Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need to ship a 1000g ball within the next 2 weeks. I need to know the best way to ship overnight and where to get the supplies to ship. I've seen snakes shipped in totally sealed boxes but have always worried they will run out of air.

This has probably been talked about a lot but any help would be a great help in safely shipping a great snake.

thanks for any and all help

get an appropriately sized box. go to home deopt or lowes and get a 4x8 sheet of foam insulation (blue preferably, but pink will work) cut the foam with a razor blade to the measurements of the inside of the box. only cut one pice at a time so you don't miscut and run out of foam. take a phillips screwdriver and put holes in each of the sides of the box. put the snake in a pillowcase, and pack the void space in the box with newspaper and seal it. Use fedex, ups, or my favorite dhl to ship overnight with delivery by a specified time.

Actually just to let everyone know, not trying to sound like a jerk, but its against UPS regulation to ship snakes, you can however ship turtles and lizards, but no snakes.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/prepare/guidelines/animals.html

its toward the bottom of the page.
again just letting everyone know in case something turns for worse.

It is against DHL rules as well, but has been used for 20 years.
The best way to ship would be Delta airlines, northwest airlines, us air, or is you must use an overnight service you can use FedEx since they allow snake shipments if you register with them as a shipper.
As far as the packaging part, it has been explained very well already.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

I poke holes through the foam only, then I take a drill and drill diagonally through the four corners of the box and down through the foam also. This way the holes are much harder for someone to notice?? Also, I poke some holes in the sides that line up with the holes in the foam and I cover these with a large From: and To: piece of white paper. The white paper lets air through, but again you really cant notice the holes behind the paper...

I mark the box "CRYSTAL / VERY FRAGILE" before I ship.

Good luck.

If you regsister with a company that allows snakes, like FedEx, you do not need to mislable a box and hide holes. Just a thought.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Church is on Sunday.

Do you have to get a hold of dhl to have them come pick your box up or do you go to the dhl hub? if there is one? i have never seen one... only fedex and ups.
thanks

I would imagine if you call them they can answer those questions.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Where do you find the perishable/ harmless reptile labeled boxes?

>>Where do you find the perishable/ harmless reptile labeled boxes?

My shipping boxes come pre-printed with "Perishable - Handle with Care" on 4 sides. I print two extra labels - "Harmless Reptiles" and put them on 2 sides. I also put the number of animals and type on one label.

On a personal note, I have never added any air holes nor have I ever received a shipment with air holes.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

but where do you get your boxes from?

>>but where do you get your boxes from?

Different places, but the last place I got from was Superior Enterprise but they don't seem to be in business anymore - their web page expired last month.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

They are still there

www.superiorenterprise.com
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Tosha
JET Pythons

(CJBianco explaining the origins of the BP market.)
"In the beginning Bob created the Ball Python market. And the market was without morph, and wild traits were upon the industry. And Bob said, Let there be morph, and there was morph. And Bob saw the morph, that it was good; and Bob divided the morph from the wild trait. And Bob called the morph Albino, and the wild trait Normal. And the Albino and the Heterozygous Albino were the first investment.
-- Christopher 1:1-1:5"

Here is a post last year that delt with shipping.

forums.kingsnake.com/viewarch.php?id=1025713,1025713&key=2006
Another way.
www.allboas.com/methods.php
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Brian n Chrissy

"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

its not a good idea to mislable the box or not label the box at all.

if something happens and the shipping company finds out whats inside the box it can create problems for everyone that deals in snakes.

its also a violation of federal law (the lacey act) to ship a animal without the box being propery labeled, the feds say the box must by labeled indicating a live animal as well as scientific name, but just listing live reptile, live snake, etc.. is ok for shipping within the USA

Your best bet is probably Fedex or northwestern ... UPS allows lizards and turtles to be shipped only, Delta and most others will ship a snake but you must be a registered shipped with them first which is a long involved process.

