My shipping method is similar with a couple of minor variations. I use the same boxes Neil referenced from Superior Enterprises. These measure just under a cubic foot and have 1/2 or 3/4 inch foam panels precut to cover all 6 sides.
When shipping neonates, I use prepunched delis exclusively. The danger with the paper towel that the other gentleman mentioned can be eliminated by simply tearing it by hand into one inch strips and then tearing those into smal (1/2 to 1 inch) pieces. About one sheet prepared this way per deli (8 oz) makes for a well cushioned bed for most animals.
Superior sells delis in sizes large enough to hold pretty large adult and subadult animals as well. As long as you use an approprately sized container, this method will work beautifully.
I then tape the delis into small stacks of 2 or 3 using heavy duty Scotch Tape in two bands crisscrossed around each stack. The bottom deli in each stack is then taped to the bottom of the box with a loop of duct tape. This keeps the delis form shifting during shipment. I use loosely crumpled sheets of newspaper to further lock the delis in place. When packed properly in this manner, the animals will not be damaged by the type of jostling that is common with all carriers.
The only major difference in my method is that i have not found it necessary to punch the holes in the top styro panel as was described in the other posts. The shipping boxes mentioned are well insulated but the insulation is not cut to tolerances that make it airtight. I have run several tests with remote thermometers and found that heat will bleed slowly out of the box with no air holes punched at allI also do not. I also do not seal all of the outside cardboard seams. This allows for a very slight exchange of air which could be very beneficial if the package is delayed in transit.
The guidelines I use for heatpacks are.
Destination temperature 37 to 54 = 1 40 hour heatpack
" " 15 to 36 = 2 40 hour heatpacks.
If the destination temperature is below 15 degrees, I give serious consideration to waiting on shipping but I will say that I have shipped to minnesota in sub zero weather at the buyer's insistence (that was 3 heatpacks) and the animals arrived just fine.
I do take into account the hub temperature but not to a great extent. Packages are not usually exposed there for more than an hour or two. What most people don't take into account is that putting an insulated container with an interior temp of 75 and 2 heatpacks still generating into a 32 degree outside temp will not lower the interior temp more than 15 or 20 degerees over a three or four hour period. I have run several tests with remote thermometers and sealed boxes to verify this.
I generally wrap the heatpack loosely in a half sheet of newspaper leaving the ends of the newspaper open (like a tube). I then tape it to one end of the box and place the animals at the opposite end. The crumpled newspaper in between used as packing helps to spread and dissipate the heat evenly.
This same method works perfectly well during the summer with coldpacks. My guidelines are
Destination temp 80 to 88 = 1 coldpack
Destination temp 86 to 94 = 2 coldpacks
Destination temp 95 to 100 = 3 coldpacks.
Slip the packs into a ziploc bag and duct tape them to the opposite end from the animals. Otherwise, the parameters are the same.
Again, I have shipped animals to Las Vegas in 105 daytime temps with no problems at all.
By the way...always check the weather conditions at your buyer's location the night before shipping. I do this very easily at weather.com.
I will say that my experience has only been with colubrids. I am sure that the tolerances would have to be adjusted for the tropical animals that have been previously described. However, using these parameters, I have shipped well over a 1500 animals in the last three years in over 400 individual shipments and not lost a single animal with the exception of one shipment that Airborne "misplaced" at one of their centers for 4 days in the middle of winter. This is definitely not the only system but it is definitely a set of parameters that works.
I hope this info is of use to those of you who are just getting into the shipping aspect of this business.
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John Schmitt
Suncoast Herpetological
