Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm posting here also because the shipping forum seems a bit slow sometimes. I thought maybe I could get a bit more info here.

I've been wanting to breed my leos again for a while now, but the reptile store I sold babies to has changed owners. The new owners have quite a few leos in a colony so they don't need to look elsewhere for them.

I heard that to ship them out of state I would need permits or licenses. Anyone know about those? Or about how much this would cost?

Also, any specific packing instructions?

Any information is appreciated.

I have never heard of a permit to ship exotic "LEGAL" species in or out of the state. I do live in Cali so have a little pull in this department. To ship native species ytou need and import/export permit. I would not worry about it. Just recently I used UPS to recieve a pacage of native lizards. They were extreamly helpfull and got the package to my doore in 17 hours from the time of drop off. It was dropped at 5pm and they were at my dore by 10am the next day. They were extreamly helpfull with my friend with packaging and everything and only charged us somwhere in the $40 range to ship a rather large box containing 13 lizards.
My Research and Collection

Hmmm... that does help a bit. I know I've had animals shipped here with no problems...
I just heard that to ship animals out it was another story entirely. I hope it only relates to native critters. I have heard that part before...

You don't need any special permits or licenses to ship from California to else where in the country, as long as you are not shipping normal colored native fauna (and only then with a captive breeding permit!). I'm located in SoCal and have shipped a bit when I was breeding a lot of Colubrids and Boids.

Your bigger issue is likely to be finding a reliable shipper you can deal with.

Ian

i have received many geckos and sent some too. i have received geckos through UPS and Fedex. it seemed like everytime i received a package from fedex the delivery person would be flipping and tossing the box regardless the arrows on it! i am sure more happens behind the seens too. when i was waiting to have a package delivered it didnt show up one time, this is through UPS now; so i called them and they lost my beautiful albino fatttail and my hypo tangerine leo. i told them they were live and worth like $800 dollars. they eventually found it at the airport in san diego and i met one of the managers half way in escondido. needless to say they were very nice to deal with but did loose my geckos for a breif period.
when you ship make sure you mark the box clearly with "Live Harmless Animal!" maybe with a bright sticker or something. also in the winter you should use a portable heat pack $3 at my local herp store. and make sure to use a lot of padding. now that its summer a heat pack is probably not required, it may cook your reptiles instead. the shipping through UPS is normally arround $50, with Fedex i think it is a little cheaper. I also live in Southern Cali.

Hey Fattiesnleos,

Where in SoCal are you? Your amel fatties look great as does your leopard. I'm in Chino Hills, not to far from the LA Fairplex. Are you breeding your Fat tails? What phases are you keeping/breeding of both Fat Tails and Leopards?

Ian

thanks, i live near temecula so about an hour+ away. currently i have 13 het patternless baby and sub adault leos for sale. after them i will be focusing on my albino jungle giants. my male in the top picture had his temps drop below 75 degrees for awhile so he turned dark, poor guy. i will also be breeding my tangerine albino fattails as soon as my little girls in the pictures get bigger.

n/p

Your not that far. My step daughter owns a horse ranch down off of Rancho California. It runs in the family as our horse ranch is Chino Hills.

That's a nice looking group of hets and adults. I'm working with Bell amels, Rainwater amels, Tremper amels, Blizzards, SHTs,
SHCTs, SHTCTs, and Striped and tangerine amel fat tails.

What are you looking at price wise for some of the hets and/or adults. You can email me at IMacBevan@aol.com

Ian

n/p

Yeah... shipping is always tough. I've been lucky, but I know people who weren't.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. =3

You don't need a permit or license to ship Leopard Geckos. You need to get set up with one of the shippers UPS, Fed-X, DHL. The best way to do this is to call the 800 number or go to the UPS center near you (not the UPS store they usually don't ship live animals) and ask to talk to somebody about shipping live animals. All the shippers have there good and bad points as other people pointed out. Because the price of gasoline is so high, so is the price of shipping. You can expect to pay $50 to $60 for even a small box like 12 x 9 x 6. Your customers should pay the shipping, you won't make a profit if you do. I use UPS but I can't really say that they are any better that the others. Order shipping supplies online from Superior Enterprises. You can get deli containers with pre punched holes, styrofoam lined boxes etc. Don't be tempted to miss-label the contents of the box, lots of people will do this but not very many of them realize it is a federal offense with federal jail time (since 9/11) if they get caught. One more word of advise - don't load the box down with too much "Handle with Care", "This end up" "Fragile" type of signs because the idiots in the back will read them as "kick me!". Just put "Live Harmless Reptile" and let that be it.

Ooo... thanks for all the info! That should really help me out. I know shipping is going to be a killer lately. Gas prices make me depressed already.