Shipping in the Winter

I looked into the BOI on fauna a few days ago. He has a less than stellar reference. So I'm not totally encouraged. I will give a few days and then alert him to the fact that I will be posting a complaint on the fauna BOI.
I'm really hoping since the complaints were a few years back that he has changed his ways and will come through. Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.
Really wish I had known about the BOI prior to making this purchase though!
An expensive lesson learned, and one that my husband isn't letting me forget! :)

I know that I am straying a bit off topic in regards to the original posters thread, but after reading all of the responses in this thread, I wanted to interject a bit of our experience with shipping.

I know that everyone has their own comfort level when it comes to shipping animals, and what the low and high temps are their min. / max. With that said, we will typically ship an animal so long as it is not below 26 degrees anywhere in the transporatation. We have done this successfully many times. So long as you pack your boxes well, they can easily and safely make the trip. With that said, here are a few things that I think the less experienced shipper should take into consideration.

First of all, for the longest time, we shipped animals in 1/2" insulation boxes. Obviously, everyone wants to save money where they can. After 2 years of doing this without a problem, we switched to the 3/4" insulated boxes, just as added insurance, and also because we got more confident in our abilities to ship, and was starting to ship in warmer and colder weather than before. However, I would suggest that anyone starting out use the 3/4" insulated boxes, as they maintain temps much better.

Next up is air holes. The only bad thing about air holes, is that you probably paid about $3- $4 dollars for your packaging, with the intent of insulating your snake, and then you put a hole in it. This allows the exchange of unwanted cold or warm air. Our opinion is to avoid them if possible. Your box will get some air from the untaped seams around box We rarely ever put airholes in our boxes, but occasionally it is necessary. We have shipped on numerous occassions with a heat pack in the box (12x9x6 which is a relatively small box) and did not put holes in the box. The snake and the heat pack both got the required air during transportation. I think one of the biggest deciding factors in the decision to put holes or not is wether the temps are cooler at the destination or the origination point, and also what the hub temperture is. The other factor in this decision is the heat pack you are using (they range from 20 hour to 60 hour packs), and each of those packs peak at a different temperature (higher temps the larger pack you use) and peak times that are later depending on the size of the pack. The tables for these packs can be found on Superior Enterprises website or wherever you oredr your heat packs from.

Another thing to take into consideration is the size of the box. A larger box (while it costs more to ship), will hold it's internal temperature better, because it is harder to change the temperature of a large volume of air than a smaller volue. Also, depending on the temp, more than one heat pack may be used. While I have never done it, I have
heard of breeders using 2 different sized heat packs before, such as a 30 hr and a 40 hr. The theory here is that the 30 hr will peak early, and the 40 hr. will peak later, thus giving an overall warmer temp for a longer period of time. The placement of the heat pack is just as important. If we are shipping one snake, we generally put the heat pack on one side, and lay the snake bag in the box in such a manner that the snake can move in the bag closer or further away from the heat if desired. In the situation of more than 2 snakes in a box, we typically put the heat pack on the lid, so that all of the snakes have some exposure to the heat.

One last consideration is the container the reptile is packaged in. Snake bags breath better, but don't have the insulation factor of plastic, like a deli cup. Be careful with deli cups and heat packs though, as they seam to trap the heat, and you could end up overheating an animal in a deli cup. We have switched over to cloth bags only for ball python shipping. We do ship corn snakes and baby kenyan sand boas in deli cups, as keeping them in a snake bag is very difficult.

The last comment I would like to make is that a great way to gain shipping experience without actually shipping, is to pack a box like you are shipping, and leave it outside with an in/out thermometer in different weather conditions. This allows you to see how good or bad your packaging is without risking an animal or a customers positive experience.

The last note I can add, is that we write down the forecasted temps during transportation (gathered from a weather website) and the amount of heat or cool packs used as well as the number of holes placed in the box. This allows us to go back (after enough data has been collected), and see how we have successfully shipped in the past. If you have a very helpful customer, ask them if they can measure the temps of the box and snake when they receive it, as this will give you invaluable feedback on future shipments.

We just shipped a Spotnose female to a customer in Illinois this week. The temps at home were about 40 - 32 degrees, with temps in Memphis (we ude FedEx) were going to be in the mid thirties while the box layed over, and they were 38 - 28 in Illinois. We packed in a 12x9x6 box with 3/4 insulation and 2 40hr. heat packs taped to the lid on one side, and one very small hole in the side of the box opposite of the heat packs. I had never used 2 heat packs in this small of a box, but had a friend that shipped to Colorado the day before with one heat pack, and his snake arrived at 63 degrees. I asked my customer to check temps if he could when his snake arrived, and the box was 88 degrees, and the snake was 82 - 85 degrees. This info proved very helpful to me, as I was going to be shipping to another customer next week in Colorado where I was going to be experiencing very similar temps.

All in all, just try to think about exactlly what the temps will be at each stage of the journey, and think about how best to combat each step, and you will safely ship every time.

I hope this can help someone,

Wish my seller had read and followed this sort of advice...Thanks for the post, it will be helpful to me int he future and I'm sure it will benefit many others! :)

So I got a reply from my seller...

"Hi Nicole, I used 40 hour heat packs in the box that I sent to you not hand warmers. look in the box and you will find the heat pack wrappers.

I will exchange the BP if indeed it was missexed. if you deciede to keep it after you are finished treating it we can work something out. internal parasites can be introduced to a Bp many ways including feeding rodents.fecal exams are a regular precaution when keeping and recieving new snakes. keep me posted"

So my questions now are...
Do the 40 hour heat packs come in the same size as the handwarmer kind? Like 2" x 3"? I thought they were the larger 3" x 5" or so? I have some of both and the kind that was in the box looked like the handwarmers. Of course now I can't prove it since I didn't feel the need at the time to retain the wrappers on the handwarmers.

And as for his parasite explanation. If fecals should be a regular precaution, then why didn't HE catch it at HIS facility? If this were the only problem with the snake I wouldn't even have brought it to his attention. It's just another issue to be dealt with.

So aggravated! :taz:

Just wanted to post that after a bit of back and forth, the seller has made more than good on this problem. He has a very satisfied customer now. ;)