Anyone in the military?

Hey all!
I am joining the military and have a slight conflict of interest. The lifestyle that comes along with it is hardly conducive to the number of snakes we have. Anyone in or has been in with snakes? Ball pythons are black listed so living on base is a no. My husband wants to sell our collection and start over down the line, we have some nice snakes, and I would hate to see them go. Has anyone been in this situation or been in the military with snakes? We have 25, and two clutches on the way, so of course we would have to downsize, what is a more manageable number for the amount of moving required?

I am thinking we should keep our morph females, and maybe our specter fire male and raise them up, in four years if/when I get out we will have some nice breeding sized females, and can invest in another multi-gene male to cover them. If we need to sell them, keeping them for however long will only increase our return as breeding sized females are valuable assets. Advice?

I've been hauling snakes around with military moves for the last seven or eight cross-country moves. It's very challenging and there are some major roadblocks you may encounter that you'd have no control over. As you noted, you can't live in military housing...which can be a huge problem for someone new to the military, but not an insurmountable one for a married couple.

I only have five snakes. (And a bearded dragon for a few moves before we rehomed him.) I can imagine doing this with maybe two or three more snakes, but that would be my absolute limit. Sometimes, when you move, you can be several weeks between houses and the logistical issues involved in keeping/hiding these animals in hotel rooms or temporary housing can be both tricky and very risky. (I lost a $1000 snake during one move! :O :tears: )

You may also get sent overseas or to Hawaii, either of which would mean you absolutely can't take your animals with you. You have to have a plan in place for such a situation.

My advice...imagine yourself doing a cross country move, driving through the southwest deserts in the heat of the summer...with at least two weeks between permanent homes....and figure out ahead of time how many animals you can transport during this transition and how, exactly, you would go about doing so. Also, imagine all the worst-case scenarios with regards to getting sent overseas or forced to live in base housing or being unable to find a place to live that allows your animals.....and have a specific plan in place for dealing with those situations as well.

Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by mrachelr

Hey all!
I am joining the military and have a slight conflict of interest. The lifestyle that comes along with it is hardly conducive to the number of snakes we have. Anyone in or has been in with snakes? Ball pythons are black listed so living on base is a no. My husband wants to sell our collection and start over down the line, we have some nice snakes, and I would hate to see them go. Has anyone been in this situation or been in the military with snakes? We have 25, and two clutches on the way, so of course we would have to downsize, what is a more manageable number for the amount of moving required?

I am thinking we should keep our morph females, and maybe our specter fire male and raise them up, in four years if/when I get out we will have some nice breeding sized females, and can invest in another multi-gene male to cover them. If we need to sell them, keeping them for however long will only increase our return as breeding sized females are valuable assets. Advice?

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What MOS you going for?

My husband is a former Marine, so he has a pretty good idea of how these things work, I am of course a little more optimistic, I would think it would be possible to ship the snakes to ourselves (rather than truck them)... but as I said that may be a little naive and more optimistic than reality.

I appreciate your response it is honest and really it comes down to what sacrifice is necessary possibly for the safety of the animals. I have kept snakes for almost 10 years, lost my entire collection when I was younger and got the short end of a trade. I have had to rebuild once before, it is exhausting. But then again so is losing animals, and moving with more stress than necessary! We live in Michigan so they will be moved across the country at least once.

I haven't fully decided on a job just yet and I get the job they tell me I get, I go to MEP's later this month. I am leaning towards Public Affairs, or Medical in the AF.

I'm prior service ARMY. Since your married you will either have the option to live off base and receive funds for the expense or live in a on post home. I'd say your best bet is to find a place off post and just keep your collection. Technically they can come search your home from time to time to assure clean living conditions but that never happens from my experience.

Shipping them to yourself is one possible solution...but there is always a transition period of at least a couple of weeks between houses and having all your household goods delivered...and that is the best-case scenario for a move. It only takes 24 hours to ship...so you have to have someone either hold onto them at your original location and be able to safely pack and ship them once you've moved and gotten settled...or ship them to someone at your new location who can receive and keep them until you arrive.

