Why 30 Reptiles Died During Shipping - the Bad Side of Unboxings 

more positive videos on the way shortly... until then, do you have any stories of animals being shipped to or from you? speaking of, I've reopened the intake kits, so if you're looking to rehome you can get in line at emeraldscales.com/rehome

As an Ex-Fed contractor, I'll tell you, sometimes packages fall from a high shelf, sometimes Heavy stuff falls onto them or slides into them and sometimes the package handlers or delivery drivers are just absent-mindedly tossing & flipping the package. Last year had such high package volume that these things occur more often because of overloaded trucks and strict schedules. I'm honestly horrified that there isn't a national pet delivery service.

Having flashbacks to that time Emily (Snake Discovery) had a delivery driver spinning a box he was about to deliver.

I work at FedEx and the tl;dr I have to give is: the facilities are not safe for animals. It’s loud, it’s stressful, boxes get mishandled and abused on the belts all the time, and I feel legitimate terror thinking about the possibility of there being an animal somewhere in one of these boxes.

Lep Gecko 1: "Dude, I swear, I was in my cage, then all of a sudden, everything went black" Lep Gecko 2: "Uh, sure, whatever you say" Lep Gecko 1: "No, really. I could hear muffled voices and couldn't move" Lep Gecko 2: "Alien abduction, right? Lep Gecko 1: "YES! I was on several space ships for hours and ended up here" Lep Gecko 2: "Look. Just stay on your side of the cage and don't talk to me anymore"

I've heard a LOT of horror stories of packages with live animals being literally spun or thrown by the delivery person, so I wouldn't be so quick to rule it out.

On a happier note: when I got my gargoyle gecko shipped to me the fed ex guy knocked on the door because he didn't want to leave a live animal outside ♥️

GoHerping: Exposing the shadow side of the reptile world.

I’ve adopted all my animals from shelters. And picked all of them up myself. Even driving 9 hours to pick up a leopard gecko. The reason: the first three reptiles I tried to own (all from different sellers: a ball Python, leopard gecko, and bearded dragon.) died during shipping. I was handed each box by the deliverer within 24 hours of them being shipped... and each box I opened had a dead animal. It broke my heart. I’m so glad that you keep records of when and why these things happen.

All these comments are really putting into perspective how scary it can be sometimes to ship reptiles. a month ago I got a beautiful baby bearded dragon shipped to me and I was scared he would die during shipping, he arrived perfectly safe thankfully. we really need a shipping service strictly for shipping live animals or fragile things like plants and whatnot.

the way stan hasn't moved since last video >

Thank you for being the voice that brings up hard topics that add to the conversation.

I was going to take in a ball python from someone that was moving. I asked for photos if the animals, and the guy gave excuse after excuse as to why he couldn't send photos of the snake. Then he totally ghosted me after I asked how it was being cared for. I had a feeling this person wasn't caring for the animal properly 😔

I have a horror story for you, and the error isn’t one of the ones you mentioned. Girlfriend had a red knee tarantula, and needed to move from where she lived to where I am. She went to a local exotic pet specialty store and got all the things to ship her spider with their advice, and went to FedEx and paid for priority overnight shipping. FedEx straight up left her spider at the processing facility FOR A WEEK, and said that they couldn’t do anything because there was a backlog due to covid. She phoned them every day to try and get it specially expedited, no dice. Then there was about a month of incidence escalation to get her money back.

I think video tutorials on how to package correctly would be a good addition to the website just for those people who do better with a visual demonstration

on hot pack mistakes, as Kamp Kenan says; "heat will kill a reptile faster than the cold".

That video clip of the thin BP breaks my heart... I can't imagine letting an animal get that bad, and then thinking they're strong enough to handle being shipped.. People can be so careless, it's shameful. And the dishonesty in not sending up-to-date / correct pictures, unbelievable..

It always breaks my heart how poorly people care for their animals. Its even worse when I try to educate them (I work at a pet store) and they actually tell me that they don't care or that they're "willing to take the risk" on improper care :(

Snake discovery managed to catch their delivery person spinning and tossing the box around that held geckos and a snake (I think). It was labeled all over that it was a live animal. They ran out and yelled at him and his response was to catch it after tossing it and asking “really? What kind?” No remorse. It chills me to think what the poor critters go through in the mail system..... That would be a good video! Put a hidden camera in one of the boxes peaking out and see what happens. Possibly ship like 10 camera packages all over the US to see.

