Winter shipping

Just curious about it. How many actually do it? Are extra precautions taken, like extra heat pack, or thicker insulation? Any mishaps would also be great to hear about, just for the knowledge of it all.

This was brought up recently to me. I normally ship east and west, or that's where the buyers have been. So extreme cold has not been a big problem for me so far. But now I have someone up north inquiring, and they informed me that is a measly 16°F up there right now. Sorta made me go hmmm, I don't know about that.

Your experiences would be awesome to hear. Maybe even help to make up my mind, if I will forgo winter shipping from now on, except to warmer areas.

Thanks!
Rick

I'm not a high volume shipper or anything~ but my small exp has shown me~
If it is considerably warmer where you are than where you are shipping too~ more heat packs won't help. The snakes will be TOO hot at the beginning of the trip and too cold at the end (Learned that unpleasant lesson several years ago). I now use one heat pack for small boxes~ two for larger boxes boxes~ taped to the top of the box with newspaper between the snake and the heat pack. Same thing with cold packs. I drop off my boxes in a temp controlled office and if temp is forcast to be very cold or hot at delivery point I have the box "Held" at the closest location to the buyer so they have to go pick up in a temp controlled office rather than be out on a truck and possibly left on a porch in temp extremes. The still encounter temp extremes in route~ but it limits how long the box is exposed to the extremes and I do use heat or cool packs if needed. If storms are forcast~ I delay shipping as that usually delays delivery (in my location I need to know if storms that may delay an airplane are forcast for Memphis TN)

We ship about 200+ boxes each winter, and lose about 1 animals a year, due to a delay, or mishandling, never to one freezing or cooking.

We are in Eastern Maine right on the coast, so temps can be crazy here. The other day was -16* wind chill, 2 days later it was 53 *...

This is what our standard winter shipment consist of :

We use 12x9x6 superior boxes with 3/4" insulation, and put 2 small air holes in each of the " this side up arrows on the box, that gives us 8 air holes make with a 16 penny nail ( as that is what I have for a earring so it is always available)

We then put a thick layer of crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the box, generally 1-2 whole newspapers crumpled up and then flattened out to give some bulk to them. On top of them we put the snake bag or deli cup the animal is in. Snake bags are always better in the winter as the do not hold the cold like cups. We take more crumpled paper and surround the bag/cup on all sides with it, that way it holds the animals secure but also adds more insulation. Once everything is filled in the box we add a few more sheets of crumpled paper on top of the animal between them and the top of the box, making sure it is bulky so heat can get threw. We use 1 40 hour heat pack per box this size, and wrap a layer of newspaper around it and tape it to the top of the box. The paper works to keep the heat pack from dying out, as if they get moist they stop working. ( Urine from bigger animals kills heat packs quick when it hits the air).

We then tape the top closed with 3-4 strips of heavy packing tape, this completely closes the top of the box the same way as the bottom and keeps the cold out. We ship when its 20* or more out, and have has boxes go out when the temp plunged lower than expected to the low teens or less, and have not had a problem.

Packing animals this way we are relying more on the packing job than the heat pack, so if you get a heat pack the fails you are still safe.

In a large box such as 15x7x11 or 16x16x9 we use 2 heat packs, and in the monster boxes 29x16x12 we use 3 taped to the top, and 1 in the middle of the paper.

A few weeks ago we did a box test, packed a box like we would for ship out heat pack, deli cup etc, and put in out of the front porch for the night. It went from the snake room 85* to outside at 19* that was at 6 pm, the same time FedEx starts moving. The next morning at 7 am after being left in the open all night with a temp of 19* in the morning also, the temp inside the deli cup was 54* .

Not a safe temperature but still a temp that in a worst case scenario you could still expect the animal to survive. Again, not a good temp but it did hold the box 35* warmer than the outside temp.

As Cheryl said the weather channel is your best friend when winter shipping is involved.

Hope this helps, not claiming to be experts, this is just what works for us.

Originally Posted by jnjreptile

We ship about 200+ boxes each winter, and lose about 1 animals a year, due to a delay, or mishandling, never to one freezing or cooking.

We are in Eastern Maine right on the coast, so temps can be crazy here. The other day was -16* wind chill, 2 days later it was 53 *...

This is what our standard winter shipment consist of :

We use 12x9x6 superior boxes with 3/4" insulation, and put 2 small air holes in each of the " this side up arrows on the box, that gives us 8 air holes make with a 16 penny nail ( as that is what I have for a earring so it is always available)

We then put a thick layer of crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the box, generally 1-2 whole newspapers crumpled up and then flattened out to give some bulk to them. On top of them we put the snake bag or deli cup the animal is in. Snake bags are always better in the winter as the do not hold the cold like cups. We take more crumpled paper and surround the bag/cup on all sides with it, that way it holds the animals secure but also adds more insulation. Once everything is filled in the box we add a few more sheets of crumpled paper on top of the animal between them and the top of the box, making sure it is bulky so heat can get threw. We use 1 40 hour heat pack per box this size, and wrap a layer of newspaper around it and tape it to the top of the box. The paper works to keep the heat pack from dying out, as if they get moist they stop working. ( Urine from bigger animals kills heat packs quick when it hits the air).

