Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there any way to safely ship reptiles? I have not had much luck lately. FedEx lost a Tegu that was on the way to me Wednesday. Fortunately they found it later that morning in Memphis where temps were quite cold. I was told by a FedEx rep that they don’t ship animals so they could not expedite the shipment. It would have to spend the night in Memphis. I worked my way up the corporate ladder and was finally threatened with, “the shipper is not a certified animal shipper and if we do find this package it will get turned around and shipped back. So either wait until tomorrow for it to arrive or we will send it back.”. Thank G-d he arrived the next day cold but healthy.

With the bad taste of FedEx, I opted to ship out two Beardies with the USPS. Packed them up and off we went. They were scheduled for delivery this morning by 10 am. They are now “LOST IN TRANSIT”. Nobody knows where they are. Two separate shipments to two different places and they are LOST! I am glad I used extra 60 hr heat packs. I just hope and pray they are found in time.

SHIPPERS BEWARE!
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Hey Bennett,

USPS sucks.... your experience is very typical of them and for some reason overnight means two days to them.
Fed-Ex is usually pretty good, however they don't guarentee animals unless the shipper is certified, which they are just now starting to do with reptiles. If you check the other forum that can't be mentioned here (begins with an F) they have instructions on how to obtain a FedEx account
Airborn Express are great in the cities but suck in rural areas. We had lizards show up 2 days late in sub 0 degree weather because they said that we had a huricane in Wyoming and they wouldn't land their plane (my shipment from fedex delivered that day just fine)
UPS seems to be the best so far, they are reletively easy to get an account with and they have only misplaced one of our animals and got right on it same day delivery just a few hours late.

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

My BTS arrived safely and on time with FedEx. I am so sorry to here about your babies. I hope they are found very soon. It terrifies me when I hear stories like that. Keep us posted.
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Stacey

Will UPS ship reptiles? Just wondering.
Karen

Ive worked for UPS in the past. They take over night shipments very seriously regardless of what's in them. They would go the extra few miles to see that that package arrives on time! They even seemed to be on the ball on ground shipments. I would have packages via ground take 2-3 days less on occasion then FedEx ground from the same location. Ive had and have heard horror stories about USPS. I had my beardie today delivered via ups and he was right no time, and was even shipped from cali to michigan. I would say try ups next time. Its supper easy to set up an account and their online shipping is great. Hope this helps.
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2.0.0 Veiled Chameleons (Eros & Himeros)
1.0.0 Sandfire red/gold Beardie (No Name yet)
0.1.0 Brown Basilisk (Leroy, I know shes a girl!)
0.0.2 Chinese Water Dragons (Merl & Maggie May)
0.0.1 Marbled Gecko (Chalmers)
1.0.0 15 year old Eastern Box Turtle (Radar)

Comming
Senegal Chameleon breeding pair
Hopefuls
Female beardie named Sissy. Hoping to adopt her from mid michigan reptile rescue. Keeping my fingers crossed!

UPS seems to be the best

keeps posted

glenn
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............................................................
1.1 Beardies (Spike and Rusty)
0.0.2 Corn Snakes
1.0 Chineese Rat Snake (Chino)
2.3 Kenyan Sand Boas
1.0 Eastern Chain King (Spot)
1.0 King Rat Snake
1.0 Tarantula

that the shippers misplace the reptiles, we saw this last year and the year before, its one of the reason I stopped shipping in October, I have two here now that have been sold since November waiting for a break in the weather and for the "missing animals shipments" to stop being so common.

We have never had a problem with Ariborne and they know what I ship and accept it (althought many people say their local hub will not accept them), only problem is all the shipments from here go to Ohio and its too cold there, even if the go from Florida to Texas or a warmer state, they still are routed through Ohio in peak cold times in the early morning and heat packs do stop working in freezing temps

Just scares me too much to risk ones I have cared for and who have such bright futures.

I don't know a solution but to wait a few more weeks. Last few years the misplaced animals start to slow back down aroung April 1.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Gees in the last week I think I heard of 5 different packages getting screwed up.. I hope everything turns out ok. Keep us posted on how it goes.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

I have to give kudos to Gary at B-D.com for bringing this petiton to the attention of others.
His post:
This is simply the first step to a much larger and well planned action that will affect all of us. Whether you're a breeder, hobbyist, retailer, wholesaler, reseller, or any other flavor of reptile enthusiast... sooner or later you'll encounter the nightmares associated with shipping live harmless reptiles. Someone is finally going to make the shipping companies sit down and let us (reptile enthusiasts) be heard. 30 seconds now could save you a LOT of headaches later on...
Shipping Petition

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www.classylizard.com

well both packages arrived in their designated cities late last night and the first one was picked up early this morning. He is fine and was still warm (glad I used 60 hr heat pack). Still waiting on news about the girl going to Kansas. (to bad I didn't give her some ruby slippers)
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

I'm so glad they made it to their destinations. I always used the 40 or multiple 40's, but from the last week and the stories of dragons being lost for weekends I will always throw a 60 heat pack in if I ever ship again in cold weather like this. Glad all is well.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

they are both safe and sound.

on a side note, it is my understanding that even as a certified shipper, FedEx will not insure animals. So if they lose it crush it or anything else they will only reimberse shipping cost.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

.
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www.reptilerooms.com