Shipping in cold temperatures

[Frogopolis]

I've only shipped in the springtime and early fall when temperatures were at the lowest in the sixties. I live in CA but other parts of the country are still experiencing some pretty cold temperatures, and although I only use FedEx Overnight Priority by 10:30, I'm still not sure of it. I've always used insulated boxes with 3/4" styrofoam and either Cryopaks or Phase22 panels.

How safe are 40 hour heat packs with dart frogs? I've always worried about the amount of heat they would produce inside of a sealed styrofoam insulated box.

[Captain Ron]

I would not use a shipping type heat pack inside of the styro! Instead,use on the outside of the styro,between the inside of outer cardboard box!. I also like to use a slightly oversized box to ship during the cold months .That way I can add more insulating items inside the box to protect frogs.The larger box may cost a bit more,but the slight increase in shipping to give the frogs an excellent shot to arrive alive,and survive a delay is surely worth it!

[Philsuma]

There is some talk about not using Styrofoam in the winter and even not double boxing. Wow. I'm not a big shipper but that sounds horrible. The heat pack should definitely not go inside the main frog box. Too risky to cook the frogs.

[Eric Walker]

If packaged properly and hold for pickup durring reasonable temps you should be able to do it. Im in minnesota and we get some rediculas cold spells up here. I just received a package of tree frog tadpoles today and everything went well. I temp gunned everything from the outside of the package in. The heat pack inbetween the two boxes. The lid of the inner box. The phase 22. And even the water bottles the tads were in. The water bottles were 73° which is perfect. My nightime low last night was suspose to be 24° but i dont think it got below 26. Below a nightime low of 20° i dont think i would give it a go although i think it would have been fine a bit colder then it was.

[Eric Walker]

Even though iv done it in the past I would caution against putting a heat pack right inside of the outer cardboard box. I talked to a fed ex worker once about it and she said if someone is handling the package and they notice its giving off heat they may flag the package which could cause them to deny shipment or even open the package. With a properly marked box for live reptiles or frogs it might not cause an issue. Double boxing with the heat pad inbetween is the best method IMO

[morten müller]

in winter time I use a thick bottom styrobox at 40x40x40 cm, it can easily cope with the cold weather here in Europe for a few days or more.

I always use a heat pack inside of the box, I put the frogs, plants, insects in the bottom of the box, crumpled newspapers as stuffing, and i taper the heat source to the inside of the lid "with duct tape", I use in this context two small ventilation channels in the top of the box so it does become too hot, and then the oxygen can be replaced current.

I also have some colleagues who lost frogs by the use of heat pack, but the heating has not been the problem here, but the lack of oxygen, some types of heat pack sucks oxygen very quickly out of the box and can be very dangerous to use, so be aware.

[Frogopolis]

Would a Cryopack or Phase 22 panel be good enough to keep the temperature stable during the trip in cold weather?

[Eric Walker]

Not on its own in a single foam box IMO

[Philsuma]

Easy solution. Wait until 40 degrees on both ends