Shipyourreptiles.com (more specifically UPS in St. Louis)

I use this service quite frequently, and I couldn't have been happier until today. To be clear, this is an error made by one specific UPS shipping hub...not shipyourreptiles.com or UPS as a whole. In fact, it may have been just one person's mistake.

I scheduled a shipment of turtles from St. Louis, MO to my place in SC. I arranged everything and emailed the label to the shipper. She contacted the local UPS store to verify that turtles could be shipped with UPS. They checked with "their people" and said yes. She dropped the package off, it was checked in, and she left. That was yesterday.

She called this morning to tell me that the St. Louis airport UPS terminal denied the package, saying that turtles and tortoises cannot be shipped with UPS air. They stated that live reptiles must go ground. She had to go pick the package up. I will now have to take another day off of work next week and pay twice as much to use Fedex. And, the fragile hatchling turtles will have to spend another night in a box.

Now, I know that this is not the actual UPS policy. And, I know that shipyourreptiles.com is not at fault. I just wanted to let the people whose packages go to the airport in St. Louis know that their shipments may be denied until this is worked out. Apparently, the UPS terminal at the St. Louis airport does not know their own policies.

The lady at shipyourreptiles.com customer service was very nice and apologetic. She issued an immediate refund, and she told me that they would contact UPS regarding the problem. I tried contacting UPS also, and they would tell me NOTHING due to the fact that I used a third party shipper.

Just FYI. I will continue to use this service. But, people in Missouri may want to be cautious.

Here's to you, UPS office at the St. Louis airport, for not bothering to check your own company's policies before rejecting a shipment. I salute you, for ticking off two people and further risking the well-being of a batch of tiny turtlelets. Well done. What is that on my shirt, you ask?...oh, that's dripping sarcasm.

Wow i guess we have idiots in every state .Its sad they stop shipments even though they dont have a clue if its ok to ship or not .Maybe their will be a job opening in the idiots place that refused your shipment .Good luck next time.

Thanks for the heads up i live in st.louis missouri and have to ship a ball python

This happened to a friend of mine a few days ago in Seattle. She had a sticker on the box that said, "Live Harmless Snake", and the lady @ UPS said that she didn't think they could ship reptiles, so she called her boss and the boss confirmed that "UPS doesn't ship reptiles." So my friend removed the sticker, went to the main hub and shipped the snake with no problems.

Yeah, that's illegal, and is likely to get the reptile killed. I receive a shipment consisting of half dead and half alive snakes that someone sent me in exactly that fashion. So, no winks from me about it. I won't buy from people who won't mark their packages. It's not fair to the animals. I can't imagine what they must have suffered. They must have been left on hot tarmac or on a hot truck bed at some point.

If you can't find a legal way to ship, don't ship.

Well this is directly off of UPS.com

Accepted / Prohibited Live Animals
Accepted Live Animals

This is a comprehensive list of live animals accepted for transportation. Shippers are prohibited from shipping any animal not listed here, and all other live animals will not be accepted for transportation. The following live animals are accepted for transportation unless poisonous, venomous, and/or a Threatened or Endangered Species.

* Amphibians (All): Examples: frogs, salamanders, toads
* Crustaceans (All): Examples: crabs, crawfish, lobsters, shrimp
* Fish (All)
* Insects (Limited to beneficial insects only): Examples: bees, butterflies, crickets, lady bugs
* Mollusks (All): Examples: clams, mussels, snails
* Reptiles (Limited to the following):
- Lizards: Examples: chameleons, geckos, iguanas, monitors, flying dragons
- Turtles: freshwater turtles (except: snapping turtles), land tortoises, sea turtles
* Worms (All)


Prohibited Live Animals

Live Animals that are prohibited from being shipped and are not accepted for transportation include, but are not limited to:

* Any poisonous, venomous or threatening animal
* Any Threatened or Endangered species
* Arachnids (All): Examples: mites, scorpions, spiders, ticks
* Birds (All)
* Crocodiles (All): Examples: alligators, caimans, gavials
* Mammals (All)
* Obnoxious Insects: Examples: flies, locusts, mosquitoes, roaches, termites, weevils
* Snakes (All): venomous and non-venomous

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/res...s/animals.html

And it applies to the general public, and not to folks whom UPS has given a special waiver to ship snakes to, such as SYR.

The special consideration that SYR has been given is not known company wide and that is why I cannot bring myself to use this service. I will only ship with full disclosure to the shipping company and I label all my boxes in comliance with the Lacey Act (number of animals, scientific, common names) and every UPS drop off location I contacted refused snakes. I called UPS customer service and they told me they had never heard of SYR. I called SYR's customer service to try and obtain some company info that I could give UPS customer service (i.e shipper #) to prove the companies existence but was told that they cannot give out their shipping #. A reasonable answer however I felt as if I was the one trying to bridge the information gap between these two companies. I went back to FedEx and paid almost double, but at least they know me as a certified shipper and I could label my packages to my satisfaction.

Hey Phil,

Can you provide more details about the Lacey Act requiring labeling? I was unaware of that, and I've studied the Lacey Act. Does the box have to be labeled with that information, or is it required in the content disclosure statement to the shipper? Is it only related to species native to the State you are shipping to or shipping from? Any further details you could provide would be great, even if just a web link.

Thanks Phil, and go Panthers.

Just to clarify...

I know that the box must be labeled that it contains a live animal. I was unaware of the other requirements as outlined by Phil.

And to my original post...the box shipped in this instance was clearly marked and the contents were made known to the UPS Store before and during shipping.

There seems to be quite a history of problems with UPS shipping snakes, but this is the first time that I have heard of them rejecting turtles or tortoises. And the part about shipping turtles by ground instead of by air...it seems like the person just made that up. Has anyone ever heard of that? Is that in response to the "Snakes On a Plane" film?