New Shipment Proceedure?

Tomorrow I'll receive my Mystic Pastel female via FedEx. I've received a snake before through FedEx from LLLReptile. Unfortunately that package was delayed and the little blood python was in that box for over 40 hours. It never ate for me and ended up dying about 4 weeks later. The note inside advised me to put the snake in it's home with NO heat for a couple hours and then slowly raise the temp. Does anyone else do this? Is it necessary? How do you receive a new snake? Just carefully remove from the container/bag, look for physical defects, weigh on scale, and place in already heated terrarium? She was born in NOV '12 and will go in a 10 gal glass terrarium with cypress mulch and heat and humidity well established. Any tips on receiving a new shipment are appreciated. Pics will come tomorrow. EXCITED!

Snake comes in I check to make sure the sex and morph is right, then Pop! right in to a warm waiting tub with fresh water and leave it alone till feeding day..very rarely have issues doing it that way.. Now that's Ball Pythons things may be different with bloods.

I open the box and try to video (or take pics if I am alone). Then I sex it and into QT for a day or so, then I will try to feed it. Then it stays in QT for 90 days. I like to feed soon so I can communicate with the seller if I have any troubles. Not sure on bloods but I don't see a reason to slowly bring up the temps, as long they are within range.

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Originally Posted by axeman569

I open the box and try to video (or take pics if I am alone). Then I sex it and into QT for a day or so, then I will try to feed it. Then it stays in QT for 90 days. I like to feed soon so I can communicate with the seller if I have any troubles. Not sure on bloods but I don't see a reason to slowly bring up the temps, as long they are within range.

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Same here. They go right into a warmed tub in my q/t rack. I don't set the snake directly on the hot side, but it IS up to temps so if the snake feels the need it can go there immediately on its own. I wait 4 days and then feed (but I work with boas, so that's perfectly fine for them).

As others have mentioned, I also don't work with bloods, so this may be something that they are more sensitive to. Any blood owners/breeders want to chime in here??

I think the instructional intent may be to prevent folks from putting an animal, especially a cold one, right under a heat lamp, or over compensating for the cold and delay by making the whole cage "hot". I know that this happens, the overheating of a new arrival, and can be just as problematic as the shipping delay itself.

We once shipped a baby monitor to a customer that was delayed a day and he thought it looked very dehydrated upon arrival. It is common for a reptile to dehydrate and stress during shipping, yes.

So he put it in a deep container of water to swim and rehydrate (not in a cage, just a tub of water). 2 hours later he found that the monitor exhausted itself from swimming (of course) and had drowned. He wanted a replacement. No.

The advice given above is sensible. Place your new arrival into a properly set up cage, but not directly under a heat lamp. Let them regulate their own temperature, as well as have access to clean water, and a hide spot.

If it was a baby blood, I can totally see that happening. Even my one year old looks stressed every time I open the tub. Mine was driven by the breeder a few states away though, I don't believe she was ever on a plane. Sorry to hear about what happened to your little one :(


I think what others are suggesting is fine for a ball python. Mine usually come pretty toasty already so moving them to a warm enclosure isn't much different than how they were in the box. My latest shipment was actually same day shipping and we picked her up right from the airport. She wasn't in transit for more than 5 hours. It was pretty awesome. If you have the resources to do same day shipping, I highly recommend it!