Perhaps just try asking about reptiles or tank pets in general? If they say it's fine to have tank pets like reptiles or fish without any addendum or modification to the lease then that would be far better than lying and will also help people not slam their doors at the mere mention of the word "snake" and may provide some kind of protection from eviction. Someone else might want to weigh in on this method, as some landlords can still be unreasonable about things like this. When I moved my lease was unclear about tank pets, which means that they can basically interpret it however the leasing people choose to. Maintenance had to come in from day one because my apartment was in poor shape, but refused to come back when they found out about my snakes. The management is saying that the lease says no to exotic pets, which means the snakes can't stay but our bearded dragon is fine? Also yes, we were only ever able to get emergency maintenance (which is a separate team) out when the washing machine hookup out on the patio started flooding.
Certain other life changes already made it so I was going to have to rehome most of my collection anyway, but having that smack you in the face just sucks. Sure, I might have been able to rope a real estate lawyer or some kind of legal something in to force my apartment people to come out and fix their property, but that's not something I wanted to fight with or pay for. Fighting with your landlord is not a fun experience and certainly not a gamble I would advise you or anyone else to take.
