Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had written for advice quite some time ago about being a mid twenty year old finally moving away from home and getting an apartment and wondering what I should do with my snakes. most of the responses told me to keep quiet about it, and although I tested the waters on a couple places, the water was too deep to speak and no one was receptive initially. So we found a great place that labels itself pet friendly, and we told her about us getting a dog, which is true, but didn't mention all the reptiles and we are going to hope for the best. I'm keeping them in a bedroom that shouldn't really ever have to be entered in case of repair or maintenance, it isn't connected to a sink, washer, breaker box, bathroom etc. I don't know exactly what else runs through there, but it is probably the least likely to be looked at. So everyone wish me the best and any advice or stories or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

I don't know if this is a federal or state law but here in VT landlords need to give tenants at least 24-hours notice before entering your apartment for any reason unless you requested them or unless they have a search warrant. Reasons they may enter your apartment are for required sprinkler, fire, or smoke alarm inspections. Depending on how many snakes you have it may or may not be easy to move them out of sight/throw a blanket on top of them when you know there will be uninvited company. Some landlords are cool with it and others aren't. If you're already in an apartment and have kept your reptiles a secret it's probably a bad idea to mention it after the fact to a landlord.

There was a recent thread in the general herp discussion board this week about a problem that did come up in a similar situation. This guy was told by his landlord he could keep reptiles but some time later was told he had to get rid of them. Apparently the maintenance guy had been told he could not have an iguana, saw the reptiles, and complained to the landlord about it. If you do end up getting permission to keep reptiles, get it in writing. The link to his thread is below:
Link

good luck with it! I can't remember...how many snakes do you have? I think I recommended before to tell them up front about your pets, but I understand that sometimes it's hard to find a place that will allow them (I got lucky cause the 2nd "pet friendly" place I looked at had a little hesitation at first, but then said it was OK)...they knew about my first two, but I never told them about all the additional ones I added on over time (when I moved out I had 13 I think) and it made me somewhat nervious.
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-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amel. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Athena, for now)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (maybe Octavian)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)
2.0 rats

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa (maybe Hannibal)
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa (affectionately called
Snuggles)

28 not including the clutches that will come from this year.
I really wanted to go the honest approach but no one seemed to like that approach, so here I am. I really can't say how this one would have acted, I'll just hope for the best. Thanks for the wishes.

In OKLAHOMA I didn't have to put up a pet deposit for 'terrarium' pets but what I found hilarious was I went to 3 different apartment complexes ALL OWNED BY THE SAME MGMT COMPANY and 2 of the Apartments had NO PROBLEM with my snake after letting them know that I had been keeping them for some time with no problems.

This one apartment said absolutely no way (it's the one I would have preferred) and it was owned by the people who owned the previous two that said OK.

On my lease, there is some kind of "we can terminate your lease if you have deceived us about any of the things you stated on your lease" but if that wasn't on your lease, I wouldn't worry about it!

My girlfriend used to keep 8 cats hidden in a bedroom in her apartment (the maximum allowed was 3). Any time maintenance was going to enter, she would hide them away. She never had any problems until she was ready to move out and the cats had utterly destroyed the room. And really, the only thing that came of it was that she didn't get her deposit back. And since snakes in cages aren't going to tear the place up...
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Thayeri MSP
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Girlfriend, Caucasius Mexicana, Fiancee Phase

one word of advice if you use night lights like the moon-glow, or red lights, basically anything not incandescent, make sure your windows are totally light proof. nosy neighbors love to call the cops about "funny lights" coming from the apt next door. and you might wake up with a sheriffs deputy in swat gear pointing an MP5 at your face. you'll have lots of splainin to do, and most cops cant tell (and really don't care) about the difference between a moon-low bulb and a marijuana grow light. And yes this is from personal experience. depending on your state or county they can literally tear your house apart, and seize anything that "might" be used for drugs, including digital scales (for weighing your snakes) lights, weapons, even your car. and they don't have to give it back, or reimburse you for damage done in the "raid" also they can seize (and possibly destroy) any "dangerous" animals they find. all in the name of the "war on drugs' they basically have a huge amount on immunity and leeway if anything is deemed to be possibly "drug related"

My parents who live in Fla used to leave their garage door open about 4" so the cats could come and go as they pleased, they also were not too careful about turning off the lights in the garage at night. Nosy neighbor called the cops about the "pot farm" across the street, and my 50 year old folks got a no knock raid, flash bang grenade and everything, held handcuffed while the house was searched. of course nothing was found, and the cops were actually pissed!. no apologies, no money to replace the door they destroyed, just uncuffed them, and warned them not to leave their lights on at night. as if the whole thing was their fault.

sorry for the long post, moral of the story is its not just your landlord you have to worry about. And cops will shoot anything they think is dangerous, they won't shoot you (usually) but the paperwork for shooting a snake is minimal
YMMV
cheers
Mike
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Jayne "The Hero of Canton", Ball Python
Edmund Slackbladder, Mexican Kingsnake
El Diablo "They haven't built a cage I can't get out of" Pueblan Milksnake
(Currently serving 25 to life in a Maryland Supermax)