ball python in the desert, help!

[hotsnake90]

My husband and I are being moved to an new air force base in Arizona. We cannot afford to ship our ball python so she will be in her tank, riding in the back seat of our pickup. We are moving in July and temperatures in the desert can reach 120°… the AC in our truck isn't very powerful and I'm looking for ideas on ways to keep her temp controlled. How much heat can a ball python handle? I know ,I know! 80°- 85°… but realisticly that's not going to be possible. I need to know straight out, how much heat can a healthy young adult ball python handle?

[Mikoh4792]

How long are you guys going to be in the desert? There are ice packs used to ship snakes/reptiles during the summer.

If it gets above 90F I'd keep her in an insulated box that is cooled with a small ice pack(the kind for shipping reptiles you can find them here. Cold Packs)

Just make sure the ice pack isn't too close/ touching her. It's only for cooling the air around her.

This is one of my setups incase I have to move an animal for a few hours. I'd fill it with some cushioning such as newspaper/shredded paper during transport. The cardboard with holes in it is just to separate the heat/ice pack from the animal.

[hotsnake90]

We will be traveling for 5 days. The cold won't hurt my snake? The person I bought her from said if she gets too cold she could die!

[Mikoh4792]

It's always dependent on a few factors. Depends on the temperature of where you guys will be and how long you guys will be there.

You will be travelling in the desert for 5 days?

You can keep checking in on her and check the temperature inside the box, take out and leave in the ice pack as need be to maintain a safe ambient temperature inside the box. I'd try to keep things at 85F.

No when shipping in very hot temperatures the icepack can actually save your snake's life. I've shipped many snakes with icepacks during warm months, and without it they would have died from overheating. The person you got her from is right in saying that she could die if it gets too cold. Don't let it get too cold.

[Mikoh4792]

Since you have a few months before doing this, I'd prepare all the materials and experiment using ice packs to get a feel of how it's going to be.

Where are you travelling from? Shipping really shouldn't be that much unless your snake is huge.

Talk with the customer service at shipyourreptiles.com to see if they can help you.

You can use this code at shipyourreptiles to get 40% off shipping "CBR40"

[Tonka14]

I spent 4 days in the middle of the winter when I separated from the air force and traveled with 10 snakes in my truck from Utah to Florida. I kept them all in bags so that the stress factor was kept to a minimum and if they started getting to cool in the back I moved them up to the front to warm them up. I also did a soak on all of them every night when we would stop for the night, whatever you can do to make the ride as comfortable for the snake will work.