Freaking so pissed off.....

So I get my Bumble Bee 100% Het Clown today... Fed ex leaves him on the front steps.. no knock or ringing of the door bell.. he could of been out there for 5 min to 30 min.. don't no but I checked 30 min before I found him there... Open the box and 2 little hand warmers thrown in the box and not even working anymore...I get him out of the bag and he is cold.. tongue was flickering and he was moving so i held him for a 1/2 hour then put him in a nice warm tub checked him 20 min later and he felt nice and warm.. Do you think he should be okay... called the guy and yelled a little and he said they were 10 hour warmers I said the trip he was on was over 12 hours what about the other 4 hours he said he didn't want to put a bigger warmer in there and toast him... and he sent no paper work... so pissed.. what would you do...

Forgot to ask what signs should I look out for that there is something wrong.. Thanks RichieBoo

FedEx can really suck when it comes to delivering. Do you have a FedEx near you that you can pick it up? You usually get the snake earlier and don't have to worry about the deliverer failing at his/her job. 10 hours is not enough for a heat pack, but more importantly, hand warmers are not meant for reptiles! Big no-no in my opinion. If your snake is being active, it should be fine. Just don't warm it up too quickly.

that sucks i hope he is okay

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Originally Posted by RichieBoo

Forgot to ask what signs should I look out for that there is something wrong.. Thanks RichieBoo

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I don't own BP's but I would look out for the snake being lethargic and/or unaware of his/her surroundings. Someone else with more experience could tell you more though.

Wow sorry, I'd be more than pissed as well!! I'd be calling Fed Ex as well.

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I've had a ball python hatching so cold that it appeared dead. Mouth open, tongue hanging out, completely limp with no movement at all. I left it in a warm cage and came back later and it was acting just fine. Never had any further issues with him either. Best thing is to just keep an eye on him and let him settle into his new surroundings before doing much more with him.

Fed Ex where I live can be really bad depending on the driver. I've had packeges sent back to the sender before because I supposedly was not available for a signature (I had been sitting on the front porch all day waiting for the package) I'm sure the driver just didn't feel like driving all the way out to my place so he just skipped me and tried to put the blame on me. I've never had any problems with UPS though.

Ok there were a couple of things that went on but the one that would miff me is the heat pack thing. As for the het papers I can get you papers on every snake I own showing they are het Sunset. Doesn't make it any more true that the man in the moon. The bottom line is do you trust the breeder you bought the animal from to sell you a het. If so then you're golden if not then why did you spend your hard earned money on something that is backed by paper and laser printer ink? Could the shipping have gone better? Yes should they have used the right heating packs? YES!. Did your little one have a rought trip? Yep. In the end I think your snake will be fine and you'll make some really awesome animals in the fature with it..

FedEx hardly rings my doorbell. They usually just leave the package and leave. One time they left the box on its side. Another time the guy was walking away with my package! I had to run out there to catch him.

Anyway, hand warmers are so bad for shipping. They burn too hot, too fast, and use too much oxygen in one go. And what if the package got held up at a hub? That's why most sellers put in 24+ hr shipping packs in case of delayed mishaps. That's horrible of your seller. I think you should write a BOI.

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Thanks everyone... he seems fine.. im not even that mad at Fed ex.... im mad that he thought 10 hours of heat would be enough and he told me in that small box those warmers would be fine and if he put in a bigger warmer pack that he would roast the snake.. so why didn't he put him in a bigger box.(shipping cost that's why)..... im gonna take pics of the warmers and post them..

Few things from a customer standpoint and breeder standpoint.

As far as fedex goes it pretty typical for them to leave the package at the door heck sometime they leave it at someone else's door :rolleyes:. This is why as a customer when I receive a snake I track track the package and refresh as often as possible.

On the breeder side one of the reason breeders don't do signature is that in a lot of cases if the signature is on file, the package will be left at the door (in other words signature is useless), if the sig is not on file and the receiver goes to the bathroom or does not hear the doorbell the package goes back on the truck and is re-delivered next day.

Now paperwork as a customer, I really don't care, most hets I have received did not come with any paperwork the key is to buy from reputable breeders. As a breeder I still do paperwork for my customers to help them re-sell the animal in the future making it easy for potential customers to check that the animal was produced by me but this is not something everyone does quite the contrary and if you bought from someone reputable it should not matter.

Now as far as shipping while I understand not wanting a snake to be overheating I am having a hard time understanding using a 10 hour warmer (hand warmers are not like heat pack designed for shipping) that I would definitely have an issue with.

When temps require a heat pack I use a 40 hours heat pack, always have and never had an animal overheat.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/30/ehyzyvu2.jpg
Here they are....
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Originally Posted by RichieBoo

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/30/ehyzyvu2.jpg
Here they are....
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Those are for putting in your mittens while playing in the snow, not shipping reptiles...:D

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Originally Posted by RichieBoo

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/30/ehyzyvu2.jpg
Here they are....
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

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Ironically what the seller is supposedly afraid of (overheating) is more likely to happen using those then it is using proper 40 hour heat packs.

Proper shipping is not that difficult well apparently except for some people :rolleyes:

Using those heat packs is just ignorant. As has been mentioned here, they reach a higher peak temp, which is more dangerous, and their duration is really only a few hours. They peak fast, high, and then fall fast.

The MINIMUM heat pack required for cold weather FedEx shipping is 40 hours. There are 60 hour and 72 hour heat packs as well. Those don't peak any higher than the 40's, they just have longer duration. They are actually great to use, they just weigh a bit more, and can affect your final package weight.

We cover heat pack use in the ShipYourReptiles Get Help section.

It isn't hard to find the right info on heat pack use, and very easy to do it correctly. A shame that this shipper did not.

