Ordering Snakes!?!?

[mxrider5p]

I have always been one that wanted to hand pick my young snakes and perform a full inspection on them before they are brought home. Now due to wanting to own snakes that are a bit harder to come by, I am having to contemplate ordering snakes and having them shipped to me. This thought terrifies me and I always said I would never do it.

How do many of you feel about shipping snakes and receiving them without ever seeing them first? Also it seems incredibly stressful on the snake. Of course I will buy cb animals from reputable breeders but I just have bad luck with these things. Anyone else who refuses to do it? Hoping some people can give me some words of encouragement. Thanks a lot everyone!

[davidyun]

its perfectly fine.
i think rarely, the snake will come dead.
and its less than like 20 hours for it to ship. so its not that much stress for the snake.
i guess it depends on the seller, and the shipper. shippers dont give a crap though

[Stewart_Reptiles]

90% of my collection was bought online based on pictures from the breeders that were selling them.

I have never had any issue with any of those animals, at this point unless local sale I also sell the majority of my animals, never had any issue either.

Because of the way they are packaged snakes go through very little stress, like with everything else you need to make sure you are buying from someone knowledgeable and reputable and one of the good way to do so is by doing your homework prior to buy from someone, check their reputation, ask around if people have done business with the person you chose to buy etc.

[steveboos]

Yeah i have done it several times, no worries. Just keep in mind you wont know exactly what they look like till you get them, sometimes it's a good surprise and sometimes it's a bad surprise, but most of the time they look better in person than in pictures.

I haven't heard of too many DOA's, ball pythons are strong creatures and if you box them up and ship around 4 PM, they usually get to the destination either in less than 20 hours depending on if you did Priority, or early morning delivery, etc.

Don't worry about it, if all else fails, ask us one here about a certain breeder if your really worried.

[bsash]

Well, I can give you some words of encouragement, ha ha. Every single one of my morphs were ordered, total of eight so far. I've never seen them in person before I opened the box on the day they were delivered. The advice I can give you is ask for a few pictures, with the seller's name, screen name, and date in the pictures, this is to protect yourself from being scammed, but to see the animal as well. You may also ask for pictures of their set up/ enclosure to see how they are housed, and making sure it is a healthy environment.

Have the seller's phone number and talk to them to make sure you feel comfortable with this particular person, as well as having it in case something goes wrong. It is also good to talk to the seller over the phone to make sure you fully understand their terms of the sale, sex guarantee, health guarantee, extended guarantee, what happens if the snake is dead on arrival, just unhappy with the purchase? Also, you may want to ask how experienced they are in shipping.

Shipping snakes is stressful on them, so it is important to already have their new enclosure set up and running to be able to place them in there after arrival. After that, leave them alone for the first week, no handling, just change the water or spot clean if needed. Then, it is just like any other snake you've ever bought home, quarantine, leave it be for another week, attempt feeding, etc.

My last bit of advice- ALWAYS PAY WITH PAY-PAL!
This is just to ensure if something horrible happens and the seller does not want to make good on the sale, you can dispute it and get your money back through pay-pal.
_________________________
I'll let you read for your self one of my experiences:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...on-KSC-Exotics
Also, I will have you know, that was my only DOA experience so far.

Other than the above advice, I hope that everything works out for you if you do decide to order a snake! Good luck!

[Adam Chandler]

I've had a few snakes arrive by FedEx and have not had a problem yet. As long as you have them shipped during the proper season with the proper outdoor temps the process usually goes pretty smoothly.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Almost all of my bp's that I have purchased have been online with no prob.