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

Quote:

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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.

I signed this although I was never in the military I would have joined up if health reasons hadn't prevented me from doing so. A navy brat should not be denied the chance to keep snakes or other reptiles.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

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.

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Obviously you were in during prehistoric times and yes, I am combat arms 13B. The army including post housing and the atmosphere involved has changed quite a bit, but thanks for trying to shoot it in the foot while its getting started. If you want to talk about wave making etc etc, this is not it and there are dozens of higher priority petitions from included fencing for pets on all installations to other bull poop issues given the Army and DoD's shift in the last several years and the privatization of military living leading to more 'gated community' type housing than anything else. In addition to this I'm not sure of the time you were in, but like I said we have more than enough down time, even the 11Bs I know have a pretty large amount of downtime, like...field for a week once a month if were lucky, off at 17:30, 18:00 at the latest. In all honesty the 'softness' of our fighting force is what made my decision this next June not to re-enlist, but thats a subject for another time. Hell for that matter we know about Field probems about a month in advance and deployments almost a year out, mostly due to draw-down and despite what the officials that be claim, a poopy budget that doesn't allow for the maneuvers and field times. Sad I know, but sadly that's the way our force has become. Currently its focusing on a 'Happy Families = Happy Soldiers' type mentality.

Army medic vet signed. You are allowed cats and dogs. If you prefer reptiles then there should be no discrimination, In My Opinion. I will say good luck with this, LOL.

While I agree that if a dog/cat is allowed a reptile should be too.
My question would then be about the Lacey Act.....
I am in military city USA and right outside of FT Sam Houston ,also growing up with my grandparents and my grandfather who is retired infantry.
I see too many already allowed animals looking for homes because they cannon take with and this doesn't include deployment.
How many service members would then start a petition because they could not take their constrictor with them?
Getting into their animal care is a whole different story, kind of like how they obey local laws....SMH
Too many people that join the service also forget you are now property of the government until your contract expires.
I will also be one to admit that as much as I would have loved to serve 20 years ago I am glad that my hearing had me rejected, our military is not what I grew up knowing anymore.

Lacey Act would still apply although if you read the provision of under 5' it would still restrict sm from having those species given as far as I know the constrictors listed currently under the lacey act all get larger than 5'. The petition asks for 'Non Venomous Snakes 5' or less'.

I served 5 years in the Marine Corps. During that time I can't even begin to count how many times Marines in my squadron were trying to rehome their dogs because they either got PCS'd or were deploying. Rehoming dogs is hard enough, rehoming reptiles can be even more difficult. So while I am a firm believer that you should be able to own whatever pet you want, I found it impossible to keep a pet while I was in. Now I volunteer with a dog rescue and we take in tons of dogs from military families for this same reason. Not sure what a petition will do for you, (it wouldn't have done anything in the corps) but if you are dead set on owning a reptile why don't you take your BAH and move out of base housing?