Winter Shipping

I have a clutch of babies who have finally reached 8 - 9 weeks of age. This is usually the appropriate size for shipping to new homes. My problem is that I live in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada. And it's winter. It gets COLD here.

First of all, you need to use a reputable air carrier with larger planes and pressurized heated cargo holds. Remember that an unheated cargo hold can go to -60C or even colder on a prolonged flight and will certainly kill your Chameleon regardless of the packing method used. Even pressurized heated cargo will start out with the door open for up to an hour on the tarmac during loading. Once pressurized the temperature in certain aircraft will only be about 0 to 2 degrees.

If your animal is going to survive you must know what kind of cargo hold will be used and pack accordingly.

For all types of cargo hold you need a sturdy escape proof 12"x12"x12" box lined with Styrofoam. Next, insulate the box with news papers. Place a 1L deli cup inside the box with small air holes punched in the top. Place some small twigs in the container secured at the top and bottom. Sprits your deli container lightly to keep humidity up. Finally you need to obtain some 12 hour hot packs. These are packs of chemicals that heat up when exposed to the air.

I decided to do a bit of an experiment to see how different packing methods would affect the internal temperature of the box. For this experiment I used 3 wireless thermometers. A packing box was placed outside at -5C (23F). That's actually a nice day for this part of the world in December.

I determined a successful outcome would be to keep the temperature within the healthy limits of for a Panther Chameleon roughly 10 to 34 C (50F to 93F). Chameleons can survive lower and higher temps but at lower temperatures the animal can experience kidney failure and at higher temperatures dehydration becomes a problem.

Because I didn't want to waste 4 sets of hot packs on this test, I used the same set. I don't think this would influence the outcome because the hot packs heat quickly to temperature and then maintain a level temperature for 10 hours. At the end of 10 hours they decline to room temperature over 2 hours. The entire series of tests was completed within 10 hours. A true lab experiment would definitely use new packs each time. There are 30 and 40 and even 60 hour packs but I couldn't locate them in Regina. They may have much higher thermal output but I have no idea - use them if you like but test them first.


Shipping box lined with Styrofoam and packed with news paper. Note the plastic deli container and thermometer inside?	12 Hour Winter Heat Pack available at Canadian Tire. 3 Pack for $4.99

Box placed outside at -5C. One thermometer inside the box and one outside.	Base station measures temperature which is recorded and graphed using Excel.

Three Thermometers used:

The Experiments

Experiment 1	Experiment 2
2 heat packs placed on the inside walls of the box. Box lined with Styrofoam and packed with news paper. This is the method suggested by knowledgeable breeders in the area. Failure. CH 1 falls below 10C in less than 1 hour.	3 heat packs taped to the plastic container inside the box. Plastic container covered with warm woolen sock and wrapped tightly with news paper. Box lined with Styrofoam and packed with news paper. Failure. CH 1 zooms up and out of the acceptable zone in 1/2 hour.
Experiment 3	Experiment 4
2 heat packs attached to inside walls of box. One heat pack attached directly to the side of the plastic deli container. Box lined in Styrofoam and packed with news papers. Failure. Within 45 minutes CH 1 drops to the bottom of the acceptable zone.	1 heat pack on the wall of the box, 2 heat packs on either side of the deli container. Deli container wrapped in a sock. Box lined with Styrofoam and packed with news paper. Success! Note the red line (Ch 1) stays within the acceptable zone for 7 hours.

Experiment 1: This method of packing is suggested by reputable breeders and would be acceptable for pressurized room-temperature heated cargo holds HOWEVER it would be fatal in a 0 degree cargo hold. Experiment terminated at 55 min - Temperature reached low limit - Chameleon would suffer kidney damage and possibly death. Over a 6 hour flight the animal would certainly be dead.

Experiment 2: While appropriate for a 0 degree cargo hold, this method of packing would harmful in a room temperature cargo hold. Experiment terminated at 28 minutes. Inside box temperature exceeded 34 degrees and still climbing rapidly. Chameleon would be dehydrated and possibly cooked. Almost certainly dead after a 6 hour flight.

Experiment 3: Temperature continued dropping about 1 degree every 10 minutes throughout the experiment. Because I don't want to waste a bunch of heat packs I decided to terminate the experiment at 45 min even though the temperature was still within the survivable limits of a Chameleon.

Experiment 4: Proper packing for a 0 degree cargo hold. Note that the inside temperature and the box temperature are very close through the entire 7 hour period and well within the ideal temperature range for a Panther Chameleon. Since I used the same heat packs for all 4 experiments, these heat packs had actually been running for 10 hours at this point.

Conclusion:

Shipping a Chameleon in the winter can be very dangerous for the animal. Without proper positioning of heat packs and packing the animal could easily suffer significant harm or death. Proper packing and use of heat pads can protect the animal for extended periods of time.

Know what kind of cargo hold your shipment will be in. Smaller planes often just curtain off the back of the plane. Some larger planes have room temperature cargo holds. This kind of shipping is by far the preferred method. In these cases, a couple of heat packs taped to the inside walls of the box are a good insurance against time spent on the tarmac or in an open hold.

In other cases, the hold is pressurized but not heated above 0 to 2 C. Consider another carrier or delaying shipment until warmer weather. If no other options remain, follow these directions:

These instructions apply to shipping within Canada. If shipping from the US to Canada or Canada to the US, you will need CITES papers AND should only ship during warm months. A discussion of all the paperwork needed is far beyond the scope of this article.

Note: Some shippers have reported that marking the box with "Live Harmless Reptiles" encourages theft and suggest leaving it off or replace it with "Live Bait" or something similar. Some carriers require live shipments to be marked and labeled accurately.

Warning: If you pack using these methods the recipient must pick up the animal immediately. The package will begin heating once removed from the plane to the "warm room". A prolonged wait in the warm room will cause overheating and possible dehydration due to the heat packs. When in doubt, Chameleons will tolerate higher temperatures better than low temperatures.

Special Note: Heat packs contain iron, water, cellulose (saw dust), vermiculite, a filler sometimes used as a packing material, salt (NaCl), and activated carbon. The Iron will oxidize by combining with oxygen. If the box is totally sealed, the heat packs could possibly consume all oxygen in the box and smother your animal. There must be some small vent holes in the box, however too many vent holes will allow excessive heat loss.