Advice on transporting 8 snakes 1300+ miles in a UHAUL??

Yes you read that right. There is every chance my beloved and I will have to leave Denver (on rather short notice) and move up to Seattle (specifically Bonney Lake near Puyallup). My dear father has graciously offered to take us into his home and help us find jobs and then an apartment. :)

Due to the fact that neither of us has any income now, and that we only have money through September, it is looking very likely that the move will come to pass. I sent tons of emails and finally learned that I can indeed take my dear snakes and BTS with me!

So now, I have to figure out a way to transport said 8 snakes to the PNW in a Penske or UHAUL truck. :) My skink has a cat carrier, and my snakes do have small tubs I place them in for holding...but 8 tubs in a truck??
I had the idea to place them in snake bags, then place the bags all in one rubbermaid tub that I could have at my feet or on my lap. Might that be an acceptable method?

Ideas? Comments? Tried and true methods? :D

i saw in an earlier thread about moving snakes that u should keep the WITH you so that they dont get exposed to the sun, or overheat and all that other good stuff. keep em in shade!

Igloo is now your friend.

Get a cooler big enough to put your snakes in once they're bagged. Get heating and/or cooling packs and use them as necessary.

You should have no problems this way. I've done it many many times when transporting reptiles.

i ended up packing my 4 snakes in individual bags and putting them in a big shipping box and keeping them in the cab with my BF and i while we drove in the uhaul. (the box was a snake shipping box complete with insulation and news paper). i zip tied everyone in their bags, and put the snakes in size order from left to right to make sure no one would squish the other.

probably not the ideal situation.. but it was really the only thing i could do. everyone arrived safe and sound.

I too have used the method Wes mentioned many times and it worked wonderfully. Everyone made it from Texas to Arizona and then from Arizona back to Texas. I just also took a spray bottle full of H20 to mist down any that needed it because it was super hot when we moved.

Oh and by the way... Go with Penske. They take WAY better care of their trucks than UHaul. My dad does a lot of work with Penske and their policy is to keep a truck for only 3 years. UHaul usually keeps their's till they die. There are also tons of reviews online with UHaul customers talking about how the trucks died, breaks quit, etc. I'll see if I can find the one's we found for ya.

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Originally Posted by spygirl

I too have used the method Wes mentioned many times and it worked wonderfully. Everyone made it from Texas to Arizona and then from Arizona back to Texas. I just also took a spray bottle full of H20 to mist down any that needed it because it was super hot when we moved.

Oh and by the way... Go with Penske. They take WAY better care of their trucks than UHaul. My dad does a lot of work with Penske and their policy is to keep a truck for only 3 years. UHaul usually keeps their's till they die. There are also tons of reviews online with UHaul customers talking about how the trucks died, breaks quit, etc. I'll see if I can find the one's we found for ya.

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The price reflects it as well though.

Thanks for the advice so far! :gj:

Yes, we will be going with Penske as it's cheaper than UHAUL and seems to have a better rep.

The only issue is that there will be 3 of us in the cab. That doesn't leave much room for anything else. :) But I can at least pad a tub with foam and put the snake bags in there with hot or cold packs as needed. The trip is estimated at 19-20 hours.
Would I have to open the bags at any time for air circulation? Or are cotton pillowcases going to be breathable enough with the tub lid lifted from time to time? My dad is...rather unliking of snakes. :)

Thanks a lot, and keep the suggestions coming!

Whatever you do, be careful if you put the rubbermaid on the floor of the truck. The floor can get very hot (at least it can in a Uhaul cargo van) and can cook your snakes. Believe me, I know from experience.

I would definately go with the cooler. And you can periodically check on them.....as the way this heat is, I wouldn't chance leaving them in the back of a super hot vehicle!!!

If you do an evening departure you'll be most of the way there by the time the sun warms things up and even then, it shouldn't be too hot.

You may well be able to put them in the back of the truck. Just be sure, as Jaimie said, to keep them off the floor. Air will be no problem and other than to reassure yourself there is no need to open the bags to check on them for that short a ride.

Yes, bagging them up individually and putting them in a cooler is a great way to go. Keeps the temps very stable and protects them from sudden high temps as well as sudden low temps. However, for such a long distance which also means a long time in the cooler, you may also wish to get some cardboard inserts to section off little compartments inside the cooler. I have had friends who lost snakes because their bigger snakes moved on top of their smaller snakes and suffocated/crushed them, they can move around a little bit in their bags and the smaller ones seem to end up on the bottom unless there is a way to keep them more contained.

