First thing I would recommend is know your rights as a tenant. Read the Landlord/Tenant act for your state/county/city. This way you know what rights you have as a tenant and what rights a Landlord have. Also, if you don't know them already, know your by-laws and regulations for keeping snakes and other reptiles.



Then with this information you will know if landlords have a right to evict you should you happen to own a snake, whether you were upfront upon renting that you own snakes or sneak them in. There are some ways other tenants or landlords may get around this (heard or read here or elsewhere about a woman threatening to sue a person who also lived in the same apartment building because the fact she knew about the snakes made it impossible to feel safe. I think it was just an empty threat but the law does give her rights to feel safe and comfortable in her apartment.



Having harmless snakes will be beneficial. Venomous or large snakes are more a concern than a corn snake or ball python. You certainly can explain to your potential landlord that none of your snakes will ever exceed 6' no matter how much or what you feed them. You can even show them the very secure racks/cages you have (to prevent escapes) etc. Be free and willing to explain everything about the snakes, to ensure him they are safe, won't escape and even if by some off chance one managed to get away, it would not pose a threat to other tenants or their pets (unless they have pet rodents..in which case, that being the snakes natural food, they may get eaten, if not secure in their own cages).



I have yet to have any problems renting places that allowed snakes. I told them I keep reptiles but all are harmless and kept in secure cages. They seem ok with this. You definitely can emphasize they are silent, don't bark, pee all over the place, chew stuff or otherwise cause damage to the apartment.



I still find it funny that most of the people I meet who are leary about snakes or outright scared of them, are guys. One of my apartment buildings maintenance guys is nervious coming to my apartment when he learned I kept snakes. I told him, kind of hard to hide when two of my snakes are visible from the front door. But once he realized they are all in cages he was ok. I assured him that I don't try and scare people with them and all I keep are harmless and nonvenomous. He of course, thought they were venomous but I explained none are, keeping venomous snakes is against the city by-laws and none of my pets violate the by-laws. I think that more than anything reassured him that I wasn't keeping anything dangerous.



I certainly haven't had any bylaw officer pounding on my door wanting to inspect my collection.



I haven't told the two little old ladies who live next to me that i keep snakes though..they probably drop dead. In fact, about the only other person other than the lady who rented the place to me that knows I have reptiles and who lives in the same building is the woman with 3 ferrets. I was talking to her when we had a fire alarm go off at night in the middle of winter when it was something like -25 C. I was not going to bring my snakes outside in that kind of weather on the off chance it wasn't a false alarm. They stood a better chance surviving in the apartment than outside, even if the apartment building was on fire. But she brought out her ferrets, cute little buggers and pretty friendly.
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PHLdyPayne

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