Question for those who rent..

How difficult is it to find housing with a snake? I'm unsure of how many places would be okay with it. As long as I have rented by myself I have never seen anything in my lease that says anything specific. Will I have to call different places? Right now I live with my sister and I doubt it would be okay for me to own a snake. I'm not going to go against her wishes at this time as well. She barely tolerates my dog and nearly made me give away my cats(which eventually was nothing at all. I don't think she even likes that I have them but they aren't out in the area downstairs so I guess it's fine for now)

I want to find a place that will allow snakes as well as my dog and cats. My dog isn't with me full time because my mom has a dog that she is incredibly bonded with.

So if anyone who rents would enlighten me on the matter would be great. I am going to start looking ahead of time so I know if having a snake is an option.

Thanks,
Thea

Here in minneapolis, I only considered places that allowed cats(which are plentiful).

All the places that allowed cats, allowed reptiles as well.

All in all, pretty easy to find an apartment in mpls that allows snakes.

p.s. finding an apartment that allows dogs, especially dogs over 20 lbs, is about 20x harder(literally, 20 places to one, if not a bigger difference) than finding a place that allows reptiles.

Just make sure you ask before hand.

Oh my dog is only 6 pounds. lol.

This is a familiar subject for me. Up until last year, I rented properties for 7 years and owned herps for 6. I've been through some sticky situations.

The last place I rented before I bought my house allowed "birds, fish, and cats." The lease never addressed reptiles, only that no dogs were allowed.

Rather than risk getting kicked out on a technicality, I devised a method of hiding my 40+ herps whenever management had to enter the apt. to do something, which was somewhat frequent and always annoying.

If you have one snake, you could pull this off fairly simple. For people like me, it was incredibly difficult. My advice to you is find somewhere that is small pet-friendly, move in, and stay super-discreet.

I wish I still had the "before" and "after" pics of the herp room. It was pretty cool when we went into stealth mode.

As long as your one snake isn't a 16-foot Burm, you'll be fine.

I never bothered to ask about bringing snakes in my apartment, I just moved them on in!:D

And now they have they're own heated room.

Thanks for the insight. I think as long as people aren't keeping anything illegal than they're okay. LOL. I mean they might be worried about a fish tank that breaks and causes a flood in the apartment.. Unless the snake escapes than I'm sure all will be good.

I'll just play it by ear I guess. I hate apartment hunting and applying and all that stupid stuff. Egads.

Just keep in mind too if you are at a place that doesn't allow reptiles - even if a snake in a tank or tub wouldn't be a problem - if they ever have another reason they want you out they can point out to you having a pet as breaking the lease and make life very difficult.

You are best getting a place that explictly allows reptiles and making sure it says that in your lease.

i rent out some duplexes and we allow pets on a case by case basis. we started doing this quite awhile ago and it usually works out really well. ive never had anyone ask about reptiles but even then i dont have a problem with some and some are just always a problem. obviously this also has alot to do with the animal itself.

Any landlord who isn't emo about snakes will let you keep them, for one they are a caged animal who very rarely ever comes out of it's enclosure.

Dogs and cats on the other hand can do alot of damage and thats why landlords typically don't like pets.

I have been looking around for apts. lately and have been having an issue at some places. I normally start out asking if A snake is allowed, not fully indulging 15 to just see if they are ok with it. Some instantly say NO, well actually quite a few have been that way.

I was told that whatever is in a cage or tank is ok. They know I have 3 Bearded Dragons in tanks, but I've never mentioned the 17 BPs. However, they are very pet friendly where I rent. My 3 small dogs are all on the lease.

All m landlords have ever said was to make sure it didn't get out. If it did anything that ensued would be my problem not theirs.

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Originally Posted by TheaN526

How difficult is it to find housing with a snake? I'm unsure of how many places would be okay with it. As long as I have rented by myself I have never seen anything in my lease that says anything specific. Will I have to call different places? Right now I live with my sister and I doubt it would be okay for me to own a snake. I'm not going to go against her wishes at this time as well. She barely tolerates my dog and nearly made me give away my cats(which eventually was nothing at all. I don't think she even likes that I have them but they aren't out in the area downstairs so I guess it's fine for now)

I want to find a place that will allow snakes as well as my dog and cats. My dog isn't with me full time because my mom has a dog that she is incredibly bonded with.

So if anyone who rents would enlighten me on the matter would be great. I am going to start looking ahead of time so I know if having a snake is an option.

Thanks,
Thea

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Where i live they have a no reptiles of any types.I think some have had problems in the past(snake get loose because of ignorant renter).Or they just have ignorant misunderstandings about reptiles.Of course either way you either live under thier rules or go elsewhere :gj:.I had no choice at the time.

