Question about snakes and selling a house

Looking for anybody that may have already been through it but we're looking to move in the next year and I'm not sure how well received a basement full of snakes may be by potential buyers. If you've been through it what did you do?

Right now my plan is to greatly reduce my collection down so that I can move it temporarily in my in-laws basement while we show our house and move. I can just put the racks that aren't in use in storage. But it kind of sucks because my in-laws simply don't have the space for me to move my full collection over. So after we get moved I can start and build back up. And since it could take a month or it could take a year I really don't want, nor do I have the funds, to lease some place to keep them in the meantime.

Thanks for any input.

Chris, just an idea, but in today's economy you can get craftsmen (and women) to do carpentry at reasonable prices that would help you and them both. If the critters are in racks, perhaps you can consolidate them into a smaller basement area with rolling room dividers to shield them from sight when the house is shown. You can specify to your real estate agent that you want your home shown only at certain times; during these times you can have your critters enclosed and then just roll everything back in place after the specified time has passed. That way you can keep your collection, and the process of enclosing should not take a great deal of time once you get the hang of it.
You might want an exterior lock on the dividers, as you have absolute liability for any misfortune that occurs because of these snakes, even if some kid along with potential buyers ducks around an unlocked area and opens a cage.

I was just concerned with scaring off potential buyers by having them. I have many friends that know I keep snakes and won't come into the basement. So I can imagine many potential home buyers feel the same. Seems to be hard enough to sell a house right now that I don't really want to reduce the pool of potential buyers by alienating them just because of what I have in the basement.

Snakes are, in all likelihood, going to be a HUGE deterrent to most prospective buyers. Factor in realtors that might not want to show the house, inspectors and assessors that have to come in, AND the fact that people will have in their mind the question of whether any have gotten loose, and the difficulty just got increased tenfold. THEN, if you are unfortunate enough to deal with people that aren't the live and let live sort, any of them could contact the town, or your insurance company, and cause you some real problems. (Even if there are no restrictions on having snakes, having large quantities of anything could put you in a different category - ie "snake farm", or whatever - or, you could find yourself the target of NEW local laws. Also, I know of 2 people that had their homeowners insurance cancelled due to having reptiles - one was after an appraiser was there for a refinancing check, and the other was after a contractor was there to do an upgrade specifically for the animals...don't remember if it was electrical or plumbing).

I was recently in this position, as I purchased a new home last summer....thankfully, I was able to get my mortgage without selling my old house; because there was no way I could have made suitable accommodations for the snakes while I was trying to sell & waiting to move. Even so, I still ran into problems at the new place because I brought over a couple racks of bullsnakes and put them in the basement....the cable guy - here to correct a problem, wandered over to that corner (why, I'm not sure, but he had move a few random ceiling tiles), saw them, then rushed up the stairs and out the door, leaving the job undone.


I do know people that were able to conceal the snakes, in the manner Lucille described, and some that just moved the snakes for the sales period. My advice, if you can't easily and securely hide them, get them out. You could still run into issues with walling them off, because people want to look at everything, and might not be accepting of assurances that there is nothing wrong behind this walled off area, you just can't look.

Thanks that's kind of what I was thinking. I doubt we'll be able to get the new mortgage without selling the old house. I've spent much of the last couple weeks sitting in my snake room listing everything I have and debating what groups it makes the most sense to keep. It just stinks because some of what didn't make the keep list are great animals but I just don't think there's any way I can get all of them moved to my in-laws, they just don't have the space (and while they put up with me keeping snakes, I wouldn't say they're really thrilled with them moving into their place to begin with). I keep having to tell myself to be thankful I can get a portion of them in there and that I don't have to try and sell off all of them.

On the positive note clearing out the snake room will make the house look a lot less cramped as it opens up a lot of space that hasn't been available in years.

Thanks again.

I wouldn't mix pets with home viewings period. I think the in-laws would probably be the best option.

You can also talk to a few of your friends (if you have any like mine) and ask them if they wouldn't mind babysitting a rack or two. I have had to go out of town for a few months (due to family issues) and my friends were more than willing to take over the snakes for me while i was gone. Maybe a few of them wouldn't mind watching some of your snakes, but i bet you it wouldn't hurt to ask! good luck with all of this!

Originally Posted by HecticLifeReptiles

You can also talk to a few of your friends (if you have any like mine) and ask them if they wouldn't mind babysitting a rack or two. I have had to go out of town for a few months (due to family issues) and my friends were more than willing to take over the snakes for me while i was gone. Maybe a few of them wouldn't mind watching some of your snakes, but i bet you it wouldn't hurt to ask! good luck with all of this!

I thought about that but my friends want nothing to do with snakes, and many of them live in apartments/condos where space would be an issue. My in-laws don't really want anything to do with them either but they'd let me put some in their basement but I'd still have to drive over there (about 45 miles one way) to take care of them. My brother could possibly help but that's about 250 miles one way which would be too far to be feasible. So right now the plan is to thin out the collection to the point I can get it into my in-laws basement. Last time we were there I brought a tape measure and I can fit my ARS 7030 rack on one wall and one of my 10 tub AP racks as well as a baby rack on the other wall so I can keep about 40 adults and up to about 30 2011 babies, but that still means I'll need to sell about 60 animals.

Thanks for the input.

well I'm sorry to hear about your friends. maybe look into local pet shops/reptile stores n see if they do boarding? I usually do that with my dragons when I leave home. just a suggestion, hope it helps