Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to find out what is the best way to ship snakes.
this means from packing to what type of box and even
what carry seems to do the best quickest and whos most cost effective. I just want to ship my snakes the best way for them
to arrive safe.
thanks
jon

FedEx now has a way you can get certified to ship harmless reptiles. you have to jump through a few hoops to get there but it will allow you to ship them without without worry of divulging what's in the box. In the mean time you have Delta Dash which goes to the local airport for pick-up or you can simply over-night them with UPS or FedEx but can't tell them they are snakes. styrofoam lined boxes are available check the classifieds (under supplies) and you can put heat packs in the box to provide heat now that we are entering winter. Hatchlings in deli cups taped close and udult snakes can be sent in pillow cases or the like. Hope this helps.

Matt Woodhall

Good Lord, what a subject!
Always use a styro box even if you have to pick up a chunk of sheathing and custom cut the liner to your box.
Grab a sportsmans type "hand warmer" for a heat pack and wrap it loosely in newspaper to reduce the peak temp a bit--they're actually different from the real animal shipping ones in that the sportsmans type burns at a higher temp and faster than the animal type. If you restrict the circulaing air to the sportsman type, they'll "burn" a bit slower. Place it away from the animals. The animal type heat pack can just be placed in the box w/o the exotic wrapping job.
You should check the weather outlook for the area you're shipping to and determine if you can ship w/o heat or actually need an ice pack instead.
The weather part is just a prelude to actually showing up at your local UPS or FedEx office and lying through your teeth.
Since you have the animals in a "plastic container" write on the item description line "plastic cups" or some such nonsense and skip entirely the air holes, live labels,value, insurance,etc...and just don't mention a thing about animals unless you have an agreement with the shipper that animals are acceptable.
Escaped animals on the UPS truck make us all look bad. Please seal all the seams and assure that the box won't fall apart.
I like to use the neighborhood mailbox etc office, the place is temp controlled, they give me discount coupons, and the price is the same as the dingy UPS hub.
Overnight is a must, Next Day Air will normally have the box in the buyers hand around 9 AM. Early AM by 8AM but costs considerably more. Keep your box no larger than 12x12 (~45$)or pay an unholy amount to ship.
I like to attach a very legible address label to the box and pls be sure UPS/FedEx won't be confused by all the other gibberish on a used box. Boxes can be slit and turned inside out. Happy shipping and good luck...Jeff

>> I just want to ship my snakes the best way for them to arrive safe.

I don't think there can be any question that Delta DASH is THE best way for them to arrive safe...because it's a legal way to ship the boxes can--and should--be clearly marked with their live contents, so they're handled with more respect. And until they depart and after the arrive they're kept in controlled "animal rooms" at almost all delta offices, whereas the overnight services may have them on trucks for hours--and remember, the driver in almost all instances doesn't know what he's got in the box, what he's handling, because you can't honestly mark the boxes. So no one worries if it's 45 or 100 degrees in the truck, and whether the box is in the truck for two hours or six, just so it gets delivered by the guaranteed time.

The only three downsides of DASH are:
1) you've got to be a known shipper so you have to fill out some paperwork and wait til a delta rep can "inspect" your facility/home/snakeroom whatever. They basically want to see you really are breeding snakes and don't have a weapons cache in your living room, i'm guessing.
2) you have to take the snakes to the airport to ship them. if your primary objective is the snakes' well-being, that's a reasonable tradeoff.
3) with DASH you can only guarantee the shipment to $750 (of course, with the overnight carriers so far, at least, you can't guarantee them at all because you can't honestly state what the package contains). And if there's a direct or non-stop flight to your destination city, you can ship delta priority first instead, and guarantee whatever the real value is, at 50 cents per $100 of value. I figure it's worth $12 to insure a $6,000 shipment.
4) and maybe a 4th downside--DASH costs around $71. Priority first cna be a little less or, ironically, a little more.

the information in the other replies about how to pack is good. I think people tend to overuse hot and cold packs though--unless you've sealed a box with a heat pack inside it and monitored the temp over 12 or 24 hours, with a remote sensor or max-mix thermometer, i think you might be surprised at what goes on in the box compared to shipping without such adjustments. Just my opinion.

peace
terry