Never came across this before oddly enough so wondering what the consensus is. Is there any problem shipping an animal that is in shed??
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I have shipped a few animals in shed but always with permission from the purchaser. Some have had no issue. The last one I shipped seemed to have a very tough time shedding. It was right at the very beginning of the shed cycle when it shipped, so I don’t know if that may have affected it but my guess is it didn’t get enough hydration. I noticed right before most of my snakes go into shed, they drink a ton of water. Because of shipping, this one may have missed that opportunity. Glean from that what you will.
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It’s not ideal but it’s probably something that still happens sometimes even if we don’t want it to. It’s happened to me and a couple other breeders I know as well.
I try not to if it’s something I see prior to making plans… But sometimes a breeder can print a label and work out shipping days earlier and the day of the animal started cycling.
You could add a little humidity in shipping with a paper towel spritzed with some water. But don’t throw a soaked one in there because too much wet in shipping can be dangerous. That towel would be in the bag with the snake.
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I would not advise knowingly shipping an animal in shed. @graysnake is actually referring to the little girl he shipped to me several weeks ago. As he said, she had just shown the hint of impending shed but we both agreed since she wasn’t in deep blue it would probably be ok to go ahead and send her. Unfortunately FedEx dropped the ball and she arrived to me several hours late. She ended up having a very difficult shed. I do think that the lack of water during those long hours in the shipping box was to blame.
However she is still in the beginning of another shed so we will see how this one goes……
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It’s not my preference, but I have received and shipped animals in shed occasionally. It happened because somebody missed the animal cycling and it accrual arrived to me with the shed in the shipping container. It’s also happened because we were trying to thread the weather needle and needed to take advantage of a date when it wasn’t too hot, too cold, or under a hurricane warning or whatever.
On the occasions when I have shipped one in shed, I confirm with the buyer that they’re prepared for that. I ship mine with some aspen from their home enclosure, so I spritz that a bit of they’re in shed. So far, there haven’t been any issues.
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I’ve occasionally shipped or received one that shed while in transit! But that’s corns - they usually have no issue. Might be worse for ball pythons.
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I should have said that I’m also talking about corn snakes. They have a wide natural range and are a bit more forgiving husbandry-wise. Other species with more specific parameters might not fare as well. I don’t have experience there.
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Yea I talked with the buyer and they are good with going ahead with shipping. I guess in the grand scheme of things it really shouldn’t have that much of an impact given the short period of time. I always drop off later in the day so we’re literally talking not even 20 hours. On the plus side its going to high humidity florida which can only help matters.
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