Hi everyone should I live in a dorm? My dad is a total control freak. He goes through my room and throws my stuff away, goes through personal amazon orders, and even goes through my garbage. I will be going to UMD in the fall. I will be living at home. Should I move into a dorm during second semester? Do RAs inspect the dorms regularly? I want to bring my eastern hercules beetle grubs with me to my dorm.(eastern hercules beetles are on my profile picture. They are a yellow rhinoceros beetle. Big bruisers eh)? Would I be able to sneak them into the dorm. They are housed in 3 10gal terrariums. All they need to taken care of is water, wood chips and leaves. If I cover the terrarium with a blanket. Will the RA notice?
Be considerate of those you’d be living with and around. If you live close enough to commute now, be content with occasionally visiting them should you move into a dorm. Quite frankly, many people find beetles to be pretty gross, and you shouldn’t attempt to blantanly break the rules for your own selfish reasons.
What about my dad can? How do I stop having him be a control freak. I already started locking up my things. Still worried he will be a control freak. Quite frankly I am sick of him always criticizing me for small things. I will be considerate with my beetles. They won’t bother anyone. They do not stink and they are clean. They like hiding under wood anyway. Would an Ra inspect my dorm regularly. If they do find my beetle grubs what will they do.
My opinion, I don’t like bugs. But I wouldn’t mind living with someone who had them as pets. They’re cool to watch, your roommate can teach you new things about them you didn’t know, plus they’re contained, and it’s not doing any harm to me. Because opinions vary, meet your roommate first and talk to them if it doesn’t go against your college guidelines.
As for your father, that is terrible he’s that controlling. You need to have a serious talk with him about you’re an adult (or almost) and like any other person, you need privacy and space.
You do not have the right to break these rules just because you have home issues and/or attachment to your pets. It’s time to grow up if you plan to move into a dorm.
Your roommate(s) has the right to live without these pets in his room, and to not have to bring this up to you or involve an RA. If an RA finds them (and let’s be real, three 10 gal tanks aren’t going to be easily hidden in a small dorm room), he’ll likely make you get rid of them within a certain period of time, which means they’d end up back at home anyway. If this becomes a repeat offense, you’ll probably have sanctions.
There is an additional problem not addressed by the previously quoted school policy.
This came to light when a dorm resident confided that his illicit pet “Herve” had escaped. We mobilized to search for Herve, but not before two residents were taken to the hospital suffering from anxiety as Herve was a 7 foot boa.
Your roommate has every right to live in a bug free environment. He or she WILL complain, quickly and frequently until the bugs are removed from his room.
Everyone else also has pets they love and care for. Like adults, they leave them at home. If that’s incomprehensible, rent an apartment that allows bugs.
@just1dad. Don’t worry eastern hercules beetles do not bite despite their large horns. Only the males have large horns not the females. The males use their horns to wrestle away other males while they compete for a mate. Eastern hercules beetles are not poisonous either. I am from Maryland, and they are native from Maryland to Florida, west to Texas and Oklahoma. The only threatening thing about them is their sheer size. They are the heaviest, largest, and strongest beetle in the U.S.A. They are as large as a small hamster.
Since many people do not know about them, others would be alarmed if they escaped.
I think that I might stick with living at home. They also take two years to mature.
I will figure out another way to deal with my dad.
The story was scary but funny about Herve the cobra.
Just to add, since it seems like you really care about your pets, it’s safer for them to be left at home. I know that if I saw a huge escaped beetle in the hallway of my dorm, I wouldn’t assume it was someone’s pet and would probably get it outside if I could.
It’s time to think about rehoming your pet. You cannot bring it in if it’s against the rules and even if you technically can, your roommate might not want them.
When you take on the responsibility of a pet, its life is in your hands. You must keep it in the safest conditions possible and that is not a dorm room- especially when they’re not allowed.
I’m with everyone else. Find another home for your beetles or continue to live at home.
I don’t know if anyone does room inspections (they don’t at my school, but they do at my friend’s, as well as the RAs popping in to check on everyone occasionally), but your roommate might be bothered by them, despite how unthreatening you think they are. It would be terribly rude to make someone else uncomfortable. Futhermore, you’d be unable to sneak their containers into the room, you wouldn’t have room for it, and what would happen if one of them was to escape from it? Personally, if I saw a huge beetle running around the building, I would go and find someone to squish it instead of assuming its a pet and letting it be. You’d be endangering the beetles themselves by bringing them.