Here in tampa, they ask how big and what it's in. They say as long as it's in a cage or aquarium then it's not a problem. My current apt did ask that i keep it inside. i think this is because i live in some ghetto apt and my neighbors might freak out. this does cut back on my summer oustide time with them, but there is a park next door. i guess where there is a will there is a way.

I read in another thread that using tubs and racks are an easy way to conceal them. Although i woudn't recommend that with your sister. My mom was here on vacation and when she found out what was in the tub in my closet, she got in her car and driver the 600 miles back home right then. She hasn't been back since.

I cant say for sure where you live. But I would try to find someone that privately owns a duplex or a apt something like that. I usually found that easier cuz begging and pleading always worked with me , with snakes you do have the "shock" aspect of ppl that arent used to them. I also always explained the high level of care that I provide my animals , educate them a bit sometimes you get suprised how easy it is.

I have had a few landlords turn us down because of the animals, and others that act relieved. Just depends.

Where we are now, as we were looking at the lease I noted "it says no pets?" but there are like 40 cats peering in from the terrase... he laughed and said that he states no pets, but then people bring them anyways.

When asked if I had animals I said (and I am very careful with my language) that I had "some" snakes. He asked if they were in cages... I replied that yes, they are in enclosures. He just shrugged.

So I crossed off the "no pets" and wrote "snakes" beside it and had him initial it next to my initials.

Last thing I would want is having to move because of it.

I would check your bylaws though. I know that one of the municipalities in our area has a bylaw that snakes have to be approved by anyone in a duplex, triplex or apt building. Anyone finds out and complains and they can evict you.

Not so cool if you ever have a fight with a neighbour.

And yes, this was put into effect due to knee-jerk reactions from keepers that could not keep their snakes in enclosures and they were getting loose.

I get that, but at the same time no one cares that cats are perched on my terrase like birds... but watcha gonna do?

Bruce

personally i donrt bring it up and if the owners ever need to come in i built a front to my snake rack that has drawers so it looks like some kind of weird home made chest of drawers. i'm also currently working on thre blueprints to build a new qt rack with a front on hinges that when closed makes the rack look like a nice armoir. i'm planning on making the whole thing out of oak that i'm going to stain to a nice color (and to protect from humidity) and i really want it to be nice looking enough that nobody would think it was anything but a nice peice of display furniture. not that I should need it as we are looking to make an offer on a nice bank owned home this week and ill finally have my own snake building but i still want the fancy qt rack so i can keep them in our family room without any guest being the wiser. maybe my grandma will finally come over if she thinks the snakes are in another building lol

heyyy.. i live in an apartment and im renting.. my place has no problem what soo ever keeping a snake..they are wayyy more concerned bout cats or dogs.. but most pets u keep in a tank or a cage they should caree

I just went through real estate agencies and Craig's List when I was looking for a place. I managed to find a duplex that allows cats, pit bulls, and reptiles. Renter heaven. lol! It just goes to show that they're out there. You've just got to keep looking and don't give up. Also.....not sure if anybody brought this up yet....just because it might say "No pets" doesn't mean you can't talk to the landlord about it. Good luck!

It's been my experience that any place that allows fish will allow reptiles. Dogs, cats,birds etc. all have the potential to be relatively loud (disturbing neighbors) or are somewhat destructive (scratching, chewing). The land lords do not want someone to move in and disturb the neighbors (who will in turn disturb them to complain about you) and they don't want someone to move in that could potentially cause damage costs beyond the deposit. Fish do neither of these, save for a tank busting and causing thousands in water damage. This is where reptiles shine. They're quiet (except for angry tokays) and they they're non destructive....ever. If they're tank busts, there's about 8oz of water to clean up, AND as long as your not keeping very large, potentially dangerous species (burms,retics, 'condas) they normally won't say much.

It helps if you can feed F/T (so they know you won't cause rodent infestation), and it helps if you can lock the enclosure. Furthermore, if you have reptiles roughly the same size as your kids, or larger, they frown on that too.

I really don't understand this.

Most landlords I have experienced, only worry about roaming animals like cats and dogs. If you maintain the place, usually they're cool about contained pets.

I just mean is this a question? Or a statement. My apartments don't allow reptiles.


Oops.

my apartment doesn't allow snakes, though i wasn't told that until 6 months after i got mine. When i signed the lease they said small animals were ok but when i asked later, 10 months later, they said no reptiles. So i denied having one and moved my snake from a aquarium to a tub so i can hide it if i need to.