BTS as an Emotional Support Animal?

[BubblesTheSkink]

Hello all, I have what may be a very strange question.

Does anyone have experience registering their skinks as emotional support animals, or think it could be a good idea? My girl Bubbles is very therapeutic and helps me a lot, and I would like to be able to bring her more places. Emotional support animals require no special training and basically just need to assist you emotionally. I already take Bubbles to some appointments and let her run around outside quite often, so I think this could be beneficial. Feel free to share your thoughts, thanks

[Janella]

That would be amazing! I don't know how go about doing this, but I sure would be interested in learning more.

[Dakota]

I really do not have an opinion on this, but I can imagine this would be very stressful for the animal. They are ectothermic, which brings up the issue of proper temperatures during an "outing".

[Janella]

I thought of this as well Dakota. It is hard to say. I know alot of educational facilitities that use them for demo's, but that is usually for a couple of hours at a time. Noodles is in training for that. We love the idea of educating the public on proper care and husbandry. Anyways, they always have warming options so the skinks get cold. I still have no idea how an emotional lizard would work. I know alot about it with canines, but never in lizards.

[Nae]

Definitions may be different outside of Aus but are you sure it is "Emotional Support" youre wanting and not a therapy animal?

Again, definitions may be different, but here in Aus an emotional support animal has no rights in public. You can register (pretty much) any animal as an emotional support animal. These animals are essentially just normal pets, with the added benefit of being allowed in some housings that dont allow pets. (So if you wanted to move into an apartment that didnt allow pets you can show the emotional support animal paperwork and get your skink in). When it comes to going out you can request to bring your emotional support animal, but unlike say a guide dog places have the right to refuse your animal.

Therapy animals are ones trained to go to places like hospitals and such to help make people happy and improve quality of life stuff like that. And also to provide treatments like therapy horses that help with physical ailments (I dont have as much knowledge on this as ita not something i have looked into for myself~)

I am currently going through stuff to hopefully obtain a service dog. Service animals are the ones with the legal rights to access most public spaces like shops and public transport. The most commonly known service animals are guide dogs for the blind, but they can also help with other things like helping deaf and hard of hearing people or people suffering from things like ptsd. These animals undergo fairly strict training, testing, regular retesting etc.

Getting your skinky registered as an emotional support animal should be fairly simple. Generally you may need a letter from someone like a Dr to state that your pet does help you from a medical point of view.

(I had an uber quick look into American sites regarding the differences between service/emotional/therapy animals in your country and lets just say I got confused ahaha some websites seem to use emotional support and service interchangeably??? Ill have to have another look when im out of hospital and onto a decent computer )

[BubblesTheSkink]

While I don't now an awful lot about it, I do know someone with an emotional support chinchilla that I believe he can bring more places than a regular pet. I would most likely keep her at home in the winter, but when it's just a little chilly I could use disposable heat packs to keep her warm. As long as she's in my arms, she generally does not seem stressed, and I most likely wouldn't be taking her out for long periods of time.

Thanks for the responses!

[Susann]

Not quite sure what exactly it is you're looking to do or accomplish with your skink as an emotional support animal...? Like Nae I'm wondering if you're using the right term for what you have in mind...

I think the confusion for most people comes from not understanding the differences in the 3 terms commonly used (in the US) for animals that assist people: service animal, therapy animal, and support animal.
A "service animal" is an animal that is trained to work, or perform tasks, for people --generally single individuals or owners-- like guiding the blind, picking up/grabbing things, pulling wheelchairs, or alerting the owner -or people around the owner- prior to/during medical episodes.
A "therapy animal" is an animal used in various therapy treatments, both physical --like encouraging people to keep walking, teaching kids how to crawl-- and emotional --like calming down/cheering up elderly or hospitalized people, giving support to people learning to deal with scary situations.
I can tell you that most therapy animal organizations consider reptiles untrainable and unpredictable, which they say lends them unsuitable for certification.
An "emotional support animal" is an animal used by the owner for emotional (duh ) assistance rather than doing tasks for them. I'm sure you may be able to register your skink as your ESA, but that does not let your skink be of assistance to others. And where having your skink registered as an ESA may allow you to take her some places where reptiles may not generally go, I would highly doubt that it would be very many places at all due to: 1) some people being deathly afraid of reptiles --so a no-go in a lot of indoor establishments and on most public transportations-- and 2) being possible carriers of salmonella --so not allowed in any medical or treatment facilities, nor in any place where food is sold or consumed.

Don't know if that answered anything for you...

[Scincus]

What Nae said is basically how it is in America. ESAs get no extra rights besides being protected against housing discrimination, and I believe they can be brought on airplanes. Other than that though I don't believe they get any special treatment.

[Susann]

I believe they can be brought on airplanes.

Some mammals may be brought into the cabin on airplanes, but no airline in the US allow reptiles inside the cabin, not to my knowledge unless something has majorly changed in the last couple years.