Well, I can't condone doing anything against your lease. You might want to try and talk to them about it and legitimize your reptiles. Do they allow other pets? My apartment that I live in now was suspect when I first told them, but once I explained they were in cages and weren't harmless they didn't really care (I also made sure to tell every apartment I looked at up front about my reptiles to make sure I had one that was OK with it).

That being said, in my experience the maintenance people don't care. They're there to fix and maintain things, not be an apartment policy enforcer. I'd just cover them up and try and be there when they come.