FedEx and Alaska don't mix!!!!

I've had a rescue ball python for many years, but as I live in a tiny bush town I have to order frozen rodent feeders from suppliers down in the south 48 once or twice a year. Usually one of them has managed to get them to me with a few extra charges tacked on to the order. Fine, we're used to being screwed by domestic shippers even though we are not located on Mars.

Well, not any more. The suppliers have pretty much all switched to FedEx and ship on dry ice, which they classify as a hazardous material (yeah right...don't touch the stuff with a bare hand or your tongue and store in a ventilated area so the CO2 can dissipate...how hard is that?). The local FedEx hub is Juneau and they apparently no longer have a hazmat-trained handler there. NO ONE WILL SHIP A BOX OF FROZEN RODENTS to my area for less than $250!

I've been trying to get rodents for over a month now, even by shipping care of a sympathetic pet shop in Juneau (who have no problems leaving the stupid dry ice alone). This isn't rocket science folks.

Looks like I may have to rehome my snake or watch him starve, all because of a FedEx ice-handling policy.

Off soapbox!

Now that is pretty asinine. Hope you can get something worked out. How hard would it be for someone like me to order some mice or rats for you and ship them to you? No one needs to know there is dry ice in the box.

ataraxia said:

Now that is pretty asinine. Hope you can get something worked out. How hard would it be for someone like me to order some mice or rats for you and ship them to you? No one needs to know there is dry ice in the box.

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I am wit the program, John and I will take turns, I have insulated boxes they ship fish in. I can get them there. Just say the word.

I know a guy who is willing to make a mistake and forget to label the box. Or just use lots of cold packs...

Thanks all,

The herp rescue I got him from has a contact for a snake keeper in Fairbanks. Possibly I can add my rodents to any order she places and she could forward them down to me...they could get here in a few hours with cooler packs. Waiting to see...

There are no mouse shippers that use a different company? Or is it the lack of trained shipping employees that is the problem?

Can you get live mice from anywhere? You could try humanely euthanizing them at your home instead of buying them already dead.

I hope the fairbanks keeper situation works out for you!

pssh said:

There are no mouse shippers that use a different company? Or is it the lack of trained shipping employees that is the problem?

Can you get live mice from anywhere? You could try humanely euthanizing them at your home instead of buying them already dead.

I hope the fairbanks keeper situation works out for you!

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I have called or emailed a few mouse suppliers who even bother to ship to AK and they all use FedEx. Some used to have a UPS option but don't now. I guess FedEx offered lower prices. Only one place would give me the UPS option but because they don't have a corporate discount contract any longer the price was over $250 for a box of 50 mice.

No live mouse sources here at all. The only regional pet shop gets bulk frozen pinks but their supplier doesn't keep his mice until they are full size.

Doesn't every Alaska resident get $2 grand a year from the state for oil production royalties? If you order 50 mice twice a year you still come out $1500 ahead!

Lizardguy1 said:

Doesn't every Alaska resident get $2 grand a year from the state for oil production royalties? If you order 50 mice twice a year you still come out $1500 ahead!

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No, not true. Alaska residents do get a dividend from oil and gas royalties but the amount varies each year. This year it was about $850. It's very rarely reached $2000! Remember that the cost of living up here (utilities, cost of everything that has to be shipped in...just about every consumer product, food, etc) can be 25% to 35% higher than the rest of the US so we aren't getting ahead. For example, my electric costs about $0.57 per kilowatt hour. A heating oil tank fill costs about $800 four times a year. To see a doctor or dentist I have to fly out somewhere and that costs at least $190 on top of whatever the office visit will be. Just about every mail order shipper adds a surcharge to AK delivery addresses.

You have to want what the state offers very much because it will cost you to get it!