Getting A Tortoise Before Adulthood

Lando1305ftw

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Hi, I had a tortoise last year however, he died and I've been looking a lot into getting a new tortoise and I think I can take care of one well but I'm 16 and my mom is worried about when I go to college what to do with a Tortoise. I want a Greek so not a large tortoise and I'm wondering if anyone knows about colleges not allowing tortoises? If anyone knows anything about this sorta thing please lmk.
 

Guts

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Hey, recently in college person here.

Dorms would not allow anything that lives outside of a small tank, so if you’d need to live in a dorm you wouldn’t be able to take them sadly.

There are however usually some on campus non dorm options as well as near campus student oriented housing that’s more like an apartment that will allow more pet options.

It really just depends on how you plan on going to college. If you’re commenting or able to do other non dorm housing I think you’d be fine.
 

Lando1305ftw

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Hey, recently in college person here.

Dorms would not allow anything that lives outside of a small tank, so if you’d need to live in a dorm you wouldn’t be able to take them sadly.

There are however usually some on campus non dorm options as well as near campus student oriented housing that’s more like an apartment that will allow more pet options.

It really just depends on how you plan on going to college. If you’re commenting or able to do other non dorm housing I think you’d be fine.
Oh okay, that makes sense, thanks for the help.
 

Jan A

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Oh okay, that makes sense, thanks for the help.
Do you plan on having a social life while at college? Do you plan on having human roommates on or off campus? Will you have to work? What's your case load going to be? Will you be participating in sports, joining a fraternity/sorority, have access to a refrigerator, be within walking distance to a grocery store that stocks tort veggies if you don't have a car or access to public transportation? Your tort needs a roomy enclosure, fresh weeds & vegetables, 80 degrees ambient 24/7, basking, sunlight, humid hide & so much more depending on the species, it's age, etc.

When I think back to my college days, a convenient supermarket with fresh veggies didn't exist. My roommates ate all my food when I had a fridge. Between classes, studying, partying, walking everywhere & sporting events, i didn"t have time to take care of a dust bunny, let alone a tort.
 

Blackdog1714

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The laws are a little different now with Emotional Support Animals and Liberal Arts Colleges are very supportive of them and their owner. So getting the tort to college is not the question. Husbandry is the question- you said your last tort dies at a year of age. What have you done to ensure this doesn't happen again. Torts should be nicknamed mini cash cows- my mean, dominant and demanding Russian was a mere $125 shipped to my house. The rest of the purchases went toward Amazon getting a zero emission vehicle for deliveries in my neighborhood. Something simple as alight bulb or CHE could be a nightmare if you don't live near someone who carries them let alone knows what a CHE is. With all that said I had a friend in college that went on to work at the Cleveland Zoo- he got in trouble all the time at the pet store he worked at for improving the habitats and providing enrichment. He kept a water monitor in his one bedroom apartment so that it was 60/40 lizard to him. He kept a feeding schedule that was equal to any military exercise i have ever seen. SO it is possible you just need to be honest with yourself since colleges now offer a much more involved experience than when I graduated 30 years ago.
 

Lyn W

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I'm in the UK so my college experience will be different to yours, but I know that space will be an issue for you, as will time and money.
What tort keeping worldwide has in common is that we all know how time consuming and expensive they can be, especially if vets fees are needed which is a possibility with all animals if conditions and care for them are not perfect. I'm sorry your last tort died - do you know why that happened?

What you have to ask yourself is - would it be fair on the tort to take him to college and could you guarantee that you will you have the time and money to prioritise his care while you are there?
If you are honest with yourself I think the answer would be no to both questions, so my advice would be for you to wait until you have the time, money and space to enjoy caring for a tort and to make sure your tort has a happy and healthy life.
 

Ink

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I worry about other people messing around with your tortoise. Not washing their hands ect. When I went to college my grandparents kept my turtle for me. So I was lucky.
 

RosemaryDW

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The laws are a little different now with Emotional Support Animals and Liberal Arts Colleges are very supportive of them and their owner.
I work at a university and I can tell you emotional support tortoises don’t fly here; they’ve basically shut it down to dogs over the last few years—only what the ADA qualifies for emotional support animals and for people qualified with emotional health issues. It’s all managed by our disabilities support center and consistent in both our dorms and the apartments we lease to upper-division students. That was not the case a few years ago but it is now; one person’s emotional support snake is another roommate’s nightmare... I know some schools still allow it but that’s an issue of luck from year to year. Who knows what will be happening at your campus two years from now.

I love animals—which meant I never a pet in college until I could afford my own half of an apartment with enough cushion that losing a roommate wouldn’t mean I had to move, when I could find a roommate that was okay with pets. I had to earn enough to pay for regular veterinary care. (Will your eventual school even be near a reptile vet?) Having a pet meant I have to pay for rent year round, not just the school year. I couldn’t go on study abroad; I couldn’t go on a spring break trip; I couldn’t do many of the extracurricular things that college can provide. I won’t say I regret having a pet but it definitely limited my options.

All tortoises need a good size space with the right setup and I couldn’t have made that happen even in a shared apartment. Cat yes, tortoise no. Maybe a lizard. I always feel bad for animals that have been brought into a college environment; I live on campus and see it more than I would like.


It can be done but it’s the rare sixteen-year old that can truly know what their life will be like from ages 18-22. I’m sure it’s not what you want to hear but your mom is right to have concerns.
 
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