Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you fly down to the Daytona show and buy some "must haves" how do you ship them back home safe and sound?
Are there any vendors at the show that do this as a paid service? I would like to do this on the up and up. Any input appreciated. Bob.

Scott F's post lower in this forum says fed ex will allow shipping of snakes but it needs to be set up in advance, a test shipment made, AND shipments can go only to businesses. Obviously that limits the usefulness considerably.

I hear rumors all the time that this or that overnight carrier has decided to allow shipment of snakes (on a more general basis--like to residential addresses).

If any of these stories are true--and i'm still waiting for confirmation--it seems someone might persuade one of the daytona area "pack and ships" that's an authorized dealer for the courier in question, to open a booth at the show. Surely it could be shown a great deal of business would be generated.

My disclaimer: Use of an overnight carrier would provide convenience and economy, and some people would consider those adequate tradeoffs for the increased risks to the animals. I personally think only the airlines offer reasonably safe shipping at this time--a UPS (or whatevaer company) driver with one box containing a live snake and 100 or 200 boxes with inert shipments from Amazon.com and etc., here in florida where daily highs are routinely in the low-mid 90s all summer, may be on the road for hours before the delivery's made.)

Of course, in fairness, I wouldnt use the airlines when a shipment's gonna have to be on the ground six hours in a hot city between connections, either. DASH with Delta, for ex, hugely limits those times of exposure to risk.

terry