Sarah Maddox / zaphod42 / Outworld Reptiles is AWESOME!

And FedEx you stink!

I was lucky enough to win a 2015 ghost BCI from the RedTailBoas.com 7th Annual Father's Day contest last month. Sarah Maddox at Out World Reptiles sponsored this contest and donated the little beauty as the prize.

http://www.redtailboas.com/f132/7th-...aphod42-73625/

http://www.redtailboas.com/f132/winn...contest-73736/

Due to scheduling/vacation issues on both sides Sarah couldn't ship him to me until this week. She used SYR and dropped him off at usual at her FedEx location the evening of Monday 7/20 for pickup Tuesday morning at my FedEx hub in Hagerstown, MD by 10:30 a.m. I expected a quick, easy trip for the little guy based on my past shipping experiences. Unfortunately FedEx had other ideas.

When I checked the tracking first thing Tuesday morning I didn't see any updates since the package left Boston, but I ship a lot of stuff for my business so I know tracking updates don't always keep up with the packages. At that time tracking was still showing estimated delivery by 10:30 to the hub.

I got to the hub when it opened at 9:00 a.m. The counter clerk (who is awesome BTW and knows about reptiles being shipped in and out) looked up the tracking and determined the package wasn't there yet, but since it wasn't late until 10:30 I wasn't too worried.

I called Sarah, who was already on hold with FedEx as she had been monitoring the tracking, and after we knew that the package wouldn't be arriving by 10:30 I went to work. I hoped the package would arrive later and I could pick it up before the hub closed at 7:15 Tuesday evening.

Sarah stayed on the phone pestering FedEx for probably most of Tuesday and gave me updates as she got them. Tuesday afternoon FedEx determined that instead of being put on a plane and flown to Dulles, VA like it should have been, the package was on a truck somewhere in NJ. Now I'm getting worried because the afternoon temps here were in the 90's today.

By the time I left work at 6 p.m. Tuesday I was starting to really worry as the estimated delivery was "N/A" on the tracking. Once I got home I pulled it back up on my laptop and started mashing the F5 key every few minutes while getting dinner and then cleaning snake tubs.

Finally at 7:30 Tuesday evening there was an update... the package was leaving Newark, NJ. YIPPEE!

This morning I was first in line at FedEx when the hub opened at 9:00 and the clerk already had the box out and waiting for me. Did I mention she is awesome too?

Fortunately the boa arrived none the worse for wear after his not-so-excellent shipping adventure thanks to a stellar packing job by Sarah. I unpacked him in the car, normally I wait until I get home since it's a 30 minute drive, but if he was in distress we would have been heading straight to the vet. After he has a chance to settle into his QT enclosure and take a few meals I'll get some pictures of him.

Tracking...