Photo by: Deidre Helton
A 4-foot green iguana leaped from boulder to boulder in the still empty ponds of the Humanities Garden next to Mary Reed Hall.
Leo, a 7-year-old green iguana, is just one of the many pets secretly housed by DU students in their dorm and apartment rooms.
Eli, a second-year graduate student whose name has been changed, has owned Leo since he was born. Having spent his entire college career at DU, Eli harbored Leo in the dorm rooms for both of his required years living on campus.
Although he admits Leo was much smaller at that time, sheltering the iguana posed no huge problem. Leo makes no noise, does not shed, and is easy to feed as he only requires vegetables.
“I would bring a plate full of the salad bar from the cafeteria back to my room to feed him,” said Eli.
The visit to the Humanities Garden is nothing new for the duo. While Leo’s visits to the area are utilized for exercise outside the confines of the closet where he is hidden, he has been known to enjoy swimming freely in the ponds on warm days. The friendly iguana has become no stranger on campus, with Eli carrying him in a large duffle bag as he pokes out his vibrant green head.
Maintaining his instincts to scurry up trees when confronted with predators in the wild, Leo is restricted by a thin green harness and leash as Eli walks him around in the grass. Or rather, Leo walks Eli.
Surprisingly, Leo is not the only reptile secreted in the dorms despite housing rules banning them. Crush, an aquatic turtle, takes residence in Kate’s single dorm room within a suite of Nagel Hall. Crush has similar dorm-friendly features as Leo, as he consumes lifeless worms and maggots while contained in his 35 gallon tank.
That’s right, a 35 gallon tank for a turtle is pretty large, and imaginably hard to keep hidden, especially with a noisy filter that requires running non-stop.
During winter break, Kate transported the tank to a friend’s house since she was leaving town for the holiday. When the resident assistants (RA) went through rooms to make sure all the safety precautions were met, they noticed the imprint from the large tank in the carpet of her room and became suspicious that she was illegally housing a pet.
Immediately upon her return, Kate was confronted by her RA requesting to search her room for signs of a pet, leaving her feeling as though her privacy had been violated. She went on to express her discontent with the rules of housing forbidding pets.
“I can see why housing wouldn’t want us to have cats or dogs, since they produce allergies,” said Kate. “I don’t really agree that animals such as iguanas, turtles, and other reptiles should be forbidden in the dorms. They don’t give people allergies, they’re generally not noisy, and they don’t make a mess.”
Kate now keeps Crush hidden under her bed, where she can easily conceal his tank. Also, to avoid turning off the loud filter for extended periods of time, Kate turns on a CD of nature sounds to drown out the noise in the event that her RA is present in her suite. When she’s assured that her RA won’t be in the building, Crush roams freely in the room and suite.
