Shipping tortoises USPS illegal now?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but has this changed? As far as I can remember the USPS site stated you could mail lizards, alligators under a certain length, and tortoises. Now it seems all turtles (notice they don't differentiate between turtles or tortoises which leaves it to interpretation) are non-mailable.

http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub52.pdf

Regards.

I don't think anything has changed. The report that you referrred to is dated 1999.

There has been a revision of The USPS Domestic Mail Manual dated 1/8/06.
In section 601.9.3.3 which was updated on 2/2/06 it states:

9.3.3 Small Cold-Blooded Animals
Small, harmless, cold-blooded animals (except snakes and turtles) that do not
require food or water or attention during handling in the mail and that do not create
sanitary problems or obnoxious odors are mailable (e.g., baby alligators and
caimans not more than 20 inches long, bloodworms, earthworms, mealworms,
salamanders, leeches, lizards, snails, and tadpoles).

As far as I am aware, snakes, turtles, and tortoises have always been illegal to ship via USPS - or at least for the last 10 years.

You can download the entire Domestic Mail Manual from www.usps.com.

I hope this helps to clarify things.

Mike,

Then it was me that was confused. I thought that I had read in the past that tortoises were allowed. Anyways, there's was an ad for a tortoise for sale to be shipped for $25 flat rate. When I inquired about it (the low shipping fee struck me as odd) the seller said that he was shipping USPS but he could upgrade to any of the other carriers for an additional fee. Needless to say I drop it right and there.

Thanks.

Dan, you did the right thing by dropping the matter but I must admit my curiousity is piqued. It is easy to see why USPS might decline to ship snakes, there is always the possibility of escapes and bites.
But tortoises seem fairly harmless, and I would think they are more related to the permitted lizards than to the impermissible snakes. Anyone have any ideas as to the reasoning behind the ban on USPS shipping of tortoises?

I have no information of any official nature, but I would guess it probably relates to the same mindset that enacted the 4" rule - an uninformed fear of salmonella.

USPS also started a new policy in which all live shipments automatically become 2-day delivery. The delay is because they keep packages containing live animals in temperature-related facilities. I didn't find this out until a few months ago when I was having USPS Express mail packages arrive late despite their guaranteed delivery for next-day.

The rules make no sense what so ever.

You can ship baby alligators and caiman's not more than 20 inches long.
How are they any LESS dangerous than shipping a snake or a turtle/tort?
Is the bite from a 19 inch gator NOT as bad as a snake or a tort/turtle?
Is salmonella non existent in gators?
To me that is and always will be something I can't/don't understand.

What were they on when they made the rules.
Puff puff, yes we will ship alligators, they are so cute and so NOT dangerous, but puff puff no to torts/turtles cause they are way TOO dangerous. Puff puff.