College?

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Aug 2, 2010
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255
So will I have to sell all my tarantulas when i go off to college. That would really be a drag for me. What are the rules for most colleges. Specifically university of Michigan.
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
353
Heres my advice:

Take you're tarantulas and don't tell anyone. They don't make noise, they don't stink and you can have them in small enclosures.

Live life on the edge and break the rules hahaha.
 

KoriTamashii

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Nov 21, 2009
Messages
419
Heres my advice:

Take you're tarantulas and don't tell anyone. They don't make noise, they don't stink and you can have them in small enclosures.

Live life on the edge and break the rules hahaha.
Agreeing with this. When many places put rules for small pets into play, I don't think they figured tarantulas would be on that list.
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Dec 14, 2009
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353
I forgot to mention, don't have any escapes haha, the last thing you want is your roommate waking up to a T.blondi on his/her face. You can consider your cover basically blown hahaha.
 

Rabid538

Arachnoknight
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Dec 28, 2009
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I think it would be fine if you brought them with you, you just have to make sure your roommate is okay with it. My friend wasn't able to keep them with him since his roommate was petrified of spiders. He switched dorms though the next semester and his new roommate doesn't mind. Also, he has no problems hiding the tarantulas in his dorm.
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
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I think it would be fine if you brought them with you, you just have to make sure your roommate is okay with it. My friend wasn't able to keep them with him since his roommate was petrified of spiders. He switched dorms though the next semester and his new roommate doesn't mind. Also, he has no problems hiding the tarantulas in his dorm.
Don't do what this guy just told you.

Mistake #1:

Telling your roommate. You just met this person, and he/she could tell someone else who might possibly rat you out to be a prick, or possibly rat you out themself. Keep the fact that you have pets to yourself and yourself only. The more people that know, the better chance you have of getting in trouble.

Remember kids, first rule in breaking the law err I mean rules.. is: DONT TELL ANYBODY
 

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
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Aug 2, 2010
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255
I forgot to mention, don't have any escapes haha, the last thing you want is your roommate waking up to a T.blondi on his/her face. You can consider your cover basically blown hahaha.
well then I may need to get rid of the obt. I have had very few get out of their cage for more than a few seconds and 0 escapes. The obt has caused me twenty minutes of trying to get it to move from behind my shelf. Then when I finally did it climbed the wall and nearly ran into a vent.
 

Rabid538

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Dec 28, 2009
Messages
197
Don't do what this guy just told you.

Mistake #1:

Telling your roommate. You just met this person, and he/she could tell someone else who might possibly rat you out to be a prick, or possibly rat you out themself. Keep the fact that you have pets to yourself and yourself only. The more people that know, the better chance you have of getting in trouble.

Remember kids, first rule in breaking the law err I mean rules.. is: DONT TELL ANYBODY
They are your roommate, how would they not find out at some point? I would think the crickets you keep buying would be a hint to the person.
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
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Dec 14, 2009
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well then I may need to get rid of the obt. I have had very few get out of their cage for more than a few seconds and 0 escapes. The obt has caused me twenty minutes of trying to get it to move from behind my shelf. Then when I finally did it climbed the wall and nearly ran into a vent.
Yeah, so you can either sell your OBT, or take extra precautions from now on. The bag method works good for that kind of thing when transferring.

---------- Post added at 12:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 AM ----------

They are your roommate, how would they not find out at some point? I would think the crickets you keep buying would be a hint to the person.

Nobody needs to know that hes buying crickets.. and its pretty easy to hide things when you need to. Can I make a guess and say you haven't broken any laws err.. I mean rules before? lol
 

Jacobchinarian

Arachnoknight
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Well I'm only 13 so iv got plenty of time to get smarter about my obt. Plus when it did get out it was in a tuperware container and now it's in a critter keeper. I just didnt want to worry about selling them for the next 5 years.
 

Rabid538

Arachnoknight
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Dec 28, 2009
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Nobody needs to know that hes buying crickets.. and its pretty easy to hide things when you need to. Can I make a guess and say you haven't broken any laws err.. I mean rules before? lol
It's not that big of a deal to ask your roommate if he is okay with you keeping Ts in the dorm or not.
 

Transylvania

Gondorian
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Dec 26, 2006
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Go for it, just be discrete. I'm a sophomore in college right now and I've kept two Ts in my dorm for the past year with no problems. Now granted, I didn't have a roommate last year, but I made sure to room with a friend this year who doesn't mind spiders and will willingly help me handle them when needed. Just don't tell anybody other than close friends whom you can trust, and don't post pictures or statuses about them on Facebook, and you should be okay. ;) Fortunately, my Ts are a lot easier to hide during dorm room inspections than my two lizards. :} (Hey, everyone is a rebel in their own way lol.)
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
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It's not that big of a deal to ask your roommate if he is okay with you keeping Ts in the dorm or not.
Ok, so what if you're roommate says "OMG NO!!! I have severe arachnophobia!!". What then? Of course you do it anyway and don't tell him/her.. but wouldn't of it been better to keep it to yourself in the beginning?
 

