Hello,  My soon to be 14 year old wants a lizard as a pet - really badly.  I have no problem with that, however my concern is if we can take the little reptile back to the US when we PCS.  I would hate for him to get attached and then not be able to keep his pet.  I have looked at American and United Airlines and cannot find any information regarding anything other than cats and dogs.  Does anyone out there have any information they would be willing to share?

Thanks!

Contact your on base vet. They should know if you can and what you will need to do to get them back to the states.

But a shot in the dark on this one I would say no. Not on any sort of MAC or commercal flight atleast. Reasons for this are lizards,snakes, turtles, ect do carry salmina and other not so great things on thier skin. They are cold blooded and can die very easy in the air because of chaning in temp. Also depending on the type of reptile ect that you have they might not have a 4 chamber heart meaning they might not be able to take the rapid changing of altitude very well. So the traditional way of shipping pets isnt a go I think.
ow I did own lizards when I was 14 and I did get some in the mail. I know this sounds odd but they packed them in special containers with dry ice around the out side so they would hibernate. Also it had to be 24hour shipping and they usually used some sort of pet shipping service not UPS. The good places that shipped would offer a 48hour money back grarntee because not every lizard ect is going to take the forcing of thier body temp down to make them lethargic well. And making them lethargic is importan because it keeps them from getting out of the box and getting loose before they get to you. So a better question would be is there a service out that that offers shipping reptiles through the mail from here?

Rea,

Thanks so much for your feedback. Kind of what I was thinking, but I will contact the Vet Office on Yokosuka and try to be certain. My son agrees with what you wrote and thinks if it is going to be so difficult he will just wait. Alas, so many great experiences living overseas, but makes pet owning so complicated.

Thanks again.