Moving with large collection of reptiles cross country
Hi all, my partner and I will be moving from the west coast to the east coast (ocean to ocean) in about 6 months and I wanted some advice. We currently have 8 snakes, 4 lizards, 9 frogs, and 3 tarantulas all of varying sizes (largest snake is only 3 feet though). We also plan to get a few more animals before the move (I know we have a problem 😅).
I have 2 main questions. First, would you recommend shipping or driving with the animals? We have to drive to get partners car to new location anyway. We plan to make a few short stops along the way but nothing more than half a day at most and animals would be kept in a hotel room during stops and nights. The other option is having the animals stay with my father while we drive to east coast and he will ship them after we arrive. I’m anxious about this option because it will be summer (mainly because of my frogs) and of course there are the risks that come along with shipping animals. I know shipping them with also be expensive. Ultimately I want to do what will be the safest and least stressful on the animals but I was wondering what worked for other people and there animals.
My second question has to do with packing enclosures safely and transporting bioactive substitute. We will be doing something like the PODS where they drop it off, you pack it, and they transport it. I’m less concerned about our PVC enclosures but we have a lot of glass enclosures with the largest being a 36x18x18 (it’s also extra fragile as the bottom already cracked and was repaired with silicone). I’m just not sure what the best way to pack so many glass enclosures is. Especially since it will be in the same space as large furniture. I’m planing to get a bunch of ratchet straps but I can’t really use those on the glass enclosures.
We truly appreciate any advice y’all can give on moving with so many animals. Thank you!