Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to ship one of my ball pythons but can't because no shippers (i've tried ups, usps,dhl, fedex) will take one time use customers.(They take everything but snakes including alligators and crocidiles under 20 feet which makes no cense) Since i live in wilmington nc i asked Dean Ripa (Cape Fear Serpentarium) he he could ship it for me (since he is a certified shipper) if i give him the money and he said NO, so i was wondering if anyone knows what I could do or, knows anyone in the wilmington area who could ship my snake.

Thanks, Derek

tell them it is a lizzard...thats what i did with ups and they shipped it!

thanks Paul

You can find some good information about shipping on the shipping forum and on the website which shall not be named.

Shipping is a very critical aspect of herps. Many die due to poor shipping practices. I had to become a qualified shipper by going through a series of steps designed to determine my ability to ship properly and responsibly. I even had to ship a "test" package so they could beat it up to see if it passed their tests.

Remember, just because others do it does not mean it's legal. I'm a certified shipper. If you are buying from someone who is not, make sure you aren't the one holding the bag if something happens due to illegal shipping practices. "Not responsible for lost or damaged package" should be a big red flag.

If someone was willing to ship for you, I would bet they would want to package the animal themselves to ensure it is done correctly. Also, if the animal is sick or dies, their name is on the packaging so this would probably deter many.

However you decide to do it, please think of the animals's safety first.
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Jay A. Martin

I too am a certified shipper with Delta, But with Delta costing 75.00 I find that NOT many buyers are willing to pay that amount to have the animal shipped, I mean after all if the snake being purchased is only 75.00 then you have 150.00 in the animal. That is why people opt to ship cheaper carriers. It sucks that All of the smaller carriers will take EVERY other animal EXCEPT snakes, I think WE as a WHOLE need to STAND UP and FIGHT for them TO CHANGE POLICY after all I would think that is some type of DISCRIMINATION. They will ship Lizards, Frogs, Turtles, ETC. But not snakes??????? WHY????? I think we need to get together and make them CHANGE POLICY. Thanks DAVID
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1.0 Pied(04)(RDR)
1.0 Albino(04)(RDR)
0.1 Spider(04)(RDR)
3.2 Pastels(03's)(04's)(ASF,Graziani,Bell lines)
0.1 Yellow belly(unproven)(04)
1.3 Yellow belly(unproven)(02,03,04's)
2.0 100% HET CLOWN(04's)(MHMR)
3.3 100% het albinos(03's)(high contrast bell line)
0.1 poss Het Albino(03's)
2.0 100% het pieds(03's)(Vin Russo,CRE)
0.2 100% het pieds(03's)(04's)(RDR,TWL)
1.2 Poss het pieds(03's)(PETE KAHL)
2.1 Poss het pieds(00's)(01's) hoping to get PIEDS this year(Vin Russo, Pete Kahl)
25 Normal adult females
60 04 females
15 normal mixed 03's
20 Assorted weird ball pythons 04's

David, you can get certified to ship snakes with fedex and ups. It took us about 3 months to break down the fedex wall that said "no we don't do that" but it can be done. We are still working on ups. If your local rep wont talk to you, get someone in their legal department and keep pushing. The policies are there on the company's intranet if you can get them to look it up. I'm pretty sure all this info is on that other site.

Laura

I have never been to this other site and would really like to check it out for more information (not that I dont get plenty here) but I am on these boards for approx. 2 hours every day (I do workstudy...) so I would like to have other things to look at... is there any way I could find out what this "other site" is called?
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1.0 100% het albino ball python
0.1 normal Ball python
0.0.1 uromastyx (Styx)...he is a rescue

I just went to the local UPS station and talked to the manager, who was a very nice lady. I showed her the shipping boxes I use and how I ship them with the labels on it. She made some phone calls and the next day I was approved to ship with UPS. It was a pretty painless process. Before that I was turned down by FedEx several times though and now no longer ship anthing with them.
Airborne Express / DHL is easy to ship with, but in my area they are not always the greatest.

Rob Reiding.