SOS!! Serious problem, Need help Please!

[Argentra]

Not sure which forum to put this in...

For those who may not know, my partner and I may have to make an emergency move to Seattle (Bonney Lake) at the end of September due to having no jobs and no money past that month. My father and step-mother have graciously offered to take us in and help us find jobs and an apartment.

The problem: We learned that the drive up in a Penske truck will take 3-4 days! My BTS can handle that...but I don't think the snakes could! We have only a little over $1200 for the move costs AND a few months in WA, so we can't afford to have a truck co. move our things or anything like that.

I am sending out an SOS - I need help figuring this out! Is there a way to take the snakes on a 3-4 day trip in a moving truck? If not, I will need someone to take the snakes for me for a while. Either someone here in Denver who could keep them in tubs then ship them up to us once we're settled (we would pay of course), or someone up in the Seattle area who could receive them and their cages and foster them for a while until we get a place. Even then, we may not be able to handle all the costs.

It is not fully known that we will have to be moving yet. The deadline for that is Sept. 12th. I have to give the 30 day notice for our apartment on Sept 1st, but we could still keep our apartment if we heard something before the 12th. However, I have to start making plans and figuring things out now just in case we DO have to leave.
This is a huge mess that has me on the verge of breaking down. I don't know how to do any of this, and I don't know if we can afford any of it either. I'm scared and really need some help.

Any advice or help in this matter would be eternally appreciated! We're running out of time and money...and sanity.

Oh, and just for the record - the snakes are 4 young Ball Pythons and 4 corns. The corns cage system would have to come up to WA with us and couldn't be shipped, but the BPs are in a rack w/ 2 tubs and tanks while their cages are being built. The rack and extra tubs could be handed over for the BPs to stay in, and I may have tubs for the corns but I'm not sure. They would come with their thermostats and UTHs and hides and such, of course.

[coolluigi007]

I think everything will turn out fine. I am wondering though, why would it take so long to drive the truck up there? I'm confused. I've used Uhals before and other than me sticking to 55 instead of my normal speed it didn't take any longer to get to the new house.... Don't let it worry you though! Everyone here at BP.net is here for you!!!

[nixer]

i dont see it taking that long, but you could just put them in a cooler in their tubs with water?

[tonkatoyman]

Argentra,
I assume you are driving the truck or it will be with you. Snakes travel over multiple days for shows all the time. Just transport in such a manner that they are safe and warm. Take them out each night and put them in a lockable tote with water and heat, like a human hot pad placed under the tub with a towel inbetween it and the pad. Put water in the tub then hit the sack, and do it all over again the next day. When you arrive set them up and you are good to go.

[coolluigi007]

Argentra,
I assume you are driving the truck or it will be with you. Snakes travel over multiple days for shows all the time. Just transport in such a manner that they are safe and warm. Take them out each night and put them in a lockable tote with water and heat, like a human hot pad placed under the tub with a towel inbetween it and the pad. Put water in the tub then hit the sack, and do it all over again the next day. When you arrive set them up and you are good to go.

Wow, thats a really good idea!

[Argentra]

Thanks.

Neither I nor my partner can drive. That's part of the issue. No, the driver of the truck would either be my father (getting here by plane) or my ex-trucker neighbor (only if her classes schedule would allow it). Both of them were the ones that told me the trip would take that long.
I am also confused as to the amount of time, since the 700+ mile drive from El Paso to Denver only took 10 hours (drove through the night by my ex-husband). And we did make some stops for food and stretching.

The snakes each have holding tubs that are small rubbermaids that they could be placed in with a dish of water. I would just have to bungee the lids on. I have spare UTHs I could tape on, and I could just make sure the tubs and thermostats where all near the truck door... that could work.

At any rate...I also have the problem that I wouldn't be able to afford stopping at motels every night. SIGH! This just keeps getting harder and harder. I wish someone here would hire us and end this nightmare.

Any other help, offers, or advice will be pounced upon with much gratitude!

[tonkatoyman]

Please remember do not put the tubs directly on the floor. It gets extreemely hot and can kill the animals

[nixer]

Thanks.

Neither I nor my partner can drive. That's part of the issue. No, the driver of the truck would either be my father (getting here by plane) or my ex-trucker neighbor (only if her classes schedule would allow it). Both of them were the ones that told me the trip would take that long.
I am also confused as to the amount of time, since the 700+ mile drive from El Paso to Denver only took 10 hours (drove through the night by my ex-husband). And we did make some stops for food and stretching.

The snakes each have holding tubs that are small rubbermaids that they could be placed in with a dish of water. I would just have to bungee the lids on. I have spare UTHs I could tape on, and I could just make sure the tubs and thermostats where all near the truck door... that could work.

At any rate...I also have the problem that I wouldn't be able to afford stopping at motels every night. SIGH! This just keeps getting harder and harder. I wish someone here would hire us and end this nightmare.

Any other help, offers, or advice will be pounced upon with much gratitude!

you dont really have to stop you could just get a power inverter and run off of that

heres a link http://www.walmart.com/search/search...power+inverter

[americangypsy]

I agree with the inverter . We used them on long trips to power our laptop and cell phone chargers with no problem .

[Argentra]

Oh WE wouldn't need to stop... but it seems the drivers (either of them) would. We wouldn't mind traveling all the way through with only a few stops for restroom, stretching, and food. But we aren't driving.

During driving, I would have the snakes in their bags in a cooler up front with me. During overnight or long stops, I would take them out of the bags and place them in their holding tubs with heat and water.
I know better than to try placing live animals in the back of one of those trucks. But thanks for the notice.

Now it's looking like the biggest issue would be affording to stop. (That, and doing 3 months of planning and packing and such in only one month.) We're already going to have to defer our credit card payments and go to Prepaid service on our cell phones just to get through a few months while looking for work. Money and time are two things we don't have...that's what's scaring me.