What bums me out is that if I hadn't brought them outside to show them off, I wouldn't be in this situation right now.

That was my thought from the original post. Leave your snakes inside, they aren't accessories.

As the others have stated, you need to sit down and negotiate with the landlord (and his wife). Offer to never take the snake out of the apartment. Show them that the cage is secure and that it is locked (if it isn't, make it so).
Also show them that you only feed F/T rodents so you aren't bringing live rodents into the place.

It sounds like they were reasonable to start with. I think you probably could reason with them now. I think for both of your interests, you should ask to put together an addendum to your lease that both of you can sign saying you are allowed to keep the specific snakes you currently have (list them on the addendum) and that you won't get more and that they will stay in their cages.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

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