Pet Suggestions

How allergic is the roommate? Some of the very short hair cats may work (one cat). She can wipe down the cat daily with distilled water and that tends to help with allergies.

I'm not much help in what to suggest - growing up we had birds, fish, hamsters, lizards, dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, quail and when I got my own full time job - I bought myself a small horse.

Are Sphynx good for allergic people, considering that they barely have hair, and need to be bathed every couple of days? I imagine that would take care of the dander pretty well... If she is a cat person... I hear Sphynx kitties are super loving cuddly cutie pies!

I've had many types of small pets, and it really depends on what she's looking for. Some small pets are more interactive than others and some bond more with their owners.

If she likes kittens, maybe a pair of ferrets? Ferrets are a lot of fun but should be kept in pairs at least. Ferrets act quite a bit like kittens (and they also get into mischief like kittens.) The difference is they stay like kittens their whole lives! Most don't like to sit and cuddle with you though, they'd rather be running around playing chase and such. As far as being interactive they are similar to puppies or kittens, and like puppies they need to be kept an eye on when they are running free in the house because they can get into a lot of trouble if the house is not 'proofed'. Some people let them run around 24/7 but I never felt safe doing that so my ferrets got at least several hours a day where they were free in the house (but gated into the living and dining rooms which were safer) and then they a big cage for them to stay in when I wasn't ablr to keep an eye on them.

Another option if she is open minded is a pair of pet rats. Rats make great pets, they are generally very friendly and are smart enough to learn to come when called and can also learn tricks like dogs. The females tend to be more active and playful while the males are more laid-back and cuddly. I've only had females and I find them to be fun and playful. They like to sit on my shoulder and hang out. I would recommend looking for a good breeder/rattery rather than getting one at a pet store. Rats from a good breeder tend to be a lot healthier and better socialized/friendlier. Rats can be very good at defending themselves against a "predator" as well, most of my cats steer clear of the rats' cage because of this.

Tell the roommate to stock up on Claritin - or get a new roommate!

Sphynx may or may not work. Problem is the if the person is allergic to the saliva and cats wash themselves, the saliva would be on the skin and you would still have a reaction.

But since they can be washed every day, it may work out.

Just how friendly the small animal is depends on how it was raised. I know of super social mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, & sugar gliders. I have also been attacked by all of the above.

Buying from a pet store often means they haven't been well socialized. Has she tried looking at the "small & furry" category on petfinder to see if any local groups have any "other" animals?

I personally have "rejected school pet" gerbil who is very social. No, he's not a cat (and he's in a cat safe tank), but he's friendly enough.

That's too bad. Leopard geckos make a great starter and can be fairly curious and take well to some handling. Perfect college student type pet - initial set up cost around $100-150USD (about the same as any pet will costs you right off) and after that you just pay for food and a vet when needed. They can live around 20-25 years if properly cared for - unlike rodents. They come in several neat colors. The only problem is that they're strictly insectivorous and must have live healthy insects to eat.

You might have her look at them. Lots of people start off getting them as pets in circumstances where they can't get anything else, then they end up addicted to them and get several more. There's also crested geckos, though shorter lived, that are easy enough to care for and tame - they can be fed on a premade diet called "crested gecko diet" with some supplemental insects from time to time. They also like treats of fruit baby food.

Being small geckos, they don't require the amount of space a bearded dragon needs. No turtles - everyone thinks they're cute but they're hard work and tend to do best if eventually given some time outside (summer months at least).

I would second the ferret suggestion IF she is uber responsible and is willing to clean their cage several times a week. I ferret sat for my friends' ferrets during college one summer, and because she didn't clean their cage regularly, it was a mess. Very very stinky. After I got into cleaning it regularly, the room started to smell better, bit by bit.

They only went to the bathroom in their cage, and were content with an hour or 2 of play time outside the cage each day.

Another thought re: having a pet in college is the cost. Does she have money for emergency trips to the vet? I know aforementioned friend spent more than a thousand dollars on emergency vet care for her ferrets in one year.

I had a girl in my sculpture class that always had a sugar glider in her purse.

What about using Allerpet spray for the cat?

