I haven't followed the issue with reptster on fauna but I did have a rather interesting experience trying to ship out a ball python to Cali two weeks ago. I shipped four previous times without any problems but this time was a whole different story.

The guy at the counter was refusing to ship because I was using a third party entity for my shipping and according to him FEDEX has no way to verify that the people shipping through reptster are certified to ship. I didn't have my account # on me so I had to speak to a CS rep to get my account # and to comfirm that I was a verified shipper. Even after confirming that I was a verified shipper, the FEDEX guy grabbed my box and account info and stated to me that he didn't think this would be shipped out because he was calling security. At this point I lost it!!!!!!! My wife fearing I may totally lose my cool had me go outside to calm down while she handled the security issue. Basically she was asked questions about how the snake was packed and when she gave all the right answers the security guy gave the O.K. to ship the snake. I talked to Dave and he said this had been a problem with this guy at the Longwood, FL hub which I use and that UPS would be on board soon. I didn't really like that explanation because if third party shipping of live animals is not an issue with FEDEX then why has this guy and another hub in Cali been so difficult to ship through. For all of the aggravation I really only saved about $12 by going through reptster and that doesn't exactly equal 40%. A 12x6x6 box cost $48 and change through reptster and if I just used my FEDEX account it would have cost just under $60 with the fuel surcharge. For me that is just not enough savings to have to go through the ordeal I went through and maybe my next shippment will go smoothly, but with so many other stressful factors that come with shipping this is one that I don't want to have to worry about. Not to mention that a simple 5 min. drop off turned into a 45 min. fiasco that caused my family to be late to my oldest daughters first grade open house.

I am not trying to put down the reptster shipping service, but I did want to share my experience to show that you can run into problems if you run into a FEDEX employee that is a stikler for the rules and apparently shipping live animals using a third party account is against FEDEX corporate policy. I strongly suggest that if you are not verified to ship through FEDEX that you go through the proccess as insurance even if you use reptster. Bottom line is that if I used my account to begin with I would have had no problems and if I wasn't verified there is no way that snake would have been shipped once the employee noticed the third party issue. I just feel like I went through getting verified for a reason and I don't want to feel like I am trying to sneek around and try to get away with something and that is how I would feel if I was to use it again.

My question is, does FEDEX know that Dave set up this account for shipping live reptiles?