Landlord allows fish and birds, but not chameleons

[Chance1]

So I take my chameleon outside everyday for some natural sunlight and to free range under supervision. Unfortunately my apartment manager came up to me and said that it was allowed and told me to “do what I needed to do”, and left it at that without making a huge fuss. She didn’t seem to care more than just letting me know. Though my lease says it’s a 25$ charge per day for keeping the animal. She is 1 of 2 managers and is generally considered more strict than the other but she didn’t have any tone of urgency, and I’m on good terms with her as Ive never caused trouble.

I figure I could just keep him in his cage and free range on indoor plants, and just find some way to take the day off and take him to the park during the Bi-annual apartment inspection, and hide his cage along with the plants/lights/ect.

Unfortunately I have no way of contacting the actual landlord as there is almost no information about the company that actually owns my complex. As I would prefer to go the honest route and see if I could work out some sort of extra deposit or something considering they’d be okay with me having a cockatiel. But unless I ask the manager, which I doubt I will get any sort of support to compromise; I’m not really sure why to do from here.

Yes it’s my fault I didn’t ask beforehand but I figured an antisocial chameleon is much less of a nuisance than a bird in a cage. So I’m trying to decide between 3 options.

1. Rehome him and sell all of my equipment that I’ve spent over 1k on.

2. Be sneaky about it since they have to give 48 hour notice before entering my apartment

3. Somehow manage to convince the manager to see if I can work something out and possibly get in contact with the actual landlord who probably doesn’t even know what the property looks like. (highly unlikely as I’ve already asked the manager and gave the “if one person does it we have to allow all people to do it” sort of thing).

I live in Washington state if that matters.

 

[Chance1]

Also I should mentioned that I am clinically diagnosed with a personality disorder from the VA by a licsenced psychologist. I could probably ask my therapist to have him labeled as an emotional support animal. But I do not know the law or if a chameleon could be listed as a ESA. Though I’m sure my therapist would do it in a heartbeat if this would be a good workaround.

 

[Beman]

Ok so I ran into this issue moving back to AZ... In Flagstaff all of the apartment complexes have a no reptiles at all policy. It does not matter what it is. I was told this is to ensure that there were not dangerous reptiles being brought in, complying with their insurance regulations, and to not have issues of infestation from the feeders we use. Every single complex told me it was an automatic eviction so I found a townhouse to rent that would allow one.

In your case I would look into the emotional support animal route. I am not sure if the rules etc.. But if people can have miniature horses why not a chameleon. lol

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."my lease says it’s a 25$ charge per day"... PER DAY?????
Like $750 per month?? That's insane.

I'd go the ESA route too.

 

[Chance1]

So I just got a hold of my therapist and she’s writing the ESA letter right now lol. Crossing my fingers my manager accepts it.

 

[JacksJill]

A lot of chameleon cages look like bird cages. Sorry, I'm not a good moral compass when it comes to chameleons. I allow my renters to have "aquarium" pets.

 

[Beman]

So I just got a hold of my therapist and she’s writing the ESA letter right now lol. Crossing my fingers my manager accepts it.

Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Mangler]

That's my fear also being an apartment dweller. (sold house and not buying for a while)
It is ridiculous for sure, but I could see how some Cham owners can really ruin it for all of us with feeders and not keeping a tight control of them.

 

[Jpeff]

It's not just feeders. Water damage is a big thing too. You should always know rules before you rent. I'd look for new place or rehome him. If was me. Won't be fun getting kicked out at last minute. Then you and cham need place.

 

[Mangler]

I agree, but water damage could come from anything, its not just directly related to cham keepers.

 

[Beman]

I was told by 8 different apartment companies that it was a firm policy based on their insurance... So I don't know. They allowed smaller birds but not large birds because of noise complaints. They also did not allow certain dog breeds based on their insurance and only domestic cats.

My current landlord had never allowed reptiles. However we had wonderful references even with that she would only allow 1 chameleon. She too had a concern of water damage. Even though I have a great set up that does not leak she was not familiar with chameleons much less reptiles and was only comfortable with 1 chameleon.

 

[Chance1]

It's not just feeders. Water damage is a big thing too. You should always know rules before you rent. I'd look for new place or rehome him. If was me. Won't be fun getting kicked out at last minute. Then you and cham need place.

I have 5 aquariums and that’s completely fine lol.

 

[jamest0o0]

If the ESA doesn’t work, just be sneaky

My last place had pretty nice landlords. I convinced them to let us have cats and the chams(they weren’t really familiar). My one cat clawed their wall up and my mister messed up some of the trimming(without me knowing until I moved the cage). I’m sure they changed their policy after that . To be fair to myself… I told them about it and paid for it to be repaired…. Nothing too bad.

Here it would be pretty dumb to allow fish and birds, but not reptiles. I haven’t seen anything like that. In other areas I could understand the concern for feeders. Still think it’d be a super long shot to cause a legit infestation with any types of feeders, but a few could be a nuisance in some warm areas(red runners, lobsters, etc).