• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Info Heads up on Gourmet Rodent

I figured since I just got a package from GR that I'd post it as well. This is my consistent experience with them. All snakes packaged and insulated well. These pictures were taken in reverse because my main concern was getting them into their enclosures first, but I wanted to show what quality of packing they use for me (and I would assume for everyone else).

I even had a snake that was ambiguous with sex in my last order, I sent them a video showing this and told them specifically that I did NOT expect them to do anything until I was sure it was sexed incorrectly. I told them I wanted to wait a couple weeks and sex again to make 100% sure because there was a chance I was wrong, but they sent me a replacement with this order anyway. I couldn't ask for more in terms of awesome customer service and quality.
 

Attachments

  • WP_20150326_10_19_08_Pro.jpg
    WP_20150326_10_19_08_Pro.jpg
    159.9 KB · Views: 369
  • WP_20150326_10_19_12_Pro.jpg
    WP_20150326_10_19_12_Pro.jpg
    129.3 KB · Views: 360
  • WP_20150326_10_19_30_Pro.jpg
    WP_20150326_10_19_30_Pro.jpg
    127.6 KB · Views: 355
  • WP_20150326_10_19_45_Pro.jpg
    WP_20150326_10_19_45_Pro.jpg
    154 KB · Views: 358
One thing I would definitely do differently (and do), is place the heat pack neatly in a single page of folded newspaper, after it's been activated for an hour or so. I then tape the outer edges of the heat pack to the inside top of the box with the red stripe of the pack facing into the area to be warmed
The newspaper placed over the heat pack, when secured in one spot above the animals, helps prevent direct contact with the heat pack itself. It also helps prolong the output of the pack by slightly limiting oxygen consumption, which is what activates the contents.
I only work with rainbow boas which can die from prolonged exposure to temps over 85 F, so in my case, it's better to be on the cool side, than hot.
By just tossing a heat pack loosely in the box, there's no guaranty the pack won't end up in direct contact with one or more of the animals packed within. I measured the surface temperature of a 40 hr. heat pack at >135 F after less than an hour. That's pretty damned hot IMO!
If the animals pictured in this thread were in deli cups directly next to the heat pack, they may have died from to much heat, not the cold. :shrug01:
 
The heat pack wasn't wrapped but there's no way it would have moved during transit the way my box was packaged. It was still super warm and working perfectly.

Also, the reason they recommend letting the heat pack warm up for an hour or so before putting them in is that they peak quickly and then stabilize.
 
Nick, you had a lot more material in your box to prevent things from moving around.
Maybe they made a change since my shipment.
 
Yea Steve, I agree that if that's all the packaging that was in yours that it was definitely insufficient. I just haven't had the same experience you have, that's why I was really surprised to see this thread. I just wanted to share what I'm used to seeing.
 
SPJ said:
Nick, you had a lot more material in your box to prevent things from moving around.
Maybe they made a change since my shipment.
Click to expand...

Yeah Steve, in your pic, the heat pack is sitting right between the deli cups which is exactly where I would NOT want it! For the record the 135+ temp I recorded on the pack was well AFTER an hour of having opened it. I didn't dare seal the box with it blaring away like that.
On the receiving end in Utah, a few weeks back when things were still pretty cold, the snakes temps (3 total) were 64-65 F, which was the lower end of the range of 65-77 F I was shooting for. :yesnod:
 
I just received a package from GR and remembered this thread and I think I know where the problem might lie.

The packing looks and is professional, except the heatpack seems too small for the giant box that they use. The snake I ordered did arrive alive but she was ice cold when I opened the box and she couldn't even hold her head straight for the first couple minutes. (Note that the heatpack itself was actually still warm, but the snake was literally ice cold, the snake was diagonally furthest away as she could be from the heatpack). She's becoming more responsive as she's warming up though. This was in 55-60 degF weather. The OP lives in CT which has temperatures that go way lower especially a couple months ago and I can easily see something go wrong given that the heatpack wasn't actually warming the box properly.

I honestly don't believe a little bouncing could kill a snake in the matter of a day unless someone at Fedex was doing some hardcore smashing. Plus they do put enough packing material into the box.

