I need urgent advice on my apartments no pet policy

[wolfayal]

this is word for word what my lease says
"Pets are not permitted in or about the apartment, except for animals assisting disabled or handicapped person and fish in an aquarium that can be no larger than 10 gallons."

My thing is, they use the word "pet" only. And the official definition of pet as from dictionary.com is: "any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately.

My snakes and dragon are neither tame or domesticated, and none are companions. And I do not care for them "affectionately".

Frankly saying they're not pets nor are they tame or domesticated would just make your landlord even more inclined to evict you, because that logic you're saying you have wild animals in your apartment.

I'm sorry that you're looking at losing a large chunk of change, your animals, or the roof over your head, but on the other hand you chose to twist the rules. It's nice that your neighbors and maintenance people had no problems, but ultimately your landlord makes the choice as he owns the building. If you had mentioned to him up front or asked if you could pay a deposit before got the snakes, he probably would have been okay. So now as opposed to a $500 catch-all pet deposit, you're looking at $700 fine.

That's also incredibly unfair to your animals to put them in a situation where it was a matter of time before you were caught. It's your responsibility to wisely care for them, and an uncertain living arrangement does not meet that requirement.