32 am

My original intent in getting rats was to start out keeping them in my dorm room! I planned ahead and got a single room, had a closet to put them in if I had a lot of warning for visitors, or a blanket to throw over the cage if it had to be quicker, I tied up the bag of their cage cleanings tightly and made sure even someone who went trash-picking wouldn't see anything, I covered the cage with a blanket to get it to/from my car when I was going home/coming back, and was generally careful all year... And on the last week, I realized that both the other people in my single-room hallway had been keeping pets too, a rabbit and a hamster (I think). But we were all pretty smart about keeping it quiet, and I didn't notice the rabbit until that last week, though I occasionally saw boxes that had held hamster toys/cage parts. The RAs didn't notice or didn't care until a day before we went home. One of them came knocking on my door, saying that someone had told him I had rats in my room. Luckily, I had brought them home the weekend before that to save space in my car and extra hassle with moving out, graduation, etc., so I could truthfully say that I had no rats, or animals of any kind, in my room. It turned out that he just thought they were wild pests though, and wanted to make sure I wasn't having any problams!
...So in general, if you're discreet and no one cares, you'll be fine. Though of course, every place is different!

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Rats: Roku, Goblin, Ammit
Cats: Gemini, Chimera, Isis
Fish: Lots of them

R.I.P. Horus

Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:47 pm

I had rats in rented university accommodation and when it came to inspections I put the ratlets and their cage at the time in my car and parked it on the other side of the road. The guy doing inspection commented to us on how the people opposite must think their landlord was stupid - hiding their rats in their car. Was so awkward! but we got away with it

I always thought the company from keeping rats was very much worth the occassional sneaking around.

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my rats: Bunny and Rex
missing: Ralph, Trevor, Mouse and Tariq
my cats: Meg, Minky and Molly

Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:35 am

Well, the college I went to did not allow anything in the dorm room but fish - an nothing bigger than a 10gal tank. At the time, I had hamsters and gerbils - and they lived at Dad's house. I was lucky that he lived only 45mins away from campus, so I went to visit everyone frequently.

They didn't have the "all freshmen must live in a dorm" rule - but I did live in a dorm for almost a semester. My roommate drove me nuts, and I missed my animals...so I decided to move back to Dad's house. I drove to and from school everyday just to be out of that dorm and back to "normal".

When you start looking into schools, see if they have that rule. If not, get a friend going to the same school to share an apartment! Most apartments allow "small animals in cages" which technically rats are. You may have to come up with a pet deposit (usually $200, sometimes more) but it is worth it! Plus, most apartments have in their contract that they must give 24hrs notice before entering your home - and if they break that, they can get in trouble for it.

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Shanna
~ Serendipity Rodentry ~

Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:17 pm

I think on the whole that you should wait the 1 year. My main fear would be that you would be told to rehome the lil ratties and that would be heartbreaking, esp if it was at the beginning of the year (if were at the end, you could just temp rehome them).

My vote is to wait, even though the people here make it sound easy (and tempting) to sneak in rats...the choice, however, is obviously yours in the end

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Tails and her RAM byting Rats
Linux & Apple Mac
Angel rat

Maxie & Pepper

Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:02 pm

I think that while I'll probably be waiting a year until I can move off campus, it will mostly depend on the situation I'm in. I wouldn't want to put any rattie's physical or psychological health in danger.

I still have four years, lol.

Thank you everyone, for you imput. It helped a lot!

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Cera (Sarah) and The Girlies:
Grace and Lenore

Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:52 am

some places require you to have a pet in your dorm...thats what a friend told me from bellray? in colorado, she is headed there next year I told her to take some rats with...her reply well I will be rooming with a female and most of them dont like mice and rats...my comment if they are going to bellray then they should like them, its an animal school. her yeah I didnt think about that...but what if she has a cat..that I said might be a free range problem...Shaz

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Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:20 am

If you have to be in a no pets dorm due to allergies, might there be other people there who might be allergic to rats or the bedding? In fairness to others, that might be something to consider.

Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:29 am

hehe, wade, I love your avatar!!

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Tails and her RAM byting Rats
Linux & Apple Mac
Angel rat

Maxie & Pepper

Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:49 pm

What about exterminators? Don't colleges have them come in? Confused

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Dogs: Gabby & Polly Cats: Leo & A stray Snakes:Verdi & Tanyo Leo Geckos: Mr. Snickers & Jade Turtle: Mirtle H. Crab: Mr. Biggs 1Lg. & 1sm. tank: 7 fish Ratties: Ace (M), Snowball (m), Esperanza ( F), ? (F)

Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:53 am

Not sure if its already been mentioned, but some colleges have "pet wings" that allow pets. Some allow dogs under 40lbs, some allow pets except dogs, some allow just small caged pets. I think there's only a few in the US, though.

