• In case most of you have not noticed, I made changes to the donation amounts as well as the durations for all of the paid membership levels. Things are winding down here, and this seems to be the most prudent way to deal with the "end of life" period of this site.

    Contributor level members - $10 per 30 days
    Sponsors - Eliminated
    Benefactor level members - $25 per 30 days
    Endowment level members - $50 per 30 days

    Account Upgrades Page
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Shipping via USPS

scaledverts

scaledverts

I like all things scaly!
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
755
Reaction score
73
Points
28
Location
Evansville, IN
So, I have noticed that when a person ships a snake via USPS there is an immediate outcry about how bad of a shipping practice this is and how it can potentially hurt the industry (justifiably so, because of the legality of shipping snakes via USPS). However, why is it that shipping other reptiles and amphibians (that ARE "allowed" by USPS policy) elicits a far weaker response if any at all? I would argue that reptiles and amphibians in general should not be shipped via USPS period. It just is not reliable enough nor temperature controlled enough for shipping reptiles. I have seen BOI threads where the "bad guy" ships a non-snake reptile or amphibian through USPS and there is no outcry and people do not make a big deal out of it.

A similar argument could be made for invertebrates too I guess. Although, in my experience they fair just fine when shipped via USPS. In fact most roaches that I have received have been through USPS.

Anyway, I just thought that it would be interesting to get peoples thoughts on this subject.
 
Primarily because it is ILLEGAL to ship snakes via USPS and its not illegal to ship lizards or amphibians.
 
I have shipped geckos many times through USPS, and it has always arrived next day, they actually guarantee it now, and they always arrive in good condition. But, when someone gets a gecko from me, I give them the choice to ship USPS, fedex, or SYR. I give them all the options and prices, and whatever they choose is what I use.
 
Yes, I know that (perhaps I should have used a stronger word than "allowed"). But even though it is legal, why would anyone want o risk the animal by shipping USPS? That is what I am getting at.
 
scaledverts said:
Yes, I know that (perhaps I should have used a stronger word than "allowed"). But even though it is legal, why would anyone want to risk the animal by shipping USPS? That is what I am getting at.
Click to expand...


This response was in reference to the second post.
 
sfconstrictors said:
I have shipped geckos many times through USPS, and it has always arrived next day, they actually guarantee it now, and they always arrive in good condition. But, when someone gets a gecko from me, I give them the choice to ship USPS, fedex, or SYR. I give them all the options and prices, and whatever they choose is what I use.
Click to expand...

I have actually had some bad experiences with insects being shipped next-day but taking 2 or 3 days to arrive. I guess I just worry about reptiles and amphibians because of my previous experiences with USPS.
 
scaledverts said:
Yes, I know that (perhaps I should have used a stronger word than "allowed"). But even though it is legal, why would anyone want o risk the animal by shipping USPS? That is what I am getting at.
Click to expand...

You could say the same thing about shipping reptiles via any carrier... :shrug01:

The USPS has a very high 'on time' success rate, just about the same as UPS/FedEx, and it is significantly less expensive. I know that a lot of dart frog breeders that use USPS exclusively, and they are way more delicate in regards to temperature than almost all reptiles (some geckos are about equal).

Point is you are risking the animals life every time you put one in a box and send it out. So questioning the choice of carrier is a moot point once the issue of legality is met.
 
Back
Top