• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    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.

How to ship a snake?

C

cornsnakekid92

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I have read how to be certified, but can someone inform me how to package the snake? and can a minor be certified?
 
I'm quoting John below, it's one of the best posts I have read on the matter.

My shipping method is similar with a couple of minor variations. I use the same boxes Neil referenced from Superior Enterprises. These measure just under a cubic foot and have 1/2 or 3/4 inch foam panels precut to cover all 6 sides.

When shipping neonates, I use prepunched delis exclusively. The danger with the paper towel that the other gentleman mentioned can be eliminated by simply tearing it by hand into one inch strips and then tearing those into smal (1/2 to 1 inch) pieces. About one sheet prepared this way per deli (8 oz) makes for a well cushioned bed for most animals.

Superior sells delis in sizes large enough to hold pretty large adult and subadult animals as well. As long as you use an approprately sized container, this method will work beautifully.

I then tape the delis into small stacks of 2 or 3 using heavy duty Scotch Tape in two bands crisscrossed around each stack. The bottom deli in each stack is then taped to the bottom of the box with a loop of duct tape. This keeps the delis form shifting during shipment. I use loosely crumpled sheets of newspaper to further lock the delis in place. When packed properly in this manner, the animals will not be damaged by the type of jostling that is common with all carriers.

The only major difference in my method is that i have not found it necessary to punch the holes in the top styro panel as was described in the other posts. The shipping boxes mentioned are well insulated but the insulation is not cut to tolerances that make it airtight. I have run several tests with remote thermometers and found that heat will bleed slowly out of the box with no air holes punched at allI also do not. I also do not seal all of the outside cardboard seams. This allows for a very slight exchange of air which could be very beneficial if the package is delayed in transit.

The guidelines I use for heatpacks are.

Destination temperature 37 to 54 = 1 40 hour heatpack
" " 15 to 36 = 2 40 hour heatpacks.

If the destination temperature is below 15 degrees, I give serious consideration to waiting on shipping but I will say that I have shipped to minnesota in sub zero weather at the buyer's insistence (that was 3 heatpacks) and the animals arrived just fine.

I do take into account the hub temperature but not to a great extent. Packages are not usually exposed there for more than an hour or two. What most people don't take into account is that putting an insulated container with an interior temp of 75 and 2 heatpacks still generating into a 32 degree outside temp will not lower the interior temp more than 15 or 20 degerees over a three or four hour period. I have run several tests with remote thermometers and sealed boxes to verify this.

I generally wrap the heatpack loosely in a half sheet of newspaper leaving the ends of the newspaper open (like a tube). I then tape it to one end of the box and place the animals at the opposite end. The crumpled newspaper in between used as packing helps to spread and dissipate the heat evenly.

This same method works perfectly well during the summer with coldpacks. My guidelines are

Destination temp 80 to 88 = 1 coldpack
Destination temp 86 to 94 = 2 coldpacks
Destination temp 95 to 100 = 3 coldpacks.

Slip the packs into a ziploc bag and duct tape them to the opposite end from the animals. Otherwise, the parameters are the same.

Again, I have shipped animals to Las Vegas in 105 daytime temps with no problems at all.

By the way...always check the weather conditions at your buyer's location the night before shipping. I do this very easily at weather.com.

I will say that my experience has only been with colubrids. I am sure that the tolerances would have to be adjusted for the tropical animals that have been previously described. However, using these parameters, I have shipped well over a 1500 animals in the last three years in over 400 individual shipments and not lost a single animal with the exception of one shipment that Airborne "misplaced" at one of their centers for 4 days in the middle of winter. This is definitely not the only system but it is definitely a set of parameters that works.

I hope this info is of use to those of you who are just getting into the shipping aspect of this business.


__________________
John Schmitt

Suncoast Herpetological
Click to expand...

As far as minor being certified I don't know it for a fact but I suspect FedEx wouldn't allow it.

Regards.
 
In the poll about carriers i saw many people are not cirtified, but they ship anyway, what are the consacunses in do this?
 
Chris,

We have purchased snakes from countless breeders and dealers. Some of them considered among the best in this business. Only two sent their animals through Delta. From all the rest only one labeled the contents adequately (common and scientific name of the species). This shipper was approved (in their hometown) but the carrier in the receiving end didn't care about it and decided they didn't want to deliver the snakes (that tells you the disconnection that exists within the shipping company itself). It took several phone calls to finally have them do it. That's part of the reason why some people choose to ship even if they are not approved. Being approved in your end doesn't guarantee it will be a hassle free delivery process. It's highly dependent on how "retilephobic" the driver on the delivery end might be.

What are the consequences of shipping without being approved? Well, if you are not approved it means you will not declare the contents. Not declaring the contents it's a violation of the Lacey Act.

Regards
 
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