Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello

I inquired about a ball for sale thinking it wouldnt be shipped soon but the person said they can ship tuesday with a couple 24r heat packs. I will list the weeks weather starting tuesday is it safe for this persont to ship? Tuesday=Hight37,Low26 Wenesd.=36high, 24low Thurs.=34high, 21low. Friday night: Mainly clear. Cold. Low 9F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday: Periods of heavy snow likely in the afternoon. Cold. High 23F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. 4 to 6 inches of snow expected.

if it is not safe I will tell this person not to ship to me or anyone else.

I will not let a seller ship to me if the temps get below 50F. To me, it just would not be worth the risk if heat pack fails or if the packing is not up to par (different people have different standards) or heaven forbid the shipping compnay misplaces the box for a few days or more. That's just me, your mileage may vary.
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"Will webmaster for snakes."

If the seller gives two shakes about the snakes, they won't send it if it gets below 40. My pastel and ghost were sent to me in November (I live in Minnesota), and especially the ghost, we waited a few weeks fir shipping. Even he arrived a little cold, with all the precautions and the great shipping job the seller did.

If you aren't comfortable with the conditions, don't let them ship. If they still insist, they might not care about the animals enough, which sucks, because obvoiusly you do. In that case, I have a web site you might wanna visit.

I have people waiting for shipments now. I told them and they understand that it's just too cold to ship right now. But given our temps and fluctuations, it will probably soon that I can ship. You just have to watch the weather.

Also, there's a nice post on the shipping forum where one person did an experiment. An insulated box with two 40 hr heat packs placed into a 25 degree freezer for six hours achieved a stabilized temp of only 31 degress. Not good for the animal. Also, heat packs can fail at 32 degrees due to how they work.
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Jay A. Martin

I agree that you need to be very careful shipping in cold
weather. health of the animal should come first.

I would like to point out though that I'm pretty sure that
40hr heat packs actually take about 12-16 hours to reach their
peak output, so the 5-6 hour test might be a little misleading.

Again...I'm not disagreeing about shipping. I'm simply pointing
out something about those heat packs.

Any animals that I sell for over a certain amount are shipped through
Delta to make for a safer journey.

If you are shipping through other means...try using a box
that is on the smaller size. Large enough to properly have
the snake inside, but not so large that the heat packs have
to try to heat a huge amount of volume.

Good luck!
Chris Simone

I don't think the person who performed the experiment took that into consideration. It would be nice to see a full-blown, scientific experiment.
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Jay A. Martin

I traded a high end ball for another. I shipped through
Delta. I put a min/max digital thermometer in the box and
asked them to give me the readout when they received it.
I don't remember if I had 1 or 2 40hr heat packs in there (2 I
think). The box was midsized/insulated. Shipping happened in Oct
when temps were starting to get a little cold.
The readout they told me was min: 69F max 89F. I felt
very good with that range.

I asked them to reset the temps and put it in with the animal
they were sending to me. It was an overnight flight on
Delta. When I received it, it was in a regular (~1'x ~20" x ~20" insulated
shipping box (which was MORE than large enough...in fact too large).
It had one heat pack in the box. I can't remember the high
temp on the readout, but the low temp was 41 degrees!
I warmed the snake up and he did just fine (was a very healthy
snake to begin with). I guess short periods of cold temps
are probably okay on a healthy snake.

Personally, I strive to keep the temps between 70-90 degrees.
However, since you don't really know all the conditions the
box may encounter, it is hard to predict.

-Chris

It would be interesting to know what the external temps were. I have some new heat packs coming in Monday. I may perform my own test using the refer and freezer.
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Jay A. Martin

.

I'm waiting on a shipment from NY. But probably won't be seeing them for a while. I'd rather wait than jeopardize the health of the snakes. 30s and 40s are just too risky even tho I'm sitting here in 70-80 degree weather. No I wouldn't ship until you see at least 50's, maybe a high 40.

On the flip side I just got a package from Florida that was sizzling when I opened the box, the guy put in 3 heat packs to go from 75 degree weather to 75 degree weather overnight.
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Tosha

1.2.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy)
0.1.0 Siberian Husky (Kita)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
5.4.2 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

To get information of temps use this site and it will give you an idea of temps.

link below
I use it to ship
link

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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

Howdy, This is a very interesting topic and a good one for many of us to keep in mind. I also use the weather services when shipping or receiving, but I use them differently depending on the shipping methods. The reason is quite simple really, there are no "straight through" shipping methods, usually there is a stop over somewhere along the way. This means the temps at the stop over are important as well. I call the shipping company to find out probable stop over locations, and check temps there as well. I am in Maine, so I am usually the coldest stop, but not always. Please keep these things in mind when considering shipments. Best Wishes, Matt

.
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Jay A. Martin

I've received snakes before in February when the outdoor temps were -4. The box was well insulated with 2 48 hr heat packs and instuctions to the shipping company to hold the package at the terminal in their heated office. I went to the airport to pick them up, everything went perfectly and the snakes were just fine. However, as we all know things with shipping companies don't always work out perfectly so there is more risk then other times of the year.

I've also had people agree to hold snakes that I bought for up to two months before the weather improved enough that they felt comfortable enough to ship. This also worked out fine for me, I just had to be more patient.

So, shipping in cold weather can be done saftly but of course there are a few more risks then at other times of the year. It really depends on how confident and experienced your shipper is. Will he give you a live arrival guarantee? Many people will not if the temps dip below a certain point. If thats the case, have him delay shipping until he can give you that guarantee. I personally will not accept any animal without a live arrival guarantee.

Mark

>>Hello
>>
>>I inquired about a ball for sale thinking it wouldnt be shipped soon but the person said they can ship tuesday with a couple 24r heat packs. I will list the weeks weather starting tuesday is it safe for this persont to ship? Tuesday=Hight37,Low26 Wenesd.=36high, 24low Thurs.=34high, 21low. Friday night: Mainly clear. Cold. Low 9F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.
>>Saturday: Periods of heavy snow likely in the afternoon. Cold. High 23F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. 4 to 6 inches of snow expected.
>>
>>if it is not safe I will tell this person not to ship to me or anyone else.