HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My mess of a moving situation has my crabs stranded in Northeast Arkansas, while I am in Louisiana, and we all need to eventually get to Florida. I have a volunteer in Florida who might be able to take them temporarily until I can get a set-up for them down there, but I may not be able to travel to transport them myself. So, I may have to overnight ship them. Problem: it is no longer anything like warm at night.

I have successfully shipped crabs to adoptive homes in the summer months and never lost one, but always said I would only do that during times when the temperatures are at least close to the safe range for PP's (lows not dipping below high 60's at night, highs not over 100). Has anyone shipped during cooler weather, and if so, how did the crabs handle it, and what EXACTLY did you do to maintain temp?

I'm worried about putting a heating element in the shipping box, that it might overheat the box and cook them, or conversely just run out too quickly and essentially be useless. For basic info, we are talking about three quite large crabs--one at least is a "jumbo."

Has anybody shipped in cool months successfully? I need to decide whether I'm going to ship them by tomorrow.

Try contacting a place like Ship Your Reptiles, they do inverts as well. They have complete winter shipping kits and next day service and can talk you through what needs to be done and how safe it is.

Thanks, Wodes!

I'm in Louisiana. If you can get them here, I can take them for you. Either temporary or permanent, whatever you need.

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Further questions, if we do end up having to ship:

1) in shipping a bunch of rescue crabs from Jonesboro out to New Mexico several years ago, I was advised to label the box "Live Aquatics"--is that still the best way to do this (rather than "Live Reptiles"?)?

2) does anybody in Florida know if there are difficulties in shipping ANY kind of live animals into Florida? The "Ship Your Reptiles" guys seemed to think there could be problems, and I should contact authorities there (who would that even be, does anybody know?)?

Either way should be fine, mailing of cold-blooded animals has become a lot more popular in recent years, especially feeders. Mailpersons are more used to seeing labeled boxes. I wouldn't worry too much.

Florida Fish and Game, or the Department of Natural Resources. Maybe both. Florida does have restrictions above and beyond federal regulations (Lacey Act). I know they have laws against some insects and reptiles and enforce them strictly. Given that hermits are sold within the state there shouldn't be a problem, but I can see why being cautious is a good thing!

Actually, SYR has labels for use with live animals, since labeling requirements have changed due to changes in the Lacey Act. I would strongly recommend following their guidelines, especially to Florida. Hermits would technically be an Aquatic.

Part 12: https://shipyourreptiles.com/en/get-hel ... estion-117

@Dragonsfly would be shipping them to me since I am only 30 min away from where she is moving to. I have a contact at Fish and Wildlife that can give me a permit if necessary. It has happened before, but it shouldn't be necessary because your crab babies aren't an invasive species. Once again, just a reminder, I don't want them to drive around on the truck, you would have them be held at the office so I could pick them up as soon as they arrive. So you would do a HOLD FOR PICKUP. Just let me know.

Thanks, everybody. I've been in touch with Ship Your Reptiles; this is a tricky time of year because it's cold enough in Jonesboro to need a heat pack, but that might cook them when they got to Florida. So we are trying to figure out a time when it might be possible to ship without a heat pack--or I guess we may have to wait until it is cold enough on both ends to need a heat pack. . . or something. That could be tricky and may take a while.

DragonsFly wrote:Thanks, everybody. I've been in touch with Ship Your Reptiles; this is a tricky time of year because it's cold enough in Jonesboro to need a heat pack, but that might cook them when they got to Florida. So we are trying to figure out a time when it might be possible to ship without a heat pack--or I guess we may have to wait until it is cold enough on both ends to need a heat pack. . . or something. That could be tricky and may take a while.

So stressful, I wish you the best of luck! Praying

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ciaraalston wrote:So stressful, I wish you the best of luck! Praying

thanks so much, Ciara!