One thing I wasn't aware of though, is that some colleges will let you have pets if you sign a waiver and everyone in the dorms agrees to let you keep them. I went to visit a college just today and the student giving me the tour said that the college had this waiver option and that students had kept rats there before. I was quite happy, since its one of the colleges I'm most looking into and I'd really like to bring my guys if there still around in a year and half or so, which I hope they are.

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~ Matisse ~ Basil ~

R.I.P: Lucky & Ms. Frisby

Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:20 am

I can't say this is typical, but pretty much every Resident Advisor in my dorm knows about my babies, and luckily for me, I get along with them all, so none of them say anything. We are only supposed to have fish, but I have personally known of several girls who have had rodents. It is my senior year of college, so I think there is more faith in upperclassmen to be responsible with their pets. I am very careful with them, and luckily for me, they are not at all smelly.

Furthermore, I was blessed with the world's most incredible roommate, so that wasn't an issue, either.

The thing is, until you are secure with your floormates and the administration of the dorm (I have known nearly every person on my floor for a year or more, most of them since my freshman year), I wouldn't risk it. If you're within traveling distance from home once you move in, go back on weekends to visit, but until you have that scene scoped out, I wouldn't press your luck. The consequences can be pretty rough, especially considering the stigma people have against rats. I'm lucky there aren't any uber girly girls on my floor. wink

Good luck, hon! Make your decisions wisely, and think what is best for you rats!

Thu Nov 03, 2005 6:46 am

This is my problem...I can't bring my rattie to school because my school sucks Sad

And even though I'm within travelling distance of home, my parents won't let me come home on weekends even though they know how much I miss my girl. My parents are evil. They tell me to get good grades so I can go home. I've gotten nothing but A's and I still can't come home. wtf

Arrrgh. Too "dependent" on them...yeah right. Dependent on the rat maybe, but not them Yuck

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~Mikaela and the RitterRatten~

Blaze~Shadow~Luna~Chinchilla~Malt~Merry~Pippin~Nim~Tiri~Cinder

Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:56 pm

I had lived in a dorm for a year without pets and decided that I just couldnt go through another year so last summer I got myself a hamster, moose. For the most part he wasnt too smelly and I had to oil his wheel with olive oil to keep it from squeeking. There were room checks once a week and it was always posted but the time the RAs came around was never for certain. Moose was always kept in the closet with the curtain open except on that particular day and in just about every college (but not all) RAs arent allowed to open your closet to search it. So after about a month or so of panic of moose being found, I started to calm down. By the second semester, I still felt a gaping hole. Moose was and still is absolutely adorable, but I needed more companionship. Something that wanted to play with me. I knew my boyfriend and I were getting our own place over the summer (where we live now) so I started looking up some new pet possibilities. Something that could potentially be allowed in an apartment and thats small and can be caged...on febuary 20th (our 1 year aniversary) We went out and ended up in the mall. I, of course, had to go into the pet shop and within 5 minutes Im in tears over the absolute cuteness on a tiny lopsided bunny. One ear up one ear down. He came back to the dorm with us that night and I set up a space for him right next to Moose in the closet. Being so small he didnt need a very large cage yet but I let him out every day to run around the room. I cleaned his box every other day until he was litter trained which took about 2 and a half weeks and then I changed his box every day since rabbits stink otherwise. He was one of my favorite pets. He was so cuddly and LOVED to play. (long story short, my boyfriend became increasingly allergic once the bunny hit maturity and now he's living with a very good friend and being spoiled rotten!)

So the moral of the stoy...it is very possible to hide pets in the dorm, but you have to be VERY responsible and keep everything clean. My rat boys are VERY stinky and I clean them twice a week. Being in a dorm, I'd say to clean them even 3 times a week because you dont want anyone finding out and making you get rid of your little babies. Thats a risk I took and that you have to decide if you want to take. I knew what I had to do to keep them safe and hidden and I followed it very closely and I did just fine. You also probably have to get a single room (as I did) since most people, especially girls, dont understand just how sweet rats are and will can potentially put them in danger by complaining to too many people.