So…I am getting my first boa for breeding stock, but I am paranoid about the shipping. What really defines a hub because I am trying to find one near my house. Thanks in advance.
By the way, her morphs are a secret 
until I can get a picture of her.
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And yes I understand that this maybe a really stupid question lol 
but this is a first for me.
If you’re looking for a place to have your reptile shipped where they’ll hold it in climate control until pickup, what you want to google is “FedEx ShipCenter near me”.
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Thanks, this what I goggled, I just wanted to make sure because I am so nervous 
So, what you’re looking for in a hub can be defined on the FedEx webpage for the location. Just below the Store Hours, you’ll see In-Store Services, and you want a hub that does Hold At Location.
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This is not 100% true. I once had a snake shipped to a FedEx location that had a “hold for pickup” option, and thankfully my snake arrived just fine, but the employee really gave me an earful about how they are not allowed to accept live shipments at that location and if it had been discovered, it would been delayed and rerouted. You need to make sure it’s specifically called “FedEx Ship Center”. And in their drop down menu for filtering locations, choose “dangerous goods” and you should be fine. I have often called the specific location to double check as well.
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Thank you, I found one that holds dangerous goods.
It’s not a stupid question. I found out that some ship centers will take shipments and hold them for pick up.
The nearest Hub for me would be Memphis Tennessee. Which is a long drive from Manchester TN.
So the lady I bought 2 of My snakes from called around and found a ship Center that would take them, in Murfreesboro TN. Which is only a 15 or 20 min drive for me.
So now I will have any future snakes sent there. I am happy She found it for me.
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An easy way to quickly and reliably check is by using ShipYourReptile’s website. Go to book a shipment and for the “Ship To” section choose FedEx Facility. Put in your zip code and it will only show FedEx hubs that will hold live animals near that zip code.
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I always suggest addressing it to two full names. Just in case you aren’t available, or lose your drivers license or some other unlucky thing. My ship center here is pretty lax but when I lived in the SF area your name on your ID had to match the package.
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That is absolutely incorrect information and exactly the reason I’ve provided the information I have. I’ve dealt with a similar situation with FedEx, the employees had left my package on the counter (a python) and it was not only left at the wrong facility that day, it was left unattended when I finally got to it, and after it being redirected from my original Hold at Location address without a reason given (I had followed tracking most of the day and not seen an update, so I went to go pick my package up hoping it had missed a scan) and when I asked why it was acceptable for a live animal to be shipped this way, the explanation given was that although FedEx ships live animals, they aren’t supposed to at all, it had nothing to do with the facility or location type. Now, I don’t believe that this explanation I was given is entirely accurate, I think it was nervous response from an already overwhelmed employee, but I digress. My point here is, live animals ARE NOT classified as Dangerous Goods, and that recommendation for a hub based on that is misleading. As follows, here are FedEx’s definitions on Dangerous Goods, which is actually a DOT categorization, and some limited examples of those classes.
I could definitely be wrong and I know reptiles aren’t actually classified as ‘dangerous goods’, just that the facilities that accept dangerous goods and have ‘hold at location’ services are the ones that I can ship reptiles to. On FedEx’s filter list, if I only choose ‘hold at location’, it will bring up a huge number of locations, including things like a FedEx inside a Walgreens or Staples, etc. But I’ve found that if I filter by ‘dangerous goods’ and ‘hold at location’, it will only bring up FedEx Ship Centers. And then like I said, I usually will call the specific facility to double check as well. It’s been several years since I’ve shipped any snakes, so things definitely could have changed in that time, but that is the method that has worked for me in the past.
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