Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so my job has transferred me from Sandy Eggo to southeast Texas. Not a great big deal, but I don't know how I'm going to move my reptile collection. Does anybody have an idea on how to move 200 snakes (boas and colubrids) and a few lizards 1600 miles through deserts? I would appreciate any suggestions or stories on past experiences.

PS: Can't remove the pic at the bottom and it isn't really related to my question other than it is one of the many gophers in my collection.

Three words: air conditioned vehicle.

Good luck, that's gonna be a BIG job!

And beautiful snake, too!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari, TBA)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Nobody in San Diego leases vehicles with climate controlled cargo areas for long trips (one way). They'll only lease them for local use. Unless you know something I don't.

So here's what I've got: One extended cab chevy truck, one 4 door ford truck and one 26 foot Penske truck, and three drivers. One thought is to drive at night and then unload all of the herps into a motel room for the day.

Portable A/C in the cargo area of the truck?

Double up snakes on tubs and stack in passenger areas of trucks, but some are ten feet, weigh 50 pounds and are gravid. I am in a world of hurt here and there's nobody here to babysit and then ship them later.

I am really lost and I know it isn't going to be easy.

>>Nobody in San Diego leases vehicles with climate controlled cargo areas for long trips (one way). They'll only lease them for local use. Unless you know something I don't.

I've done it from Utah to TN in the middle of summer, but that was 20 years ago. I don't know if anyone rents them any more, but at the time I was able to get a rental panel truck with a pass-through door so that the air conditioning got from the cab to the back. I transported lots of dogs, cats, birds, fish, and a few snakes with no trouble. I only lost a coupla fish who jumped out!

Driving at night would definitely help. If you can find a portable A/C, that would be great. Orrrrr....how about renting an extended Econoline van one way? Would that have enough room for all the snakes, if they were transported in bags or small boxes? Hmmm.

As for babysitting -- do you have to close out the place you're leaving before you leave? If you can leave the snakes there temporarily, it should be easy in a big place like San Diego to hire a college kid to watch the snakes for you. That's another alternative -- take them in batches, maybe....
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari, TBA)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

The problem with a van is that I won't be able to bring all of the caging required to house them. If the mover goes door to door, then the snakes would be in tubs/bags for about a week. But if he decides to put my crap in storage, it may be a month before I get the caging. That just won't do.

A panel van might work, but I'm not even sure where to look and again, the caging issue is still there. Now I know I mentioned all of the vehicles before, but here is another twist: each one of the vehicles is pulling a trailer. Of course I could leave one of the items being towed and put the caging on the trailer.

I have visions of boas delivering babies in tubs in the middle of the desert. Terrible timing, but I don't know why they are all late. My colubrid eggs are hatching but the boas seem to be backing themselves into corners in their cages so their tails are bent at 90 degrees just to hold them in.......maybe they'll all drop tonight????

I moved from Denver to Amarillo using a van (for the animals) and a u-haul trailer for the cages. Bought a crapton of pillowcases from thrift stores and some rubbermaids from walmart to transport the critters in.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

May be a good time to downsize the collection. San Diego has a great herp society and you ought to be able to give away some animals quickly, if that will help the situation.
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Mark

Yepper, that's true. I'm a member. But I'm not wanting to downsize at this point. I've been working on several projects and am just now starting to get babies to sell. You know, two plus years raising them, getting them ready to breed, etc. Someday I'll list the breeders on here.

>>Yepper, that's true. I'm a member. But I'm not wanting to downsize at this point. I've been working on several projects and am just now starting to get babies to sell. You know, two plus years raising them, getting them ready to breed, etc. Someday I'll list the breeders on here.

Well heck. If you're a member of the herp society, pay some of the other members to care for some of your collection so you have more time to get them all moved. For instance, it could buy you time to move them in the fall when it's cooler.
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari, TBA)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I'm sure that folks would volunteer to assist, but the reality of the situation is that I have 11 boas that are in the 9 foot range that are gravid (due any day), 12 more that are in the 6-7 foot range, and 30 more that are 2-4 feet, plus 20 neonates. This doesn't include all of my colubrids. Normally they are smaller, but my monster honduran milksnake is just a few inches shy of 8 feet. That's not a typo, she's eight feet long! The issue is not so much the reptile as it is the space to house all of the caging.

But more importantly, I don't practice my membership very much. Because of medical issues, work issues, and family issues i just haven't had the time. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it's factual.

Since renting a climate controlled vehicle to go one way in San Diego is impossible (60 clams a day plus 79 cents a mile times 3000 miles), and a Penske or U-Haul runs around 3K to get them there and I'd have to go at night and unload the vehicles during the day at motels, I decided to buy a cargo van. I can buy one, load my snakes in tubs and place them in the air conditioned cargo space of the vehicle. This will allow daytime travel and make the trip easier. Any overflow can go in the other vehicles making the trip. I can get an used Chevy cargo van for around 2500, make the trip on 2-300 in gas, and then sell the thing on the other end for 500 less than I paid for it and still come out cheaper than renting a truck. A lot cheaper!

Sorry for being long-winded. Long day with the movers here etc.

Thanks for your advice! I do appreciate it.

If you buy a van, I would personally recommend getting a Ford Econoline. There's a reason why so many van fleets use Econlines -- they're tough buggers!

I have an old (97) Econoline myself, as it happens. It currently has 187,000 miles on it. And I would trust it to go anywhere!

Good luck with whatever you decide!
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari, TBA)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters