College and Chams?

[kenya]

@ Kenya - I dont think a free range would be safe. I know it depends on the person, but there were always people coming in and out of my dorm room and our doors were left open. I would suggest setting the cage up in the closet. Because lights/etc will look weird being pointed at a random tree.

If you are going to have tons of people in and out, that would stress a cham out anyway. Are you sure you have a stable enough environment for one without stressful visuals?

Also, a free range, if properly done, would be great. You just have to create natural barriers and give the cham lots of incentive to stay in the range. A cage is much more obvious than a big plant with some lights over it. Personally, I think people would just assume that they are grow lights. You could even set them up so that they are inconspicuous and not totally even noticeable- if you have those huge behemoth beds that you can raise, you could easily set up a free range under it in the least visible corner from the door. Make the lights look like study lights or mood lighting that looks nice peeping out from near the plants.

EDIT: Sorry Rocky, I thought you were the OP saying that! I see your point, but there are ways to work around it.

 

[holmesese]

During my time in the dorm (that had a strick no pet policy) I kept and successfully bred many animals including .... giant day geckos, azureus, auratus, spearpoint leaftail geckos, crested geckos, columbian tegus, red-tail boa, honduran milksnakes, MANY salamanders, and a huge colony of roaches. We had weekly room checks as well.

My advice is get to know RAs, Dorm advisors, and science profs as best as you can. Also, you must BE CLEAN and get good grades. Hiding doesn't work well.... you may be able to keep them hidden for a little while (maybe even a a year) but you will get caught at some point - by firedrill, random room check, or maintinence repairs. I was friends with the RAs and eventually became one, so that when someone did find something they weren't too inclined to punish me or make me get rid of them. Eventually I made a good impression on my professors and they allowed me to keep most of my collection in the herpetology lab on campus. In the end, I donated a few animals from my collectoin to the prof. But beware, even department students who know better will try and handle or play with your animals when you are not there.

Oh yeah, don't brag or show off the animals because people talk a WHOLE LOT! Then they want a pet cham too and will try to keep their own animals in their room with disastrous results. Good luck and be smart! It is very difficult to balance college life and the responsibilities of caring for animals!

 

[critterguy]

I can't see a free range working too well in a dorm unless your roomate is cool with it and you have few visitors. I see an accident(stepped on) waiting to happen.

holmese: That is a good idea on the herp lab. Most schools should have something similar. I am helping a guy with some crested newts right now.

 

[cushcameleon]

Why not set up a free range so that no one would even think to look at the plant? Get a big ficus or schefflera. You could also make a section of wall that has trellis on it (a corner with it on both walls would be good) and string pothos all over it. Screw some branches in and make it climbable. It would be awesome.

Dorm rooms are very small and packed with clutter, it would be to easy to loose your chameleon and easily smash him under something.

 

[kenya]

Dorm rooms are very small and packed with clutter, it would be to easy to loose your chameleon and easily smash him under something.

This depends on the person. I also know several people who had their own dorm rooms and tons of space. It might be worth the extra expense.

 

[cushcameleon]

This depends on the person. I also know several people who had their own dorm rooms and tons of space. It might be worth the extra expense.

Regardless if you are neat and organized, which I am for the most part , if your dorm room is very small and has other roomates, it will be very hard to free range a cham. Of course it's possible, but free ranging chams in a small room with several roomates, beds, dressers, refrigerators, mocrowaves, boxes, shelves, and other materials would be quite a hassle.

 

[OntarioLizardman]

my R.A asked me if i was growing mary jane, i said no i jsut like plants, and she left haha. other than that my roomies love my cham and nobodys cares! go for it, just dont tell anyone

 

[cushcameleon]

my R.A asked me if i was growing mary jane, i said no i jsut like plants, and she left haha. other than that my roomies love my cham and nobodys cares! go for it, just dont tell anyone

I had practically the same experience . I definitely so go for it as well.

 

[Rocky]

my R.A asked me if i was growing mary jane, i said no i jsut like plants, and she left haha. other than that my roomies love my cham and nobodys cares! go for it, just dont tell anyone

the cable guy came over to put in our new cable equipment and he thought that my cham cages were where I was growing weed. I thought it was kinda funny. Mainly because I've never heard of anyone growing weed in a cage.

 

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Man, college must suck nowadays.

I had fish, snakes, and a box turtle in my dorm room.

IIRC, the only thing against the rules were dogs, cats, girls over night, and drinking.

 

[CMantis]

Man, college must suck nowadays.

I had fish, snakes, and a box turtle in my dorm room.

IIRC, the only thing against the rules were dogs, cats, girls over night, and drinking.

First post but the only thing I broke were all of those last three rules.

Also had the free range cham setup.

 

[scut]

I have a carpet chameleon and a rudis chameleon in my college dormroom. None of the RAs or campus police know about them. Some RAs have been into our room but we have tricked them into thinking we were growing plants, our chameleons were blending in so well .

haha how do you explain the cage then?

 

[scut]

Wow! Thanks everybody... I won't be off to college for a year, so Cassius will be pretty big by then
I'm thinking about Miami of Ohio, NC State, and Juniata..... anybody sneak them in there?

 

[cushcameleon]

haha how do you explain the cage then?

We said that it retains better humidity and temps (even though it all screen )