How to Ship Reptiles - Great step-by-step w/pics

[Invictus]

After seeing pictures of totally the WRONG way to go about shipping snakes, as well as the frustration of wanting to buy various snakes from various classifieds only to see "pick up only" or "will not ship", I decided to try and find a good how-to guide for those who are apprehensive to shipping - it's NOT all that difficult, and by limiting yourself to local sales, you may end up slashing your prices drastically just to move your reptiles, when in actuality, someone else on the other side of the country may want it, AND have cash ready for you!

So enough babble, here's the article:

http://www.arbreptiles.com/shipping/index.shtml

The only thing I disagree with in his article (and if you ship WestJet, they will not allow you to ship without) is air holes. Air holes are a MUST.

Anyway, enjoy this article! I'm going to have a shipping FAQ on my own website when I put it up, but this one is hopefully not going anywhere any time soon.

[jparker1167]

very good post ken, i always wanted to see how people ship snakes,

[mettle]

Wow, that's incredibly informative! Thanks for posting! Definitely book marking that and sharing it around.

[Capital Dragons]

That link is great!!! Thanks. Book marked for sure!:thumbsup:

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

KEN:

You beat me to it but cool still.....lol.

Cya...

Tony

[Invictus]

Everyone make sure you email the author of the article via his site as well. He deserves the thanks for such a straightforward, informative article. I suppose I should email him as well to let him know that I posted it. :)

[Jeff_Favelle]

Not bad. Good info.

But everyone I know, especially in Canada, goes with a bigger box. I know I do. That box basically held a deli cup. I shipped out a box today with 34 deli cups in it!! And I use the SAME size box, even if I had 3 deli cups in it. I cannot bear to think that the snakes will be closer than 3 or 4 inches from the heat pack and/or gel pack. That scares the bejeezus out of me. People that I've shipped to know what I'm talking about. Remember how I packed it? That's how most people I know do it. Heat and heated gel packs on one side, snakes on the other side. Works like a charm.

Not saying his way is wrong. Just saying I wouldn't do it that way. But the box construction is perfect. That's the way its been done for 20+ years. No better way to do it.

[Invictus]

Good point Jeff. I also intend to use much bigger boxes when I start shipping, and deeper as well, because my idea was to make sure there is 3-4 inches of popcorn foam or newspaper ABOVE the snake, with the heat packs attached to the lid. This will be tested first with a digital therm inside the deli cup of course.

[AtlanticReptile]

Great post, hopefully it will encourage more people to ship

AtlanticReptiles

Nick

[Cruciform]

I agree with Ken about the air holes. Sure, snakes don't use up a lot of oxygen, but the chemical reactions in the heat pads are another story. Oxidation will consume quite a bit of oxygen, and basically mean your gambling with the snakes life.

10 might ship safely, but even if one dies from a silly mistake like that it's not worth it.

Thanks for the link Ken :)

[marisa]

I see most people use packing "peanuts" and I am curious how those air bags would work.

If you guys haven't seen them its basically a large ziplock bag 100% sealed filled with air. They come in different sizes.....My mother in law uses these to ship out cookies and breakable stuff to us. LOL. They hold things 100% in place and I have even stood on one and it didn't burst. Seems like they would hold things in place even better than peanuts.

Basically they are small versions of these bags. She gets them in 4 inch by 6 inch size, and bigger like 8 by 12, clear cheap ones but they are strong. This link just gives an example and these are not the ones she uses.

http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_7703.asp

Marisa

[Jeff_Favelle]

Good point Jeff. I also intend to use much bigger boxes when I start shipping, and deeper as well, because my idea was to make sure there is 3-4 inches of popcorn foam or newspaper ABOVE the snake, with the heat packs attached to the lid. This will be tested first with a digital therm inside the deli cup of course.

Exactly bro. Insulation is the KEY! For sure. :D