A Skink Owner's Worst Nightmare

[Dakota]

First off, let me tell you the whole story.

It all started yesterday night, when my cousin (whom I live with) got an email from the Landlady, saying we were voiding the lease for keeping reptiles, and that we have 7 days to get rid of them. I went into panic mode, I stayed up all last night crying and even had 3 panic attacks to the point my arms and legs were going numb. But after I messaged Kris (friend on FB), she calmed me down a lot. I finally went to sleep at around 2 am or so. I was so messed up last night, I gave myself a MASSIVE headache, as well as my knees aching (which isn't uncommon). I woke up feeling pretty fine, as if it were all a dream, I tried not to dwell on it, and I even went out to buy Virginia her new big cage because it just all seemed surreal. We finally got a hold of the Landlord, in hopes it was all just a misunderstanding, but went my cousin got on the phone with him, he was being a flat out arse. He said that we never told him that we had reptiles, or he simply did not hear us. Pets being allowed was a #1 thing for us, a maker or breaker.. and it was the first thing we asked him, originally he was okay with them. He said no pets was mainly for cats and dogs since they "*tick and *my stars!" everywhere. But no, he changed his mind. Also note, I live in a duplex, and as soon as we moved in, our neighbors moved out. He asked my 2nd cousin to help him clean for money, and she agreed. He said he was being very touchy with her, and of course she didn't not like that. She told her mom, which is my 1st cousin, and she confronted him. That is why I think he is being such an airhead*, excuse my language.

We don't have the money to just move out, since signing the binding contract, we don't have much "power" if there were a case, although my father is going to call around to see if there is anything we can do.. which I'm not putting too much hope into anything. I have already found homes for most of them, I will giving them to people I think deserve them.. hopefully they will post pictures of them once they get them.. it would mean the world to me.

These skinks have brought so much happiness to me, I'm just not sure what life would be like for me without them.. I will literally have nothing to do anymore, my whole world revolved around skinks, and they are just getting taken away.

[Kurt]

That's so awful! I'm sorry!

[SmaugTheBluey]

I feel so bad , the landlord cant do that unless its stated on the lease that no pets are allowed, there's gotta be a loophole somehow, maybe you could rent out a storage unit and house them there, a family member/ neighbor/ good friend could watch them until its worked out? If he's being an airhead I suggest finding any sort of thing wrong and threaten to call the health department, basically blackmail him until he breaks. You said he was originally fine with it so he cant legally touch or evict the reptiles unless on the lease, I've seen this situation but with dogs instead of reptiles on judge/ peoples court shows. I really really hope this works out for you!!! stupid lanlords!!!

[jdheff1982]

That's a bad deal, Dakota. You definitely need to find your copy of the contract and make certain what it says about pets applies to your situation. It really sounds like the renter is being a butt head and taking his aggravation out on your pets. IMO, if the contract contradicts what the landlord says, you could take him to civil court and fight it and most likely win. You have the knowledge on these animals, the landlord doesn't.

When I was apartment hunting this time last year, my number one deal breaker was being able to keep reptiles. Sadly, many of the nicer looking apartment communities didn't want them. They feared the animals would escape and breed with the local reptiles *facepalm*. Anyways, I couldn't live in the small town I was in; so had to move to the larger city, Wichita. Found a decent place who doesn't mind the reptiles at all.

Hopefully this will all work out for you.

[Dakota]

The lease does say no pets, but when we asked him about that in the beginning, he said it was mainly for cats and dogs, not reptiles.. but who knows. I have been working with some outstanding people lately that will be willing to board them for me until we a) move out (11-12 months or shorter) or b) take it to court, but until then, they have to go until the time being. It is such a relief that I don't have to get rid of them forever.. and such a relief that there are still nice, caring people left in this world. I will give a special thanks to them when this is all set in stone.

[jdheff1982]

The lease does say no pets, but when we asked him about that in the beginning, he said it was mainly for cats and dogs, not reptiles.. but who knows. I have been working with some outstanding people lately that will be willing to board them for me until we a) move out (11-12 months or shorter) or b) take it to court, but until then, they have to go until the time being. It is such a relief that I don't have to get rid of them forever.. and such a relief that there are still nice, caring people left in this world. I will give a special thanks to them when this is all set in stone.

Well that sucks. Since the contract simply states "No Pets", the landlord has the right to refuse whatever animal you bring in. However, this could have been avoided if the contract had been amended at the beginning to include the acceptance of reptiles since the landlord did verbally agree to it. Sadly, nothing can change that now. I am happy to read you know people who will help you out.

Best of luck to you and your skinks.

[Kurt]

I wish you the best of luck. And I hope you are reunited with your skinks as soon as possible. I always appreciate your posts and hope you continue to be a presence on this forum.

[hydra and sandis]

I am so sorry if I had to get rid of my skink I would be very upset I hope you can keep your skinks

[Dood]

That does suck

Do you have any messages, emails, texts or other written proof that he knew you were moving in with reptiles and only complained now after the issue with your female cousin?

A buddy of mine had a similar situation and I housed her small group of Leopard Geckos for a few months until she found a new place - at least now you know to get a written and signed consent for your critters and not to trust a landlords word

[Dakota]

No, it was all verbal. I have a witness saying he did say that, so we could have a case, but if we ever lost the case, we could face eviction AND have to pay up to a year lease, since our lease is a 1 year contract.. so I'm nervous about trying to take them to court. I'm desperately looking for a part time job, so my father and I can move out and find an apartment that allows pets. Just on my father's income we wouldn't be able to afford all the monthly bills.