I sent them a message about it and I hope they will look into this issue. I haven't had trouble communicating with them and everything so far has gone very smoothly. The way they responded the OP makes me feel like they are responsible sellers and definitely are looking into the issue.
 
I also wrap my heat packs in a few layers of newspaper, but I am now questioning why I do that? What will a layer or two do in regards to the heat pack coming into contact with the reptile. Given that these are not hand warmers, but heat packs, they should not reach a temperature that would burn the reptile. If anything, wrapping it in newspaper will reduce its contact with the air and reduce the lifespan of the pack. Any thoughts on this?

Warren
 
Warren_Booth said:
I also wrap my heat packs in a few layers of newspaper, but I am now questioning why I do that? What will a layer or two do in regards to the heat pack coming into contact with the reptile. Given that these are not hand warmers, but heat packs, they should not reach a temperature that would burn the reptile. If anything, wrapping it in newspaper will reduce its contact with the air and reduce the lifespan of the pack. Any thoughts on this?

Warren
Click to expand...

I started a thread in the general discussion area so as not to get this thread off topic, here you go:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1817173#post1817173

:thumbsup:
 
What I'd like to know is if the buyer thinks they froze or if they expired from overheating. The heat pack stuck in between the two deli cups (and not secured in place) was definitely a poor choice, though.
 
SPJ said:
It was ice cold. Nowhere near an adequate heat pack. Nothing to secure the containers to prevent massive movement when the package is handled. Basically compared to how I pack animals when I ship, this was crap. They did refund me but they really need to look into the way they pack their animals.
Click to expand...

He said they were ice cold. The same happened to the snake I was shipped, although unfortunately she survived and is doing fine at the moment. In my case the heatpack itself was still warm.

I don't think the pictures show the size comparison very well, but the box is unnecessarily huge and either the heatpack was not large enough or the setup they had was unable to retain heat properly.
 
Larger boxes will hold a more stable temperature if the heat pack used is sufficient for the space. IN the case of the Gourmet Rodent, the fact that they use an inner and outer box, along with crumpled paper which will aid in the retention of heat and act as a shock absorbing material, I cannot see what else they could have done. A heat pack failure is something that can happen to anyone. Unfortunately there is no way to know if the pack will fail. Wrapping it in paper will not do anything to the packs longevity, or likelihood to fail.

The only way to avoid this, is to ship only when months allow shipping without heat or cool packs. That means that the buyer will have to only purchase when that is possible, or the seller be willing to hold the animals until that period. That, in most cases, is unlikely to happen. I have personally shipped in every month of the year, with temperatures ranging from the mid 30's to the mid 90's. I have yet to have an issue, and I do not use double insulation like the Gourmet Rodent.

I think in this case it was simply a heat pack failure. Totally unavoidable.

Warren
 
Warren_Booth said:
Larger boxes will hold a more stable temperature if the heat pack used is sufficient for the space. IN the case of the Gourmet Rodent, the fact that they use an inner and outer box, along with crumpled paper which will aid in the retention of heat and act as a shock absorbing material, I cannot see what else they could have done. A heat pack failure is something that can happen to anyone. Unfortunately there is no way to know if the pack will fail. Wrapping it in paper will not do anything to the packs longevity, or likelihood to fail.
Click to expand...

The problem is in my case the heatpack was warm but the snake was limp from cold. I don't know whether the OP's heatpack was still warm when it arrived. You have to realize that with more insulation material it will also take more to initially heat the box up, the styrofoam in their middle layer isn't exactly airproof, there are small gaps in every corner. I personally would prefer to see a simple small box with tight styrofoam as opposed to a large box (with tons of empty space) and loose styrofoam.

I think it'd be best for Gourmet Rodents to do some testing on their packing method. I can assure you that the snake I received wasn't getting heated at all even though the heatpack was working. The only reason I don't have a measurement of her surface temperature was because the first thing I did was try to warm her up asap.

They aren't a bad company though, they are easy to work with and they deliver what you pay for. Though in the future I will wait till temperatures are in the 70-80s here to order.
 
Back
Top