She died... and now I feel like a total failure

My new Corn Snake hatchling, Sterling, died today. I posted yesterday when I was so excited about her arrival, and today she died. So I am, needless to say, a wreck.

When she got here, she was in a shipping box on my porch. My father had to walk to my grandparents house (literally down the street- about 100 feet away) and was gone for 10 minutes, and the Fed Ex guys just put the box on the porch. There was no marking on it re: it being a live animal, and Susan had put a heat pack inside! It was 100 degrees here yesterday, and I think the heat was too much for her.

She was very listless when I took her out. I was scared. She wasn't moving in the container, and I thought she was dead then. So I took her to school in my car, with the AC on. She started moving more in the car, and I felt better. I put her small cage into the larger one at school, NOT directly on the heat pad. The room temp at school is a stable 78 degrees.

I checked her this AM and she was okay, so I went to work. When I stopped by to check her this afternoon (1:00) she was coiled in her cage, stiff and flat- obviously dead. I am a hysterical wreck right now and am dealing with my father yelling at me and telling me I am being stupid for sobbing hysterically, because I only had her for less than a day. I am very stressed and I feel horrible, like it's somehow my fault. I just email Susan about her, and I don't know what to do in the meantime, so I think I will go see my girlfriend. She's about the only person I know to make me feel better.

I feel awful... like it's my fault and I should not be a snake parent. Thanks for all your help and support... I am waiting on an email from Susan now.

Lauren

Sorry about your snake. It only takes a second to fall in love with something that belongs to you so it's normal to feel this way. Sometimes things don't always turn out for the best, but this may just open a new door for you. Don't give up on being a corn parent. Keep your head up and don't worry things will work out!

Sorry for your loss..

For next time, it's good to remember when you receive animals even if they are too cold or too hot, drastic temperature changes are the worst.

It's better to let them sit quietly at room temparature for a good while.

Don't blame yourself it can happen to anybody and maybe he was allready doom because of the extreme heat so nothing you could of done would of changed is fait.

WYZ

So sorry for the loss.

And yea, don't blame yourself. It's hard not to I know, but you did all you could for her. Keep going, and good luck if you get another

I'm feeling your pain. Sorry for your loss. don't let it get you down. I just had a loss as well. I lost a striped snow F. I had her for almost a month. She just uped and died too. But hey I'm getting a new one tomorrow. Almost a week later =) What kind was it?

She was a beautiful little anery, Type A. Gorgeous colors. Even my father the non-snake, non-animal person said she was beautiful.

I am still a wreck. I feel so horrible. I've been looking at her picture every day for three weeks and smiling to myself. And now she's gone....

I'm sorry to hear it. If you try shipping one again in this heat you might want to have it held at the FedX location for pickup. I am surprised it had a HEAT pack when we are in the middle of the biggest heat wave of the year.

Susan will take care of you, don't worry. Are you sure it was a heat pack and not a cold pack?

Maybe it was a cold pack, I don't know. It felt hot when I touched it... I didn't really look, I was too preoccupied with the hatchling.

I thought about that today, asking FedEx to hold her at their place. I would rather drive and pick her up, and know for sure the snake is in climate control, than have the idiots deliver early and end up with a snake on the porch for more than 5 minutes!

If I paid $45 to ship her, can anyone tell me how exactly she shipped? I know she must have flown, right? She left Florida at 6:44 PM Wednesday, and was on my porch at 2:14 PM on Thursday according to Fed Ex (according to my car clock, I was home at 2:15 for her 3:00 delivery). I am just trying to figure out what I could have done differently.

Hypancistrus said:

Maybe it was a cold pack, I don't know. It felt hot when I touched it... I didn't really look, I was too preoccupied with the hatchling.

I thought about that today, asking FedEx to hold her at their place. I would rather drive and pick her up, and know for sure the snake is in climate control, than have the idiots deliver early and end up with a snake on the porch for more than 5 minutes!

If I paid $45 to ship her, can anyone tell me how exactly she shipped? I know she must have flown, right? She left Florida at 6:44 PM Wednesday, and was on my porch at 2:14 PM on Thursday according to Fed Ex (according to my car clock, I was home at 2:15 for her 3:00 delivery). I am just trying to figure out what I could have done differently.

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The only way you can ship is FedEx overnight. Normally with that service delivery is guaranteed by 10am. And yes, with FedEx next day items are shipped to FedEx's hub, and then off to the destination. I really doubt Susan would put a heat pack in with your snake when the temps in Florida have been in the upper 90's, as well as on your end as you say.

There's really nothing you could have done that would have caused the snake to die in a day. I know it sucks, but don't worry, Susan WILL take care of you.

Just something else to add, most breeders have a clause on their terms page that not having someone sign for the package voids the live arrival guarantee. I know this doesn't apply, but overnight packages need to be signed for unless the receipent has a 'no signature needed' waiver on file at FedEx. I don't know if the driver screwed up or if you've got that waiver with FedEx, but if you're going to be getting live animal shipments you need to have Fedex take that off ASAP.

I didn't know that. I don't even know how such a waiver would have been obtained, but he certainly did not get anyone to sign for it, as my father had walked down to the GP's to get their mower when ours died.

Looking at all the s*** that went wrong here, it's almost like God doesn't WANT me to have a snake!!

Hypancistrus said:

I thought about that today, asking FedEx to hold her at their place. I would rather drive and pick her up, and know for sure the snake is in climate control, than have the idiots deliver early and end up with a snake on the porch for more than 5 minutes!

