Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a beautiful Anery female on the classifieds the other day and I went ahead and made the purchase.. The seller posted "local pickup prefered".. I asked him if he'd be able to ship, he said he didn't know exactly what to do. I told him he only needed to package the boa and drop it off at a UPS center.. Well, he said "Ok".. I get an email yesterday saying he shipped the animal DHL and bad thoughts started rolling into my mind.. I purchased a pair of Emerald Tree boas last year and they were shipped DHL by 10:30AM, they didn't arrive til 4:30 later that day and it was 40 out.. Ok, guess where the Anery female that was supposed to arrive at 10:30AM today?? Your guess is as good as mine as far as location, because DHL doesn't know either.. They are telling me the animal will not be arriving until 10:30 TOMORROW morning and there's nothing that can be done about it.. Well, I just had to get a little rant out, I'm very dissapointed with the situation.. Here's the tip of the week "DON'T USE DHL TO SHIP LIVE ANIMALS".

Did the shipper check online to see if your area was gauranteed to arrive by 10;30 the next day because they dont deliver every where before 10:30 gauranteed, mostly rural areas that arent gauranteed.

Whats your zip and the shippers zip i can find out very quickly at

www.dhl-usa.com

Did the shipper mark the 10:30 box on the shipping receipt or was it second day shipping?

I Use DHL all the time and rarely have any issues, and when i do, i have always been able to call and talk to a real representative from dhl, not some stupid automated machine, and they have been able to track the package and locate it within 15-30 minutes, and have even re-routed drivers in order to get my boxes delivered on time or made arraingements with the reciever in order to pick up the package after hours once for a guy who lived in a rural area.

I hope you find your snake, shipping is always scary, but I know dhl does do a good job for me. Good luck!

I'm in Tinley Park, IL, about 20minutes out of Downtown Chicago on a clear day, I'd say it's pretty urban over here.. The package was guaranteed to arrive by 10:30.. I've used UPS so many times without a problem.. So far I'm 0 and 2 with DHL. I'd like to say it's my local DHL employees, but the package hasn't even made it to IL yet..

We're in Chicago and have used DHL twice so far (and expecting a new snake tomorrow being shipped through them). Both times have made it on time (did you know if it is even 1 minute after 10:30 you get your shipping money back? Hold them to it!)

Anyway, I do think there is something to be said about the DHL people in Chicago. The first package we got was left at our door, and they never knocked or rang, even though we were SUPPOSED to be signing for it. The second time I was walking outside when they arrived, I signed that time, but the man dropped the box onto the floor a good 4 feet down (OUCH!) despite the "live animal" written repeatabley on the box. Needless to say I let into him for that one, and called DHL to complain. I don't know if this is a common problem, or just a local one.
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow

I too use DHL all the time and have not had any bad experiences. I try to use 40 hour heat packs just in case they get delayed (happens with ALL carriers) and don't forget to check the temps not only in departure/arrival locations biut also the main sort facility where they will spend most of the night. For DHL that's Wilmington Ohio.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I will NEVER use DHL...They are the cheapest, and for a good reason, they SUCK!! I had a baby turtle sit in a ware house for 2 days before they delivered it to me, and they even asked if I would be willing to drive hours to the warehouse and pick the little guy up...Thier tracking sucks, service sucks, don't skimp on the most important part of selling a snake..The shipping.. Don't Use DHL...I had to learn the hard way.. Good luck...
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Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

I too do not like DHL....I purchased a yealing pr of trinket rats and the breeder shipped them DHL...I checked the tracking number he (the breeder) sent me and lo-and-behold my snakes were on the way to California!! I am in Ohio!! I contacted the breeder and DHL and let them know I was NOT happy. The breeder confirmed my address and all that BEFORE shipment....and again after I sent him this latest news....all was correct on his end....all I could do was wait for DHL to reenter the address and send them from Cali to me here in Ohio the NEXT day....They did arrive the the next day (A day later than planned) safe and sound...a little cool but alive....but guess what! the box was plainly marked with MY OHIO ADDRESS>....whoever entered the bar code must have entered it wrong!! I'll not go that route again....Bye the way the trinkets are doing fine to this day....finiky eaters and driving me nuts on occassion but are fine....

The last time I used them:
I was shipping a trio of CB Rubber Boas to a guy who worked at a zoo, and he had me deliver them to his work. Well they arrived alive, but the driver walked right into the zoo's office tossing the box up and spinning it at the same time. Real smart thing to do with a package at the zoo. I haven't used them since.


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I'm just the snake room janitor

Yeah, my very first shipped-snake-buying experience was turned sour by DHL - at the time I figured, oh, well, they were merging with Airborne right then (early 2004), so maybe it was just a snafu... I bought a hog island boa from KCRD and they shipped DHL 10:30 next-day - day went by, no boa. Jason at KCRD called them up and they tracked it down - someone at Airborne/DHL had written down the wrong zip code at some point and it went from Kansas to Ohio back down to Arkansas or something... finally got sent back up to Buffalo a day late and VERY cold (it was March), but fortunately the snake was ok. I've seen lots of other horror stories from DHL...