• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

fedex does it again

H

hunterjackson

New member
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
143
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
41
Location
Columbia, SC
Well, i sent off 3 box turtles monday, nice ones too. They arrived DOA, frozen in the center. My customer is the head medical examiner, also has vet experience, and did a necropsy and found that they had a core temp of 28 F!

I couldnt believe it. They were sent in a 3/4" styro lined box with a 60 hr heatpack...which was warming up when he recieved them. It was hot when it left me.

I was thinking that they were put in a freezer or something of the sort...any thoughts?

Hunter
 
At 35,000 ft. it is pretty cold. Maybe they were put in an unheated cargo area. I didn't think they did that but I am not sure. I doubt they would actually put boxes in a freezer unless it said "Perishable Keep Cool" on it. Even then they probably wouldn't do it due to space requirements.

The thing about the heat packs, I think, is that turtles sit on the bottoms of the boxes with their plastron constantly on the bottom. So if the box is getting cold then the animal's plastron gets cold regardless of the ambient temp of the container. This is just complete speculation on my part. Snakes and lizards can move cold parts of their body off the bottom and towards a heat source.
Anyway it is a mystery.

Kevin
 
Out of curiosity... did you write on the box Live Harmless Reptiles, then include the common and scientific names?

I am surprised you are having such issues with Fed-Ex. We haven't had a misshap yet *knock on wood*
 
As far as I am aware, all of FedEx's planes are heated in the cargo area. What do you mean, it was warming up when he received them but hot when it left you? How is that possible? What were the temps along the trip? I just sent a snake out FedEx the day before yesterday from NJ to CO. Temps along the trip dropped into the low 40s. He was as warm when he got there as the time he left. Sorry for your loss!

Jamie
 
temps were average, about 75 when i dropped it off, hit memphis at about 58, came into delivery in little rock, arkansas at about 65ish.

the heatpack was activated and working well upon packing. my customer said when he got it, it was warm, but not hot...then called me back about 2 hrs later and said it was full and hot. thats when he proposed the freezing theory.

it was fully marked as accordance with fedex policy/lacey act. It stated:
Live Harmless reptiles
Do NOT expose to extreme temperatures
3 Eastern Box Turtles
Terrapene carolina carolina


I am verified with fedex, so i naturally mark everything...it can only help and its legal.

I shipped off 2 blazing blizzard leos today to Jonesboro Arkansas, with a 60 hr heatpack that had a 100 degree surface temp when leaving here (measured with a temp gun to be sure), so hopefully it works as planned.
Thanks,
Hunter
 
hunterjackson said:
temps were average, about 75 when i dropped it off, hit memphis at about 58, came into delivery in little rock, arkansas at about 65ish.

the heatpack was activated and working well upon packing. my customer said when he got it, it was warm, but not hot...then called me back about 2 hrs later and said it was full and hot. thats when he proposed the freezing theory.

it was fully marked as accordance with fedex policy/lacey act. It stated:
Live Harmless reptiles
Do NOT expose to extreme temperatures
3 Eastern Box Turtles
Terrapene carolina carolina


I am verified with fedex, so i naturally mark everything...it can only help and its legal.

I shipped off 2 blazing blizzard leos today to Jonesboro Arkansas, with a 60 hr heatpack that had a 100 degree surface temp when leaving here (measured with a temp gun to be sure), so hopefully it works as planned.
Thanks,
Hunter
Click to expand...

Have you received any proof that they arrived DOA? I can't imagine how its remotely possible that the temperature dropped low enough to freeze them with 58 being the low. It doesn't add up.
 
I read back on another thread(BOI?) from an inquiry someone placed with UPS(I know different company). The results of the call is that not all planes have heated cargo holds and at times when the containers are being unloaded from the plane it was not uncommon to see ice formed around the containers. It is possible that the FedEx plane did not have the cargo hold heated, thus freezing may have occurred.

Heat packs are funny little things, they are activated when combined with oxygen. When that heat pack was shaken up, placed in the box and sent out it was probably working fine, but in the event that it ran out of oxygen, that pack would then fail. Two hours after being removed from the box, shaken around a bit, and reintroduced to oxygen, then it would heat back up.
 
Junkyard said:
I read back on another thread(BOI?) from an inquiry someone placed with UPS(I know different company). The results of the call is that not all planes have heated cargo holds and at times when the containers are being unloaded from the plane it was not uncommon to see ice formed around the containers. It is possible that the FedEx plane did not have the cargo hold heated, thus freezing may have occurred.

Heat packs are funny little things, they are activated when combined with oxygen. When that heat pack was shaken up, placed in the box and sent out it was probably working fine, but in the event that it ran out of oxygen, that pack would then fail. Two hours after being removed from the box, shaken around a bit, and reintroduced to oxygen, then it would heat back up.
Click to expand...

Interesting,did not know that .Sounds logical.
You learn something new each day.
 
I have pics to verify the doa.

That is interesting about the heat packs.
This is how i wrap them:
I take the heat pack, make sure it works and not a dud, then take newspaper and fold it up into the newspaper knowing where the red line is placed. Tape it to the top lid of styro with red line down, and the rest is history.

Is that not right?
Hj
 
If wrapped in the newspaper it may not be getting much oxygen at all to keep it activated. When we need to use heat packs we'll just tape it well (so it won't fall off and yet gets air) to the underside of the top piece of insulation. We also make sure there is enough packing material between the pack and the animals being shipped so they don't overheat. Our animals arrive warm and just fine. *shrug*
 
How did you tape up the box? If the box lids are fully taped up without any airholes in the box, that would make it difficult to get sufficient amount of air in the box to replenish what was used by the heat pack and the turtles. Sometimes I receive packages and wonder how in the world the animals made it alive without suffocating because the box was sealed up so well. But then again, reptiles and amphibians are incredible creatures.
 
Back
Top