Moving my 6 ball pythons 18 hours away.

[pbenner]

Hi guys,

On Monday, March 18th, at around 5pm I will be wheels rolling from Buffalo Grove, IL to Brady, TX. I have taken a new job working for an ISP in Brady. I arrived without my animals in tow on the 28th of February and have spent the last few days getting the house in order here. We've ripped out all the old flooring and found beautiful hardwood underneath. Have scrubbed and prepped and insured that I have a good spot in the house that will hold a constant temperature for my snakes and rats.

Now, we're on to the fun part. I have 6 ball pythons currently that range from 150g to close to 300g, so all are very small. They live in a small AP rack currently, but I need to get them and their equipment down to Texas. My tentative plan is:

1) Purchase travel bags for each snake
2) Purchase some small low power space heaters
3) Bag snakes and place in cooler

My sister is caring for them presently, to help avoid a defecation on the road I've asked her to not feed them on Friday the 15th as I know they can all afford to skip a meal or two.

They'll ride in the cab of the truck with me. The rats will be in the back seat and the snakes in the front.

I have a few places I can stop if needed on my route down, but plan is to have them on heat packs for 18 hours in a cooler together and back in their tubs before 24 hours has elapsed.

I am going to put heat packs in the bottom, a towel on top of that, and then the snakes over the towel bagged up. I've got a battery operated digital thermometer to monitor temps inside the tub.

Advice? Thoughts? First time taking a snake this far, so am wanting to find anyone with more experience.

TIA!

Paul

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Do not put heat pack at the bottom you need to pack your snake in the cooler as if you were shipping them.

Snake bags, depending on the size of the cooler 1 or 2 SHIPPING heat pack (side and top avoiding direct contact with any snake bag).

Crumble newspaper so the bags stay nice and put.

The goal is to keep your animal comfortable not to provide a hot spot like if they were in their cage so temps of 75/80 are sufficient.

[Bogertophis]

What Deborah said ^ ^ ^ and good luck with the move...your plan sounds fine.

[Skyrivers]

What Deborah said ^ ^ ^ and good luck with the move...your plan sounds fine.

I agree and make sure air exchange is available to them.

[pbenner]

Easy enough. Heat packs taped to the top it is.

In regards to air exchange, I'll pop the cooler open everytime we stop, which will be at least every few hours for gas/stretch.

Thanks again,

Paul

[Robyn@SYR]

Deb made the most important point- never put the heat pack under the animals, that is a prescription for overheating and death.

The goal of the heat pack is NOT to heat the box or the animals. It is to prevent the box from getting too cold. Unless you are using a giant box, just a single heat pack would be enough, if even necessary. More than one heat pack in an insulated box/cooler risks death.

Using heat packs in a "room temperature" environment like a comfortable temp car or hotel room still risks overheating and death. An insulated box is your best transport tool. A cooler can be used, but I would be concerned about the lack of oxygen exchange suffocating the animals. For heat pack use I would still follow the ShipYourReptiles heat pack and temperature guidelines from the SYR FAQ- https://www.shipyourreptiles.com/en/...s#question-275

It is also CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT to use a 40+ hour heat pack, if one is used at all. Shorter duration heat packs, especially hand warmer and 8-20hr types get much hotter than shipping heat packs. The number one cause of DOAs in shipping is misuse of heat packs and the use of short duration heat packs.

Reptiles can handle cool temps well, it is hot temps that most often cause issues including neurological issues and death.