[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Julie---Indeed!
Many thanks for commenting further on this "shipping" thread. The more feedback we have from gecko shippers, the more success we can all have.
Just one hole, one vertical side (on an end).
Does the single 1/8" hole you use go through the sides of both the styrofoam and the cardboard at the SAME place?
I've been using a single hole in the center of one side of the styrofoam box ONLY.Check out the Superior Enterprise boxes here:
What size are your standard Superior Enterprise boxes? How thick is the styrofoam? I've yet to make my own boxes, but may have posted earlier about these Insulfoam styro sheets you can buy at Home Depot with an R factor of about 5.3 which is really recommended for superior insulation, both hot and cold. Then you cut to fit your cardboard boxes.
http://www.superiorenterprise.com/boxes.html I use the 15x11x7s most of the time.
If it is too cold for these boxes it is too cold to ship, again IMHO. Cost is very reasonable.
It all would depend on the positioning of the heat pack. If I want the heat pack to last and be lower temp I'll tape it fairly tightly to the top lid. The looser the more oxygen gets to it producing the higher temps. You can also effectively reduce the size of the heated area, increasing temps, by "sealing off" the bottom part of the box (I use bubble wrap), leaving only a part of the box to be heated.
Even though the 40 hr heat packs say they'll spike at 130-140 F for a few hours I've never found that to be true in the tests I've run simulating the "boxed experience" one of my geckos would have if it were shipped with ambient temps in the mid to high 50s. I've recorded temps after 24 hours and after 36 hours under such circumstances. Perhaps the tests that report 130-140 F spikes are done in a coat pocket or between two pillows.
These second day shipments may have run out of heat as the 40hrs fizzle out pretty fast on the second day. I'd go 60 hours only in that circumstance. I pretty much only use 60hrs as it is, you never know when your gex are going to be delayed. Packing materials are important here too, styro popcorn retains heat a lot better than newspaper.
A couple years ago I had a discussion with RLD owner Bob about such.That service is too compromised because of this circumstance IHMO.
In my experience both Pachydactylus tigrinus and Lepidodactylus lugubris which have experienced temps of 40s-50s and USPS Overnight Express Service (not next day delivery, but second day delivery) have mostly not survived the trip. :-[
The temps-in-transit have been recorded by an enclosed Radio Shack min-max digital thermometer.I have run my own tests and have produced the high temp spikes with the 40hr RLD packs. Their 60hrs are as solid as a rock at about 100F for about three days. Everyone should test their heat packs so they can get the right combo with their packing style.
Reminded? By whom? I would not count on this at all. If the gex are packed in a standard shipping container like I think they are they should be fairly well insulated anyway. After two years of shipping with UPS I do not feel heat/lack of heat on airplanes is a danger granted you have packed them well.
In Seattle there is a fellow at the SeaTac airport who is responsible for live animal shipments. I've been told that the pressurized belly of the plane where the geckos fly may or may not be heated always and that the pilot should be reminded that live animals requiring heat are aboard so he should turn on the heat.
Julie B.
