Ok, here's a shipping story about a pair of black milks destined for Texas but instead took a bit of a winter weather journey.
Earlier this week, I shipped a pair of black hatchlings (six weeks old) from Massachusetts to Texas. Knowing there was a cold front coming through the middle of the country and making it's way East I checked the weather both in Mass. and what I perceived to eb the normal route a Fedex flight would take to get to Texas (a stopover at their big facility in Memphis). All the temperatures were within the boundaries of what I consider safe for shipping. Mass. was about 44 degrees, Memphis was supposed to droped down to 42 and Hoston was actually supposed to be the coldest with morning ws about 38. So the snakes were packed up with a heat pack in an insulated box and sent via Fedex to their final destination.
Problem was, that front that came through was really strong. The flight from Boston went to Indianpolis and never left. Because it was snowing and 27 degrees. The next day when I checked the progress of my shipment I noticed it hadn't left Indianapolis. A phone call later and I was informed that the package would not be delivered until the next day because he FAA had not cleared the flight because of weather. How bad did the weather get? Temperatures were down to 22 degrees and it was snowing. I had marked my shipping box as fragile, perishable and KEEP WARM. I spoke with the buyer and we kept our fingers crossed that the snakes would survive their overnight in the cold. Was the box in a plane on the runway or in a warehouse? Was it indoors or sitting outside? The buyer had already made a call to Fedex explaining the content of said package (I'm a certified reptile shipper for Fedex so there's no legal worries) so maybe that helped get the box into shelter or maybe it was left wherever it was stacked. The next day - two days afte being shipped - the snakes arrived in Texas a little chilly but alive and well. Black milks are tanks. Relief.
