Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I am a parent of 3 pet ball pythons and I have traveled several times with them by sneaking them onto the Amtrak train. I once called every airline and they all had told me that all snakes are NOT allowed on the planes even as cargo, even though most all other reptiles and of course all other kinds of pets are. Out of pure chance, I called Continental airlines recently and the man I spoke to told me that yes, they will fly my snakes as cargo as long as they are all kept in separate burlap sacs and inside a hard case with very small vents for air. I am still nervous about them flying and I can't seem to find out about the cargo hold temperature, afraid that it might be too cold for the snakes. Has anyone ever flown with their reptiles before that could help me out with some answers? I have to move next month from Nebraska to Oregon and I might have to sneak them on Amtrak again for a long 4 day trip...urgh.

The belly of that plane will get EXTREMELY cold. I had to ship my beardie and a blackthroat to Florida last year when I moved. I marked the package to "avoid extreme temperatures". I got a call from the airline before the package went on the plane, saying that the plane is not heated and can reach well below freezing temps. Fortunately I had large 18 hr heat packs and a very well insulated box. It still got way too hot though. The min/max thermometer read like 105 max, 95 min.
I would recommend shipping them to a friend or family member, and meeting up with them later.

Thank you very much for the reply. If I can find a good pet transport place that will service Omaha NE to Portland that would be great. I am still searching. Thank you.

Dawn

if you haven't already, post this question in the shipping forum, or search it for similar posts, as I'm sure this question comes up. Your best bet will probably be to ship them to yourself through UPS or whoever will deliver live animals, and send them the same way a dealer/breeder sends a purchase.
-----
-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa

Thank you, I am new to this forum and did not realize that there is a shipping forum, haha.

yeah, they pretty much have a forum for everything here! If you don't get an answer from that one, try one of the more busier forums: ball python, corn snake, boas, and rainbow boas as they all have a lot of activity so you'll probably get a pretty fast response. Good luck on getting your pets relocated without any problems!
-----
-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
1.0 colombian boa (Poseidon)
0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (Athena)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 dog (Luke)

the wife's pets:
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:
1.0 adult Dumeril's boa
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa

I agree with shipping them to yourself. Drop them off and get on the plane, they will show up the next day.
-----
Jason

If the airline accepts live animals for shipment they have to carry them in accordance with international air transport regulations. That means they cant be tossed into an unheated hold and left to freeze solid. If continental tells you they will ship live animals as cargo and you follow their regulations you should be fine. The hold is heated and pressurized anyway, otherwise think of all the fluids that would be exploding in peoples luggage everyday, not to mention dogs and kitties and dear departed great aunt Dot who are all in there together.

The only legal way to ship live snakes OTHER than as air cargo is via Fed Ex and to do that you have to be a Fed Ex certified shipper and you can only ship to buisness addresses.

Back in the day I routinly travelled with critters stuck in my checked baggage and even as carry on and never had a problem of any sort but you couldnt do it now. They probably would have frowned on it than but checked bags never used to be inspected and they just looked at xrays of your carry on for guns and such. A snake or twelve just shot right through with no one the wiser. I always figured it would be easier to get forgivness than permission if anyone did object. Ah, for the good old days!

So...air cargo is ok if the airlines will accept them... Fed Ex is ok if you are a certified shipper...carry on in not ok...stuck in checked bags is not ok...UPS is not ok...USPS is definatly not ok...DHL is not ok...dont know about AMTRAC but I'd bet that snakes are frowned on.

Hope this is some help

Peter
-----
Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

n/p
-----
lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

Delta Dash is just air freight with a different coloured airbill, a higher price tag and a weight limit. What exactly do you get different? I know they claim to be expedited service but I havn't ever seen it. In about 30 years of shipping Delta my boxs have always made it on the same schedule if DASH or regular air freight.

I will also say that Delta has always done right by me and I have never had cause to complain of their service, or lost an animal in domestic shipping, at least when they still wanted the buisness. Now a days I get the distinct impression that they think cargo is just a pain in the rump which they would rather be rid of except for the nagging fear of somehow having to move a plane with a empty square foot or so in the hold.
-----
Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles