New Petition for Reptile Ownership

Hey Everyone,

If anyone could take the time to sign this and share it would be great. I know this only effects a small portion of the reptile world but for those of us in uniform it would be amazing if we could get enough people on board so us and our families living in on post housing could no longer be forbidden from owning something as simple as a ball python. Thank you for your time and here is the link:

https://www.change.org/p/amend-the-army-pet-policy

Signed :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I grew up as a Navy kid, and I know that a huge problem on military bases is people moving and leaving their pets :/. We were told that was why other kinds of pets weren't allowed---because they didn't have any way to deal with left-behind pets that weren't cats or dogs. I'm not sure what can be done to raise the responsibility levels of military families.

Not sure when that was but I am active duty currently and live on post, aside from maybe a few isolated incidents here and there though this is relative news, though then again the majority of reptile owners are usually responsible care takers given the level of care compared to a dog or cat. Something like that though would be easy enough to deal with as long as they stayed in contact with local rescue groups and shelters given you can find a reptile group for almost every city in the US on facebook so it would just require a little more social media effort, something which they are already focusing on in other areas.

Soldier, this is not a good idea. The Army has changed a lot since my time but a petition? Really? I wouldn't have dreamed of doing that in a million years. Do you have a combat MOS? I was an 11B2V. I didn't know where I was going to be from moment to moment. I could get a call in the middle of the night and just be gone for a month and my wife would have no clue where I went or when I would be back. Who takes care of these animals when the soldiers deploy? Don't tell me family. It is your responsibility. Soldiers have enough problems taking care of their families let alone snakes. I barely had enough time to wipe my butt most of the time let alone have a reptile habit. The rules have to be the same for everyone. This is a serious no-go. I absolutely would not do what you are doing. Wave making is not a good thing and your commanders have more important things to deal with than this crap. Please rethink this. Hooah?

To others, please do not sign this. This soldier is making problems for himself.

Well, the families live in base housing too, and may wish to keep different kinds of pets, not just the soldier himself. There are more dependents than active duty on any base that has dependent housing.

But if they allow it in US base housing they'd have to allow it in overseas base housing too. And there may not be the resources for dealing with escaped and left-behind pets. I'm guessing there's a good reason for their policies and they didn't just make them up to annoy everybody.

Signed. If you are responsible enough to die for our nation, who am I to say you shouldn't own a pet?

I got my 1st Ball Python in 1990 when I was stationed down in Biloxi, Mississippi, but I lived in off base housing then. I transferred to Seattle in 1991 and lived in housing there for 3 years till they sold the housing and turned it into low income housing :confusd: then another 2 years off base there. Then transferred up to Homer, Alaska in 1997 in on base housing for the next 2 years. Up until this time there was no mention about having snakes in military housing as far as I can remember or read in any of the fine print. Then in 1999 I got orders to Kodiak Island, Alaska and it said Absolutely NO Snakes in Military housing :colbert: so I had to find a home for Monty after I have had him for 9 years. My kids were devastated that Monty couldn't go with us.

Sometimes rules are rules and you have to abide by them.

I retired in 2007 and didn't get back into snakes till 2013.

Jayare

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Originally Posted by AntTheDestroyer

Signed. If you are responsible enough to die for our nation, who am I to say you shouldn't own a pet?

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In this case you do not know enough about the situation to know one way or the other and I am not saying this in a derogatory tone, just an informative one. Unless you have served or at least lived as a military family member you cannot understand why rules like this exist. I could go through miles of explanation but this is not the place for it. The short explanation is that you basically sign any rights you have away when you join the service. There are some rules that are basically bull, but most are there for good reasons. I am trying to help this soldier. This is absolutely not the correct or effective way to accomplish something in the military and honestly in this case the soldier is wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

In this case you do not know enough about the situation to know one way or the other and I am not saying this in a derogatory tone, just an informative one. Unless you have served or at least lived as a military family member you cannot understand why rules like this exist. I could go through miles of explanation but this is not the place for it. The short explanation is that you basically sign any rights you have away when you join the service. There are some rules that are basically bull, but most are there for good reasons. I am trying to help this soldier. This is absolutely not the correct or effective way to accomplish something in the military and honestly in this case the soldier is wrong.

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No offense taken. I agree I know nothing of what it is to be soldier. That being said if a service member ask a simple task of me I refuse to ignore it. If you believe this person is wrong I think you need to approach them, maybe over a private conversation.