Transporting Herps

I will be moving across country in about a year and was wondering if anybody had any suggestions for transporting my snakes and lizards out there. I have read up on it and talked to pet store owners and it seems fairly easy, but I thought I would ask anyways. The consensus that I have gotten so far is to use plastic tubs with towels or paper towels in them and use heat packs as necessary. I have also heard to not feed them while on the trip and feed them very little prior to the trip. I have also heard that it would be best to just ship them out there. What are some thoughts?

Everything sounds good. I'd make sure to bring a temp gun and bottle water too. How far are you going?


Also, I would secure the tubs inside large, tied pillow cases. I've had a tub hit another and pop open, and another that leaned a few inches and created a gap. Looking back now, a pillow case would have saved me from ripping my car apart

Thanks! I will make sure to do that stuff. I will be going to the Seattle area of Washington from Hampton Roads. It took me about 5 days when I made the trip this way.

O wow that's a trip and a half... good luck on all of it, I have only done day long trips so past that I'm not much help... How many reptiles are you planning to trans?

Ouch, have a safe trip! I drove from here to San Fran in 2.5 days and that included night in a hotel and a trip to the dealer for a new wheel. I haven't been right since

Right now, 2 hognoses and 2 crocodile skinks. I might add another snake or lizard, but that would be it until we move back to WA.

Put them in styrofoam shipping boxes, not just in plastic containers, you won't be able to keep a constant temp driving that far. Plus, if it's hot out, you don't want them to be as cool as you are when you have your AC on, or if you have your heat on, they may not want to be as warm as you do. Plus, if you stop your car and go in a store they won't heat up as fast if it's the summer time. The main thing is to remember, if you leave them in the vehicle, it heats up really fast and could kill them in minutes, if it's hot out.

I have moved my animals from Iowa to Florida and back to Iowa. Then I turned around and moved everything out here to Virginia. I used a minivan so I could pack everything inside and keep the temp as constant as possible. With just a couple animals you shouldn't have any problems.

When I moved from Colorado to the east coast I used coleman coolers. I took water bottles and filled them with warm water. I put the bottles in the bottom of the cooler and covered them with shredded paper. I drilled one hole in the top of the cooler for air. With the warm water bottles in the insulated coolers they would hold temp pretty well throughout the day. Every night at the hotel I would redo the bottles with warm water and again in the morning before hitting the road again. I was only moving snakes so I'm not sure if this will work with skinks. I had my in snake bags but deli cups would also work. It was a three day trip for me because I had 3 small kids and I was pulling a trailer. Everyone arrived in good shape.