Low Maintenance Dorm Room Pets

Dorm rooms tend to feel cold and impersonal, especially when the restricted living space prohibits a student from personalizing her room or filling it with comforts from home. A small, low-maintenance pet can enliven a dorm room and give it that comforting, homey feel without taking up too much space or time. Always check with your school about any rules regarding pets before bringing an animal into campus housing.

  1. Goldfish

    • Exotic saltwater fish can be difficult to maintain, but a standard goldfish or beta fish is very low maintenance and doesn̵7;t take up much space. Purchase a single fish and a small fish bowl and add small tank accessories such as plants or ceramic figures to breathe a little life into your dorm room. Mix four parts water with one part tonic water and place your fish inside its new home. Feed your fish a small pinch of standard flakes once a day and change its water every three to five days, depending on the water clarity. That̵7;s all your pet will need to flourish.

    Small Reptiles and Amphibians

    • As with fish, certain reptiles can be time consuming and costly to care for, but a number of species are low cost and low maintenance and don̵7;t require more than a shelf̵7;s worth of space. Geckos and anoles enjoy minimal housing requirements and a simple insect diet. Turtles are another low-maintenance pet option, though they're not legal in all states. Some frogs are easy to care for, but do your research first -- some have high-maintenance habitat and diet requirements.

    Hamsters and Gerbils

    • Hamsters and gerbils are small, low-maintenance pets, but they require lots of exercise, which you can easily provide for by placing a wheel inside their cage. One drawback to hamster wheels is that they can be noisy, which may be problematic in a door room, especially since these animals are nocturnal creatures that become most active at night. To solve this problem, buy a hamster ball and allow your pet to roam around a section of your dorm room inside of it. These pets require fresh hamster or gerbil food and water daily, and their bedding should be changed once a week.

    Scorpions and Snakes

    • Scorpions and snakes aren̵7;t for everyone, but they can make for low-maintenance dorm room pets. Scorpions require a small tank with a heat pad underneath. They eat mealworms or crickets every two to three days. Most snakes also require an under-tank heat pad as well as a hiding place within their tanks, but they also are low maintenance. You can feed them live or frozen prey, and they don̵7;t have to be fed daily.