Using Heat Packs For Shipping Animals

Heat packs are useful tools when shipping live animals, as they allow you to regulate the temperature in the shipping containers. Particularly when shipping through colder climes, and especially when shipping reptiles, amphibians, and other cold-blooded animals, care must be taken to ensure that the animal is not caused stress by the cold. Without proper temperature regulation through heat packs or other means, these animals can die during shipping owed to the cold. Heat packs are not intended to provide the animal's perfect temperature, but rather to keep the temperature at a safe level.

If you wish to test your heat packs before shipping, be sure to place the heat pack in a small space. Good options include rolling it in a layer of newspapper or placing it in a small space; a pocket, a small box, and so on. If you simply set the pack on the table or in another very open space, you are likely to not detect any result; there is too much air for the heat pack to warm in its early stages.

Heat packs have two sides, one of which has red strips with many tiny perforations. This is the side that must be exposed to air. If you place this side of the heat pack face-down, or cover it with tape, or allow objects to fall or rest on it, the heat pack will not cause the desired warming effect. Air must be able to flow through these perforations for the pack's heat to fill the space it is in.

The effects of a heat pack can vary based on the size of the pack and its container. As a rule of thumb, a single heat pack in a cubic foot insulated box will raise the temperature by around twelve to sixteen degrees. Each additional heat pack will further raise the temperature by about ten degrees. A temperature range of sixty to seventy-five degrees is safe for most reptiles and amphibians during shipment.

It is important to note that water is a primary ingredient in heat packs. If this water freezes, the heat pack may cease to function. It is thus important that you do not allow the temperature in the shipping box to fall below thirty-two degrees.