Okay so you have spent the time searching for your new Shortie and decided to get one from us. The next step is getting your new addition to you safely.
Shipping is the most stressful part of the whole new purchase thing, especially for the excited new customer. We've shipped a lot of animals over the years, and this is how we do it. Hopefully it cuts down on the anxiety shipping can cause.
We do not ship animals when day time highs are above 90 degrees or below 35 degrees. The well being and safety of the animal is the most important thing to us. Waiting a few extra days or weeks to get your animal alive and healthy is worth it. Trust us.
First, lets start with the actual shipping box. We use new boxes everytime and a minimum size of 12 x 9 x 6. Yes, even for hatchlings we use this box. The larger space allows for more air flow, especially when heating packs are added. Heating packs use oxygen during the chemical reaction that makes them warm, so air flow is a MUST.
The shipping boxes are insulated with 3/4" foam. This makes the box very rigid and safe from rough handling. The boxes are also labeled with the contents and marked live harmless reptile. Your snake is placed in a cloth bag with a paper towel and laid in a thick layer of news paper.
We use shipyourreptiles.com to put our shipments together and they are insured. Shipyourreptiles.com is just another good safety measure and they will keep their site updated for delays or other possible problems. I have shipped almost 200 separate shipments using their services and I have been very happy. SYR customer service is great. They use FedEx and most shipments arrive by 10:30am, but if you are in a remote location that time can be 12-4pm.
Delays and problems do happen, it is just the nature of shipping anything. However with how we ship animals we have had almost no problems. Recently we had two separate West Coast shipments get delayed, one of them for 2 extra days and the animal still arrived safe and sound. We contribute this to the larger box sizes, as well as using 60 hour heat packs.
Shipping animals this way is not a cheap thing to do. New boxes and over night service are pricey but we do not make a penny on the shipping costs and it is worth every cent to go above and beyond to make sure the animals are safe. The most important thing is the well being of the animal.
Please contact us with any questions or comments you have.
Below is a picture of a few animals we sent out recently. You can see everything is clearly labeled and there are air holes for extra ventilation.
