Large Collections and Apartments

[beanersmysav]

I'm really looking for an apartment soon. I was just wondering how many of you have been successful finding an apartment or house for rent where the owner didn't care that you had a ton of reptiles. I've got 17 so that may scare most owners away. I know all people vary but just wondering of others luck, and success.

[Katt]

We asked if tanks were ok and they said, ok and so we moved in with our snakes in tanks!

[mykee]

I knew my rights when I had an apartment in Toronto. However, I was also not cocky to the point where I would flash my animals around for all to see knowing that the law was on my side. My landlords knew, and they were respectful of my pets (20 at the time) along with 8 rat colonies of 1.3. I kept the smell to a minimum and they looked the other way. It was a mutual respect thing.

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

BEANERSMYSAV:

Being your in New York, just don' t flush them down the toilet, :)

Actually if you let them know upfront, read the terms to renting at that particular locations, and explain their concerns and questions they have for you........things could turn out rather easy and allowed........its about about respecting each other before hell break loose.

I have never rented but I believe if you do this and do it in a professional manner it can go rather well.

Cya...

Tony

[reptiguy420]

I rent but i aquired all my herps after i moved in.I didnt ask, i just assumed that what my landord didnt know wouldnt hurt him.So far so good, been 2 years without any problems.

[augerdvm]

havent had a prob. here either in apartment. Have only 8 but no probs so far

[The Dom]

I was up front and said what I had
.. land lord repy .. EWWW I hate snakes but theres someone else in the building with some lol

[karmeleon]

I rent a room in a shared house. I have about 3 dozen animals packed into my room with no prob. My landlords live 6 hrs away and so they probably don't know.

[thunder]

i waited until we had almost signed the lease and then said "oh, by the way, i have some pet reptiles." the landlord hemmed and hawed but eventually agreed that i could have them so long as i only brought them up the back stairs.

[BoidKeeper]

Read your lease before signing is all.
Trevor

[JAdkins2451]

You should ask to look at the lease, if there is nothing in the lease stating that you can not have any animals then I wouldnt worry about it to much. A lease is a contract so if you and the landlord signed it, and you than moved in with your reptiles there not to much they can say, unlessit goes against you citys by-laws on what kind of animals you are allowed to posses. I hope this will help you out a little

[marisa]

For me personally, I cannot say I think it's right to own a large collection in an apartment. Well maybe I can't say not right, more like totally inconvienent and annoying.

For one you can never build cages, as you have no garage. No large sink dedicated to reptiles which you most certainly need with a large collection unless you use your kitchen sink. With more snakes it means more chances of escapes into apartments right next door as well which can look bad on the whole hobby if it causes problems. Although that happens anywhere, house or no. I can't imagine living with 100+ animals RIGHT next to where I eat sleep and live either.

This is all my personal reasons for seeing a downside to trying to manage a large collection in a apartment. Not everyone can do it, some can. :D

Marisa

[lostwithin]

It can be a pain to find an apartment mainly because people are ignorant and fear what they don’t understand. I had a few landlords that didn’t care personally but don't allow it because they don’t want to deal with tenants complaints. I had one guy tell me he let someone move in and 4 people moved out because they heard there was a guy with a snake in the building.

In the end you have two choices one is to read the lease CAREFULLY, if there is nothing stating you cannot have reptiles/pets you shouldn’t have anything to worry about if you just move in with them. and not tell anyone.

The second is to just talk it over with the owner/super of the building. I chose to tell my building owner before moving in I didn't feel like running into problems later on. I explained how they were kept and harmless and he had no problem with them. I even went as far as to invite the owner in to see my animals. He has a slight fear of the larger snakes, which was sort of amusing, but he left satisfied that there would be no problems. On top of that there will never be any complaints for him to deal with because nobody else needs to know what I keep, but if anyone else for some reason did find out and complain I know I’m not going to have any problems.

Devon

[beanersmysav]

Well Marissa I don't have a 100 reptiles let alone snakes, and my snakes wont escape. Unless my corn snakes are capable of lifting over 50 lbs off their cage. Which in that case than they can escape. But my monitor has not been able to move the 50 lbs upon his cage thus far so I don't think they will either. And for all the building of cages and stuff like that I still have a house my g'parents own that they have a barn and everything I need to build.

[gonesnakee]

I live in a duplex I rent & even in the summer when I have upwards of 500 snakes I've never had a problem. Mind you I have 2 basic rules I follow: Controlled & Contained". None of my neighbours even knew I had snakes until I told one. Whenever I get a new neighbour in the duplex I explain to them what I do & give them my card just in case something ever did happen, which if you follow the 2 basic rules shouldn't ever. Mark

[clint545]

For sure read the lease first. Alot of leases will state no pets, but alot of times it refers to cats and dogs, as they might urinate and such in the apartment. They might make alot of noise too. If you're in no real set time limit to find a place, then maybe be upfront on a few places about your reptiles and go from there. Good luck!

