Is it possible to use "use_database" when not authorized to create new databases?

[niuage]

My model:

class Team < CouchRest::Model::Base
  use_database "teams"
end

use_database calls prepare_database, which calls self.server.database!(db).
I'm using the Cloudant service, and I'm authenticating with an api key + password. This key only has rights on an existing database, it can't create new ones. So self.server.database!(db) fails, even though the db already exists.

How can I get around that? Overriding Team.database seems to work, but I'd rather not have to do that.

Thanks.