Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I usually try to ship only in the early spring, but I have a few groups of corns that will be going out in the next few weeks. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 96 with the low being 71. The destination is pretty much the same. I have cool packs, but have never actually used one before. Do I literally freeze it and put it in there frozen? Or is it supposed to just be "cold". I know it's probably a dumb question, but they (cool packs) don't exactly come with directions. I do not want the snakes to fry in transit, but I do not want them to be snakesicles either.
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Amber Liann
1.0 Suriname BCC (Aloysius)
1.0 Colombian BCI (Austin)
0.1 BRB (Carmen)
3.4 KSB (Snow, Anery, Albino)
1.0 Pueblan Milk (Marishka)
1.1 Sinaloan Milk
1.1 Hypo Honduran Milk (Damien & Lucy)
1.1 Pastel BP
1.0 Spider BP
1.2 Het Pied BP
1.1 Het Albino BP
1.8 Ball Pythons
0.1 Crested Gecko (Chloe)
1.2 SHTCT Leos (Rico, Sabine, & Yazmine)
0.1 Albino Leo (Mandy)
0.1 Leo (Lola)
2.0 Bearded Dragons (Sydney & Dundee)
1.0 Uro (Kegan)
2.1 Wiener dogs (Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne)

Amber,
..If you ship overnight priority to a destination that is not too rural there is a very good chance that if you ship late in the afternoon after the temperatures cool down some and the box gets delivered before noon it will not be exposed to dangerous temperatures. The problem arises when the shippers do not make the before noon delivery because they do not look at the shipping label or do not care about making the morning delivery on time or the destination is too far from the shippers facility for them to deliver before noon. Any one of these three things happen and delivery is dalayed into the hot afternoon. With a cool pack and well insulated box the snake will be okay for several hours with the box in a hot truck. Rather than using a cold pack I double bag ice cubes and paper towels inside zip lock bags. That way I can place just what I think is the right number of ice cubes in the bags. So far this method seems to work but if the shippers screw up and delay the shipment for long enough in hot weather the chances for the snake start going down no matter what precautions we take. To me this is the worst part of selling snakes. Even worse than having to answer repeated emails from people who ask questions that are answered in my ads. I have not lost a snake in shipping in several years but I still worry about it.
Jeff

>>I usually try to ship only in the early spring, but I have a few groups of corns that will be going out in the next few weeks. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 96 with the low being 71. The destination is pretty much the same. I have cool packs, but have never actually used one before. Do I literally freeze it and put it in there frozen? Or is it supposed to just be "cold". I know it's probably a dumb question, but they (cool packs) don't exactly come with directions. I do not want the snakes to fry in transit, but I do not want them to be snakesicles either.
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>>Amber Liann
>>1.0 Suriname BCC (Aloysius)
>>1.0 Colombian BCI (Austin)
>>0.1 BRB (Carmen)
>>3.4 KSB (Snow, Anery, Albino)
>>1.0 Pueblan Milk (Marishka)
>>1.1 Sinaloan Milk
>>1.1 Hypo Honduran Milk (Damien & Lucy)
>>1.1 Pastel BP
>>1.0 Spider BP
>>1.2 Het Pied BP
>>1.1 Het Albino BP
>>1.8 Ball Pythons
>>0.1 Crested Gecko (Chloe)
>>1.2 SHTCT Leos (Rico, Sabine, & Yazmine)
>>0.1 Albino Leo (Mandy)
>>0.1 Leo (Lola)
>>2.0 Bearded Dragons (Sydney & Dundee)
>>1.0 Uro (Kegan)
>>2.1 Wiener dogs (Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne)

Jeff - I plan to wait until 5:00 p.m. to drop them off at the local MailBox Store that has a 5:30 p.m. Fedex pick-up. I plan to ship Fedex priority overnight for 10:30 a.m. delivery, but you never know what might happen. I had a pair of corns once not get delivered until 7 p.m. Luckily, the weather was nice, so it wasn't a problem. I start getting more nervous though when the temps are in the high 90's. The temps are only going to be in the mid-80's now the day of delivery in the state they are being delivered in. If I can give them just enough cooling to last through the hot evening here, they should be fine the next day with temps in the mid-80's. Fingers still crossed of course. I HATE shipping!!! But it is definitely a necessary and convenient evil.
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Amber Liann
1.0 Suriname BCC (Aloysius)
1.0 Colombian BCI (Austin)
0.1 BRB (Carmen)
3.4 KSB (Snow, Anery, Albino)
1.0 Pueblan Milk (Marishka)
1.1 Sinaloan Milk
1.1 Hypo Honduran Milk (Damien & Lucy)
1.1 Pastel BP
1.0 Spider BP
1.2 Het Pied BP
1.1 Het Albino BP
1.8 Ball Pythons
0.1 Crested Gecko (Chloe)
1.2 SHTCT Leos (Rico, Sabine, & Yazmine)
0.1 Albino Leo (Mandy)
0.1 Leo (Lola)
2.0 Bearded Dragons (Sydney & Dundee)
1.0 Uro (Kegan)
2.1 Wiener dogs (Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne)

