Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With all the various high temps all over the US its tough to safely get a snake from point A to point B. The worse thing for the snake is the truck ride during delivery. The best thing is to ship the box for next morning pick up at the FedEx or UPS Hub. This avoids the delivery truck all together as the boxes almost always get to their destination/HUB before 10am. The price isnt considerbaly cheaper but the snake lives and thats the most important part I find people are more than willing to pick up boxes rather than wait for a who knows when break in the heat.

Keith

p.s. Having your box picked up for delivery is equally bad if temps are high.
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This is how I now receive shipments and find it to be much safer for the animals. Matter of Fact I just picked up a kingsnake from Don Shores this morning at the fedex hub. I was able to have the snake at 8am. It will get to 95degrees here today. There was no way I was going to let that snake bake on a truck.

Look at this long thread. I think Keith was just posting something that he has had to deal with recently and offering up how he is managing through this heat wave. What's the friggin big deal. You know those dark brown UPS trucks have giant sun roof panels in them? Taking the trucking part out of the door delivery makes alot of sence. It is worth mentioning now even if it is "old news" to all the expert regulars on here. There's alot of newbes out there shopping for snakes for the first time and it is to the benefit of the snake farmers if they know you can fill their orders today. This forum is suppose to be for everybody. I think this forum would be alot worse without either FR or Keith. Man I just don't get all the drama here anymore.

Anybody who ships or receives snakes in extremly hot weather is an idiot and since i like my snakes to be deliverd to my front door i say the heck about eliminating the delivery truck.

packing can be ok if done properly,but unfortunately there is no "industry standard" other than styro lined boxes. i prefer 1"to2" styro but some use 1/2 or 1/4 even,then there are heat/cool packs,container or bag,packing materials etc. one should always use a tempgun and test their interior box temps to get an idea beforehand ,and choosing a HUB delivery to door delivery does not put the snakes at any "less risk" , but then again imho it is just best to wait for temperature breaks, no snake should be shipped or received in triple digit temps,,,,thomas

I dont totlally disagree TD but I dont agree that PU at a Hub isnt safer. Ive shipped and recieved many many snakes and have been lucky and not a single snake Ive shipped has perished. I have however gotten a few dead ones. One common factor I hear and in the few cases of my DOA's the truck ride was the culprit. A few years ago a guy shipped me some snakes and had them picked up from his house in the morning for delivery to me the next morning well guess what they rose around in that truck all day and it was in the mid to high 80's Thats where they died (evidence was they already were ripe whne I got them the very next day at 10am) This could have been avoided by simply taking the box to the hub later that evening. The other one that comes to mind was a driver who skipped my house and attempted delivery the next day all snakes were dead. Now if I had thios esnake delivered to the HUB those snakes would be alive. To say the delivery truck isnt the main killer in DOA shipments is crazy. Have you ever been on one of those trucks ? They are boiling hot in the summer (regardless of temp) and frezing in the winter. Now when shipping hub to hub you can have something happen as well nothing is perfect but some things are more perfect than others as in you removed one step that can potentially kill your snake (guess that makes it safer right there). Like you said though the best thing to do is wait for perfect temps but perfect temps one day doesnt mean the next day will be as nice and if they lose your box guess what ... Next day shipping is a risk it always has been your dealing with a shipper who doesnt care if your animals arrive alive only that they arrrive on time.

Keith

>packing can be ok if done properly,but unfortunately there is no "industry standard" other than styro lined boxes. i prefer 1"to2" styro but some use 1/2 or 1/4 even,then there are heat/cool packs,container or bag,packing materials etc. one should always use a tempgun and test their interior box temps to get an idea beforehand ,and choosing a HUB delivery to door delivery does not put the snakes at any "less risk" , but then again imho it is just best to wait for temperature breaks, no snake should be shipped or received in triple digit temps,,,,thomas
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After college, I worked for UPS in one of the major hubs (Richmond CA). I started loading, but moved to unloading. Those big trucks were often very hot inside - and yes, next day air boxes - sometimes labeled perishable - were sometimes in those trucks, if they came from an area that had a regular truck or train run to our hub.

IE next day delivery from LA to the Bay Area often went up the coast by train.

There were also times when I was walking out to the smoking area, and would see boxes labeled "next day air" that had fallen off of the belt system and nobody had bothered to pick it up (the belt on the way to the smoking area was used for next day air by the shift prior to mine).

Insure a package - and it is more likely to get better treatment (if it isn't scanned at the right places it sometimes is looked for, if the insurance is high enough).

Label it perishable - the "UPS Stomp" doesn't happen to next day deliveries labeled perishable, because diamonds and gold watches are never labeled perishable.
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

I should clarify that boxes labeled "perishable" that came out of hot trucks doesn't mean the shipper paid for special handling.

UPS doesn't care if a box says perishable or this side up if special handling isn't paid for.
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3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

UPS nor FedEx gaurantee live arrival. In fact many UPS' wont ship live animals as per company policy. What does this mean ? You cant insure your live snake with either. I agree Im sure these boxes are treated rough but I dont worry about a little smoke or some rough handling (ive seen snakes live after being run over by car!) its temps temps TEMPS. I have a buddy that works for UPS and he said every now and then a box comes thru labeled Live Reptile and that box is treated as if it has a hated enemy contained in it lol. Fact is shipping is a risk n o matter what and if one wanted to be real safe they should ship Delta Dash and get ready to shell out serious bucks plus jump thru hoops.

Keith
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Last year I was o.k.'d by Delta to ship and it took less than a week. Sometimes it can take a month or longer I'm told. (they send a 3rd party out to inspect your place to make sure it is a valid address, etc.)
Haven't used them again this year but it was like $63.10 at that time.
Expensive to ship especially for a pair of hatchling kings or something,huh?
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

Actually 63 bucks isnt bad for same day delivery, might be considerably more with fuel prices at these prices. I was told that you had to be some kinda verified shipper or something and they had strict standards etc... I would consider using them but Delta doesnt fly into my city for some odd reason.
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Yeah, I bet it has gone up too.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the IATA have standards for shipping animals, including reptiles?

daveb