Amanda Langille and her roommates have no intention of parting with their pets.
"We're not getting rid of them, we refuse," she says. "They're like our children."
Like children, except slithery and with forked tongues.
Langille, 20, and her roommates Mark Steeves, 21, and Tanya Hyslop, 21, have snakes. Three snakes named Aries, Zena and Trident.
Aries is a foot-long baby ball python, Zena is a two-and-a-half-foot ball python and Trident is a four-and-a-half-foot bubblegum rat snake. The pythons are kept in one tank, while Trident gets his own.
Steeves and Hyslop, who are engaged, moved into 232 Doucet Court in January, with Langille moving in three months later.
Their home is part of a seven-building, 25-unit Dieppe Co-op Housing complex.
They say when they moved in and met with staff, they asked about having snakes and were told it was OK. They bought the serpents in April for $200 each and have grown fond of them.
"We've had kids play with them and people have come over to play with them," says Langille.
But not everyone in the housing complex likes having reptiles for neighbours.
"We got complaints from people who were scared by them," says Laurise Cormier, president of the co-op board, which is made up mostly of tenants. "Apparently he was outside with one of the snakes."
The board investigated, found out three snakes were living in the home and had a meeting this week to discuss it. The result was a letter to the tenants, stating either the snakes go or they all go.
They have to get rid of the snakes by Monday or an eviction notice will follow.
"We have a lot of children here and if a snake got out and attacked a child, (the owner) would be responsible and the co-op would be responsible," says Cormier. "He's telling us it's not a danger, but we have to take precautions. These are family units."
Cormier says she wasn't present when the couple moved in and had their initial interview, so she doesn't know if they were told they could have snakes. But she says there is a pet policy that tenants must follow.
"The policy is there, the tenants all know about the policy," she says.
"They bought those snakes after they moved in and they were told what kind of pets they could have."
Cormier, who's lived in the complex for 18 years, says things like hamsters, birds or a single declawed and fixed cat are allowed. Dogs and snakes are not.
Langille says they've never seen a pet policy and they're contacting a lawyer to fight the eventual eviction.
"We were told we were allowed to have them and now we're being told we're not allowed to have them," she says, adding they also have fish, mice and hamsters.
Langille says the snakes are no more dangerous than a dog or cat and they have no intention of giving them up. But finding a new apartment has been difficult because most other places won't allow snakes either.
"They're trying to put us on the street with three snakes," she says.
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