Renting with Chameleons

[Olimpia]

No of course, I'm going to tell them about my dog. There's no way I can hide a medium-sized dog that barks and gets a walk three-four times a day. But she's a sweet-heart, I'm not worried about her at all, I've never had a problem renting with her. It's the reptiles I'm worried about!

I think I'm just not going to say anything, and leave it at that. I can hide the geckos really well, so then it'll just look like I have 4 chameleons, and that's not such a big deal. As long as I hide the whole water thing a little, so it doesn't look as if they really pose a "threat" to the apartment, it should be ok.

 

[JCDenton]

I've never had any problems keeping reptiles even when the landlord knew about it. Usually they don't consider them "pets" if they live in an aquarium. Hell, I even had a Severe Macaw that I kept in 4 different apartments during college/grad school and didn't even have to put down a pet deposit down on any of them even though a macaw can potentially do a lot more damage than a dog or even a cat. Generally what they're concerned about is dogs and cats that will ruin their carpet. It's probably different in some place like NY where there is a shortage of housing. I lived in San Marcos, Texas for undergrad and Austin for law school.

 

[sandrachameleon]

When I rented, I was truthful. You dont want to live in fear of being kicked out. MUCH better to live where you and your animals are both welcome. Most landlords just wanted to know if they were dangerous or not. Once reassured that they are small, soundless, smell-free, caged, not poisonous, etc. it wasnt an issue. They were far more concerned about my cat damaging the drapes or the fish tank leaking.

I have also been a landlord. I allowed pets - which ones and such were my choice at time of the rental agreement. if a renter lied to me, even if it was something I would have allowed had they asked, I kick their asses out. If someone will lie about one thing, you cant trust them on anything else.

 

[Olimpia]

I have also been a landlord. I allowed pets - which ones and such were my choice at time of the rental agreement. if a renter lied to me, even if it was something I would have allowed had they asked, I kick their asses out. If someone will lie about one thing, you cant trust them on anything else.

Veeeery interesting. And very true, that's an excellent point. (Edit) I don't think that's necessarily always true though. I might lie about my animals, (my mom doesn't even know about them because the reaction people tend to have is a negative one) but I'm a very honest tenant otherwise. More honest than my landladies, to be honest lol once they called to say that someone had reported seeing my dog (this terrifying 20lb poof - http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1497/minasmilling.png ) off leash, attack a pedestrian, then attack a car and break their windshield! And they wanted us to cover the damages. Needless to say, we demanded to know who the "victim" was to pursue legal action against them and they never gave us that information, despite the fact that they have to tell us by law.

I guess I'm just worried I'll be rejected from the best apartments if I do tell.

 

[draetish]

I agree Olimpia, just because you want to protect your reptiles because alot of people do have negative reactions does not mean you lie about everything else.

 

[morpheon]

I recently moved to a new appartment. While browsing through the different available appartment, my girlfriend and I did some research about which landlord would accept or not a cat and a chameleon. Like a few others said, the chameleon was fine to all but one person, but the cat was 60% no 40% yes.

And like a few mentionned before, you better not lie because you could get kicked out. If they don't think it can be clean and not dangerous, why not make the new landlord visit your actual appartment? If you don't have anything to hide, it could be a great way to prove them that they are harmless.

 

[Olimpia]

I recently moved to a new appartment. While browsing through the different available appartment, my girlfriend and I did some research about which landlord would accept or not a cat and a chameleon. Like a few others said, the chameleon was fine to all but one person, but the cat was 60% no 40% yes.

And like a few mentionned before, you better not lie because you could get kicked out. If they don't think it can be clean and not dangerous, why not make the new landlord visit your actual appartment? If you don't have anything to hide, it could be a great way to prove them that they are harmless.

I wish! But I'm moving across the state, so no one is going to drive three hours to see anything. But I guess if people are saying that they had no problems admitting it then it might not be so bad.

 

[Olimpia]

Well, I just got back from apartment searching in Sarasota and out of the 10-14 places we went to see everyone except one had no problem with chameleons. I had decided to bring along a couple photos of my chams anyway, just in case, and it was a great idea. Most of the people didn't even know what chameleons looked like! And since one of the photos was of Othello on my hand, they got to see that they weren't big at all.

Not once did they ask me what they ate, so it saved me a lot of explaining lol.