Help with LARGE shipment

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've been working with a large collection in FL for a while and recently decided to take it over completely. This means that I'll be moving to FL permanently and that my current collection in WA needs to come here as well. It's no problem for my brother and fiancee to set up the shipping in my absence, but I'm curious how it would work with so many animals.

I'm not moving any racks, tubs, or anything else as everything is already set up here ready to go but we're talking around 100-150 snakes depending on how many I sell over the next month (I plan on reducing my WA collection drastically). I also need to ship all of my display cases for shows, maybe 30 cases (I'm assuming these can go separately). None of these are huge snakes, mostly ball pythons, some BRBs, GTPs, KSBs, Carpets, etc.

Has anyone dealt with a large shipment like this with reptiles? I know delta is the way to go but I have no idea what that entails. I have about a month to get everything figured out so it's not a big rush, I just don't want to wait until the last minute to sort this all out.

I don't want to drive them down because I'm thinking it would be a 3 day trip, and trying to monitor temps of 10 different species over a 72 hour period in a minivan seems to me impossible. Shipping freight overnight I think is the only option, but again, hoping for someone with experience to give me some insight.

I don't know about shipping overnight, but I will say that I have moved cross country 6 times (1000-1600 miles, 3-4 days one way) with ball pythons and had no issues. Granted, I'm only talking 20 snakes, not 150, and certainly not multiple species. I would simply unbox the snakes at night in the hotel (still in their bags, of course) and then repackage in the morning.

Are you moving to the Ft. Lauderdale location? If you were moving somewhere north (e.g. Tallahassee region), I and others could assist with the move once you get here. I'm just over the border in Georgia.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

I don't know about shipping overnight, but I will say that I have moved cross country 6 times (1000-1600 miles, 3-4 days one way) with ball pythons and had no issues. Granted, I'm only talking 20 snakes, not 150, and certainly not multiple species. I would simply unbox the snakes at night in the hotel (still in their bags, of course) and then repackage in the morning.

Are you moving to the Ft. Lauderdale location? If you were moving somewhere north (e.g. Tallahassee region), I and others could assist with the move once you get here. I'm just over the border in Georgia.

Yea if it weren't so many I would think driving would be ok, but trying to move that many snakes into a hotel every night would be ridiculous. We actually drove the collection from NV to WA this last summer but that was only a 16 hour drive. They got boxed up once and unboxed when they arrived so it wasn't a huge hassle. I know delta can do it I just wonder what the process is going to be.

Also, I genuinely appreciate the offer but the plan is Ft. Lauderdale so quite a drive from the border :P. Thank you though. I think the unpacking will be manageable, it's getting them here that will be the hard part.