What is the absolute coldest you would ship without a heat pack?

[blooms]

Fall's here and I am curious. I live in NE China, where it gets harshly cold in winter. I want to add to my collection before it gets too cold. What is the absolute coldest you would feel comfortable shipping without a heat pack?

 

[xhexdx]

I personally wouldn't go below about 70F without a heat pack. Maybe 65, but to me that's pushing it.

--Joe

 

[Nerri1029]

I personally wouldn't go below about 70F without a heat pack. Maybe 65, but to me that's pushing it.

--Joe

Bah that's a Floridian talking HEHEHE

I'm a little more daring than Joe when it comes to temps.

I'd say you are safe if the overnight temps don't go below 50*F ( 10*C )

I would say the risk of over heating with a heating pad that is not needed is just as considerable. I always use a gel pack inbetween my spiders and a heating pack if I use one.

 

[xhexdx]

Bah that's a Floridian talking HEHEHE

I'm a little more daring than Joe when it comes to temps.

I'd say you are safe if the overnight temps don't go below 50*F ( 10*C )

I would say the risk of over heating with a heating pad that is not needed is just as considerable. I always use a gel pack inbetween my spiders and a heating pack if I use one.

Hence why I stated it was just my personal limits.

I'm not sure I know what you refer to when you say you use a gel pack. Could you elaborate?

Thanks.

--Joe

 

[Nerri1029]

those hot and cold packs.
BUt I don't heat them or cool them.

The pack absorbs the heat, stays warm for longer, it keeps the internal temp of the package more stable, like living on a shore near a body of water.

 

[JC]

No lower than 70F for me.

 

[JimM]

Tarantulas are hardy critters - 55F easy.

 

[paul fleming]

also depends on species

 

[AzJohn]

also depends on species

Why don't you research the species being shipped and find out its tollerance. Maybe look at where it's from and the temp extreams.


John

 

[Merfolk]

Bah that's a Floridian talking HEHEHE

I'm a little more daring than Joe when it comes to temps.

I'd say you are safe if the overnight temps don't go below 50*F ( 10*C )

.

I would say likewise, except for the swamp dwellers like Theraphosas and Acanthscuria. Experience proved that they are faster to die when exposed to cold. Some other can almost survive lower temperature for a few hours, but I read reports of blondies dying after 2 hours at 10°C.

I own an apophysis who survived such a situation, but the animal remained motionless for almost two months and moved like if it had DKS when I probed it.. almost had to bottlefeed her!. Then it molted and went better. But such miracles are rare!

 

[drgonzo]

50's I wont use a heat pack if the day time temps are over 65.Heat packs can heat up over 115 degrees,if your shipping in a properly insulated box it's not hard to cook them.

 

[barabootom]

It's cold where I live and I've shipped at 20 degrees and have learned what it takes to safely ship at those temps. You have to stryo two boxes. The T's go in the inner box and should be packed with slightly moist paper towels. I use pillow stuffing (prevents much air movement but cushions well) from WalMart around the deli cups or vials. I use a 48 hour heat pack made for animals that is guaranteed not to get too hot. Sometimes I use two but I wrap them about 90% in aluminum covered bubble insulation to slow the reaction process with air. The heat pack goes in the larger outer stryo lined box. I cushion the inner box with more pillow stuffing. The outer box needs to be big enough so you can have a 3-4 inch layer of cushion (insulation) around the inner box. Without the heat pack it will fail. Without the double boxing it will likely fail. I tried with one box and the T's got too hot. The double boxing with stryo is essential. If delivery is more than one day, I wait for warmer weather. There was a thread awhile back about the possibility of heat packs sucking all the oxygen out of the box and suffocating the T's. I think that argument has merit. In cold weather a small box is not an advantage.

 

[Zebo777]

I say 50 is my limit

 

[xhexdx]

Tom-

That's way too much work. :}

Do you charge the 'standard' shipping fee for that kind of packing, or do you up the price to pay for all the incredients to your shipping recipe?

 

[barabootom]

Tom-

That's way too much work. :}

Do you charge the 'standard' shipping fee for that kind of packing, or do you up the price to pay for all the incredients to your shipping recipe?

I usually charge $25 regardless of what it costs. I have spent $40 in the past (the weight gets expensive) and $8 on supplies, so it has to be enough T's to make it worthwhile. The problem is that the weather here can suck for long periods of time. (You are sooo lucky in the South) I obviously prefer to ship in the Spring and Fall and avoid Winter shipping but sometimes.... The time to pack isn't much. I've gotten quite efficient at it. I also ship late in the day to decrease the time the T's are in the box.

 

[Nerri1029]

It's cold where I live and I've shipped at 20 degrees and have learned what it takes to safely ship at those temps. You have to stryo two boxes. The T's go in the inner box and should be packed with slightly moist paper towels. I use pillow stuffing (prevents much air movement but cushions well) from WalMart around the deli cups or vials. I use a 48 hour heat pack made for animals that is guaranteed not to get too hot. Sometimes I use two but I wrap them about 90% in aluminum covered bubble insulation to slow the reaction process with air. The heat pack goes in the larger outer stryo lined box. I cushion the inner box with more pillow stuffing. The outer box needs to be big enough so you can have a 3-4 inch layer of cushion (insulation) around the inner box. Without the heat pack it will fail. Without the double boxing it will likely fail. I tried with one box and the T's got too hot. The double boxing with stryo is essential. If delivery is more than one day, I wait for warmer weather. There was a thread awhile back about the possibility of heat packs sucking all the oxygen out of the box and suffocating the T's. I think that argument has merit. In cold weather a small box is not an advantage.

:clap: :clap:

That's very close to how I pack in frig temps.
and I MUST add one more for the larger boxes.

I will still try to do the exp on the Heat packs and % O2 in the air.
:8o :8o :8o

 

[cacoseraph]

:clap: :clap:

That's very close to how I pack in frig temps.
and I MUST add one more for the larger boxes.

I will still try to do the exp on the Heat packs and % O2 in the air.
:8o :8o :8o

i did some real preliminary stuff with heat packs and only poking holes in their plastic bags as opposed to cutting them off. worked ok, i think something is there... but i didn't have the testing eq to make a good job of it and i didn't have $100 extra bucks to spend on heat packs





all my spiders (and bugs in general) lived at 50*F during the winter and were fine. i would ship into that with a not especially modified package pretty comfortably