I just bought some BP's a couple weeks ago: albino het pied and dbl het albino/pied ... the guy shipped them UPS in a unlabled box with no air holes, he packaged them good inside but still ... the snakes arrived in pretty beat up shape, lost one within a few days and 1 other one still isnt looking/acting that great. The box of snakes probably got tossed and banged around bad since it wasnt labeled.

I just checked Northwest. They accept reptiles alright. They must go VIP at a cost of $260 for up to 20lbs!

jeff
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The Voices have won!

jeff pfeifer

I dont know about Northwestern VIP but I have shipped many large crocodilians by Northwestern and as I recall it was around $150.00 for a 130lb crate.

I shipped a Dwarf crocodile by Delta a couple months ago, crate was I believe 60lbs and it was $90.00

If I use airline cargo ... I go freight, I dont see any real purpose in using there special pet shipping as there is a big differance between shipping live dogs/cats and live reptiles.

The snakes must not have been healthy in the first place or packaged well. I have received multiple snakes through ups/dhl and never had a problem. ( i have never shipped this way however )

im not sure, either hey wernt healthy prior to shipping to maybe they just really took a beating during shipping, my UPS driver says that packages are tossed all over, kicked and just take a beating in general.

I was pretty shocked that the box wasnt marked in any way and that there were no air holes, it was actually packed ok; styro lined box, cool pack, snake bag, styro chips around the snakes.

The seller for some reason really didnt want to ship Delta, I was even going to let him use my Delta account ... maybe the snakes were in poor health to begin with like you mentioned.

They arrived alive though and thats what I was guaranteed ... I have been thinking about trying to file a claim on my charge card though still but not sure if it can be done or not.

When you send your package to get certified for fedex do you have to pay to ship it to the 'testing center'? if so do you generally just ship it ground?

I may as well just go up to the fedex place...

I think its differant depending on who you talk to ... call them and ask. You will for sure have to drop it off at a actual Fedex center, no fedex stores will accept a live animal.

I believe when we got fedex approved we just had to sign a waiver ... but this was years ago

When I was going through my Fed-Ex certification, I was given the telephone number to package testing. They gave me very simple instructions and their account number to ship the test sample. They paid for the shipping... both ways, they returned my box/materials back to me.

Hope this helps.
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

I tried to reply to your email, it was returned to me. Here is what I wrote:

I went to the fed-ex website, signed up for a shipping account in my business name. I then called customer service to set up my account for live animal shipments. They will assign a sales representative to help you get the ball rolling. They should direct you to a form on the site that will need to filled out and sent to package testing.

Hope this helps.

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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

If you are talking about one snake without the likely hood of shipping others in a while - then your best, easiest solution might be to find another breeder/reptile shop in your area that would be willing to package and ship your animal for you. That way you don't have to buy a bunch of shipping supplies that you aren't going to use and getting certified to ship could take 3-4 weeks. I've shipped for some people locally on my account and it's not a big deal.

Also - snakes do fine packed tightly in boxes - they aren't hermetically sealed or anything so there is plenty of airflow - if it gives you piece of mind you can clip off a a small corner of the Styrofoam lid to allow for more air exchange - but remember by adding holes you compromise the efficiency of the foam to maintain steady temperatures for your snake.

Good luck!
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Tosha
JET Pythons

(CJBianco explaining the origins of the BP market.)
"In the beginning Bob created the Ball Python market. And the market was without morph, and wild traits were upon the industry. And Bob said, Let there be morph, and there was morph. And Bob saw the morph, that it was good; and Bob divided the morph from the wild trait. And Bob called the morph Albino, and the wild trait Normal. And the Albino and the Heterozygous Albino were the first investment.
-- Christopher 1:1-1:5"

Well I had a couple of Shipping pictorials up her for ya but something must have been wrong oh well. do a search in 2006 archives for shipping and you will find some threads on it one of which I had posted a link to. (scratching head)
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Brian n Chrissy

"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"