Let me first start by saying that if you don’t feel comfortable shipping in cold weather, then don’t. Stressing about a live animal shipment has got to be one of the worst things in the world. Just wait if you feel that uneasy or if you are an inexperienced shipper.
Having said that, cold-weather shipping through the airlines is EASY! Don’t let people tell you its hard, because its not. You have to know what you’re doing, yes, but that’s no different than most things.
So here we go:
Its all starts with a twinkle in your eye, a few emails/phone calls, and some money in your bank account! Step one, get a GOOD box. Try and look for ones that have the symbol on it them that rate either the R-value or what the box can withstand:
Next, line the inside of the box with either ½”, 5/8”, or ¾” Styrofoam. Again, easy as pie:
Don’t forget your labels for the box. Doesn’t matter when you do it (most do it last), but make sure its clear and well-marked:
Next, we make up the gel packs. Think of “magic bag”. These are like ice-packs (in fact, they ARE ice packs) and can be found anywhere. They hold heat longer than water, and take longer to acquire or lose temperature. THUS, they are MODERATORS of temperature. That’s a good thing, right?:
After super-heating the gel-packs to 100-120F (YES, that high. Higher if you want), you need to wrap them, ala fish & chips:
Then, I make a divide for the shipping box, with the animals going on one side, and the heat on the other. Kinda reminds you of a cage, no? ‘cept that the snakes can’t choose the gradient. But that’s good. You want them snug.
Next up, we have appropriately-sized containers. Common sense. Nothing extraordinarily complicated about what size to use:
Baby:
Another baby:
Yearling:
2-year old:
All nice and snug in their compartments:
You don’t want the containers to shift and end up on a gel pack (can we say overheating?), so use newspaper (also a great heat-sink/insulator) to secure everything in place:
Gel packs are great, but for longer flights, you’ll need something that will actually PRODUCE heat. Thankfully, the tropical fish industry already thought of this for us and now we have time-release heat packs. Being exposed to the air “activates” them, and they get to about 90-100F. But they are very small, and although the surface temp is 95F or so, the air around them is NO WHERE NEAR that temp. So sometimes I use 2. rarely 3:
Close it all up, get to the airport EARLY (your flight was most likely booked 36 hours previous), and make sure all your labels are on and everything’s taped down.
Hard? NO!!!! Are there some concepts to get your head around if you’ve never done it before? Of course. But don’t let people scare you into thinking that its dangerous or difficult, just because they are scared to do it.
Cheers doodz.
