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Yet another shipping thread!

Misterbluesky

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I've read all the available information I could find on shipping axolotls, but would just like some opinions ahead of time to avoid disaster and minimize stress to my slimey friend. I would be heartbroken if she should perish during her trip, and want her to arrive in the best possible condition... but I'm concerned that shipping will be more difficult seeing as she's a fairly large adult.

She's at least 6 inches long. I'm due to move cross-country come spring (nice weather for shipping, no?), and would like to keep my neat little pet instead of rehoming her, so I plan to ship her to my new location. I know to avoid feeding for several days prior to shipping, and to insulate the box.

I've heard that waterbottles work fine for eggs and juvies, but am I correct in assuming that even a large waterbottle would be much too hard to safely ship an adult? It seems as though the axolotl would be injured by bumping into the bottle, as opposed to a soft bag.

I picked up a small styrofoam cooler and a couple gel icepacks from the dollarstore during the summer with the intent of using these to ship her. Thoughts/suggestions?

What are the best methods of avoiding/containing/soaking up possible leaks? Which postal service should I use? Which ones will ask about live animals, specifically axolotls, and which ones will knowingly accept an axolotl? Is it possible to ship via priority flat-rate boxing (2-3 days) instead of overnight, to save money or is this too risky? Is there any point in marking the box with "LIVE ANIMAL/THIS SIDE UP/FRAGILE" etc, or are these just big red targets that will get my box bashed up even more than usual?
 
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vainglory

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Mine arrived in a priority flat rate box double bagged in 2 days and both were healthy and fine. I suggest you buy bags made for transporting fish. A tiny Styrofoam cooler is perfect, and the gel packs should help. I had black worms over nighted and kept the styrofoam they came with and the gel pack. USPS does ship them. You should be fine unless you're moving to New Jersey or California, where axolotls are illegal. You probably should mark with live animals, this side up.
 

Misterbluesky

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Thanks for the info, vainglory!

No worries, I'm not headed to New Jersey or California. ;)

I just measured her last night and she's a whopping 9 inches! Lucky for me, she'll still be able to fit inside the cooler comfortably. Glad to hear that flat rate works for my purposes! I can pick up a USPS priority box right at Yolks without hassle.

:wacko: Now I'll just have to look around to find fish bags, and I'll be all prepared for her ship-day.
 

SkollSunChaser

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Absolutely mark it in some way. My mom works at the post office and told me some horror stories about chicks being marked wrong and getting to her office dead and smelly. I would ask your local office if you could make it hold on delivery, and get a tracking number. This way, you can pick her up as soon as they open up shop and she won't have to go through an additional possibly stressful car ride to your new home. I've been around the vehicles; lots of starts and stops that'll probably jostle her around a bit. :errr:

If you mark it to say live aquatic animal, please avoid shaking, fragile, anything of that nature, they make an effort to not move it around quite as roughly. They're cool like that :cool:
 

Misterbluesky

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Absolutely mark it in some way. My mom works at the post office and told me some horror stories about chicks being marked wrong and getting to her office dead and smelly. I would ask your local office if you could make it hold on delivery, and get a tracking number. This way, you can pick her up as soon as they open up shop and she won't have to go through an additional possibly stressful car ride to your new home. I've been around the vehicles; lots of starts and stops that'll probably jostle her around a bit. :errr:

If you mark it to say live aquatic animal, please avoid shaking, fragile, anything of that nature, they make an effort to not move it around quite as roughly. They're cool like that :cool:

Ah, cool! Good advice!
I've heard lots of horror stories about chicks being shipped too, actually... and I'm not even in that line of business/hobby/whatever.

I've thought about it and decided I'm actually going to go with overnight, just to be safe. I can pick up the boxes for those at Yolks, too, if I'm not mistaken. A maximum of 3 days with the priority flatrate is too big a risk for me, especially with her being so large. She'll use up oxygen more quickly, yeah?

If I have to, I'll have my folks ship her for me the day I leave, so I can head her off and my boyfriend won't have to be the one to get her in the tank and all that... :rolleyes: If I can pick her up at the post office and avoid the delivery ride, too, all the better.

I've always heard that marking "fragile" will get your stuff beat up even worse, but you'd have to be an even bigger jerk to intentionally do that to a box marked "live animal" so yeah, I think I'll mark it with those labels after all.
 

SkollSunChaser

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Considering there's cameras all over in those offices, I imagine they'd get fired ASAP if they were doing that to packages. It kills business, which the higher-ups DEFINITELY don't want. Being a government facility, they're pretty strict about that kind of thing.

Overnight shipping would be safest for sure, and I still think the hold on arrival option isn't a bad idea. That would be the absolute fastest and safest way to get her to you :3
 

Misterbluesky

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Considering there's cameras all over in those offices, I imagine they'd get fired ASAP if they were doing that to packages. It kills business, which the higher-ups DEFINITELY don't want. Being a government facility, they're pretty strict about that kind of thing.

Overnight shipping would be safest for sure, and I still think the hold on arrival option isn't a bad idea. That would be the absolute fastest and safest way to get her to you :3

The offices weren't a concern... It's the trucks and carriers that I've always been concerned about, even with non-animal shipments. I've heard stories of UPS & Fedex boxes being thrown over fences when they were too lazy to walk to the porch, and other such things.

But I digress, you've all given some very helpful advice and eased my mind with the decision of packaging & shipping. I ordered some large bags recently, so that's one less thing to worry about.
 
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