[rwg]

This applied to Ontario only, but here in ON, you cant be evicted for owning pets unless they cause a problem, or violate the by-laws. You can be turned down in your rental application for having pets though. My landlord doesn't know I have reptiles. Never came up, and I see no reason to make an issue of it.

Roy

[Ptindy]

I live in an apartment as well and thought it was going to be a big deal when I was moving in. I was thinking of ways to disguise my enclosures. But, now that I'm here I don't have to worry about it one bit. The guy who leased me the apartment said meh, whatever, and customer service for the apartment company said no reptiles in an anonymous email I sent them. There is the only one time, that you have to get your reptiles inside your apartment and that's really easy. After that it's all household items from Wal-mart (I don't think too many people actually buy reptile productrs from pet stores) so don't worry about it too much. I took my bigger enclosures inside my place in the middle of the night. I've had no problems besides my collection beginning to move me out of house and home.

Mike

[Will]

I can't imagine living with 100+ animals RIGHT next to where I eat sleep and live either.

That's our arrangement right now(although "only" 30 animals). If anything, having them in close quarters should pretty much force you to maintain a clean(and smell free) collection...

[JAdkins2451]

I think what the biggest problem is, that not many people are knowledgeable on reptiles. Which makes them fear reptiles. Quite honestly if I were walking thru tha hall of an apartment I would rather come across a snake then a pit bull (nothing against pits).

[beanersmysav]

all my animals now are in my bedroom so I keep them extremely clean. My room has always smelled good.

[mykee]

There is also the "little rule" in MANY cities of only being allowed to own three, yes count 'em three pets per household. Whether your landlord likes you or not, this is their ace in the hole.

[marisa]

"That's our arrangement right now(although "only" 30 animals). If anything, having them in close quarters should pretty much force you to maintain a clean(and smell free) collection..."

I am sure it does. I just couldn't imagine it for myself. I keep my stuff spotless and totally smell free even though we have a large house and a seperate area for the reptiles. I would just feel really couped up! :D

Marisa

[Topaz]

In Toronto the legal limit of six applies to dogs, cats, ferrets, and rabbits... any combination of those with no more than 3 of them being dogs.
For other animals there is no limit besides snake size, illegal animals, and venamous, as long as all animals are well cared for and do not cause complaints from other residents.

I moved into an animal friendly building and just mentioned the dog and cat when I was moving in, then brought the hamster, rats, geckos, beardie seperatly. I have a cleaning schedual that involves cleaning out the ferret and guinea pig cage and rat cage EVERYDAY and other cages every 5 days.
Cleaning of equipment is done in the bathroom sink which is designated for such (NEVER use the kitchen sink, use the bathroom sink and clean it well after each use, same for the bathtub if you ever need something bigger for washing cages).

Basically know your rights and tell only what you need to. Why worry people unnecessarily... as long as your animals are contained, cleaned, and well cared for there should not be a problem.
My friend recently moved into a really old apartment over a store and the previous owner had 3 cats she really didn't take well care of. The place reaked and to her horror she found a closet floor CAKED in feces, and since it was an old building the walls were not tight to the floor and fecal matter is stuck in the walls. Its pet owners like THIS that make building owners say no pets.

[Steve]

the way the law sees it reptiles are aqurium pets. Have you ever heard of a law saying u can't have move then 12 gold fish? therefor long as your snakes aren't by-lawed your fine. in ontario it is illegal for any landlord to say no to pets...even if the lease says no pets your still allowed them. In ontario its your right to have pets....only exception to that is for rooming houses or places where you share a kitchen and/or a bathroom with a landlord and his or her immediate family. Your lease in ONT can say NO PETS 50 times.....long as its your regular everyday apartment, on moving day you can walk in with your arms full of animals.

[Odessa78]

My kids and I rent in a nice little 6 plex. I was up front with my landlady about having 1 to 2 dogs as my parents and i share them lol. as well as the reptiles, having 2 kids ages 5 & 8 they tend to tell everybody about their pets, so I figured it was best to be upfront. Our collection has grown quite a bit and my land lady does not mind in the least, when she has been over she enjoys looking at my custom tanks because of all the plants ect, she says they are really pretty but not for her. I did have a couple places though that were not too keen on us moving in with our small zoo, so I waited it out till I found a place that did not mind. I figured it best so i would not run into problems down the road. Some of the neighbours did not like the idea so I invited them over to show them that all was well housed and contained with locks.
Laura-Lee L