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If I may point out, FedEx (and all other carriers, for that matter) guarantees a delivery BY a certain time, not AT a certain time. It's unfair to place any blame for this on the FedEx delivery person (unless the package required a signature to be dropped off). He/she got your package to you on time, which is his/her only responsibility. When I have live animals delivered, I print out a big sign and tape it to the door that states, "Dear deliveryperson, I am expecting a live animal! I am home! Please knock loudly or ring the doorbell in case I am asleep!" They have hundreds of packages to deliver each day. You can't expect them to wait around until your estimated delivery time to leave your package at your door. Nor can you expect them to wait around to see if you're actually home or make sure you heard them knock unless a signature is required for delivery.

Hey, I am not blaming anyone! This is the first time I have EVER had a live animal shipped, so I admit to being totally and utterly in the dark here.

In my experience, FedX drivers are idiots. I've had multiple packages that required signatures left at my door, or left at neighbors when I was HOME and waiting for the driver. They never even rang the bell. Once the guy even walked right past me and left it with a neighbor when I was standing right at the door waiting. He didn't even try my door and I had a note there for him as well. They just want to dump the packages and don't care how it's done. That's why when I had a hatchling shipped last month I had it held at FedX. I got there when they opened at 9 am and didn't have to sit at home worrying and waiting for the driver.

Ugh, see, this is all info I coulda used BEFORE she shipped. Yes, I will definitely have the FedEx people hold any further shipments of live creatures, and I will personally pick them up. Regardless of whether said driver is intelligent, an idiot, or just plain doing his job, I'd rather it be my responsibility to get my critters than there's to bring them to me.

Sorry, I don't mean to make you feel worse, I was just pointing out that it was probably the driver's fault if he left it without a signature and there is no waiver on file. If nobody was home he should have tried a neighbor or tried again later. I don't know how cool the back of a fedx truck is so that might have been just as bad. If it was in his truck all day it might have already been too late even if somebody had been there to accept the package.

Flagg said:

In my experience, FedX drivers are idiots. I've had multiple packages that required signatures left at my door, or left at neighbors when I was HOME and waiting for the driver. They never even rang the bell. Once the guy even walked right past me and left it with a neighbor when I was standing right at the door waiting. He didn't even try my door and I had a note there for him as well. They just want to dump the packages and don't care how it's done. That's why when I had a hatchling shipped last month I had it held at FedX. I got there when they opened at 9 am and didn't have to sit at home worrying and waiting for the driver.

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This is irrelevant to the issue at hand, unless the two of you live in the same neighborhood. My experiences with FedEx drivers have been good, but this is also irrelevant to the issue at hand, because I'm sure that hypancistrus and I don't live in the same neighborhood, so I won't share stories about my FedEx drivers here. We have no way of knowing at present whether the particular FedEx driver in question has any culpability in this situation. As such, we have no reason a priori to call them idiots. You can call YOUR FedEx driver an idiot because you have evidence that that is the case. That doesn't make ALL FedEx drivers idiots.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, but it doesn't seem it was your fault. S[tuff] just happens sometimes. Hopefully this won't turn off so much that you don't get another corn; I'm sure your next one will do just fine for you and be a great pet.

desertanimal said:

This is irrelevant to the issue at hand, unless the two of you live in the same neighborhood. My experiences with FedEx drivers have been good, but this is also irrelevant to the issue at hand, because I'm sure that hypancistrus and I don't live in the same neighborhood, so I won't share stories about my FedEx drivers here. We have no way of knowing at present whether the particular FedEx driver in question has any culpability in this situation. As such, we have no reason a priori to call them idiots. You can call YOUR FedEx driver an idiot because you have evidence that that is the case. That doesn't make ALL FedEx drivers idiots.

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You must work for FedX eh?
I DID say "in my experience..." . And her driver DID leave the package that required a signature.

Flagg said:

You must work for FedX eh?
I DID say "in my experience..." . And her driver DID leave the package that required a signature.

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I realize that you said "in my experience." I'm not arguing with your experience or your assessment of your driver. Like I said, your experience is not pertinent to this situation because extrapolation from your experience to other places and times is unwarranted.

Nope. I don't work for FedEx. That would be terrible. I'm simply a devout disciple of logic.

True, the driver left the package. However, if the driver hadn't left the package, it would've gone back on the truck for another many hours and she wouldn't have been able to pick it up from the FedEx sorting facility until the evening, when the driver finished his or her route. And I'm pretty sure that the backs of the delivery trucks are not climate controlled.

The fact of the matter, here, is that no one was home to accept delivery. There are only two outcomes that can result from that situation. One is that the driver leaves the box on the porch in the heat. The other is that the box goes back in the truck for several more hours in the heat. Neither is good. In this particular case, it may not have mattered if someone was home to accept delivery. However, the fact remains that one of the two possible undesirable outcomes occurred as a direct result of the fact that no one was home. The chain of culpability starts there. I'm not going out of my way to be a hard-ass, my butt is just naturally firm, and I call 'em how I see 'em. Like I said, it may not have mattered at all, but there's no point in going around blaming FedEx drivers when no one was home to accept the package in the first place. (I realize, Lauren, that you aren't blaming the FedEx driver. I'm just explaining my point to Flagg, who wrote, " . . . it was probably the driver's fault . . .")