If you have a local Fed-ex facility it works best in my opinion especially if you are free to go pick it up at the local Fed-ex site. That way you take the driver out of the occasion. And you can often pick up your reptile up earlier in the day. And like was stated earlier let the Shipper (Breeder) know of any problems you encounter and let them handle it and get back to you. That is what I did (picked up at the local Fed-ex site) when I got my snake from Reptiles by Mack. They and Fed-ex did a great job.