:) No matter the transport device, I would not be putting them in the back.

I like the cooler idea, and like the cardboard partitions even better. :D Although most of my snakes are about the same size, I would not like it if Midas (the albino BP) crawled over Freya (my young snow corn).

Now, about how big a cooler might I need for 8 snakes? No BP I have is larger than 950g, and my largest corn is a little over 1000g.

Thanks so much for the great advice! I partially hope we won't need it yet, and that we find jobs here by mid-Sept., but it's good to have the knowledge. :D

well i moved snakes ( only from one room to the next ) but I left them in the pillow cases 24 hours no ill effects. Now I know it is not a corss country bouncing trip. but they were go happy just be ready for a possible stink and dirty pillow case when you open up the cooler. I say get a hinged lid and see about propping it open just a hair ot allow aire to move or drill a couple holes in it ( ruines cooler for othe uses) but I hate to hear you guys only stop for fuel and find they sufficated in the cooler...

I hope everythign goes well when the move goes down.

They should be ok for a 19-20 hour trip. Snakes are mailed all over the country in boxes and they do just fine. However, next summer I may be moving to the same area for work and I would have to literally drive coast to coast... yuck...

I'm going to be moving sometime in the next couple of years, and when I do, I'll have to transport 50+ snakes and 2 racks full of rodents.
Wish me luck. <lol>

I agree that bagging them individually and then putting them into a larger container with dividers is the way to go. Keep them with you, and be particularly careful when you stop for food and gas. I suggest never leaving them alone in the car without climate control running, even for a few minutes. Also remember the story of the fellow down south who went inside to pay for his gas (even left the engine running for air conditioning), and had his snake stolen out of his vehicle while he was out of sight. Not something that's likely...but it's happened.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

I'm going to be moving sometime in the next couple of years, and when I do, I'll have to transport 50+ snakes and 2 racks full of rodents.
Wish me luck...

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You might need to look into chartering a bus... :rofl:

If you leave at night, I think they will not risk over heating. If that is not possible, everyone here has had some really great ideas. :)

Congrats on a move to new things!

Thanks everyone for the great advice! :gj:

IF we end up moving, and it won't be final until the 12th of Sept. if we don't get jobs before then, we will be going Penske and I will be putting the snakes in bags in a cooler with partitions. :D

The only remaining question is - how large a cooler should I use for the 8 snakes? Largest BP is around 900g, largest corn is around 1000g.

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Originally Posted by Argentra

Thanks everyone for the great advice! :gj:

IF we end up moving, and it won't be final until the 12th of Sept. if we don't get jobs before then, we will be going Penske and I will be putting the snakes in bags in a cooler with partitions. :D

The only remaining question is - how large a cooler should I use for the 8 snakes? Largest BP is around 900g, largest corn is around 1000g.

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IMO Bigger is better in this case... get the biggest one that you wouldn't mind next to you/on your lap for 20 hours.

In a truck, it will probably take you a little more than 20 hours, FYI. It took us 20 in our car to Seattle from Denver. Are you stopping for a night? (We didn't).
Let me know if you need any local help!
We always said if we were moving that far away that my husband would drive and get there and set up, then I would fly out with the animals.
Frontier and Southwest have been having some pretty good deals ($60 one way) to Seattle that would cut your 2 day fiasco into an afternoon, not sure about animals regs with them though...
Oh, and I am SO jealous that you're moving to Seattle, I LOVE that place, but am too much of a sun worshiper to move there.
Good Luck!!!

Funny you should say that about local help. I'll be putting up a thread specifically, but we just learned that it actually takes about 3 days to make that drive!

Now, we have a serious problem. I may need to find someone in Denver who can keep the snakes with them for a while and then ship them up to us...or someone in the Seattle area who I can ship the snakes to who could foster them for a while.

Also, I need to know if it would be possible to have the snakes on a 3-4 day trip? How did those folks who moved cross country do it?
We only have a small amount of money to work with, and can't hire a truck co. to move our stuff while we flew. That would be ideal, but we don't even come close to having that kind of money.

An SOS thread will be going up shortly with more details and such...