African Grey and rental not allowing pets?? :(

[SageandBritt]

So a few months back I adopted an African Grey Parrot from a family who could no longer keep him. I absolutely love him. He is sweet, loving, and makes the funnest sounds. I have wanted an african grey my whole life so this has been a dream come true.

However, with finding out I am pregnant my husband and I found we NEEDED to move to a decent home. (We were living in an RV). We had been searching desperately for a place.Then we found an absolutely perfect rental, only 800 a month, that we actually qualify for! So basically our only chance to get a home in time. Plus with no rental history on our part, bad credit, this was heaven sent.

But then they said NO PETS. For some reason I said I don't have pets. I suppose because we so desperately need this place and the lie just kind of popped out And now I dont know what to do. I dont want to hide my parrot. This is someone elses house they are trusting me with. Not that he is eeven messy. But still. And I dont want to say, 'hey wait, I lied!' And risk losing the house. But I would be heartbroken losing Sage (my parrot).

They are such intelligent animals and i'm sure it would hurt him to give him up now that I gained his trust. And I would miss him so. He keeps me company while I am at home all day alone. He's my little buddy and he is part of the family:( should I just hide him from the landlord? How would I even do that? I don't what to do, it's breaking my heart:(

Any advice?

[Lizz]

No pets usually means critter that claw wall or pee on floors. As long as he is caged when you have company and well supervised when he is out so he won't damage the home, you should be okay. Land lords don't seem to complain about aquariums and cages.

When we were apartment dwellers my daughter wanted a pet ferret. I designed a three story cage and my husband (who was working in a furniture company) made it. We put her in the cage when we were not home and no one said anything even though there were apartment employees in and out while I was gone. We moved when we found out how open our apartment was.

[patti]

check into whether or not you can register your grey as a support animal, if you have a medical or psychiatric condition that qualifies. i live in california, and here you are entitled to keep an animal by law regardless of the landlord's policy (reasonable accommodations does not include noise complaints though). and it is not a pet... it is a support animal. for you skeptics out there, there is a ton of literature on the subject that supports the health benefits of keeping animals, to you and to the animal. you have to discuss it with your doctor though.

[marie83]

It depends what country your in, No pets here means no pets at all. Most places that might consider it they say pets negotiable, even when they say pets allowed they usually need to know how many and of what before agreeing.

Whilst you shouldn't have lied might it be possible to approach the landlord telling them you have been given a caged bird since your chat and that your willing to pay extra bond money and/or pay for a professional cleaning of the place when you leave. I wouldn't mention s/he comes out the cage unless asked directly but you will have to do your upmost to make sure s/he doesn't chew and damage anything that's in or part of the house when you move in.

Whatever you agree make 100% sure its written into your contract-insist on it no matter what they say about it not being necessary.

[Lizz]

This is not as big a problem as you are thinking. Most people don't know a thing about birds and assume they are just pretty little things in a cage. Don't volunteer extra deposit for pet. You can always go back to it if you have to.

After you agreed on the rental someone gave you a bird. No big deal to the average person.

Yes, the maintenance men where upset at first when they found a hamster in my bathtub. They thought it was a rat. My neighbor heard the commotion and came to little Rascal's rescue. Then there was nothing more said about it.

[Wolf]

I don't hold other people to my way of doing things as that is not my place, nor my purpose in life, but all I can say is that I don't believe in lying. Your landlord may or may not mind that you have a bird, but you will never know if you don't ask.

[Pajarita]

It's not so much the lie, it's the fact that he can evict you for breach of contract so, if I were you, I would -very innocently- say something like: "You know... when I was first asked if I had pets, I said no because I always understood this to mean dogs and cats when it comes to renting a property but I've been thinking about it and I do have a bird (don't say species or anything), that's not a problem, right?" I am pretty sure they will say it's no problem (most people think of all pet birds as been a canary in a little cage).

[marie83]

Actually Pajarita has the perfect way of putting it- and it would also appear more honest, if it does turn out to be a problem you can then make any of the "offers" I suggested to sway the landlord in to giving the right answer

[SageandBritt]

You guys are awesome, thanks so much! I will definatey talk to the landlord. I wish I wouldn't have lied, I regretted it instantly lol but it was kinda in the heat of the momemt. This is my first rental, so I was scared about messing things up. DUMB lol

I'll do my darndest to convince the landlord. If not I suppose we'll have to rehome him:/ my husband doesn't even want to discuss that possibility, as he is absolutely in love with the bird, and he isn't quite as much of a realist as me. I feel guilty even talking about it as well. I told sage I would never ever give him away (I know he's a bird, and didnt understand, but still).

Just gotta say i'm only 21 and new to all this 'being an adult stuff', and it sucks haha I don't know how everyone does everything! I'm so flustered!

Thanks again guys, bird people rock.

SageandBritt

Ps. I am in the US to the person who was wondering

Pps. I looked up the thing about registering my bird for my depression, but I have to move in by friday. They want us to move in immediately, so not enough time :/

[SageandBritt]

It worked!!!! Sage stays ((((: so happy!! Thank you for the advice guys, you're great.