It’s a shame not even mail carriers/delivery services care about how they treat animals They just yeet the box like it’s nothing. And that’s quite sad. Why would you want a precious creature to experience that?

Seems like it's pretty safe to ship reptiles if you aren't an idiot and didn't torture your reptile for months prior to the shipping lol

I love this channel because you don't just smile and say everything is fine, you are willing to expose the dark underbelly of the reptile community while still keeping and working with reptiles.

I love how transparent you are with everything and it’s refreshing to have an honest pet channel that shows cons with the pros of even the dark side

I'll never order an animal online, my post man just throws my post down my stairs at my front door any way. My feeder insects barely make it, let alone a reptile.

Dang 40-50 people on the blacklist? That’s crazy, I would love to hear stories lol

It's much appreciated that you covered a difficult topic that a lot of people don't discuss, and very many people don't even think about the shipping aspect of the reptile industry. Progressive content, thank you.

I had someone at home watching for my leo to arrive and she sees the delivery truck stop outside my house and leave a white box with red lettering on our neighbor's porch and drive away. She gets up and goes over to check and sure enough, the driver left my leo at the wrong house.

The unexplained deaths could be attributed to something about the animal (maybe it had a very low stress tolerance despite being healthy?)

in the uk you can only ship reptiles with a certified animal courier, not through any regular postal servicce and i think that's how it should be anywhere, even with a small percentage of fatalities it's not worth the risk, like some animals will still die, and i have a hard time justifying that

I have an idea for you: how about charging people money as a sort of deposit. "Follow the instructions and we will return XY dollars back to you. If not, we'll keep it."

Maintaining a blacklist is a great measure to be taking to help ensure the well-being of your animals. Well wishes. Love your honesty in these videos.

I can just imagine the pain that owner felt shipping there baby away, giving them hat one last bath, feeding them one last time, loving them one last time before they send them away.. that one last little look they get from them.. it breaks my heart 😭❤

Now that I have watched the whole video I have 1 thing to say. Thank you for presenting this subject in a compassionate well-presented manner.

Used to work at a parcel sorting warehouse, 99% of my co-workers did not care at all if the boxes had fragile stickers or a 'this way up' sign, no matter the weight, any and all were thrown, including electronics, so we had plenty of PCs bouncing. Heavy large boxes are put on top of small ones. A big mess. The supervisors didn't care, they did the same. I've pretty much stopped shopping online because I know how my items are treated now. Your items can be repackaged a lot since the box gets damaged so much and you won't even know, or your item gets damaged and a new one has to get shipped out to you, again without your knowledge.

I don't know about shipping services in the US, here are some things noticed when visiting a center of a shipping service in Germany where packets are sorted: The first thing is that the air conditioning in the building was broken when I was there, so the temperature was really really high all the time. (So the temperature along the way doesn't only depend on the weather). At some point in the sorting process they use slides to sort the packages, leading the packages to accelerate and bump into each other. In addition, I don't think the people working there are reading what's written on every package, they just have to put them from one spot to another the whole day. As far as I know this shipping service doesn't allow live animals to be shipped. Maybe other shipping services are different, I don't know.

Can’t even imagine this. I have had NIGHTMARES about unintentionally neglecting animals. I would never. Shameful

I ordered a box of 500 crickets and the vendor shipped through UPS. Big mistake cause when i got the crickets: 1. they were packed in a awful way, the vendor just threw a chunk of potato in the box loose among the egg cartons so a large portion of the crickets were a mashed mess when i opened the box. (The vendor was very defensive about it when i confronted then about it. Never ordering from them again.) 2. UPS had obviously handled the box very roughly, it was smashed on one end and there was a sizable hole torn on the side so even more of the crickets got out during shipping and i had only got like a quarter of the crickets i had ordered. 3. I made a formal complaint to UPS but their response was just "haha OPPS SORRY." and that's it. If anyone ever ships any invertebrate/vertebrate, just dont ship UPS. Every time Ive gotten something from them it's been smashed and just tossed at my front door. I always make sure FedEx is used now when ever i order feeder insects since my overall experience with their service in my area is very good.

You can ask people to send a picture with that day's newspaper with the date visible (or something with the date) - you know, like what kidnappers do....

