Shipping

I am a small dealer/breeder based out of Brunswick, GA. Although our DOA is low, it still happens. We use heat packs and depending on location use insulated boxes (if we ship somewhere that is above the 70's we use a deiffferent box). To give you some history on our DOA's. One to Tennessee was shipped to Fed Ex and the crushed the box bad enough to tear it open. We lost a scorpion (unsure what went wrong there) and lost a Blood Python yesterday that was sent in an insulated box with a Ball Python. We don't mind refunding the money but I hate to think that the animals suffered because of something that we are doing wrong. If someone could help us with this issue it would be greatly appreciated. Also we have shipped between 100-150 animals in the past year and we had a total of 6 DOA's.
Bert Cash
Scales n Stuff

Bert,
6 DOA's out of 100 to 150 animals shipped is a pretty high mortality rate.
If you'll describe your packaging and shipping procedures, I'm sure that both myself and others here will be able to give you some ideas that should lower that rate.

Please provide as much detail as possible.

It would also be helpful to know what the DOAs were, and when & where those animals were shipped.

One was a Blood Python that Fed Ex competley destoyed the box, it arrived split open and crushed. The second was a blood python that passed during the trip. It was in an insulated box that was rated at 200 lbs and had a heat pack. One rose hair that got lost in shipping. One mexican red knee that got lost in shipping. And two more rosehairs that were lost in shipping.

Right now we use 40 hour heat packs and insulated boxes that are rated at 200 lbs. My biggest concer is if we are over heating, since we lost the one blood python during shipping.

Have you checked the "shipping" forum? There's some very good information in there.

Regards.

Actually I have I am just now figuring out how to find things with the search option.

Originally Posted by scalesnstuff

One rose hair that got lost in shipping. One mexican red knee that got lost in shipping. And two more rosehairs that were lost in shipping.

I do hope that by lost, you mean that they were DOA...not MIA. Shipping arachnids can be a tricky thing, as they don't take well to alot of jostling. Extra efforts to make sure they are securely packed may help. As for the question of overheating - I would recommend setting up a test package or two with a hi/lo thermometer. If the destination temps were warmer or colder than yours, it may just be a matter of changing the way you use the heat packs (my biggest concern is shipping to a warm destination when it is very cold here)

We have the opposite problem. It is warm here most of the year, right now it is around the mid 70's so we have to worry about the time it is here. We know when packages actually leave USPS or Fed Ex and get them there about a half hour before. The "lost" was mishandled which ticks me off, there was one case where we mailed a rose hair and the person claimed it never arrived and then used a different service to ship another overnight on my dollar and same thing according to the websites for tthe shipping services they did arrive. We pack the arachnids very well. We don't use containers that have alot of space and pack the substrate wheree there is comfortable to walk around but if the box gets turned upside down the have about a 1/4 to fall. We pack the animals so they do not slide around as well.

We pay to have it overnighted then I look stupid when the package shows up late. I know alot has to do with big holidays like Christmas so we do not ship in that time frame.

We are working on a climate controlled box but we cannot get it light enough where it would not cost a fortune to ship. The box is basically a small battery, heat pack and a rheostat and insulated. It can hold the temperature but it is too heavy. Right now it looks like the only thing we can use it for is high dollar animals not the lower end stuff. I don't anticipate people paying for the 7 dollar animal and then paying 35 to 85 to ship.

Anyways we will try your suggestion I have a cooler at my restaraunt that has 4 different temperatures ranging from 40 to freezin so I will get a package ready soon

One more question has anyone done research on the different heat packs available. I know some fail way before the advertised mark. We are currnetly using a company called uniheat.