Moving

[Reptaholic1]

I'm looking for any advice I have a large collection and planning a move across country and was wondering what is the best way to transport them

[Minkness]

Are you flying or driving? Any plans to stop along the way? How big is the collection? What type of animals make up this collection?

[Reptaholic1]

I'll be driving. There will be stop's a long the way. I have 20 snakes 4 beardies a adult savanna monitor, and a red tegu

[trailblazer295]

Nice collection, sorry I can't help though. Never moved that far or with that large a collection. Someone else will chime in.

[jjhill001]

Bags and foam coolers with a few holes in them. A day at less than ideal temps isn't gonna kill a reptile. Just make sure to avoid temperature extremes so if you stop in a hotel don't let the air conditioning allow the room to get extremely cold. Keep them in the vehicle, not in the back of a trailer or something. Depending on where your going see how the weather changes from one state to another.

If you live in Maine or something and end up in Texas you're gonna need to make sure your air conditioner in your vehicle is working. Or heat in the vehicle. If you have any snakes under quarantine you'll wanna keep them separate.

You keep the snakes in separate bags but you can put as many in the same cooler as allows them to not be forced on top of each other. You can buy a sheet of foam at the hardware store and cut out a square that fits inside the foam cooler and put some legs on it like a table so you essentially form shelves within the box that means you can put a few more in the box while not forcing the snakes to be laying on the other snakes. Make sure to place crumbled newspaper in there so their is cushion and they don't get thrown around every time you hit a pot hole.

If you have baby snakes they can go in deli cups with aspen and then into the foam cooler as well.

I've never had to move a lizard before but I'm pretty sure that they are packed very similar to snakes. I would go with the foam coolers and reptile bags for them as well but outside of the beardies I wouldn't place the big ones in the same cooler.

https://shipyourreptiles.com/shop/cloth_reptile_bags/product

The bags are pretty cheap and it'll keep poop off of your pillow cases.

Some people would offer water and stuff. But if the trip overall is gonna be 12 or so hours and a sleep in between then another few hours I wouldn't risk letting my animals out in a hotel room they'll be fine for a day without water. Make sure that your hotel chain you choose allows reptiles or maybe just do airbnb for a night, they'll never know you had them.

You might have to use a cardboard box for the larger lizards instead of a cooler. They're a bit more resistant to high temps so the lack of insulation to keep them more stable will be less of an issue since they have larger bodies and aren't affected by temp changes as fast as say a corn snake or whatever you might have.

As always have a few heat/cool packs available just in case, use whatever thermometers you have and insert the probes in the boxes so you don't have to open them to make sure temps are fine.

Try and not stress out about it too much. Reptiles are very durable and as long as they don't drop below the 70 range or go over the 95 range for an extended amount of time things should go swimmingly. The main purpose of the foam coolers is to just avoid extreme temp changes that can happen. Good luck.

[jjhill001]

The really big bags I linked at ship your reptiles is a bulk order.

Here is a site for individual bags.

Shipping Materials, Boxes, Heat & Cool Packs, Etc (http://www.lllreptile.com/catalog/182-shipping-materials-boxes-heat-and-cool-packs-etc)

[BillyCostume]

Jjhill has got you covered. Personally for the savannah I'd get a baby car seat

[jjhill001]

Jjhill has got you covered. Personally for the savannah I'd get a baby car seat

Lol, that would be pretty funny.

[Tiny Boidae]

I've used dog carriers in the past for my water dragons when I had them. Placed a towel on the bottom to collect feces and give them something to hold onto. I don't know if you'd be able to do this for the tegu, but it'd be something to consider for the beardies. I housed them individually for travel to minimize the potential for fights, but depending on your individuals and the size of the carrier you might be able to house them two a piece. I used something similar to this.

https://www.petfooddirect.com/productimages/DG0717_lg.jpg


During travel, I usually aim to keep my animals around 75*, and not much lower or higher. Monitor them consistently and keep them out of direct sunlight if you can, since those windows tended to make my animals uncomfortably warm. Window shades for your car can help to eliminate this problem though.

I always pack hand warmers in case I can't keep them warm enough to be comfortable (which usually isn't an issue except in winter). Just get a few packs from Walmart, and, depending on the size of the animal, wrap a few in paper towel and place in the enclosure with them in case they need the heat in a pinch.

[jjhill001]

I've used dog carriers in the past for my water dragons when I had them. Placed a towel on the bottom to collect feces and give them something to hold onto. I don't know if you'd be able to do this for the tegu, but it'd be something to consider for the beardies. I housed them individually for travel to minimize the potential for fights, but depending on your individuals and the size of the carrier you might be able to house them two a piece. I used something similar to this.

https://www.petfooddirect.com/productimages/DG0717_lg.jpg


During travel, I usually aim to keep my animals around 75*, and not much lower or higher. Monitor them consistently and keep them out of direct sunlight if you can, since those windows tended to make my animals uncomfortably warm. Window shades for your car can help to eliminate this problem though.

I always pack hand warmers in case I can't keep them warm enough to be comfortable (which usually isn't an issue except in winter). Just get a few packs from Walmart, and, depending on the size of the animal, wrap a few in paper towel and place in the enclosure with them in case they need the heat in a pinch.

75 degrees is probably also cool enough to keep them from having enough energy to thrash about and hurt themselves as well. That's a good idea!

I don't know if it's feasible given the size of the collection to have an individual carrier for each beardie and I'm of the ilk that thinks the more space an animal has during shipping the more of a chance they can get hurt. I'm not totally opposed to the idea of the carriers for the monitor and tegu though if they are big enough for it, plus it could be packed with a few towels and made extra comfy. I know many people think reptiles are dumb but I think monitor/tegu lizards are intelligent enough to perhaps sort of enjoy/be interested in the ride and enjoy the smells kind of situation.

[Reptaholic1]

Thank you everyone

[jjhill001]

Thank you everyone

How did your move go?