If she's very responsible and would be willing to dedicate herself to it, a bird may be a good pet. A lot of birds bond very closely with their keepers and do cuddle.

Re: geckos cuddling... they like out to explore, any time they spend sitting on you is because you're a good vantage point and because you're warm. But if you a quiet person who is good with them you may even have a gecko trust you enough to take a nap.
Sorry to hear about your brother's beardie. They're very affectionate as far as reptiles go, and love interacting with their keepers - usually people and their beardies bond pretty closely. I suspect his female did show some signs of being gravid, and in hindsight he probably realizes it now. They can be more subtle than a cat when ill, though.

With room mates and even the chance of moving again, I suggest any sort of pet that can spend at least half it's day in it's cage and be fine with that. She can always get other animals later, or if she feels deprived now she could volunteer at a shelter.

So no necropsy was done? That doesn't sound right. She should have displayed some nesting behavior and you would have been able to notice the eggs in her. Eggbinding would have only happened for two reasons 1) no nesting area was ever provided 2) the beardie was in poor health to begin with.
Normally the reptile refuses to eat and drink.

All other illnesses cause symptoms of some form, as well. The only thing I can think of that would kill a reptile, or any animal, that quickly would be poisoning. All it would take is not washing some veggie from the store well enough. Though there is adenovirus which occasionally doesn't display any symptoms when it kills babies - it's different in semi-adults and adults.

Since there's no way to know what happened now. If your brother still has the cage and supplies, it's probably best to tell him to destroy and throw them out. There are some diseases like "crypto" and adenovirus that are highly contagious and would contaminate any cage that beardie lived in.

Back on the original topic - anything smaller than a cat or anything that could be viewed as a prey animal, likely will be. A sugar glider would look just as tasty to a cat as a bird would - as would a lizard. The important thing is that if a small animal is brought into the home that it is kept safe - never trust a cat.

Insects can carry some diseases, and crickets are usually the main ones to watch out for. The adenovirus I mentioned is a bit like HIV/AIDs - an infected female will pass it to her babies. They hatch out with it, if they survive you get a lizard that never really thrives. Like a cat with FIV, it can be kept alive but is more susceptible to parasites, fungal infections, other viruses and metabolic problems.
I had really considered getting a beardie at one point, but reading up on this made me decide that if I ever do I want one coming from a clean breeder. Unfortunately there's no real test for the virus.

Parasites can live in soils and be heat resistant. Most beardies carry coccidia. And sand is near deadly to use with many reptiles - they eat it and get intestinal blockages. At least have him throw the that out. Alternatives like repti-carpet are safer and more sanitary.

If anyone decides to get a pet, especially anything that falls into the exotic category, research is vital. Like TCS there are several enthusiast forums that can help guide people. Make sure to stress this to your sister, and also make sure that she knows she must find a vet that is capable of treating her pet before she gets it. Also direct her to petfinder and local rescue groups - all sorts of animals need people to adopt them. Don't support petshops that are all out there to exploit animals.

Was that "special sand" calci sand? If so, and if that breeder recommended it that really suggests that the breeder he got his beardie from was not a good one. Calci sand is worse than regular sand - the only animal it should ever be used with is hermit crabs. It would be comparable to using clay litter that had been coated in chicken flavoring to encourage your cats to eat it. A little piece of clay occasionally ingested won't hurt your cat, but if they actually start eating the clay it will lead to intestinal blockages - it's the same for reptiles and calci sand.

There are only a few species of burrowing lizards that need sand (to prevent stress) and even for these it's suggested never to use calci sand and to avoid feeding them on sand. Even so, some people still lose species like knob tail geckos to sand impaction.

I truly wish that OTC flea "treatments" and calci sand would be taken off the market since both kill pets....

For many species of reptiles that need medium to low humidity reptile carpet is a great sanitary solution to substrate. Another easy option is ceramic tile, laid but not adhered inside the cage - it allows for good heat conduction and can be sterilized.

His beardie could have been small due to poor health, bad breeding, or even because she was a Lawson's dragon.
Had it been the first two, even if she had laid her eggs the stress of it could have potentially been more than her body could handle.

