A member here recently received a snake, shipped by another member here. He was disappointed by the not-so-great packing job. I thought it might be nice to have a reference here for people who haven't had the luxury of receiving snakes packed by the best, so they could learn by example! I've picked up packing tips from several members here, notably John Finsterwald, Carol Huddleston and Kathy Love. I feel like my method is as safe as it can get.
The shipments pictured here were packed for "neutral" weather, leaving Florida at 90F in the afternoon (where they sit in the Fed Ex office, cooled, till they get on the truck at 8:00 PM) traveling to Memphis, where the Fed Ex hub is, and virtually all Priority Overnight shipments go there for much of the night- temp 57F, and then on to their final destinations in Colorado and Ohio where the predicted low was 55F. So I wanted to start out cool, and used refrigerated, not frozen, gel packs.
Other times you might want to keep the box colder with frozen gel packs, or warm with 40 hour heat packs. If in doubt, feel free to drop me a PM and I will advise you as best I can, or tell you to call in one of the _real_ experts!
First thing is I like to have a variety of shipping supplies readily available. I like the 12 x 9 x 6 box for most shipments, and sometimes the next size up, 15 x 11 x 7. I get them, and most supplies, from
Superior Shipping Supplies. I also keep on hand foam peanuts, newspaper, ziplock bags, gel packs, 40 hour heat packs, big rubber bands, scotch or electric tape for taping delis shut, 3M Heavy Duty Packing Tape for taping the boxes, yellow Perishable labels available for free from FedEx, clear plastic airbill envelopes, available free from FedEx, and various deli cups and snake bags in a couple sizes, from Superior. A sharpie for writing on delis, and a highlighter for outlining some info on the shipping label. CareFresh and paper towels for packing the snakes.
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