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cold packs needed for shipping?

TrpnBils

22 is not enough snakes
I don't know anything about shipping corns. I'm getting 2 shipped up here to PA this week from Katie (PtDnsr) and neither of us are 100% sure whether cold packs will be needed. It's going to be in the mid 80's down there on shipping day and the mid 70's up here the morning they arrive.

Any thoughts?
 
Heat is the enemy. It won't hurt the snakes to be a little cool for a day but set that box in the sun for 15 minutes and everyone is dead.

I use the cool packs.
 
I agree 100%. If they're a little cool then no biggie. But if they get too warm, that's when danger happens. Now low 80's and high 70's they'd be fine w/o one, but I've had packages that, for whatever reason only FedEx knows, ended up going way out of their way to where they were going. So I'd assume that something like that could happen and that they could end up somewhere VERY hot. So yeah, cold pack all the way!
 
Yeah, she packed them, and now fedex doesn't want to ship through Repster for some reason, so we're working on that... they're back at Katie's house for now though.
 
I agree 100%. If they're a little cool then no biggie. But if they get too warm, that's when danger happens. Now low 80's and high 70's they'd be fine w/o one, but I've had packages that, for whatever reason only FedEx knows, ended up going way out of their way to where they were going. So I'd assume that something like that could happen and that they could end up somewhere VERY hot. So yeah, cold pack all the way!

Low 80s IMHO is too hot if the packages are left where the sun hits them.
I got a brooksi just the other day from Nokturnal Tom - arrived at 11 AM temp in mid 80s but the outside of the box was really hot, I was scared. Inside the box, the cold pack had done its job. That snake would probably be dead were it not for the cold pack.

As far as cold packs go - here's what I do, and no dead snakes yet -

I take a half pint water bottle (the really short ones), drink the nice water inside, replace with tap water but not full - and freeze with the lid off. Once frozen, I put a little silicon around the lid and screw the lid back on and back in the freezer until use.

The reason for freezing with the lid off and not completely (but mostly) full - it's possible for the ice as it expands to weaken the plastic resulting in a fracture you may not see. The reason for the silicon - once you've broken the seal, it's possible for vibrations during transit to unscrew the lid, silicon seals the lid on.

Actual cold packs are probably better, but only ones I can find anywhere local are too big - I need to order some smaller ones.
 
Cold packs are pretty much useless the next day. They just don't last that long in shipping boxes. Period! If it is hot when she drops them off, USE ONE. If it is not hot when she drops them off, they don't need one. The receiving temps really aren't the necessitating factor. If they are allowed to get too hot the next day, the cold pack does nothing more than add a little mass to absorb a little heat. ....and that is so minor that it almost doesn't count. The air temp (and the small snake) will warm up faster than the gel in the heat pack, anyway.

In brief, cold packs can help a lot when dropped off, but they don't do much good by the next day. :(
 
The most important thing you can do for the safety of your snakes is to pick them up at the FedEx office as early as possible on the arrival day. That is far more important than whether or not you use cold packs. Do not rely on a driver to get them to your house if there is any way to pick up at FedEx.
 
The most important thing you can do for the safety of your snakes is to pick them up at the FedEx office as early as possible on the arrival day. That is far more important than whether or not you use cold packs. Do not rely on a driver to get them to your house if there is any way to pick up at FedEx.

I agree...better than any cold pack!:cheers:
 
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