How to ship an adult panther cham?
 

I'm shipping a live adult panther cham from PA to IN. Since these are arboreal, I'm wondering if it would be appropriate to ship him on a branch or vine?

I do already know the basics, thanks to an excellent post that described appropriate shipping of reptiles in detail...can't find it again to be able to name it but what a great post. I'll be using every suggestion on that.

I just need information specific to chameleon shipping - any advice would be very much appreciated!

I use a stick or branch to ship mine. For babies I use those litte scewer sticks and adults I have used pear tree branches.

Thank you so much, Wendy! I've been agonizing about this - to include or not to include the branch... I'll secure the branch firmly.

I hope UPS doesn't let me down...they seem the best option

YJHB,
I have always heard that shipping in a bag with shredded newspaper is the easiest on them. It doesn't sound like it, but once I had actually recieved one that way it made more sense. Since then I have received multiple chams that way from different breeders. They can't be thrown around or fall during shipping. I have shipped using a container with a branch or vine with success, but in the future I am going with the bag method.

Jerm

I used the paper bag method for a couple of years in early 2000. The paper bag method is OK for baby chams but an adult panther would tear it up pretty fast. Ive shipped several hundred baby and juvie jax with the bag method but even an adult Jax would tear out of the bag and wind up loose in the box. They keep searching for something to grab onto and can't find anything and adults tear the bags open. The ones in the bags would come out all dark and stressed and not eat for days.

Then in 2003 I got in some nice baby veileds packed with the branches in tall delis and they came out of the cups with wonderful colors and eating and not all stressed out. Thats why I switched. The babies shipped OK in the bags but always seemed more stressed than they were when shipped with a branch.

I ship baby veileds in a tall deli with the shish cabob scewer sticks, they are used to be on a branch so that makes them feel less stressed than the bag method.

What I do for adults is use a cardboard box or a really big plastic coantiner with a lot of air holes and run the stick through the box or top and bottom of the conatiner about a 1/2" on the 2 ends, then put the cham in, make sure it is secure on the branch before closing the box then seal it up and put in a slightly larger stryo lined box.

They sleep on branches in the wild but don't see great at night so if it is not on the branch before you close it up, he/she may not find it well in the dark.

I actually hadn't heard of the paperbag method, but what i have experience with is like a burlap sack type bag. It is made of material and sewn. Almost like a pilow case. Inside is shredded up newspaper or something for a grip. I'm sure everone has their own method that works.

Jerm

Ahh those are snake bags, they work too. Ive shipped them and had them come in that way adn they did fine.

Ive just noticed they are more stressed when they can't have their natural grip on a branch.

I prefer the snake bags, since thay cannot be jostled. It would be trying to sleep anyway. It like it is sleeping against leaves in a tree. You could always fashion a long stick from the bottom of the bag up thru the knot in the top. That would allow it to grip something other than the bag, but this may be overkill.

Michael

Well I would not have replied to this but I recently got in a few chams in snake bags and although they had a "wire branch" to hang onto and they arrived in good health and are fine it was a pure mess to untangle the strings they had gotten woven on their legs and arms by trying to grasp onto a steady "branch".

It was a total mess to get the chams out of the tangles of the snake bags they had grasped onto and tangled up it.

I would as I always have ship them in a suitable sized plastic container with a few branches to grab onto and make sure they are on the branches before you close the box.

How do the chams not get bumped around from being shipped? Not saying anything againts shipping companies but boxes always get dropped slid around etc.