I am currently in the Army and stationed overseas. I built my collection since ive been here in Germany. It would be next to impossible for me to take my animals back to the states with mr. Luckily for me I am etsing in less than a year and will be missing the next deployment. I am staying here so I will not have to worry about moving the snakes. I personally would not want to do it. Drag my collection around. But should you get stationed overseas you should have the option of doing an unaccompanied tour. At least in the army you do. This means you do a 2 year tour without moving hour spouse instead of the 3 year if you did move him. This option would allow you to keep the snakes. If your spouse wants to care for them.

All good points to consider, I also have to weigh in how much additional work they will be for my husband, right now we tag team them, we take turns cleaning the racks and feeding. We may downsize to our morph females, which is less than 10, or just keep one or two snakes, I don't think I would want to get rid of ALL of them. But it is what it is, and rebuilding is always an option. I would hate to get so burned out moving and transporting them that they lost their joy.

I appreciate all the input.

With my ASFC choice being stationed overseas is an option, but we have an 18 month old daughter so I would at all costs like to avoid an unaccompanied tour.

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Originally Posted by Rob

I'm prior service ARMY. Since your married you will either have the option to live off base and receive funds for the expense or live in a on post home. I'd say your best bet is to find a place off post and just keep your collection. Technically they can come search your home from time to time to assure clean living conditions but that never happens from my experience.

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Must be an Army thing? First person that tries to come inspect my private off-base residence is getting a boot to the face. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by spitzu

Must be an Army thing? First person that tries to come inspect my private off-base residence is getting a boot to the face. :rofl:

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Lol Yeah it never happens, but chain of command can technically do it.

My fiance is in the Military, he drives back and forth between home and base and I stay at home and take care of the animals. It sucks but I couldnt think about getting rid of the animals, mostly because theyre like my babies. But it really depends on how far/close you could live off base, if you have to be on base, all that stuff.. :/ Good luck.

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Originally Posted by mrachelr

All good points to consider, I also have to weigh in how much additional work they will be for my husband, right now we tag team them, we take turns cleaning the racks and feeding. We may downsize to our morph females, which is less than 10, or just keep one or two snakes, I don't think I would want to get rid of ALL of them. But it is what it is, and rebuilding is always an option. I would hate to get so burned out moving and transporting them that they lost their joy.

I appreciate all the input.

With my ASFC choice being stationed overseas is an option, but we have an 18 month old daughter so I would at all costs like to avoid an unaccompanied tour.

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Did you settle on an AFSC then? As an airborne linguist, I didn't have much choice about where I was stationed (3 options, and 2 were overseas). You'll definitely be moving around quite a bit for the first few months as you go through your different training schools (for me this included moving from Texas, to California, back to Texas, then to another part of Texas, then long TDY to Washington, then to Nebraska, and finally to England in the span of 2 years). However once you're settled in, you can sometimes stay in one location for your entire career, especially if its CONUS, and if you have a family, and you make friends at MPF. One of my coworkers had been in England for 18 years, and just received orders keeping him there for 4 more, because he just kept asking to stay, and the government likes to not have to pay to move people. If you have a supportive and snake knowledgeable spouse, it can work, but as others have said you definitely can't be in base housing, although IMO that's a bonus because sometimes there's a wait list for base housing, and you get what you're given.

My wife is in the army we are stationed at ft stewart and honestly living off post is better than on. You have to deal with to much crap on base. No one has ever come to my home to check I have to many guns for that lol. I say keep the collection the hubby will need something to do

Former Marine and i only had a cat because moving all the time and being in the field 24/7 was too riskey.....but then again being a female and the MOS you will most likely have i'm sure youll be fine

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Originally Posted by Mr Oni

Former Marine and i only had a cat because moving all the time and being in the field 24/7 was too riskey.....but then again being a female and the MOS you will most likely have i'm sure youll be fine

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That's what my husband said too...

I haven't decided fully on an AFSC, but I have my "list" solid. I don't want to get my heart set on one and not get it. Hubby got his 4th choice when he went in. Still weighing out what to do with the collection, I'll be in the DEP for at least 6 months, so that gives us a little time. Thank you all for your input!

I don't mind living off base, sometimes it's less hassle to anyway, less restrictions, etc.