Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not new to Kingsnake, I post frequently on the iguana and leopard gecko forums. I just wanted to make a warning to anyone using DHL to ship animals, basically, don't use them.

Back in November, I was having a leopard gecko shipped to me, and the person shipping the gecko was going to use DHL. Well, the gecko somehow got lost in transit. Then, once I resolved that problem with them by phone, the carrier delivering the gecko said that I was not home (even though I had been sitting by the door waiting for him). That happened at noon that day, and it turned out he went to the wrong address even though it was clearly stated on the box my address. DHL refused to send him back out to the address that day and told me not to worry that the box would stay in the truck which was heated. (I live in Buffalo, NY, and it was close to 60 degrees out that day, but still not warm enough for a gecko to stay in heat pad or not.) The next day the gecko arrived to my house close to 3pm, and the gecko took his last breaths when I opened the box. There could have been a slight possibility that he would've survived if the carrier delivered him that morning like I was told he would.

The dealer who shipped the 1st gecko then sent me another one free of charge, and originally told me that he would be using a different delivery service, but used DHL once again. This time I kept calling DHL by the hour to find out where the gecko was. At about 2pm, the carrier dropped the box at the front door of my apt building and didn't even ring the doorbell or anything. It was cold that day, probably in the mid 40s. When the carrier came back to the docking station at 6pm is when I found out the box had been sitting outside for 4 hours. Needless to say, my gecko died a few days later. Most likely from shock.

I have an almost 3 yr old daughter, and she was witness to not just one but 2 geckos dying due to incompetence. It was horrible. When I complained to the manager at DHL, he didn't seem to take me serious at all. I will never ever ship anything with that company.
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), and Kayko (0.0.1 leopard gecko)

I experienced the same problem with DHL recently, but with a $100 high gold ball python. They ended up shipping him halfway across the country because the stupid company couldn't read the zipcode correctly, but he ended up here that night at 5pm. Luckily, he was alive and is still alive, but I refuse to ever ship with that company. They have lost boxes of crickets before and have screwed up several orders, not just from reptile places. I am lucky that I have never lost an animal because I got right onto them about their mistake as soon as I saw where the package was headed by tracking it.
I just want to remind people that DHL has crappy service and should never be used to ship live animals. The breeder I spoke to who sent me the snake will never use them again, and I know that when I breed my reptiles, I will never use them. Don't let the horror stories happen to you.