Seahorse shipping advice

[smartorl]

I have two bachelorettes that I am going to ship out to Rykna for her lonely widower Titan. I know that they are hardy but I am nervous about shipping them and want to make sure that I ship them the best way possible. I have some culerpa to put in the bag, but was thinking that I have seen small rubber bands put in their shipping bags, would that be better for the water quality? My ponies are fed several times a day, should I put some or alot of bbs in their bag or none at all? Alot of water?
I tried to contact one of the local dwarf seahorse wholesalers to see if they had any advice but they weren't overly helpful, although they did try to sell me ponies, lol.
I am thinking double bagged in a box lined with styrofoam because I can't find a styrofoam box small enough (lfs only has big ones). I am also thinking overnight shipping although looking at the sites of a few of the seahorse shippers, they usually ship for second day.
Any advice or suggestions?

 

[reefkprz]

ship temperature controlled, in an insulated box, triple bagged (labled as live animals with special handling instructions) libraly lable "live seahorses do not shake, extremely fragile" then insure the bejeebers out of it, pay extra and insure it for a thousand dollars, I gaurantee they wont shake it with a thousand dollars insurance on it..

 

[smartorl]

I'm nervous, yikes. Thanks for the advice. Don't laugh but would it help to wrap their bag in bubble wrap and put them into the styrofoam container? These are my babies! I know they ship them out of south FL all the time and almost every place has guarunteed arrival and claims they are great shippers. Why am I freaking out?

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by smartorl
I'm nervous, yikes. Thanks for the advice. Don't laugh but would it help to wrap their bag in bubble wrap and put them into the styrofoam container? you want the bag snug so it wont shift bubble wrap is a fine way to do that so is wadded up news paper, paking peanuts or a couple more layers of foam. These are my babies! I know they ship them out of south FL all the time and almost every place has guarunteed arrival and claims they are great shippers. Why am I freaking out? because you dont have 200 more in stock that you can just ship out if they dotn make it....
i answered in red.

 

[lesleybird]

Are you shipping dwarf seahorses or regular sized ones? What variety? Insurance will not pay for them if they die so don't bother with much insurance.

 

[smartorl]

Dwarf. To be honest, they are not "worth" that much, but I think the idea is to make the handlers be more respectful of them in transit. I know when I get mine, the guy comes up from the Keyes and they are bagged the night before and travel in his truck until about midday when he arrives here and then they still have the acclimation time.

 

[bronco300]

when i got mine shipped to me that had tiny bags with some fake fw plants in there for them to hitched to, wrapped it in bubble wrap and packing peanuts i believe it was, and away they came just fine by usps mail even...just bag them up alot and pack em nice and snug in packing material,insulated box, and ice or heat if needed.. and you should be fine...i shipped some to ryk and i believe thats what i did, cant remember much now....but the lady that bagged them put food and what not in there and the water got VERY nasty...if you're doing it overnight i wouldn't worry about putting food in, or not much if you do.

 

[smartorl]

My ponies are well fed so the more I have thought about it if I feed them through the day as usual and take them to UPS close to the end of the day and they arrive to Rykna the following morning, I think they will be more than fine food wise. I didn't realize how "chunky" my ponies are until I got two new ones dropped off by someone who couldn't care for theirs anymore.
I got an order from SWF.com yesterday and it came in a perfect box. I have the bubble wrap and the peanuts. I guess I will see what the weather is doing although I think with overnight and them going to UPS late in the day we will be ok as far as temperatures go. My tank is a warmer tank so they are used to warmer temperatures.
Forgive me for being a worrier, these little guys are so amazing to me. I have also treated my tanks with panacur, thanks for the tip.