How to ship aquatic turtles??

I am shipping out two terrapins next week. I am experienced in shipping snakes and geckos but not aquatic turtles. they are four inches. should i use a heat pack? this is going from texas to florida. . anyhow i am extremely ignorant on this so i was looking for the correct and appropriate way. thank you for all your imput-

Robin,

the use of a heat pack is all going to depend on the temperatures in your city as well as the destination city. Also keep in mind that the cargo hold of an airplane gets very very cold no matter what time of year.

As far as packing, I have not shipped many turtles out, but I have received quite a few and methods vary quite a bit. I prefer to see them packaed individually or in groups of no more than 3 per appropriately sized deli cup with a moist paper towel to keep them from drying out. Some people will ship them in cloth bags that have been dipped in water, but I just feel safer with the cups(unless the turtles are too big, in which case bags would be the better choice). But essentially, once you have the individual packing of the turtles worked out, the box is no different than what you would normally use for snakes and lizards. Sturdy cardboard box lined with styrofoam and filled with a safe packing material to keep the animals from being bounced around too much.

Best of luck!

World Chelonian Trust

Dayer - I echo Robs comments about the heat packs though at this time of the year please be aware that everythng that Airborne ships goes through Ohio.

Go to the page at this address for a detailed photo intensive primer on packing turtles and tortoises.

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/shipping_chelonia.htm

I hope this helps

Darrell