Amber,
....FedEx air shipments all go through Memphis during the night so I always check the Memphis weather along with local and the destination.
Jeff

>>Jeff - I plan to wait until 5:00 p.m. to drop them off at the local MailBox Store that has a 5:30 p.m. Fedex pick-up. I plan to ship Fedex priority overnight for 10:30 a.m. delivery, but you never know what might happen. I had a pair of corns once not get delivered until 7 p.m. Luckily, the weather was nice, so it wasn't a problem. I start getting more nervous though when the temps are in the high 90's. The temps are only going to be in the mid-80's now the day of delivery in the state they are being delivered in. If I can give them just enough cooling to last through the hot evening here, they should be fine the next day with temps in the mid-80's. Fingers still crossed of course. I HATE shipping!!! But it is definitely a necessary and convenient evil.
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>>Amber Liann
>>1.0 Suriname BCC (Aloysius)
>>1.0 Colombian BCI (Austin)
>>0.1 BRB (Carmen)
>>3.4 KSB (Snow, Anery, Albino)
>>1.0 Pueblan Milk (Marishka)
>>1.1 Sinaloan Milk
>>1.1 Hypo Honduran Milk (Damien & Lucy)
>>1.1 Pastel BP
>>1.0 Spider BP
>>1.2 Het Pied BP
>>1.1 Het Albino BP
>>1.8 Ball Pythons
>>0.1 Crested Gecko (Chloe)
>>1.2 SHTCT Leos (Rico, Sabine, & Yazmine)
>>0.1 Albino Leo (Mandy)
>>0.1 Leo (Lola)
>>2.0 Bearded Dragons (Sydney & Dundee)
>>1.0 Uro (Kegan)
>>2.1 Wiener dogs (Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne)

Over 90 is just too hot. IMO it's not a good idea to ship during temps that could easily kill the animal. Most shipments will make it on time but some simply do not. If your package gets delayed, could the snakes survive? IMO much wotrse for heat than cold. Too hot and the die, too cold and they go into a form of hibernation. Yes of course, too cold and they also die but that's much less likely.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thankfully the temps maxed out at around 87 today and by the time I dropped them off at the drop off this evening, they were even a little lower. The delivery location is going to be in the low 80's as a high tomorrow, so we should be pretty safe on both ends. I put a cold pack in there for good measure though. Thanks for the advice everyone!

>>Over 90 is just too hot. IMO it's not a good idea to ship during temps that could easily kill the animal. Most shipments will make it on time but some simply do not. If your package gets delayed, could the snakes survive? IMO much wotrse for heat than cold. Too hot and the die, too cold and they go into a form of hibernation. Yes of course, too cold and they also die but that's much less likely.
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>>Thanks,
>>
>>
>>Dave Colling
>>
>>www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com
>>
>>
>>
>>0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
>>0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)
>>
>>LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
>>21.29 BRB
>>19.19 BCI
>>And those are only the breeders
>>
>>lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats
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Amber Liann
1.0 Suriname BCC (Aloysius)
1.0 Colombian BCI (Austin)
0.1 BRB (Carmen)
3.4 KSB (Snow, Anery, Albino)
1.0 Pueblan Milk (Marishka)
1.1 Sinaloan Milk
1.1 Hypo Honduran Milk (Damien & Lucy)
1.1 Pastel BP
1.0 Spider BP
1.2 Het Pied BP
1.1 Het Albino BP
1.8 Ball Pythons
0.1 Crested Gecko (Chloe)
1.2 SHTCT Leos (Rico, Sabine, & Yazmine)
0.1 Albino Leo (Mandy)
0.1 Leo (Lola)
2.0 Bearded Dragons (Sydney & Dundee)
1.0 Uro (Kegan)
2.1 Wiener dogs (Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne)