Landlord Said the Snakes Gotta Go :(

[JLC]

The first thing you should do, as mentioned, is scan your lease very carefully to see what it says about the animals. If it doesn't strictly forbid them, you may have a solid way to fight his threat. If the property is strictly "no pets" then you may be out of luck on that front.

Even so...it may be worth it to try and work things out with the landlord, without folding under the heavy threat of "Eviction". Anywhere in the US, evicting a legal tenant is no small task for a landlord, and depending on exactly where you live, it could be more than just a pain in his ass. Some states make it really hard to evict in any sort of timely and/or affordable manner.

It sounds scary to be threatened with eviction, but it's not like he can say, "YOU have to be out of here by Monday." He has a legal hoops he has to jump through and he has to give you at least 30 days notice, and in some states, 60 days, bare minimum. If you fight it, it gets even harder. And, we're coming up on the holiday season, winter, New Year's...which is just about the worst time of year to try and find tenants for a rental unit.

So maybe...if you have a reasonable and professional discussion with him and make it clear you won't fold under the threat...he may be willing to work out a compromise, rather than actually follow through with the threat. Of course, you should continue to work out a plan B and a plan C just in case he IS so horrified by snakes that he'd take you to court and risk having his property sit empty for a few months.