As for her diet - I have nine juvi ornate box turtles, one of the more carnivorous subspecies of North American box turtles. It's generally accepted that the first year they should be fed mostly insects and protein sources. Unsurprisingly, keepers who follow this can have some problems introducing a more balanced diet later.
I never followed this, instead I offered small amounts of veggies right from the start - focusing on flavor and color to encourage them to eat. I had no problems later when increasing their veggie meals per week - they'll at least try anything I put on their dishes. My understanding is that other omnivores can behave this way, too.
If her diet wasn't varied enough that could have led to some metabolic problems that even had she successfully laid, would have taken a toll on her body.

Re washing veggies: I've came across forums where people discussed losing their beardies and iguanas to veggies they didn't wash well enough. It happens - just think of how much we're cumulatively ingesting. During some past e-coli problems with veggies people have lost beardies and iguanas to it, too ( you can't really wash off e-coli or other bacteria).

This has went really O/T but does sort of show why some reptiles aren't a best first reptile. I generally recommend leopard geckos due to their more simpler needs, easier to manage diet, and because they're hardier.
Whatever your sister decides, I wish her luck. And if it's a smaller animal that she makes sure the cage can be shut into a room that cats are never allowed alone with it in and that the cage locks up tight.

That sounds like calci sand claims. Again, 2-3 grains rarely ingested of any sand will pass, more won't. There's no special sand that suddenly stops being sand. And don't take this the wrong way - but he must not have researched enough. Look up "sand impaction" and "calci sand impaction" - put some + signs in there and google should give you ~87,000 results (though not all will be on subject, thats still a lot of results).
Some say it's ok for adults but bad for babies, but again - sand is still sand, and any particulate substrate can be deadly.

Understand, I only want to encourage people to never buy and use this stuff and to make sure they tell everyone else how bad it is. Never believe what a person trying to sell you a product tells you - they have an agenda to make a sell.
It makes me so mad to see tiny baby geckos kept on it in Petsmart and Petco - you can see their little bellies abnormally swollen from it.

If I'm not mistaken, beardies have the same requirements for nesting that geckos do - a nest box filled with a sterile moist soil mixture (not sand) or vermiculite. Sand wouldn't be a suitable nesting material and many reptiles wouldn't lay in it.

No! Please don't. You're welcome to leave treats out for the turtle that comes in your yard or even make a compost pile for it to hide under and hunt insects in, but don't take a breeding adult out of the wild population. A little taken here and there adds up and has been devastating on the wild population in some areas.

Look at petfinder or ask your local herp society. Turtles live a long time, often outliving their keepers interest or ability to care for them. A captive turtle won't harm a wild population as long as it's kept separate and never released into the wild (that's actually illegal to do here).

Help the wild ones out, but let them be wild.

You can't rerelease a turtle that has been in captivity. Only wildlife rehabbers can do this and they have specific rules they have to follow. Just dumping a turtle into a large foreign environment can lead to it's death - it would be essentially be lost. In the wild turtles have territories, if you move them out of their territory they have to relearn everything about that area. When they're needing to feed, stay hydrated, and avoid predators it makes it more complicated for them if they have no knowledge of the place to begin with. They're also racing a clock counting down to fall and hibernation.

There's a couple of old turtle threads on here which I posted links to great sites. There should be information from indoor care, outdoor enclosure care/building, to diet and the problems that can arise from a bad diet. Look it up.

Actually, (way OT here, LOL), it should NEVER be used with hermit crabs. It doesn't hold moisture well, and hermit crabs need high humidity to survive. Plus it doesn't hold tunnels, so the crabs can't moult properly. I'm on 2 hermit crab forums, and it seems like most of our time is spent convincing newbies not to use Calci-Sand. Playsand and/or coconut fiber (Eco-Earth and similar brands) are the only recommended hermit crab substrates.

Is Calci-Sand good for anything ? Guess not.

I thought it could be used in small areas? - not the whole cage. I think it might be ok for some fish tanks? Though I'm not sure about what it does to ph and whether it would even be safe for that.
Overall - it's one of those useless products that is always pushed on consumers.