Experiences with moving out with animals?

[ClarinetPhoenix]

I found that in my area(and it will vary from area to area). That larger complexes will have more rules and regulations and the company that owns the building is more likely to be more strict about the rules on paper. You do NOT want to be caught with pets not on the lease and undisclosed, especially if the manager fears them, which is a common case with snakes.

I personally ended up renting in an older, out of the way slightly rundown 50 unit complex of a small company with a chill manager. When I went in for the tour and to apply I asked "Are reptiles allowed?" and he had replied "yeah as long as its in its cage most of the time". I didn't mention that I was moving in with three snakes, or that I was in the process of purchasing a 4th, I said nothing about how big they were gonna get or what species they were. On paper, I only have one cat, and nothing in the lease forbids caged pets.
He's been in several times. I keep the place clean, I pay my rent, I'm not difficult. I'm pretty sure he knows about my second cat, the one not on the lease, but he hasn't said anything about it. Anywho, back on topic.

In my experience in asking around, if I mentioned "python" and then said "oh it gets x long but it can't even harm a small dog" I often got a "ummm no". The lack of education and immediate unknown and fear factor from a lot of managers is what draws that no from people in the first place.

My original plan, before I found my rental was to create a folder, with details about my current reptiles, how I'm keeping them, what size food they were eating, what they were eating and what safety measures I was taking to ensure they would not be a problem. Locking cages etc etc. Complete with pictures and such to show that they really are not large dangerous animals. I never got that far because realistically I knew I didn't have much of a chance with larger complexes and with FOUR snakes I wasn't about to lie about what animals I'm keeping. All I need is for a maintenance guy to come in, see my four giant apcages, and boom either the snakes go, or I do.

So my advice is to look for smaller complexes, or as you were thinking, multi-tenant rentals where you're more likely to run into someone who is a little lenient about the rules. Or is more reasonable because they understand that your 1700g snake is not likely to cause any damage to a unit, while even the most well behaved dog or cat is still going to cause some wear and tear and require a cleaning before the next tenant.
Smaller places you're less likely to run into practices where they like to have a higher in-out rental turnover because deposits and move-in costs bring in the $$$$. Larger places will also likely find any reason to kick you out if they think they can rent your unit for much more with a new tenant. If you move in with your reptiles and are given the "ok" they are a liability as a reason to get kicked out for "violating the lease" later on when its convenient.

Smaller complexes usually are not trying to make lives difficult, turnover is lower, they benefit from having long-time stable renters, because its hard for them to turn over a new unit. If you prove out to be a good renter, good history, good income, not a liability you may find you might get some leeway with a few house rules.