Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So im sitting in my new apartment, Been here only a few months. And i have a delema. I absolutely love my snakes. But im not supposed to have them here. The landlord says no pets at all allowed. So i have them in sterilite containers kinda resembling stuff in the closet but if you really look closer you can see the substrate and water bowls. I kno the landlord isnt supposed to be snoopin thru my stuff but what if he comes in to inspect or fix something and he happens to glance in the closet? Anyway....jus scares me a little. Anyone else have this problem>?

Ya when I lived in the droms (military) we weren't allowed to have pets either. However I kept my snakes in Totes in my closet just the same. Only thing is I locked my closet and they were not allowed to inspect private lockers unless performing an investagation. I neatly consealed the extension cord and know one was ever the wiser.

Lock the closet can't inspect or see something he can't find. Without him invading privacy, something you can sue for.

Best of Luck
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Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
0.1 Suriname RTB
0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.10 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Cream Golden Retrieviers
1.0 Pomeriaian
0.2 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Child

I have a similar problem...the landlord is ok with my boas but I keep my 10' burmese inside my bedroom with a keyed lock on the door. A landlord/manager, etc. is only supposed to enter your apartment with 24 hour notice, or in case of emergency (such as needing to get to the plumbing, gas lines, etc.) As someone else here said, the landlord would be unlikely to risk a lawsuit trying to eplain why he forced the door to the bedroom.

I have a fake 'fascade' covering the face of my python's cage as well just in case. Makes it look like a 6'x2' wood dresser. I push it off to the side when I need to get to the cage.
The possibilities are endless, about any cage/rack could impersonate some type of furniture.

Also Try hanging a curtain or something similar over the front of the tubs, this can obscure the view of the bowls, etc.
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Heather J. Martin
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0.1 Solomon island ground boa, adult "Miss Boa"
0.0.1 Green anaconda, juvenile "Dot"
0.1 Burmese python, 10' "Molly"
2.0 '06 66% het kahl albino boas
0.2 '04 het kahl albino boas
1.0 '05 kahl albino boa

Boy, I could tell some stories about this topic. Suffice to say that I have some up with some solutions

In college I bought one of those particle-board closets and stacked up my Rubbermaids in that. Lock on the front.

Many years later I was in a similar situation and built some racks from cabinet grade birch plywood. I used melamine for the shelves and the plywood for the sides and top. I built a large face frame for the front and had a piece of pegboard that fit into a groove on the inside of the frame. The face frame slipped into a groove on the bottom of the rack and then locked to the top. The whole front frame could be lifted off when I needed to access the racks.

With hindsight, if in the same situation again I would use some sort of hybrid approach, probably building a rack into one of those pre-fab closets or a closet I built myself.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

I don't know if these laws change based on areas or what, but, I know that a person just had this same problem on another forum I post on. In her case, by law, the landlord had to give her 24-36 hours notice before they inspected her apartment. Gave her time to get the snakes out of the apartment! I think I remember hearing one time that here in PA, you can refuse to let the landlord in if they don't give you notice. Not positive about that, though, and like I said, it might change based on your area. Maybe find a landlord for another apartment building or something & ask them what the laws are, and if your landlord has to give you any notice. Also, it's probably in your lease paperwork, somewhere.

I once got a 24 hour notice sign on my door so I had that time to really make sure my racks were secure and somewhat hidden. I had permission for two tortises and "aquarium pets" but had decided not to puch the issue with snakes, even though they could be considered aquarium pets.

But back to the story. I was home for the inspection and the people came in and immediately started asking me about my pet snake. I was a bit taken aback to find out that they had been in my apartment several times previously and had seen my D'Alberts python that I had previously had in a display cage in my bedroom. That snake had been put out on breeding loan by that time but I was absolutely furious to hear that people had seen it more than once. I bit my tongue, however, since they were cool about it. Still, it had specifically stated in my lease that 24 hour notice was required so I was not happy to find out that for a couple of years at least that had not held up their end of the agreement.

I got a lock for the bedroom after that and wrote them a letter stating my renter's insurance required it and to give me notice if they needed access to the bedroom again.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)