I had a good experience when I received my leo. FedEx did just set the box on my porch and not ring the doorbell, which was annoying, but I was home so I noticed right away

You gotta picture it from a reptile’s perspective How would YOU feel if you were put in a squished box, shipped across the country, and then flung from the truck? A creature getting shipped is the most stressful thing a pet can experience

I have to say, it made me so extremely happy to hear that it’s even welcomed or allowed to ask for updates about animals sent in. I have wanted to ask since but I didn’t think it was allowed!

I thought it was illegal for the longest time here in Germany, apparently it isn't, but literally nobody ships their reptiles here. I've browsed multiple sites and it was always "pick up only". Germany is a small country, only the size of a US state, maybe that why and I don't know nor have I heard of international live shipping, but I'd rather not.

You're super brave to admit mistakes, much respect 💜

I just want to let you know that your constant transparency and honesty is greatly appreciated and at this point, you are about the only pet youtuber that I actually trust.

The situation you’re in reminds me so so much of Saskia’s guinea pig rescue, she’s always getting dozens of drop offs at her rescue even though her waitlist is constantly full. People just don’t seem to care or want to be responsible about these animals, it’s insane.

I'm actually impressed that you covered this topic. Your videos are informative as always, keep up the good work dude.

For every species you ship out you should record a specific "how to pack a leopard gecko" or "how to pack a bearded dragon" video tutorial you can send to people that apparently can't read

I Order a Baby Bearded Dragon, I got the box then smelled something bad, I didn’t think of her being dead, I opened it, I touched her she didn’t move and I knew she was dead, I Cried For a Whole Hour.

I love how you tackle the unsavory topics of reptile husbandry as well as the fun ones. I'm proud of you, Alex.. :) I personally have had 3 reptiles shipped to me, 2 in one box and 1 in another, and all three were perfect on arrival. It makes me sad how many people don't care about their pets and follow up on their well being with their new homes.

Did anyone else cuddle their reptile pet after watching this? 😭 I love my ball python so much, I would be heartbroken if he died in any of these ways.

I appreciate you taking responsibility for making a mistake...it's so important to role model this...and you learned and got better. Thanks for helping unwanted pets heal and find new homes!

Oh no. Just the imagery of what happens when a deceased animal gets bloated and surpasses it's skin is horrifying.

The packages should have a giant printed photo of a lizard with a speech bubble that says...."I am alive, please handle me gently, do not drop" *If photo is sideways or upsidedown, animal is also, please keep upright* A delivery driver might pay more attention if he could see a big photo of a cute gecko smile on the package...?

I got my baby anoconda shipped to me, and when it arrived there was no heat pack, the box was 4 times bigger than the snake, the snake was in a pillow case! And newspaper was used as insulation! It took 48 hours for it to get to me. Luckily my snake made it but she was very sluggish and so dehydrated.

New requirement for shipping animals: zoom calls. The animal must be well enough to answer the zoom call and say hello. If the animal cannot answer the call with its own claws, tail, etc, the animal cannot be shipped. I’m joking in case you couldn’t tell.

Thanks so much for covering this its super helpful to know more about shipping. And what happens to reptile during shipping. I love your videos and you do a great job with your reptiles.

Kidnapers used to send "Proof of Life" a picture with today's newspaper. Newspapers are still being printed even a weekly newspaper would work. So ask for them to take a picture with a newspaper printed less than 5 days of the picture. It's not foolproof because people are just awful, but it could help.

Thank you. It’s incredible how you take responsibility for your mistakes; it doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it should. I’d never thought much about the pet industry before, but Petco has officially lost what little business I gave it.

connecting shipping center temps are often over looked. look at that and see if that explains any of the flukes.

Thanks for making this, I think this is a really important video to exist.

In the UK the only animals that you can send through the post are invertebrates and aquatic creatures. Anything else - reptiles, poultry, etc - can only be delivered by a licensed animal courier. And yes, it is expensive. Which prevents people from just grabbing themselves a fun new pet online like you'd pick up a video game. The UK has a lot of problems as a country but I'm very thankful that we got this one thing right at least.

Just a thought, maybe the confusing deaths resulted due to the box being in front of a blasting A/C or heat vent?

