snake shipping

Has anyone ever had a bad experience with having a snake shipped to their house? The snake that I'm thinking about buying will be at a show in my hometown mid-november (i could drive there and pick it up), but my set up is very close to complete and it would only cost 20 dollars to ship. Would you guys recommend I just wait til mid november, or do you think it'll be ok if I get it shipped overnight?
thanks for input

Well I haven't heard of many bad stories about having snakes shipped or anything. I've heard the odd story about the fedex or ups delivery person tossing the box around ignoring the fragile stickers on the box, but the snakes were always fine, and it's a rare occurance. I say shipping is fine, but IMO I'd wait till the show for a few reasons.

1. Less stress on the snake to be picked up and brought home right away, instead of being shipped overnight.

2. You can go to the show and get the snake, that way you bring something home instead of going home empty handed. And bringing home your snake then might stop you from buying other cute snakes there that you might not be able to afford or keep. Damn them irresistable herps. :twisted:

hehe...good thinking.
thanks man

Cody has good points, as usual. :) From what I've heard and read, actual problems from shipping are few and far between. It's much more common that the problem is with the seller, such as selling an unhealthy animal to begin with, and that is why sellers' reputations are so important. But not leaving the show empty-handed is always a good thing, and it's not long between now and then, so I think I'd just wait.

I bought my pair from a breeder in New York. They were sent UPS red which means early AM delivery. Right? That's true if they don't lose the package. Can you believe they lost my snakes for 24 hours? They finally showed up the following day and boy were they stressed.

As the rest of the crew has said, this was a rare incident. I would definetely ship the snakes again, but by Delta or something of that method. Little safer. If you have the chance to go to the show to pick-up your new baby, do it.