Wow, Hot Hands!? Really? Thats just sad.. How's the new guy doing now?

I honestly can't stand using Fed Ex... I live in an apartment building and shipping to me is a nightmare. They won't leave it outside the front door and don't bother to get the key to the building to get to my apartment. Its not a big building. They find the right building every time and there are only 6 apartments in the building. They just show up and if you don't happen to be staring at the driveway that exact moment, you don't get your stuff then. UPS- whole other story. Never had one single issue.

Can UPS ship reptiles as well? Or does everyone typically hop on the FedEx band wagon?

UPS will not ship live snakes legally. Its in their TOS. But other reptiles like turtles and lizards are OK. Amphibians too.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

UPS will not ship live snakes legally. Its in their TOS. But other reptiles like turtles and lizards are OK. Amphibians too.

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One of mine actually came in ups. I was shocked (and a little worried) when I got shipping info. But he said they were like grandfathered in for shipping.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

UPS will not ship live snakes legally. Its in their TOS. But other reptiles like turtles and lizards are OK. Amphibians too.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

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Well that sucks.

And DooLittle, I wouldn't be worried I'd actually be thankful. From what I understand the shipping standard is the responsibility of the seller. And on top of that UPS won't ship High Value without insuring it themselves as well. I worked for a UPS once.. Their packing standards are awesome

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Originally Posted by Dev_DeCoste

Well that sucks.

And DooLittle, I wouldn't be worried I'd actually be thankful. From what I understand the shipping standard is the responsibility of the seller. And on top of that UPS won't ship High Value without insuring it themselves as well. I worked for a UPS once.. Their packing standards are awesome

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He showed up just fine, this was awhile ago. I was just worried because I didn't think ups could ship live snakes and I didn't want any problems.

Right, that makes sense and I guess UPS cant ship live snakes... Bummer

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Originally Posted by Dev_DeCoste

Well that sucks.

And DooLittle, I wouldn't be worried I'd actually be thankful. From what I understand the shipping standard is the responsibility of the seller. And on top of that UPS won't ship High Value without insuring it themselves as well. I worked for a UPS once.. Their packing standards are awesome

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The "packing standards" are no different between UPS and FedEx. And UPS does NOT insure animals of any sort, high value or not. The shipping standards are indeed the responsibility of the seller, if the animal is packed properly, and temperature is properly considered (heat pack, no heat pack, or no shipment) you should expect a safe and healthy arrival. When there are system delays- misroutes, missed flights, etc, or the shipper does wacky stuff like this, that is when it can go wrong.

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Originally Posted by Dev_DeCoste

I honestly can't stand using Fed Ex... I live in an apartment building and shipping to me is a nightmare. They won't leave it outside the front door and don't bother to get the key to the building to get to my apartment. Its not a big building. They find the right building every time and there are only 6 apartments in the building. They just show up and if you don't happen to be staring at the driveway that exact moment, you don't get your stuff then. UPS- whole other story. Never had one single issue.

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This is why I have inbound shipments held at the hub for me to pick up in the morning. I get there just before it opens at 8:30 and am usually out in minutes.

Good place to ask this - I haven't shipped my first snake myself and my memory if the snakes I've received in the mail is fuzzy. What kind of tape do you use to secure the heat pack on the lid? I am TERRIFIED that the tape will peel off and the pack will fall on the snake and roast it. Is it just regular packing tape? A few layers or a single strip? I think when I do ship I'll put the snake in a deli cup to cover against a busted box, fallen heat pack, etc.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

Good place to ask this - I haven't shipped my first snake myself and my memory if the snakes I've received in the mail is fuzzy. What kind of tape do you use to secure the heat pack on the lid? I am TERRIFIED that the tape will peel off and the pack will fall on the snake and roast it. Is it just regular packing tape? A few layers or a single strip? I think when I do ship I'll put the snake in a deli cup to cover against a busted box, fallen heat pack, etc.

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I'm thinking that maybe mine have come with the heat tucked to one side wrapped in newspaper, snake on the other side? And crinkled newspaper is what holds everything in place. Sheesh, it's been awhile and I can't remember. Must be time for a new snake...:D

Ugh hot hands!!

Glad your snake is okay, I'm sure it will be fine.

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Originally Posted by MrLang

Good place to ask this - I haven't shipped my first snake myself and my memory if the snakes I've received in the mail is fuzzy. What kind of tape do you use to secure the heat pack on the lid? I am TERRIFIED that the tape will peel off and the pack will fall on the snake and roast it. Is it just regular packing tape? A few layers or a single strip? I think when I do ship I'll put the snake in a deli cup to cover against a busted box, fallen heat pack, etc.

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

I'm thinking that maybe mine have come with the heat tucked to one side wrapped in newspaper, snake on the other side? And crinkled newspaper is what holds everything in place. Sheesh, it's been awhile and I can't remember. Must be time for a new snake...:D

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I have seen what DooLittle describes. In fact, the snake that just came in yesterday had the heat pack on the side wrapped in newspaper.

When I ship, I tape the heat pack to the lid with one piece of tape on each side of the heat pack. I also put a layer of packing paper on top of the snake in a folded square (so it looks nice when you remove the top piece of styrofoam) and if the heat pack were to fall, it would fall on that piece of packing paper and never touch the snake anyway.

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

I have seen what DooLittle describes. In fact, the snake that just came in yesterday had the heat pack on the side wrapped in newspaper.

When I ship, I tape the heat pack to the lid with one piece of tape on each side of the heat pack. I also put a layer of packing paper on top of the snake in a folded square (so it looks nice when you remove the top piece of styrofoam) and if the heat pack were to fall, it would fall on that piece of packing paper and never touch the snake anyway.

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I do the same exact thing and never had a problem.