FedEx Shipping?
 

Hi, just a quick question. I received my first snake thru FedEx and was surprised that the box wasn't marked "live animals". I thought maybe there was a code on the box to tell the handler that there was a live animal inside. My snake arrived in perfect condition, no problems there. Just curious how the driver/handler knows there's an animal inside. I called FedEx to see if maybe there was a code on the box or maybe something in the tracking number and they told me they do not ship live animals. I see that a lot of breeders use FedEx so I assumed that this information was incorrect and the person I spoke with at FedEx didn't know what she was talking about. But I'm still curious, how do they know the box contains a live animal? Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any enlightenment I can get from you guys.

Silver

FedEx does ship live animals, easy to find on their TOS.

Part of that TOS is that the box must be marked as containing "Live Animals" They have a certified shipper status that you can get with some simple certification that allows you to ship snakes. Part of that cert is that the box must be labeled with "Live Harmless Reptiles" (or something very similar).

Either the shipper wasn't FedEx certified, didn't label it as having a snake inside to try to avoid prejudice, or some other reason.

IMO, if a box contains live animals, it should be marked as such, maybe it won't get thrown around as much as the average box that FedEx ships do.

Thanks for the info Erik! Are there a lot of people that feel it's safer to ship animals unmarked as apposed to labeling them as having reptiles in them? Has there been a problem with FedEx drivers possibly deliberately hurting the animals?

I've always labeled my boxes, and never had a problem with them being accepted or (as far as I know) mishandled. Labeling the box doesn't do squat for getting them better treatment, though...I've seen my UPS drivers flipping/spinning boxes which are clearly marked Fragile, Perishable, and This Side Up.

That's comforting to know. :no01: Thank you both for taking the time to respond!