What method do you use to ship?

Currently I am not shipping any reptiles but I have been trying to find a way since last year. The local airline did not approve me as a registered shipper because I will not be shipping with any frequency (I only plan on producing one, maybe two, litters of boas per year, if that). UPS, FedEx, and Airborne Express told me they don't ship live animals...despite the fact that both myself and my best friend have gotten shipments of live animals from two of the three. Whichever company comes through and allows shipment of live harmless reptiles for a reasonable rate will get my business.

Dianne

Until recently, we used Airborne express. When we first decided a few years ago to use them as our primary shipping method, it was because I had made several phone calls to the various shipping companies and they told me if packed appropriately they would ship my reptiles as long as they were not venomous snakes or lizards, naturally I chose them because everyone else I called said NO reptiles!! So a couple of days before Christmas 2003, I took some blue tongue skinks to the airborne facility (and I was at airborne atleast once a week dropping off packages), the box marked appropriately "live harmless lizards" and at 9:00pm that night they called me to pick up my lizards that they wouldnt ship them. It was quite a fiasco. I had words with the manager when I got there!! They told me they do not ship ANY reptiles except some turtles and other amphibians were OK. After a few years of shipping with them, this is how they treated me. UPS and fed-ex both would not help me and I tried to get some sort of special account where they would make an exception but they told me they didnt do that. So what do you do? I feel forced into using USPS because that is the only way I can mark my packages clearly and not be turned away!!

Shannon Richards
C&S Reptiles

If you want proof that it is illegal to ship reptiles using a ground carrier, go to the IATA website and click on the "contact us" button. Then simply ask them. You'll get an answer that you won't like very much! Or you can buy their $80 (LOR) book and read it. Or you can contact The Dept. Of US Fish & Wildlife and they'll tell you the same thing. Or contact your local Police Dept./Animal Control and ask them. Better remain anonymous! Their answer will be "animal cruelty". Even better, ask USPS, UPS, Fed Ex, or Airbourne Express why they don't allow live animals. I have, I know what they say, "It's Federal Law". Check out the 1981 Amendments to the Lacey Act regarding reptiles. Or read the Animal Welfare Act. Believe me or not, I really don't care. Nothing is going to change. The public has been bitching and moaning about this subject since the 1980's. So, if you want proof, now you know where to get it.

You better be friends with the counter person or you are not shipping . I've tried UPS , Fed Ex and the post office and I usually find 1 person there that will ship anything for me but if they are not working the counter when i walk in I'm screwed.

Bryon Adzic

I know a lot of people use different shippers but I prefer the good ol' U. S. Mail for several reasons.
First of all, they are the ONLY shippers that accept live animals. I'm not into lying to get the job done.
Second, I trust that government (even pseodo government) workers are into their own creature comforts. They aren't going to leave my packages on some frozen shipping dock or in the back of a 100° plus brown van. They're going to work in a relatively comfortable environment.
I'm not the biggest shipper but in 5 years, I've only lost one animal for no apparent reason. It was delivered on time and the box was in perfect condition. I even suspected being scammed by the recipient but gave him the benefit of the doubt anyways.
Besides, I pack well enough that the animals should last 4 plus days en route just in case.
I think most of the problems arise because of the shipper not packaging well and just blaming the shipping company.

Yea, you might need to do a different poll--my vote is incorrect when it comes to snakes. I ship UPS approved, but only for lizards, not snakes. In fact, I shyed away from breeding snakes for a number of years due to the shipping issues. This upcoming year, I'm going to need a shipper for them though.

As for the legalities--when you sign the reptile shipping contract with UPS it goes into the legal jargon of shipping according to IATA standards.

Dana

I hope that this is not too far off the topic.... I know the main discussion is snakes...

I work for a wholesale company that sells live crickets and worms. I have been in the business for 3 years. We ship 100's of packages everyday.

We have used fed-ex, airborne, ups, and usps.

We are now exclusively USPS.

Airborne has agreed to let us ship because of the $$'s involved. But the sales rep stated "if your package gets pulled off the line or it it noticed that it is a live animal there will be a $5.00 fee for special handling." I stated that ALL my shipments were live animals and he proceeded to restate the above. So is it safe to assume that he was telling me to "bend/break" the rules? OR WHAT was the implication??? I have no idea.

Airborne has damaged more packages then I want to admit and when we paid top dollar for next AM delivery, packages were still arriving late and damages. Airborne refused to refund anything....


As for UPS - they have not temp controlled vehicles or buildings in most states and we all know that animals can't survive that.

USPS has been wonderful! They have taken care of every shipment that was late or damaged, they investigate what happend how and why and then rectified the situation with us.


Will USPS allow you to ship snakes?

USPS is still a gray area, as far as I know. I did some investigation a while back, starting with the congressional bills passed to create the US Postal Service. Nowhere is there any mention of the word "snakes" until you get to what is known as the Domestic Mail Manual. That is the first place I have found any mention of a prohibition against sending live snakes through the USPS. But, I do not believe that this manual constitutes federal law. I believe it is nothing more than a policy guideline. But such a distinction would probably require the services of an attorney to research this fully.

At one time I had the mailing address of the US Postmaster General and had intended to write him a letter asking about this situation, but I regret that I have never actually followed through on that intention.

But I do think that it would be a good idea to cover as many bases as possible. Actually, if there is no specific federal law prohibiting the USPS from accepting and shipping snakes, this may actually be easier to pursue than private corporations. But the federal government isn't known for speedy responses or quick fixes. So many of us could reach retirement age before even something like this would ever get serious steps taken to resolve it.

But I do think the federal government may be more sensitive to the accusation of a discriminatory policy being used by one of their branches. Darn, I just remembered. Someone contacted me a long time ago and said he was going to pursue this from the inside. He worked for the USPS and was going to go up through channels. Darn... wish I could remember who that was....

Anyone have some time to research federal USPS statutes?

But the guy at the local postoffice here told me the reg was turtles , torts , lizards including geckos and alligators up to 24" were allowable but no live snakes and according to him its a federal thing set up by the postmaster.I've checked on it a few times and thats the answer i get everytime.

Bryon Adzic

I'm thinking a 24" alligator will be more hazardous than a 18" boa or corn snake .

I have shipped boas with all the shipping companies,and found FED-EX to be the best.I have had USPS gaurantee next day and not make the delivery on more than one occasion.I have found UPS handles the boxes pretty rough(I've had boxes arrive that were damaged during shipping even though fragile was written all over the box).But everything I have shipped through FED-Ex has arrived on time and in good condition.As of right now,every company in my area will not ship harmless snakes if they know what your shipping.I tried the" telling em what your shipping thing" and the only one who said they would ship snakes was Airbourne,well low and behold,3 hrs after I dropped off the package they called me and told me they didn't ship snakes.So I had to go pick up the package.Hopefully someday all these companies will come to their senses and we'll be able to tell em what's in the box!LOL!!!!!