When I got my ball python the FedEx guy just threw the box over the rail on my porch and he landed upside down :/

im suprised not more people are checking in on their past pets that they have sent to you :(

One time i ordered a southern painted turtle off of a website with amazing reviews and everything (first time buying a turtle). I did all my research about the animal, size, tank requirements, filtration, basking dock, heating, lamps, food, etc. Not only did it take almost 4 days for the thing to arrive, but the ups guy frisbeed it onto our porch....i opened the box heat pack was good and warm, box wasnt really damaged, but the little guy had this like cardboard insulation type stuff all over/in his eyes. He tried getting it off so i carefully helped him out. He also had a really bad softshell but i read that hatchlings tend to have soft shells but not THAT soft. Immediately after placing him in his new enclosure. He looks Great in my eyes at first(remember first time owning a turtle) but after about a week he started to look horrible. They store had a 7 day death sickness policy but it was too late to call. I tried nursing him back to health and it seemed to work and slowly got better, but eventually died... after about a month i decided to try again but this time get another species. Everything went MUCH smoother this time and now i have a happy healthy strong-shelled turtle. Didn’t change anything to the enclosure, diet, everything. Guess i was unlucky my first time around.

I had a columbian rainbow boa mailed to me, a young male- doorbell rang, the FUCKING DELIVERY GUY WAS STANDING THERE SPINNING THE BOX IN ALL WAYS. Needless to say I screamed at him "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING THERE'S AN ANIMAL IN THERE!!!!" He tried to say he didn't know and I pointed at, you know- the stickers on it saying live animal, this side up and such. It was ages ago so I don't think it had to have a specific reptile label then. Or maybe it was supposed and the breeder didn't do that- but it did say animal, handle with care and such. I've never came so close to decking someone's bridge of the nose who hadn't hit me first. I told the breeder what happened, and the poor boy was dead inside of a week. He had seemed fine until he wasn't alive anymore. If I hadn't have seen that I would have thought the breeder did something wrong on his end.

As a ups preloader, sometimes box labels get overlooked and boxes get thrown around and slid around a bit. Especially during peak season. Idk if fed ex is the same but stuff happens and many of the workers are seasonal and work very early in the morning.

People are stupid. Snake Discovery had a ups/fedex driver read the box, ask something to the about what kind of live animal it was, and start spinning it around between his fingers, right in front of them. Fortunately their animal was fine, but people are so dumb sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of stuff happened often within the fedex/ups facilities and trucks.

I love your honesty with everything. Especially this video. Shows your maturity, responsibility and love for the animals.

You’re like two years younger than me but I look up to you so much! You’re doing amazing work and you really inspire me with my pet care journey ^-^ Thanks for everything you do Alex!

That one lock of hair really do be like ~~

I shipped a ball python in canada once, sent it to a friend with a gopro just incase. Let me tell you UPS got a BIG lawsuit and paid me to settle.. They fucking tossed this box with a shit load of labels like a FRISSBEE. and they taped OVER the breathing holes. fucking insane. snake actually lived though.

Very important conversation to have, so sorry to hear abt all these hard deaths

I spent $70 for overnight shipping with the USPS, it was delayed by 4 days. I was so upset

Hey! Love your concern about reptiles. I also noticed your spirited away dolls. One of my favorite directors/writers ever! I went as no-face for the last two Halloweens. Going as dream from the sandman comics this year

Hey go herping! I know I've made this comment before but I just love your videos lmao. Like I've said before u have gotten me in the reptile keeping hobbie. I've gotten atleast 6 animals people rehomed to me. Now no I do not have a website but ppm still rehome to me and I've learned alot about shipping details and things I need to keep the animals alive I'm shipping I've gotten about 20 animals all together throughout the year and I've had about 2 deaths, 2 bearded dragons. I was very very said when I got them

This is so relevant for me. I had a dart frog die on the way from a great source, and by fluke chance, it had passed when I received it. Thank you for your transparency and raw data on the business aspect as well. I'm learning a lot about standards to follow in this market and where it's lacking. From Ontario Canada 🍁

Stuff always happens, all you can do is learn from it. You saved way more animals that would have died otherwise.

When I ordered my frog he arrived with; no heating, no paper and no box. This was my first time ordering an animal. I live in the UK so it can get pretty chilly and the delivery driver left the frog in a cricket container on my doorstep below freezing. The frog was like stiff solid when I brought him in and I instantly gave him a warm water soak and In roughly 10 or so minutes he came back and was swimming around. It’s been 2 years and he is still alive and very healthy in a paludarium that I built him and he eats like a beast.

Very interesting overview. I have only shipped about 20 animals so far but I am always super nervous. It upsets me if the person that receives the animal doesn't update me for quite a while after receiving because I really do care about the animals.

