No matter what shipping company you choose to send your turtles and tortoises, safe packaging is the most important part of the whole process. We provide guidelines for you to follow to safely ship your turtles. While no one method or shipping company is 100% effective, this is the shipping method Turtle Homes recommends and uses.

Materials needed:
two strong boxes, one that fits inside the other
newspaper
packing tape
thick permanent ink marker
wire mesh screen (summer)
hot glue (summer)
heat packs (winter)

For a large tortoise, purchase a plastic animal crate from a pet store.

Click here for printable shipping labels
Basic Shipping Plan
Follow this basic shipping plan with little variation.

1. Line the inner box with crumpled up newspapers. Place the tortoise in a sock or pillowcase, depending on its size, and tie it securely. Place the bagged animal into the inner box. During warmer months, create air holes in the box. Do not put air holes in the box during colder weather. The animal will not suffocate. Failure to put your tortoise into a pillow case can result in having your tortoise walking around loose should the box become wet. Surround the animal in crumpled newspaper balls until the tortoise is securely in place. By packing your turtle tightly, you keep it from turning itself upside down. Being upside down within the box will put extra pressure on a turtle or tortoise's lungs, and make it difficult for it to breath. Death can occur if this position is prolonged. Tape the inner box shut.

2. Line the outer box with newspaper. Place the inner box into the outer box. Surround the inner box with layers of crumpled newspaper to provide a buffer against temperature changes and sudden impact. Tape it shut. Make air holes in the outer box during warmer weather.

3. Using the thick, permanent marker, mark your full name, address and phone number on the box. If the shipping label is lost somehow, the shipper will still have an address to contact you.

4. On all four sides of the outer box, write "Live Harmless Reptile" and "This End Up" (with indicator arrows). You may choose to download a copy of our prepared labels.

Winter Shipping

Turtle Homes does not recommend you ship when temperatures are below 40°F (4.4° Celsius). Because unplanned delays in shipping will expose the animals to low temperatures for extended periods, always use a heat pack designed for twice the shipping time. Turtle Homes suggests the minimum of a 40-hour heat pack for a one-day trip. Purchase these heat packs at camping or hunting supply stores and sporting goods stores.

Due to the heavy volume of holiday mail, shipping reptiles any time during the month of December is strongly discouraged. If you must ship during the cold weather, wait until January. Never ship aquatic animals in moist substrate during cold weather.

Summer Shipping

Ventilation is very important in the summer months. Delays in hot trucks can easily cause your turtle to overheat. In both the inner and outer boxes, cut two ventilation windows that you cover with the wire mesh screen (carpenter's cloth, hardware cloth from a hardware store). Hot glue the screen over the holes you just cut. Position the inner box within the outer box to insure cross ventilation. Create at least four windows; in very warm weather, you may want to add more. During the warmer months, pack the inner box with damp substrate but not damp enough to saturate the box and make it weak. Always use a pillowcase even in warm weather. If you are shipping smaller turtles you can pack them in tupperware and use moist substrate. We do this when shipping baby box turtles. They burrow into the substrate and remain comfortable for the trip. Always pack baby box turtles and aquatics in moist substrate during the warm weather. They dehydrate easily and the trip will be very uncomfortable for them if packed dry.

Shipping Companies

Very few shipping companies will actually ship reptiles knowingly. For this reason, Turtle Homes suggests you use Airborne Express. They are a door-to-door service. Contact them at 1-800-247-2676 (1-800-AIRBORNE). Ask them to send an air bill when they come to pick up your shipment. Mark the red box on the right side of the air bill for "Express overnight" that gives the earliest delivery the next morning. If you mark the blue box, Airborne will deliver your shipment the next afternoon. Mentally prepare yourself: although you plan to get the turtle there over night, it may take two days. When packaged properly, the turtle or tortoise will be fine. Every Airborne shipment has a tracking number printed in the upper right corner of the air bill. You can use this number to find out where your package is. Very rarely has it taken more than 48 hours for a package to reach its destination.

If your package does not reach its destination the next day, call the company! Not only do you want to insure the welfare of the animal, but also additionally, Airborne's guarantee makes the delivery free when it is delayed.

ONLY SEND YOUR PACKAGES MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. Airborne employs minimal staff on the weekends. If your package is lost, no one will be there to help you locate it. If you send your package on Friday, they will deliver it on Monday. If you mark the box for a Saturday delivery, the package will cost twice as much to deliver.

US Mail

Not all U.S. Postal Service Stations will agree to send turtles knowingly. If your local U.S. Post Service office ships turtles, only use Express Mail. If you use Priority, your package might take up to ten days to be delivered. Follow the same packaging instructions. Ship Monday through Thursday. Do not ship through the U.S. Postal Service on Friday or Saturday. There is no extra charge for Saturday delivery. There is no telephone tracking.

Delta Dash is open to the public again. You must ship in a box that they can see though or you have to unpack the tortoise and let them inspect the inside of the box. You can apply for known shipper status if you are a regular shipper. This would involve being further screened. We recommend all tortoises over 25 pound being shipped via this method.

Marking your box is important Past recomendations said to mark the box "Live Harmless Reptile". We no longer recommend that you mark the box this way. Several reports of thefts have been reported so we no longer advertise what is in the box. Instead we recommend you use statements such as

Fragile
This end up
Do not expose to extreme temperatures

In addition to the proper markings we have found that placing American Flags on the box helps mark which end of the box to keep upright. We place American flag stickers on all 4 sides of the box. For your convienence we have created downloadable shipping labels with flags on them.