what might have gone wrong...

1) what type of heat packs did you use, and what size box? The cloth bag full of iron type stuff use oxygen, so if you used them and your package was sealed up pretty good, the snake may have been suffocated.

2) did you do a test package to see how hot 2 heat packs would take the box to? You may have roasted it...(I've shipped to places like Minnesota in the late fall, without problems. In fact, I usually don't even use any heat packs. One at most, if I'm expecting really cool/cold temps at the fedex hub in Tennesee overnight. Healthy snakes can handle say half a day or so of temps in the low 60s, or even lower; but temps over 100 or so get fatal quickly)

3) maybe you did nothing wrong, and it happened through no fault of your own.


Either way, you'll have to eat this one. IMO, when you make a deal to sell and ship a snake, you are assuming all of the risk. Sorry about the loss. It's especially hard on "the little guy".

On another note, I think its just as important for a seller to "scout" the buyer just as the buyer scouts the seller. I've always feared that I would have a deal go down just like yours did, with the buyer saying he recieved a dead snake. How do you know for sure? How can you be sure you're not getting scammed by the buyer? It's a tough way to do business. When I ship, I pretty much check the tracking like every 15 minutes, and pretty much stay freaked out until they arrive. Fortunately, I've never lost a single animal in shipping...knock on wood.

[ Show Entire Thread ]