Fun idea! In the boxing instructions you can link a video or just have something showing a video of you or someone else properly packaging an animal, so they can see if theirs looks right.

you should make a very detailed video about how you want the animals packaged and charge a packaging deposit before accepting an animal then return that deposit if the animal is packaged properly on arrival.

Have you ever done a video of proper packaging? Like a step by step for dummies 🤷‍♀️ love your video's and how honest and the info you give is spot on.

Completely off topic but I feel like the avocado Image kinda clashes with the general style of your interior

Though I've never ordered any reptiles, I've ordered many arachnids (the only way unfortunately, you can't legally sell them in my state) and luckily they have all been packaged really nicely and all arrived healthy. The only exception is my emperor scorpion, who came in cold and lethargic covered in cold substrate (possible heat pad fluke?), but is thankfully now very healthy! Their packaging is really similar to reptiles, it seems. My biggest fear is unboxing one to find it in a bad condition, I think my heart would break. 😥 It's absolutely amazing that it's possible to send these beautiful creatures to people all over the world, though I definitely worry, because there's so much that can go wrong, even with everything set up perfectly. It's that unknown time during shipping that worries me, because you never know what happens to the box behind the scenes. But ultimately, I do support shipping done right and carefully, like you do!

Love your content, very blunt and informative

I was lucky enough to be able to watch the little leopard gecko that I sent in, be unboxed. I saw him go up on the site and saw him in at least one other video where you said he'd been sold. I didn't have to contact you for updates. :) Which, btw, communication was excellent! This video has just added one more reason for me to get my first reptile from you.

You know when I sent an animal abt a year ago, I thought about inquiring but I didn't want to be a bother as I already thought I was annoying sending several emails before shipping it and it wasn't mine (forced on me) so I was just happy it went to a good place.

i work at fedex and to be honest its terrible. When i see a box that even says live animal i try my best to put it in a secure spot. But sometimes, i would confirm with a manager and they would even say just throw it in.

Have you considered the flukes could be because of high CO2 or low O2? Even though the cup has holes, the animal has a (relative to mammal and birds) low metabolism, the box is not perfectly sealed etc... each new barrier (deli, insulation, box, boxes on top, boxes on the side) is a barrier to air exchange. Depending on the shipping company protocols and storage it is quite possible the animal box in the mid of a pile of boxes on an enclosed space, allowing for a low airflow circulation. And this kinda death would leave little external evidence. Another possible cause is just any pre-existent condition exacerbated by the stress of shipping (because any shipping or transport is a stressor). For example, stuff that people can also have, like an aneurysm, heart attack, stress-induced cardiomyopathy... Also, depending on how the animal arrived (if it was stiff as rock or still "pliable") is possible to guess how long death occurred.

I am so glad you have such care for animals ♥️

1:37 And people wonder why the virus won’t go away…

Shipping animals is 100% a necessity for this hobby to survive and there needs to be a better way to go about getting it done in the long run. It would require a lot of funding but a dedicated service for transporting and shipping animals would be fantastic in some way.

It's dangerous to ship anything. In the past 2 weeks I've ordered 3 of the same tv and they've all came in broken.

This is an important but painful issue. Thank you for using your platform to center it.

just a question, but are you ever gonna get a fish, like a betta or something?

Even though an animal seems perfectly healthy it is hard to tell if there are underlying health conditions. If they have a minor heart problem or something like that the stress may be enough to cause a heart attack. I know this won't make you feel any better about a death of an animal and for sure the number of animals you take out of bad situations and put into loving homes completely outweighs the few that don't make it. You do good work Alex, thank you for everything you do.

I think making a video of how to use the intake kits would help some people. So with your message you could put a link in it and it’s idiot proof

I got my first snake (baby corn) shipped from BHB Reptiles ( Brian Barczyk ). It died the night it arrived, maybe 6 hours after delivery? It seemed alright at first, I put the little plastic shipping dish in the tank and let it come out on its own, didn't mess with it or anything. And then we (my family and I) started to notice a growing black spot on its stomach? At some point it had pieces of the substrate (aspen) in its mouth. When it died the black splotch was huge. My family and I's theory is that it was fed before shipping, and regurgitated out of stress and choked? We contacted them, and they sent me another baby corn for free, plus a hat. I remember frantically googling and asking questions on as many reptile forums as I could, some nice people tried to help online, but, it was too late by morning. Nobody knew what happened 😔 New snake's happy and healthy, he's 4ish years old now.

Hello I've been watching you for 2 years love ur vids