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COLD arrival

I came in to see how the little one is doing today. I hope that he or she made it!
I completely agree with clavarnway and wanted to post those exact sentiments. I realize that you don't want to overreact but this is a horrible way to ship reptiles in winter months. I'm disgusted by what happened and can only still think of my hair products that arrived two weeks ago completely frozen solid. It took hours and hours for them to defrost. I can only imagine how hard that would be for a live animal.....you are lucky if the snake even makes it.
I urge you to report this......you can always put a sidenote that the breeder agreed to pay for the cost of the snake but you definitely need to report this.
Please update us soon.
 
sorry for not replying for some time now. My computer at home is malfunctioning/ internet completely down. I had to wait till I got here to my college to post an update.

Last night when I got home from my birthday dinner, I checked on the snake. She was completely unresponsive, so assuming she had passed away, I talked further with the shipper. I expressed I didnt feel it was my fault, especially not the shipping costs. He agreed to pay in full, and has through paypal (last night).
I figured I'd turn the heat up a few degrees (to close to normal temps), and prayed for the best. This morning, I checked on her. She again, not responding whatsoever to touch anywhere on her body. I picked her up, and very slowly touched only the tip of her nose to the water I provided. She proceded to drink, for quite some time. The temps are normal now, 85 on the warm, which is where she has been spending most of her time. She is still extremely sluggish (as of 11 AM before I came here), and again is still showing little response to touch. Basically her energy levels are WAAAY down. Im going to keep everything as it is for now, and again hope for the best.

Any suggestions for how to boost her energy? When to feed... etc.

Thanks again for all the replies.
 
Fingers crossed for the little guy - he has been through a lot!
I'm glad you got your money back off of the shipper :) There is no way any of this was your fault!
 
I wouldn't feed her until she's close to 100% normal. Glad to hear she's alive, and had the energy to drink. She probably is too weak to drink on her own- so I would continue to help her several times a day.

Nanci
 
Happy to hear your baby is still alive. I personally would wait a week before feeding just so she can settle. If you find she isn't responding like you think she should I'd ship her back to the breeder for a refund/but NOT another snake! There would be no way I'd trust that person to ship me another snake considering how he/she shipped you, your first one.. ALSO, inform the breeder that the condition he sent the snake may have long lasting affects and you may be having to ask for reimbusement longer down the road then his TOS calls for......just a thought.......Good luck with your baby...
 
Please keep us all posted on your little girl. I am at work right now close to tears about this. Poor thing...

Sarah (y Lupe)
 
marchettid said:
sorry for not replying for some time now. My computer at home is malfunctioning/ internet completely down. I had to wait till I got here to my college to post an update.

Last night when I got home from my birthday dinner, I checked on the snake. She was completely unresponsive, so assuming she had passed away, I talked further with the shipper. I expressed I didnt feel it was my fault, especially not the shipping costs. He agreed to pay in full, and has through paypal (last night).
I figured I'd turn the heat up a few degrees (to close to normal temps), and prayed for the best. This morning, I checked on her. She again, not responding whatsoever to touch anywhere on her body. I picked her up, and very slowly touched only the tip of her nose to the water I provided. She proceded to drink, for quite some time. The temps are normal now, 85 on the warm, which is where she has been spending most of her time. She is still extremely sluggish (as of 11 AM before I came here), and again is still showing little response to touch. Basically her energy levels are WAAAY down. Im going to keep everything as it is for now, and again hope for the best.

Any suggestions for how to boost her energy? When to feed... etc.

Thanks again for all the replies.
Click to expand...


I have to say I am really upset about this. Like shipping isnt stressful enough on snakes the poor thing had to freeze too.

Im curious when you spoke to the shipper what his excuse was for not supplying the snake with a heating pac, IE I forgot or something.

IMO, shipping a snake in the winter months without one is completely irresponsible, if you dont know that you shouldnt be selling snakes, period.

I guess its neither here nor there though, whats done is done for your little guy. I have read that its better (if you can say better) for a snake to be exposed to extreme cold then extreme heat so Im hoping she comes around for you. Think of it like if we were cold like she was, we'd need a few days to feel back to normal again too.

I wouldnt even worry about feeding until she is back to normal, but I would guess the drinking part is good. Shipping dehydrates them.

