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Chelsea Brown has a third-floor suite in Van Zile Hall at Kansas State University.
She has friends and study buddies and purple sweatshirts and plans to become a social worker someday.
And she has a hedgehog named Tucker.
"I get bored and just want someone to play with," said Brown, 22, a senior from Wichita.
"I take him out of his cage and play with him, and it's fun. I just enjoy having him here with me."
Most universities don't welcome pets in residence halls. They allow only service dogs, or just fish in small bowls or aquariums.
K-State is different. The Manhattan university, with its rich agricultural history and renowned College of Veterinary Medicine, allows students a wide array of feathered, furry and creepy-crawly roommates.
"We know that animals are a very important thing to a lot of students. They feel very strongly about their pets," said Nick Lander, assistant director for residence life at K-State.
"In many cases it's something familiar from home, and that's something they appreciate."
K-State's pet-friendly dorm policy was developed with guidance from its College of Veterinary Medicine. Dogs, cats and other animals "not accustomed to containment" are not allowed. Other than that, though, pretty much any animal's welcome as long as it's relatively small and quiet and not smelly or poisonous.
Animals allowed in dorms include amphibians such as frogs, newts and salamanders; birds such as cockatiels, finches and lorikeets; insects such as ornate beetles and hissing cockroaches; reptiles such as snakes, lizards and turtles; and mammals such as hamsters, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.
The list also includes exotic animals such as Chapman chinchillas, African pygmy hedgehogs, sugar gliders and short-tailed possums.
Pets must be registered and approved by residence hall officials as well as the pet owner's roommate.
Sally Gordon, a sophomore from Wichita, inherited a Holland Lop rabbit last semester from some friends who were moving into a house that didn't allow pets.
She says the bunny, Oreo, is popular with her roommate and friends who visit her room in Haymaker Hall.
"He's a pretty cute little guy, and he's really friendly and laid back," Gordon said. "He'll let you hold him for a long period of time, and he's pretty gentle."
Oreo is litterbox trained, so the mess is minimal, she said. But he eats hay and often scatters it around. "Whenever I get him out, I just sweep out his cage for anything that might have spilled," Gordon said. "It's not too bad."
Less than 10 percent of K-State students who live on campus have pets, said Lander. Even so, the policy "does create some issues, and we just manage those the best we can."
The most common complaints are from students who are allergic to or uncomfortable with a roommate's pet, Lander said. Some students agree to pets like snakes or rats and later realize the animals kind of creep them out.
"Basically, if a roommate doesn't approve, they can't have the animal," he said. "We try to come to a compromise, and if that's not possible we have to explore making some room changes or whatever."
That's getting more challenging, though, as residence halls fill up and there are fewer places for students to move. This year K-State's dorms are about 400 students over capacity, so some students are living in converted study rooms, with resident advisers and in rooms at a local hotel.
"Conflicts that arise because of pets have become more and more challenging to resolve," Lander said. "We review this policy regularly, and that's one of the things that continually comes up."
Because the rules are set by a student advisory group, he added, "We put a lot of faith in them to come up with a policy that's going to be suitable for students."
Jasmine Taylor, a sophomore from San Antonio recently bought a bearded dragon to keep in her dorm room. She grew up with animals and is studying to be a veterinarian, so having a pet at school just makes sense, she said.
"I really enjoy having him," Taylor said of the lizard, which she named Chomper. "He'll look at me and wave or run around the cage. He's a little character."
