UPS shipping disaster

Caution, this picture is very graphic. I apologize for the graphic nature of this picture, but I feel that people need to see this to avoid any future incidents. The two tegus were shipped via UPS overnight. They were placed in an unpressurized cargo hold on the plane and this is the result. When I opened the box, the scene was enough to make me burst into tears. The Tegus suffered because of someones carelessness. It's disgusting that this even happened. UPS is doing nothing to right the situation. At first, they told us that they do not have a pressurized cargo hold, which we know is bull because we ship live animals through UPS regularly. So, then they told us that they would have to send an inspector over to our house to view the package. They have not contacted us yet for this inspection and it has been two days. On top of that, we were supposed to leave the dead animals in the box where they were until the inspector arrived. UPS through a fit when they were told that we would have to freeze the bodies and couldn't understand why. Gee, that's common sense. We had a problem getting UPS to pick these guys up in the first place, and I am starting to wonder if that is why this happened. These lizards were packed in snake bags inside a winter cricket deliverybox stuffed with newspaper, so they could not be thrashed around and then put inside of another box filled with packaging so the boxes couldn't slide. Each box was equipped with heat packs. The seller packed them perfectly. UPS made a major mistake and I intend to pursue this in every way possible. Again, I apologize for the picture. Unfortunately, this is the least worse of the pictures that we had to take to send to the seller.

A necropsy would have been helpful, as your post leaves opne more questions than answers. To be quite honest, I dout that pressurization, or lack thereof, factored into their demise.

To begin with, the tegus appear to have some significant physical trauma. The more "graphic" pics may help piece together what may have led to the deaths.

Flying in an unpressurized compartment, circa 30-35K feet wouldn't cause any physical trauma. Rather, it would result in hypoxia and hypothermia.

I am truely sorry for the graphic nature of these pictures.

When did all this happen?

This box was shipped on thursday and arrived to me on friday and was opened imediately upon arrival.

First off I am so sorry that the animals had to go through that and perish. It is truly a shame. One thing I can see from the pictures is the box was not lined with styro-foam. This in its self could be the problem. The animals very well may have frozen to death and then thawed and while they were frozen might have been damaged. I have had my animals accidentally get stuck in the not pressurized cabin and they arrived fine because they were packed with Styro-foam and heat packs. In a box without Styro a heat pack does almost nothing. The box itself allows the heat to dissipate too quickly. Also unfortunately there is nothing that UPS will do as they do not guarantee anything with Live Animals (except the delivery time). In order to ship with UPS you are supposed to have a letter signed by the shipper absolving them of any responsibility in the shipment of Live animals no matter if it is their fault or not. Again I am sorry the animals had to go through that and that you had to go through it and see the animals in that condition

Thank you for the opinion I know that noone can tell me exactly what happened but I was hoping to get some ideas. The lizards were packed inside bags, inside a box with crumpled news paper and heat packs, inside a bigger box with more crumpled news paper. We did not use styro because the shipper and myself were both above the 45 degree mark, the lizards themselves were not in direct contact with the heat packs, so I ruled out the possability of that being the reason. Now the lizards were still bleeding when I opened the box, the red has a gapping hole in its right side which has left the liver and lung exposed, the B/W had blood coming through the skin at the same areas as the reds wound, however it was not ruptured, and both of the lizards ear cannals are full of blood. I do not know what happened but what ever the cause it happened rather quickly because both of the lizards appeared to have been asleep when it happened. Eyes shut, tongues in, and they were not contorted at all they seemed to be just lying there and I had no clue as to the problem til I removed my hand from under the bag and seen the blood. (Almost looks like they were in a microwave).

Thank you for listening
BayouBeasts.com
Tony

how the hell did he get wounded like that? becuse of the cold temp? i dont understand if the air pressure wasnt right wouldnt they just sufficate?

They called me this morning and told me they were 30,000 feet and could not breathe. I told them that would not cause it to happen they said the box was x-rayed but I don't think that would do anything but maybe make them sterile. So they are going to my vet for a necropsy. I will post the results.

arent all the packages that get shipped X-rayd nowadays? i meen im no expert but xrays dont kill animals do they?