Keep us posted please!
 
snakemom1961 said:
Happy to hear your baby is still alive. I personally would wait a week before feeding just so she can settle. If you find she isn't responding like you think she should I'd ship her back to the breeder for a refund/but NOT another snake! There would be no way I'd trust that person to ship me another snake considering how he/she shipped you, your first one.. ALSO, inform the breeder that the condition he sent the snake may have long lasting affects and you may be having to ask for reimbusement longer down the road then his TOS calls for......just a thought.......Good luck with your baby...
Click to expand...


I wouldnt ship her back to the person that did this to her in the first place. I know she is technically property this person paid for but come on. She wouldnt make it being shipped again, with or without a heat pack.
 
I hope that the snake makes it. You are doing everything you can for it at this point. I agree with Nanci that the snake is probably too weak to drink on its own. You should definitely continue to offer water a few times per day. Maybe the water will also help the snake to warm up....poor thing. It makes me sick inside to think about what happened with shipment. Disgusting!
Please keep us updated.
 
my internet is still down, so I get on here when I can (once again sorry for late replies).

I tried to help her drink when I got home from school today, but she was having nothing to do with that. It seems as though she has a little more strength, but no where near normal levels. To put it on a scale of 1-10, 1 being how she arrived (frozen solid), shes at about a 3.58 right now.

I'm going to contact the seller again, and ask when she last ate. I feel I should get at least a small meal in her, maybe a pink or small fuzzy... something she doesnt have to work for to get down. She could easily eat a large mouse on a healthy day. I may try this small meal on Monday.

Ill try to update daily, although I'm not promising anything.

Now that shes used to "normal temps" (80-85 warm side), what do you all think about bumping up the temps a little, 85-90. Ive always heard warm temps help snakes recover most ailnesses (sp.?).

Thank you all
 
I don't think you should feed her yet. Digestion takes great energy reserves and blood supply. I think the energy used to digest is energy that could be better spent recovering. She certainly isn't going to starve to death in a week. Normally, you would let a snake settle in for a week anyway, before attempting to feed.

Nanci
 
I wouldnt even think about feeding her. She has bigger problems and your going to make then worse, guarantee she ends up regurging what you feed her.


A normal snake that arrives at your doorstep healthy shouldnt be fed for 7 DAYS at least. Yours is sick and cant move around I definitely wouldnt feed her.

Concentrate on keeping her warm and maybe see if you can bring the water dish closer to where she hangs out.
 
Another factor worth considering is that your snake may come to associate the stress of this shipping debacle with your attempts at feeding, and then you've got an entirely new problem to contend with.

Just wait it out, it'll be just fine without food for a good long while. Wait until all seems as it should (active, alert, etc.) and then push the food. Let the animal tell you when it's ready (it will).

And though I know it may outwardly seem heartless under the circumstances, you might want to just leave the snake alone for a day or two (don't handle it so frequently). Keep an eye on things, but otherwise just let it be.

Patience young Jedi. :cool:
 
I'm just curious...who was the carrier of the package? Fed Ex usually tries to keep their packages that are labeled Perishable/Live Animal/etc in proper temps in their trucks (at least my carrier does) whereas I've seen UPS show blatant disregard and even purposeful abuse for their packages.
 
Well...?..

Not sure what to say here, I've sat back and read all of the replies up to mine and wow, I can't believe the blatant disregard for this animal from the "Shipper", agreed you did nothing wrong here as has been said, Please keep us updated on the little guy, hope he pulls through after all he's been through so far, and I would definitely consider exposing this @*!&&&~^@#^ in the BOI forum.. Take care and again please keep us updated... Marshall P..
 
I have been following the post, and I noticed that the seller was not mentioned. I do not know if you don't want to give this seller(I refuse to call anyone who ships in thta manner a breeder) a bad name but other people should knwo about this so no one else has to go through this. I hope she makes it, it sounds like she is slowly improving.
 
Susan said:
I'm just curious...who was the carrier of the package? Fed Ex usually tries to keep their packages that are labeled Perishable/Live Animal/etc in proper temps in their trucks (at least my carrier does) whereas I've seen UPS show blatant disregard and even purposeful abuse for their packages.
Click to expand...


"Blatant disregard and even purposeful abuse for their packages" Your not kidding. I watched my UPS guy one time, kick my box (literally) to my doorstep.
 
the snake drank of water today. It is a little more alert now.. maybe in the 4's... 4.22 tops. The person I got the snake from is not a breeder. I actually think he has no more snakes. I will post a BOI about reminding heat for cold shipping, but dont feel the need to put his information all over the web. He has been very understanding, and has admitted his mistakes. I'm going to continue to assist water, and have moved the water bowl closer to the warm side. Im still not going to take her health for granted.
 
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