We then tape the top closed with 3-4 strips of heavy packing tape, this completely closes the top of the box the same way as the bottom and keeps the cold out. We ship when its 20* or more out, and have has boxes go out when the temp plunged lower than expected to the low teens or less, and have not had a problem.

Packing animals this way we are relying more on the packing job than the heat pack, so if you get a heat pack the fails you are still safe.

In a large box such as 15x7x11 or 16x16x9 we use 2 heat packs, and in the monster boxes 29x16x12 we use 3 taped to the top, and 1 in the middle of the paper.

A few weeks ago we did a box test, packed a box like we would for ship out heat pack, deli cup etc, and put in out of the front porch for the night. It went from the snake room 85* to outside at 19* that was at 6 pm, the same time FedEx starts moving. The next morning at 7 am after being left in the open all night with a temp of 19* in the morning also, the temp inside the deli cup was 54* .

Not a safe temperature but still a temp that in a worst case scenario you could still expect the animal to survive. Again, not a good temp but it did hold the box 35* warmer than the outside temp.

As Cheryl said the weather channel is your best friend when winter shipping is involved.

Hope this helps, not claiming to be experts, this is just what works for us.

This is a very informative and detailed post that's bound to be a help for shipping during cold temps. Thanks!

I have a shipment coming soon and I opted for the shipping through Delta. For about fifty more dollars the package is exposed for a considerably shorter period of time. Of course that is not a viable option for many.

I used to use delta a lot but they have delayed about 1/2 of the shipments we have had come in, and going out we are at a small airport so they go here to boston, then boston to atlanta then atlanta to destination, if we can avoid it we do, its also a 60 mile drive for us.
The big perk of Fedex for us is I can Fedex a double stack 29x18x12 box to Florida cheaper than delta, we get a 49% discount so it helps.


Back to the topic at hand : If we can ever be of service to anone who needs advise on coldweather shipping we would be more than happy to help.

This is always a pet peeve of mine...
But why do people damage the insulation by poking holes in it? It is 100% unnecessary to poke holes in the boxes as long as you aren't going over board with the tape and covering the entire thing.

We do it to allow air to enter the box in the same area as the heat pack so it will work to its full potential. Heat packs require more oxygen to work than the animals need so we make sure to allow proper ventilation.

That said I have never had the insulation damaged when shipping and have shipped well over 700 boxes.

Its just a choice the shipper makes, there is no right or wrong just whatever works best for you.

Originally Posted by jnjreptile

A few weeks ago we did a box test, packed a box like we would for ship out heat pack, deli cup etc, and put in out of the front porch for the night. It went from the snake room 85* to outside at 19* that was at 6 pm, the same time FedEx starts moving. The next morning at 7 am after being left in the open all night with a temp of 19* in the morning also, the temp inside the deli cup was 54* .

I was actually thinking about conducting some type of experiment very similar to this. Using a thermostat to measure the temperature all night from 6PM to 10:30 AM.

That is the next step, I am going to get one of the ones that records min.-max temps and see how it compares to the outside temps. I used a temp gun on this test and it seemed to work pretty well.
The next time the box will be in the snow...if we ever get any snow this year....

I have a 9x9x9 box, and a 12x12x12 box that I normally use. I use ½" insulation board for building, R-MAX or Owens Corning normally, and tape the heat pack to the lid as well. I don't poke holes in the box either, and I can stand on the box when sealed. Sound alright? I'll be using FedEx once I get the waiver and all that.

I've shipped a few times, and know that the set up will hold up. I had a Nicaraguan Boa go for a 3 day cruise with DHL one time, and he arrived chipper as can be. And although it was cold at one of the hubs he spent the night at, it wasn't down in the teens, so I'm a little leery.

What sort of heat pack do you use? I just went and bought like 40 of them, and I wasted 3 testing them with the temp gun. They take quite a while to peak out, like 8 hrs, and they only peaked out if I played with them often, or else they'd start to cool again after an hour or two. I used one to send a couple neos to GA not long ago, Delta DASH service, and it gave out en route. Supposedly a 40 hour pack too. I recently ordered more of the ones I usually use. I know they'll work 36 hours at least, and peak in about an hour & ½.

So, seems like the consensus is, that as long as I pack like I normally do, it would be OK, baring any mishaps of course?

Thanks for the comments so far. Keep 'em comin'.