Rabid538

Arachnoknight
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Ok, so what if you're roommate says "OMG NO!!! I have severe arachnophobia!!". What then? Of course you do it anyway and don't tell him/her.. but wouldn't of it been better to keep it to yourself in the beginning?
But what if they are cool with it. Why go through the trouble of hiding it? For me personally, I'd just ask. Either way works I guess.
 

shanebp

Arachnobaron
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But what if they are cool with it. Why go through the trouble of hiding it? For me personally, I'd just ask. Either way works I guess.
Thats taking an unnecessary risk, and besides, you have to hide it either way.
 

PrimalTaunt

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
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467
Short answer: Don't.

Now here's the reasons. Most colleges have very strict pet rules. Basically you may be allowed to keep a fish and that's it unless you have a guide dog. If you are found in violation of this it can result in serious consequences including immediate expulsion from the dorms so unless you have immediate family in the vicinity or some really nice friends who wouldn't mind another roommate being sprung on them for the foreseeable future you would be SOL. Granted, that's an extreme case but when you combine people's phobias and general misunderstanding of tarantulas it's not out of the realm of possibilities.

It also doesn't matter if you don't tell anybody that you don't have it. If a fire alarm goes off (trust me - it will happen because some people don't know how to microwave popcorn or some other idiot reason) every room must be searched to make sure that everybody got out and they'll find it. You also have to remember that people are vindictive creatures. You'll get a significant other, you'll tell them about it, break up, and (you guessed it) bye bye tarantulas.
 

Transylvania

Gondorian
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Dec 26, 2006
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593
Short answer: Don't.

Now here's the reasons. Most colleges have very strict pet rules. Basically you may be allowed to keep a fish and that's it unless you have a guide dog. If you are found in violation of this it can result in serious consequences including immediate expulsion from the dorms so unless you have immediate family in the vicinity or some really nice friends who wouldn't mind another roommate being sprung on them for the foreseeable future you would be SOL. Granted, that's an extreme case but when you combine people's phobias and general misunderstanding of tarantulas it's not out of the realm of possibilities.

It also doesn't matter if you don't tell anybody that you don't have it. If a fire alarm goes off (trust me - it will happen because some people don't know how to microwave popcorn or some other idiot reason) every room must be searched to make sure that everybody got out and they'll find it. You also have to remember that people are vindictive creatures. You'll get a significant other, you'll tell them about it, break up, and (you guessed it) bye bye tarantulas.
That seems just a bit paranoid. Last year my RA found out about my bearded dragon (because I was being stupid and careless and had a picture of him on my Facebook, and she randomly friended me and saw the picture), but I wasn't punished in the way that you described. All that she did was tell me to send him back home, and that's all. And she was one of the most extreme RAs too - most of the RAs at my college are incredibly lenient and won't peek in the rooms or Facebook-creep, because they simply don't want to have to deal with little things like that. I know someone who kept their gecko in a 10-gallon tank out in the open right next to their door, and their RA visited one day and looked right at the tank and didn't say anything. People break the rules all the time, whether it be non-aquatic pets, candles, prohibited appliances like toasters, etc. I think the RAs care more about monitoring irresponsible partying and underage drinking and whatnot, because those are more of a threat to our health and well-being.

Of course, I can't speak for the rules of other colleges. I go to a small private liberal arts school, and it can be very hard to keep secrets - people LOOOOVE to spread gossip, so my main problem is making sure that my friends don't talk about my animals to other people. I haven't made any enemies so far that would go so far as to tattle to my RA about my animals just to get back at me. That would be a really lame move on their part, because I could seriously get about 50 people to kick their butt and make their life miserable for me, in defense of my bearded dragon (he is loved and cherished by so many lol). {D

And when a fire alarm goes off, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't search the rooms so thoroughly that they would discover your private stash of Ts - they'd probably just peek their heads in to see if anyone was in there, if the intention is just to see if everyone got out. It's room-checks during fall, winter, and spring breaks that they actually thoroughly look through the room, but you can easily bring your Ts home with you since you'd be leaving the dorm anyway.

Oh, and if you get caught for having T slings, just come up with the excuse that they're true spiders that you found in a corner in the dorm - they were already in the room, so they can't blame you for having them in there - you just... stuck 'em in a box... for a biology project! :D
 
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Amelia

Arachnoknight
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Oct 3, 2007
Messages
198
I had my cockroaches in my dorm under my bed for a semester and a half in the Not-transparent storage boxes. I learned my roommate's schedule, learned our suitemates' schedules, and only thought about them when it fit that schedule. My roommate was majorly against any creepy crawly(saw a silverfish on the wall next to her bed and went through every inch of her covers with socks on her hands to make sure it wasn't in her bed). The director of the dorm was so bad she panicked and had to have maintenance save her from a dead roach(not mine) in the middle of her room... Nobody knew about my colonies. I had them carelessly shoved under my bed with books and clothes blocking them... You know. Who cares about the storage boxes out of the way and forgotten. The other option was on the very hard to get to top shelf of my closet area. I was asked several times if I had brought them with me and the answer was always an emphatic and convincing NO.

Slings would be easy to hide. I've been thinking about rigging cereal boxes for the slings... Keep them on the shelves. The half empty bag of cereal on top...

EVERYONE knew about the Jumping Spider female that I rescued from the Admissions office though. I managed to keep her slings secret from my roommate with her on my desk until the babies started to leave the sac. Hehehe, I will never forget the "Uh... Ameeeliaaa.... I think your spider had babies...."
 
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