I guess not everyone knows this but, almost all the time, the weather here in Minnesota is colder than anywhere in the continental United States. I assumed that most people would check the weather both from the point of shipping and the point of arrival for appropriate temperatures. I always do. In fact, I will not ship to an address where the recipient does not agree to be waiting for them to deliver the box. I tell them FedEx won’t knock. They won’t beep their horn. You must check very frequently to collect the package as quickly as possible the morning of delivery. A delivery to a business is different as they go in doors for those deliveries. In fact, shipping in the summer is far more dangerous than winter. Even a good Styrofoam box on a 110 degree concrete sidewalk or step will kill the critter inside much more quickly than being set in a snow bank on a 20 degree day.

The only times I have had a DOA was when using a heat pack, in the winter time, from Minnesota when it was not below 30 degrees. Each time they showed signs of heat stress. When the FedEx guy picks up that box, it goes into the back of the unheated truck. On a 30 degree day it's likely in the 40's in the back of that truck. Then it's to the terminal. Once at the terminal where does it go precisely? Up here in the frozen wasteland, warehouses use these huge overhead blasting forced air furnaces. I suspect when I have lost animals, they died in close proximity to one of those heaters. The heat from the heater plus the heat pack can prove too much for the little guys. I have never had an animal die from the cold in shipping. I have had two people get snakes they thought were frozen, that miraculously came back to life.

Derek "The Big Boss Man" Yagi was one of those people around 8 or 10 years ago. "Bad news Dr. Ronne" Derek called to say. What? I asked. The Boa is frozen. Really? Frozen or just really really cold? I asked. Well, it's not frozen I guess. Derek admitted. I told Derek to take the little fella out, set it on a table and watch it for a few minutes. This he did while I was on the phone. "Oh!" Derek exclaimed. "His tongue is coming out really really slowly". This was a complete surprise to Derek since the snake was actually dead, or so it seemed. Anyhow, in half an hour the snake was alive, well and acting like nothing had happened. No problems with the animal subsequently either.

Coincidentally Derek "The Big Boss Man" Yagi, sent me a dead Bolivian Boa yesterday morning. He looked dead in the bag. The box inside temped at 44 degrees. I check it as soon as it came in. No wonder he was feeling so cool. I took him out of the bag and placed him, though he was very stiff and really cold to the touch, into a rack drawer. Then the ungrateful four foot reduced pattern Bolivian swung his head around toward my hand in slow motion, mouth open in a pathetic attempt to bite me. His teeth scraped along the fattest part of my palm and I bust out laughing at him. It was like I was watching an instant replay in super slow motion. Really funny. Today he is perfectly fine. I don’t recommend getting your animals really cold for a long time, but one incident as I have described will not cause any lasting issues at all.

So, I don't use heat packs. I quit using them in 1994 and thousands of Boa shipments later, I have yet to loose another Boa in shipping.

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