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Please Read: About a leopard gecko shipement - leave feedback please.

Blood Python171

Blood Python171

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Today I stayed home from school. I planned to get Captain around 10:30am, put him in the tank and leave to go to my last class (Biology) at 11pm. I was not able to get on the internet today, so I could not check on his location on ups.com. From 11am - 5pm today I checked outside many times for him under the back porch (that's where I tell the UPS guy to leave packages) since I never heard anyone knock on the door. When he did arrive (5:09pm) I rushed to open the box because he had been in there for way longer then I expected. When I opened his container he was freezing cold and dead! I was very upset and went downstairs and sat on the couch and prayed that somehow GOD would bring him back. Since geckos are reptiles and cold blooded I went back into my room and held him between my hands hoping that somehow I could bring this dead gecko back to life. I knew that the only way for him to have a chance of coming back would be for him to get warm and his heart rate might pick back up. Around 15 minutes of holding him, his tail started to twitch. I really did not get excited because many things have electrical nerve transmission after they die causing them to move, plus, I didn't want to get my hopes up. About 2 minutes later I felt his arm move and noticed that his eyes were open. I then realized that he was alive and rushed to put him into my incubator which was already on. I covered him with vermiculture and closed the incubator. To make my long story shorter he was revived and appears to be okay. I looked in the box to see if the heat pack was still warm. I dumped all the peanut foam out and found it. It was cold and hardly big enough to keep him warm. How many hours was this thing supposed to last? From it's size I would only expect a couple of hours. This was really bad judgment on your part. With Captain being in such a large box and the heat dispersing throughout the box he had to have been very cold for almost the whole shipment. You really need to get bigger heat packs (Uni-heat 40 hour packs are good) if you care about your animals, and i'm sure you do. I am just happy that he is alive because he is such a beautiful gecko. I thanked GOD many times for using me to perform a miracle of life. I just wanted to inform you about this so it doesn't happen again, the next gecko might not be so lucky. Thank you for Captain, and I will care for him for the rest of his life.
thanks,
Matthew
East Coast Reptiles

This was the e-mail I sent after recieving the gecko. I will not post the companies name as not to bring negative attention to them because nothin intentionally wrong was done.
Thank you for your time
 
So.......What kind of feed back were you looking for? It sounds like the shipper used a "human" type "smaller" heat pack which last only about 12 hrs! I'm glad to hear your gecko made it!
 
Sorry you had to miss your class. I understand what it's like to worry yourself to death over your leos. I do want to know why you placed him in your incubator though? A little more time to slowly adjust to the room temperature would have been better for him. 15-20 minutes is kind of rapid for going from one extreme temp to another.
 
Matt,
You should never have let the seller ship! Not with the weather we are having. No heat pack is strong enough with these temps. I am still holding Leos that I need to ship to buyers because I will not risk their lives. My buyers understand. Next time make sure your seller is aware of our temps. Ups also should have delivered by 10AM. That didn't help the situation. FInd out why the package was late. If it was late the sender deserves a refund as they guarantee it to be there by ten or ten thirty.
They should have used a bigger heat pack. But even with a larger one, they only elevate temps by about 15 degrees. Well it was in the teens last night and the night before...you are lucky Captain didn't literally freeze...They should have used two heatpacks. But depending on where he was coming from, two may have been to hot in their weather...i am sooooo glad he is okay! At least this has a happy ending!
 
Matt,

I see you have posted this on two different forums, asking for feedback. My thought was the same as Overton's: What sort of feedback are you expecting? According to you, this was not an intentional misfortune; and it all had a happy ending. The only conclusions/feedback I could get out of it are
1) Care and judgment should be used when shipping critters in inclement weather and
2) You have a lucky little pal, I'm glad he made it
 
I think the kind of feedback he should get is...Good Thinking MAN!

I never new you could do this to leo's, only like cats and dogs.

Very smart, and could you show a pic of the little trouper? :uzi:
 
i would think this thread should be in the general bussiness discussion. i mean i am glad he is ok but where is this thread suposed to go?
i shipped to mass on monday i put in two 40 hour heat packs. I leave a note that if the gecko feels cold to the touch to leave him at room temperature for the rest of the day, in his deli and to put him in his enclosure later on that evening. heating up a cold reptile too fast can cause shock and death or permanent neurological effects. I will hold a gecko shipment for as long as i have to to wait to ship ask jeremy letkey and chris (still waiting on his bells).
it does sound like the shippers fault for not being more aware of the temps and not using the correct heating packs... but the leo forum is not the place for it... thats what the BOI is for.
 
I have to agree with those that said he should not have been shipped.
I live about 40 minutes from you, And it is way too cold to ship here.
I hope he is ok.
 
My feedback for ya: that is a lucky lil gecko to have had you taking care of him, and to have survived at all. You did good to inform the shipper that his/her shipping techniques are, well, crap. I understand why you don't want to mention names. Hopefully they are a first time shipper and will follow your advice and not make those mistakes next time. But I do worry that others will receive geckos from this person, also shipped badly and in unacceptable weather conditions, and their geckos will not be so lucky.
 
well sorry ..

to hear you had to go through that ,it is pretty scary . things like that can be avoided by not having animals shipped or shipping when the weather is too cold .
i personally ask the shipper to hold off on shipping until the weather changes also will not be selling any of my geckos until spring .
actually you and "captain" are lucky ! he did not die at all though . i have had it happen when it wasnt even that cold outside .
the geckos body simply slows down . but should be slowly warmed to room temps first like everyone else here is saying .
remember you are the buyer and are also in control , you can simply ask
the seller to wait for a better day to ship .
often times (here anyways) better conditions arise within a week or two at the most . just takes a little patience and a little care and planning
 
Sorry for not replying sooner but i have been busy between school and work. I will try to respond to all of your post when I get time.
thanks,
Matt
 
I am a firm believer, that if the person shipping knows what they are doing, and doesnt use sub standard supplies(ie a heating element for you hands that lasts like 4 hours) then the animals will be fine in almost any weather. i have had numerous leos and snakes shipped to me here in massachusetts all throughout this winter including 2 turtles and really wet paper towels, and they were all packed very well and every single animal arived safe and sound . i just got a shipment on tuesday of this week of 4 snakes and the shipper was in Ohio, and they were warm when they got here in temperatures that dipped into the teens that night
 
I agree with you...almost. I lived in Minneapolis and would ship and receive nearly year round, to this day I have not had one single complaint. Now that I live in Arizona I don't due to extreme heat... that will kill a gecko faster than the cold.
I pack them to make it and I check with the shipping carrier to see how long it will take and with buyer to make sure they don't typically have problems with the carrier and if they do then see what it takes to overcome the problem. If I am dealing with the heat then I find out what the last minute I can drop shipments off at the airport to get them out right away... only had one shipment not go out on time due to idiot at counter so I had to ship it the next day!
 
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