Has anyone shipped to Alaska?

Unless yet another deal falls through, I'll likely be shipping a reasonably large (7'+) snake to Alaska. I'll be buying a large snake shipping kit from SYR and will also be using their shipping service as well.

I picture the shipping itself to be a logistical nightmare considering the length of the flight and climatic differences between here and there. The shipping is likely to take place some time in August when it's likely to be very hot here. Anyone have any advice to offer me to facilitate pulling this off with as little chance of hurting the snake as possible?

I haven't shipped to Alaska, but I have received a shipment from there. Forget the overnight thing, it'll be two days....UNLESS (maybe) you use the airlines. Northwest Airlines offers the same services as Delta, for comparable prices, but I don't have a clue about the frequency of flights to Alaska. Of course, that assumes that the buyer lives within driving distance of an airport serviced by NWA.
If you have to go with UPS, see if you can find out what the stops will be & check the temps. You may have to deal with extended forecasts and possibly shipping delays if the temps are too high...unless anybody has ideas about long acting coldpacks.

I've shipped to AK before-- only once-- and it was hatchling Childrens' Pythons.

I got it there in one day. I had to confirm with Fedex (or UPS it was a while ago) that it was guaranteed in one day and it was.

As long as it's a one day trip don't sweat it and treat it like any other shipment. Use a quality insulated box and you'll have no problems.

When it was picked up at the FedEx office there, it was a one day shipment without any problems. When shipped to a business quite a way from the FedEx office, they said it would take 2 days, but it still only took one day.

The costs were a bit more than when shipping in the lower 48, so check that before quoting a cost to the customer. And try to get them to pick up at a FedEx office, or at least any business in one of the bigger cities, if at all possible.

If it is hot on your end, ship as late in the day as possible, and check temps in Memphis and at the destination (both highs and lows) so you know what the package will go through.

According to the SYR website, they do offer next day delivery to the zip code I used to get my quote. I'm guessing on the weight, but for a 40 pound package I got a quote of $139 and change for next day. I haven't heard from the guy in the past couple of days, so it's entirely possible he decided to change his mind. Been getting a lot of that lately.

The various climates that the snake would pass through were my main concern. I couldn't decide whether I'd want to use a cold pack to compensate for the high temperatures here, or a heat pack for the extended flight time in an non-pressurized cargo cabin.

I was very skeptical of the idea of shipping and flat out said in the ad that I wouldn't do it. He was very persistant and seemed genuinely interested. He wanted it badly enough to release me of any liability for any shipping incidents. It's very possible this is all a moot point and that for whatever reason he's backed out. Just thought I'd cover my bases and try to formulate a workable game plan ahead of time. Thanks for the input so far.

I shipped to Alaska one time. I used Fedex over night priority and it arrived the next day just fine and I am in Florida. Because of the distance I would not gaurantee live arrival and my customer agreed to that. I also made the customer pay me with a Postal Money Order instead of a credit card so no problems could come up if the animal did die on the trip. I now have a line on my web site terms page that says that I will not guarantee live arrival to Alaska.

Alaska in August is still cool. It's in the 40's to 50's dueing the day and the 60's to 70's in the day. It's cooler there than to ship to FL in the summer. The only issue would be the possibility of 2 days delivery versus 1 day delivery.
Good luck

I live in Anchorage, Alaska and recieve lots of reptiles every year from May until November. I have never had a doa or even a late arrival, UPS and Fed ex both get them here by 9:30am. Alaska has some of the largest Fed ex and UPS hubs in the US due to import /export. It`s sept 16th and night time temps are 45-50 around Anchorage. Now Ak is a huge state and Tempatures vary, north of Fairbanks was snowing a couple weeks ago while I was hunting while it`s in the 60`s during the day here.
So if your shipping anywhere along the road system it will be there overnight if it needs to go on a bush plane it may take an extra day and could get chilled. If it`s going to one of the few major towns don`t even think twice about it, NO PROBLEM MAN.

I actually have 6 turtles arriving in about 3 hours from New Hampshire. I`m not the least bit worried.

Bryan

We have successfully shipped to Alaska via FedEx Overnight without any problems. Hawaii is the only U.S. state you don't want to be shipping to.