[Richard.C]

Best bet in these situations is trying to talk calmly to landlord,court action ect just leads to more of the situation your in now,negativness and cattyness

Id aim to let things settle then perhaps calmly talking to landlord again,he had no issue originally ,and sounds like the situation caused the issue,try not to stress,and hopefully common sense will prevail

[Dakota]

We are actually looking at places, but like I said, the lizards will have to go until we actually do find a place.

BUT, I would just like to thank the WONDERFUL and OUTSTANDING people that will be boarding them for me until either a) we move out or b) our lease is up.

Susann - THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking Virginia in for me, I just know you will love her sweet personality, and if you decide to breed her, I hope she does good for you!

Kris (MoshpitExotics) - THANK YOU for getting this rescue/ boarding thing started! At first I was just going to give my babies up to people I thought were willing to take them/ deserved them, but after a few days, I realized I couldn't do it, and you are the one that made it possible for all this to happen! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I just know you will love London!

Diana (DianaBlueTongue) - I know this is verbatim, but THANK YOU, too!! You will be taking the biggest load of them all, which includes Xaunder, Ema, and Hunter. I even said you could breed them, and keep the profit, but you still insisted to give me the profit if the breeding takes, to help my Father and I out.. I cannot express how awesome it is what you are doing.

Debbie (dsteamn) - You will taking Maxx, Riley, and Alice, and again, THANK YOU, as well!! I know this is your first shot at Halmaheras, and trust me, you will be hooked on them once they have stayed with you for a bit. I also thank you for doing this on such a short notice!!

I'd also like to thank Liz and Denise for also being willing to take them in!!

To sum it up, the Bluetongue community is such an AMAZING community, and without everyone, I'd be stuck giving them away and probably not ever see them again. I cannot express how thankful I am, and how much I love you all, although we have out ups and down.

Most (if not all) lizards will being going out Tuesday, and although I will be getting them back, it is going to feel like forever until then. And I have to say, shipping reptiles is SUCH a stressful thing to do, this is my first time shipping out anything, and I feel like my brain is about to explode!

Again thanks everyone for the kind words and help, it means a lot to me. I don't know what I'd do without you all.

[Richard.C]

Haha,yeah shipping when u havnt done it before can be stressful,usually the load comes off after you drop it all off for shipping,or if not after they reach there destination and you get the all good from recievers,hope everything works out for you,and its great these keepers will look after them for you in the mean time

[Fatal_S]

Sorry to hear Dakota. That is definitely a nightmare situation to be in; I'm glad you've got some friends who are stepping in to help out.

Shipping can be very stressful. If possible, I strongly suggest using proper reptile-shipping supplies and a dedicated reptile shipping company. That said, if you have any shipping questions I'd be happy to chat about it.

I know you've received many skinks, so you probably have a good idea of the best ways to pack them for shipping. I'll add a link showing how I pack mine up here too: http://melsexotics.com/shipping-across-canada/

Best of luck to you and your critters

[acanthurus]

Hi Dakota,

Sorry to hear about your problems. I had a similar situation in one place I was renting. Ended up building a custom set of cupboards in the garage to put all the enclosures in. Could close and lock the door and you would have no idea about what was inside.

I don't know why people get so upset about reptiles - should be much less of a worry from a landlords point of view than a dog or a cat, but I guess the only stories they probably see are of people on the news hiding hundreds of reptiles in dirty little apartments.

[Dakota]

Thanks for that, Mel! Since this was all at a short notice, I did not have time to special order the reptile stuff from any of the shipping companies like I wanted to.. I only have like 4 more days to make sure these guys are out of the house. But I did get 3/4" styro and good sized boxes, as well as pillow cases (never knew pillow cases were so expensive.....!) I will definitely be going through a reptile shipping company, though. SYR is what I'll be using.

It is a shame that they are making me do this, but then again, I guess they do not realize what they mean to me. It is betrayal what he done, but everyone can be forgiven at some point. But I'll be happy when we get out and I have my babies back!!

[dsteamn]

I've been rearranging my lizard room to get ready for our new arrivals. I remember when we bought our baby from Ray to help teach me how to take care of our first rescue, Stubbs. He told me they were addictive and warned me our house would look like this. Now we have 9 of our own, just sent home 2 fifteen month tenants, now getting ready to take in three more from Dakota. We love them, though, and we're happy to have halhameras on board for a few months. It's so nice to see how everyone jumped in and just fixed this awful tragedy for Dakota. It's really what i love about our community.

[DianaBlueTongue]

^^^ I completely agree, Debbie Its what I love so much about this community as well and I'm so happy to help along with you, Kris, and Susan and am equally as grateful to the other few folks who also extended the olive branch and offer to help.

Dakota isn't just some guy with some skinks in his collection. These lizards are his whole world. They are what make him happiest in this world and what drive him to follow his dreams of studying them in college and beyond. To give them up permanently would be devastating, not only because theyre beloved pets but because it could have possibly brought to a grinding hault his hopes and aspirations surrounding tiliqua in general for the future.

Dakota, you are by far one of my favorite people ive ever met in any reptile community since I started in it 15 years ago and I'm happy to have Ema, Hunter, and Xuander vacation here as long as they need to. I know it'll be hard not having them around but just remember they WILL be back with you eventually and in the mean time all will be pampered and well taken care of by all of us.

And don't worry, we'll all make sure to spam the crap out of you with pics and updates as often as possible.

My grandmother always used to say "Its always darkest before the dawn."

[MechHAN]

Glad to know things going well enough,you have lots of human friends,your reptile friends 'll be nice and safe and you will reunite with them one day,and that's all the matters...

[Dakota]

They just got picked up by FedEx.. I'm gonna miss them so, so much. Will be a great day for me when I get them back