Thanks DHL!!

[Sid]

A warning that may help some of you in the future. I ordered a trio of Wandering Garters. They were picked up from the breeder on 8/30/07 at 1:31 pm. Sent to me for next day delivery by DHL. I finally got them today...9/5/07. Five days late on a next day service. Needless to say the opening of this package was a horror. All three had died of apparent dehydration. Also needless to say, I will never purchase again if the shipment will be handled by DHL!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

A warning that may help some of you in the future. I ordered a trio of Wandering Garters. They were picked up from the breeder on 8/30/07 at 1:31 pm. Sent to me for next day delivery by DHL. I finally got them today...9/5/07. Five days late on a next day service. Needless to say the opening of this package was a horror. All three had died of apparent dehydration. Also needless to say, I will never purchase again if the shipment will be handled by DHL!
aw dude that sux

[adamanteus]

Damn. Sorry to hear that, Sid!:(

[Sid]

I can only hope this thread will help other avoid a hugh disappointment.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

I can only hope this thread will help other avoid a hugh disappointment.
is the dude who sold them to u giving u a refund?

[drache]

oh Sid
I'm so sorry
that totally sucks
I've had a bad experience with DHL shipping too
not quite as bad as this
but I've been avoiding them and sellers who use them

[Sid]

is the dude who sold them to u giving u a refund?

The vendor, Tricountyexiotics has been great. They are sending a replacemeent thru a different carrier service. The thing that has upset me so terribly was the lack of caring when I contacted the carrier and of coarse the needless death of the Garters.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

The vendor, Tricountyexiotics has been great. They are sending a replacemeent thru a different carrier service. The thing that has upset me so terribly was the lack of caring when I contacted the carrier and of coarse the needless death of the Garters.
ya once again that sux dude

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

The vendor, Tricountyexiotics has been great. They are sending a replacemeent thru a different carrier service. The thing that has upset me so terribly was the lack of caring when I contacted the carrier and of coarse the needless death of the Garters.
do they have a website?

[Sid]

do they have a website?
I found their ad on kingsnakes.com, Reed.

[enigma200316]

real sorry to hear that Sid......:(

I hope you get the others in a timely fashion.......:)

[Snaky]

That really sucks, I'm sorry for your loss.
Good that you warn others about it!

[GarterGuy]

Really sorry to hear that Sid. I'm always worried when I have to have animals "delievered". That's why I'd always prefer to pick stuff up in person or get it at a show or something. Again, really sorry for the loss.:(

[Gijs & Sabine]

I'm very sorry to hear about this terrible news, Sid :(
When I ordered some garters from Germany from a friend of ours last year and this spring, there were no problems at all. The snakes were delivered the next day. But lucky they were not delivered by DHL.

[drache]

I once had a mishap with a delivery, because my friend, who had been left to wait for the delivery didn't understand our intercom system (I think)
when I called the carrier, after realizing they had attempted delivery earlier, they told me that they would attempt re-delivery next day
after pleading and crying on the phone, they got the truck to come back and deliver just a couple of hours later the same day
I really like that I got a live person to cry to and plead with
and that they actually reached the truck driver and all that
and this despite the fact that they're a huge company
recently I had to make decision, how to get a snake shipped and decided to spend the extra bucks on this shipper, because they've consistently come through

[Thamnophis]

That's a terrible thing, Sid.

But I cannot believe they died from dehydration. Garter snakes can easily do without water for a week or more.
Most probably is that the box has been in a to warm environment (standing in the sun, for example) and that this caused their death. In a closed environment, like a box or so, temperatures get high very quick when the sun shines on it.

[Sid]

That's a terrible thing, Sid.

But I cannot believe they died from dehydration. Garter snakes can easily do without water for a week or more.
Most probably is that the box has been in a to warm environment (standing in the sun, for example) and that this caused their death. In a closed environment, like a box or so, temperatures get high very quick when the sun shines on it.

The cause may well have been heat. The poor babies were in a warehouse, boxed of coarse, from late thursday until the next Wed. am.

I was not aware that Garters could go that long with no water, food sure and much longer too.

[reptileparadise]

ah, man...that sucks...Not only for you, but the garters as well (offcourse...)

[snakeman]

All the carriers have had problems don't think you are are going to get any better service with the other carriers.If they were packed better they probally would not have died.I always ship my garters in wet paper towells.Just in case this kind of thing happens.If you ship or receive enough garters it will happen eventually.I would request that they are shipped in wet paper towells and a cold or hot pack in bad temps.I learned the wet paper towell thing from felzer.Never lost a snake in transit.Even ones that were delayed up to five days.

[drache]

thanks for the wet paper towel tip
that's a good useful thing to remember
but extreme temps for extended periods are something that cannot be adequately compensated for, even with hot/cold packs
I've been holding off getting a couple of snakes shipped from some place in Tennessee with barbaric temps
as you said
things can go wrong even with the most fantastic shipper

[Sid]

All the carriers have had problems don't think you are are going to get any better service with the other carriers.If they were packed better they probally would not have died.I always ship my garters in wet paper towells.Just in case this kind of thing happens.If you ship or receive enough garters it will happen eventually.I would request that they are shipped in wet paper towells and a cold or hot pack in bad temps.I learned the wet paper towell thing from felzer.Never lost a snake in transit.Even ones that were delayed up to five days.

The wet paper towels were used, but no cold pack. My understanding is the cold packs average effectiveness is about 48 hours. Wish it had been used, but with delivery time of six days I'm not at all sure it would have made any difference.