I worked at UPS for over ten years. Boxes get thrown around, so pack for that.
Video · 20 min watchWritten by Brian
As well as breeding geckos, I worked at UPS for a little over ten years, and it showed me how hard shipping is on animals. This is geared towards geckos, but most of it applies to any reptile.
The box
Use only boxes with foam panel inserts. The foam makes the box rigid so it can't be crushed, and helps control temperature.
Use good packing tape: one strip across the middle seam and one along each side edge, so if one fails the other holds. Rub it down hard with your fingernails or it can fall off.
Reused boxes are fine if the corners and foam are in good shape. Remove old labels completely or cover every inch of them. I have seen boxes with two labels scanned to the wrong address and sent across the country.
Packing the geckos
"Fragile" labels are ignored. My UPS building in Denver handled 50,000 to 70,000 packages a day, and boxes get thrown around.
So give each gecko the least free space possible. I use 180 ml (6 oz) and 240 ml (8 oz) deli cups, which fit any crested gecko, gargoyle, chahoua or smaller leachianus. Use the smallest cup it fits without being squished. Snake bags suit larger animals.
Add a folded, sprayed piece of paper towel to keep the gecko humid and hydrated. Check no toes or tail tip are in the way before the lid goes on.
Put the cups at the bottom of the box and fill every gap around and above them with newspaper, paper towels or packing peanuts. Add the top foam panel, tape the box, then punch one hole through box and foam with a screwdriver for air.
Cold weather and heat packs
If you aren't comfortable adding heat, wait.
Never use hand warmers. They get far too hot and last only 10 hours. Use proper shipping heat packs. I use 40-hour packs because they are slimmer; 60-hour packs run cooler and last longer, so are a little safer. They take 20 to 40 minutes to warm.
Tape the pack to the inside of the lid, covering only its edges so air reaches it, with at least 5 cm (2 in) of packing between it and the cups. In a 30 × 23 × 15 cm (12 × 9 × 6 in) box, put the geckos at one end and the pack at the other.
Use a heat pack if the night-time low is below 7 °C (45 °F), and check both ends. Shipping from 0 °C (32 °F) to a low of 20 °C (68 °F), the pack would still be running on arrival and overheat the geckos.
Carriers
- FedEx: most reptiles ship this way. Your own account needs live-animal certification.
- US Postal Service: I don't recommend it. Overnight isn't always available or reliable.
- UPS: takes lizards and tortoises, but not snakes.
I have used Ship Your Reptiles, a FedEx broker, since 2009. It is already live-animal certified, passes on volume discounts and sells complete kits. FedEx won't refund late live-animal shipments, but their insurance refunds shipping on late boxes and can cover the animal's value if a correctly packed box is delayed. That has happened to me once, when a plane broke down and a box was left on the tarmac.