How to approach landlord about having keeping Ball Pythons.

Hello everyone!

So this is a tricky situation, I know some of you will harp on me to use the search engine. I already have and did not find the answer I'm looking for.

My fiancée and I have a complex situation. We've been keeping and breeding ball pythons for years, started out in our apartment had them there for 2 years with no problems until there was an inspection on the vents in the apartments. The landlords gave me a call and just questioned me about our animals and simply said you have a week to get them out. No problem, my argument was that we had Crested Gecko's on our lease and they said that wasn't a problem. With that being said they didn't make a big deal about it. Since that day, my animals have been kept at my fathers house, we moved them about 9 months ago.

Here's the dilemma, we are moving 200 miles away next week. Which is 180 miles away from where we keep our animals. While applying for the duplex we will be moving into next week we told them we had a miniature wiener dog and several crested geckos. No problems, pay your pet deposit and no big deal. We left out the snakes in fear of not getting accepted as we need a place to live and it is perfect.

So, for those of you in this situation, we have currently 40 ball pythons and 25 crested and one obnoxious wiener dog. WE had over 100 earlier this summer with the 60 we hatched out, sold most of everything and thinned it out. What would you do? The same thing we did in the apartment? Or approach our landlord with info about the snakes and hope they will allow them? ''

Any other ideas/suggestions?

The town allows constrictors under 6 feet without a permit so that isn't a problem.

i would frame it carefully.

its not optimal that you already got permission for the cresteds and the dog, which unfortunately means that next time you need to talk about snakes and cannot bundle it up with the other pets.

here is what i would have tried when the issue first came up: you explain that you would like to keep some non-venomous reptiles, that stay small and pose no threat, and that you obviously keep them in approproate enclosures. now the landlord will ask what specifically. and you tell them something like: "crested gecko designer morphs and ball python designer morphs". or: "crested gecko color and pattern variations and ball python color and pattern variations". hopefully the seed that they stay small and are harmless and non-venomous from the first sentence is planted deep enough that he will ask what designer morphs are, or what you mean with color an pattern variations. at which point you have already won and can tell him about the different colors and patterns you can produce.

the way you frame it and where you add emphasis is quite important. you should not put emphasis on "non-venomous, they stay small, no threat, safe and appropriate enclosures", but merely blend it in as a fact that is totally obvious to you and that you just mention on the side. and add emphasis to "fancy color variations" or "designer morphs", thats where you want the attention to go and that is where you want the landlord to come back with a follow-up question.

of course, if its a snake-fearing or snake-hating person, this wont work at all. but if the person is neutral and uninformed, it will make a difference if you manage to slip in why they are harmless as a side-note, but direct the attention elsewhere, to the interesting paintjobs and genetics. if you (voluntarily or by accident) direct the attention towards the risks and problems and thats where the debate goes, your chances will be worse.

good luck :)

Honesty! I would have mentioned the ball python collection earlier. Emphasize how harmless they are...well, good luck! :gj:

There's a reason why they say that Honesty is the best policy........

My husband and I are looking for apartments now and have found many "perfect" apartments, only to find out they don't allow our 90lb dog. So we move on and look for another. To me, a perfect place to live is one that my animals can come with. When you purchased these animals, you took on a responsibiliy to keep them. This responsibility can and will affect these types of things. It may be harsh, but this is my opinion. You shouldn't have animals you can't home and that's that.

The worst part is that we signed a lease saying any offspring of any animals or pets will be immediately removed from the premises.

Say goodbye to breeding for a while, we have other options as for places to keep them where we are moving but obviously at home would be most convenient.

If you were a landlord what would you want your prospective tenants doing in this situation?

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Originally Posted by RideRed12

The worst part is that we signed a lease saying any offspring of any animals or pets will be immediately removed from the premises.

Say goodbye to breeding for a while, we have other options as for places to keep them where we are moving but obviously at home would be most convenient.

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you really need to work on your negotiating skills ^^ the idea is to negotiate and settle all issues until you are satisfied, and then put your signature when the content is actually agreeable :)

I did the same thing. When I moved into this house (Five year plan to buy my own and moving in a few months!) I only told my landlord about the dogs, the cats, and the parrot. Inspection time came and he said move or get rid of the reptiles. I offered to give him double the pet and cleaning deposit (already gave him a thousand so was offering another grand, non refundable) and suddenly he no longer cared how many reptiles I had.

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The worst part is that we signed a lease saying any offspring of any animals or pets will be immediately removed from the premises.

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Oh, you kinda screw yourself on that one.


I've had plenty of landlords and lived in many apartments, usually they never say anything as long as it's in a cage unlike multiple cats or dogs which can bark, be noisy, etc, As long as apartment is clean and don't stink where the neighbors are complaining they usually will care less. (Unless I have a landlord who just don't care)

Good luck! :)