Plant Shipping Rates and Policy
Plant Shipping and Delivery Rate
Plants are shipped out of pot. Most of the growing media is removed. The roots are put into a plastic bag and then gently held with elastic. The plant is then wrapped in plain white newsprint paper. The plants are then put in box with more paper and sometimes bubble wrap to keep them from moving around. We find this the safest method to ship plants. Special requests can be made to have the plants shipped in pot. This will incur a surcharge due to weight overages and possible size of packaging. 4" and under pots will incur $2.00 per pot. 5" to 6 " will incur $4.00 per plant surcharge. Some smaller plants and some delicate plants that may require shipping in pots will not have a surcharge applied.
PICTURES ON WEBSITE
Please note that the pictures on the site are not necessarily the animal or plant you are going to receive and are representative of the species. Many of the pictures have been taken by us and in some cases are from previous shipments. Stock photos are sometimes used to show what the animal or plant we have in the shop will look like in mature form. Some specific animal pictures will be noted as being actual animals available. Pictures can be provided upon request for most animals and plants. Fish are difficult to photograph and we cannot provide pictures for some species. 99% of the time pictures on Google will look exactly like the fish we have in the shop. Individual separately housed fish like Bettas can be photographed as per requests
Please note that regular shipping is not possible for plants in pots or baskets greater than 6". Most larger potted plants will be automatically flagged as not being able to ship but this sometimes doesn't happen. In this case we will contact you if a smaller size is available or confirm that we will remove from your order.
Shipping Times
Plant shipping does not qualify for free shipping at $150. Plant shipments go out on Monday or Tuesday. Shipments can go out on Wednesday on rare occasions for shipments going to some Ontario addresses. We cannot ship out on Thursday or Friday except to Nunavut or Northwest Territories by Canada Post in the summer. The risk of the shipment being delayed and being held over the weekend are too great to risk.
The address must be a physical address as we cannot ship plants to P.O. Boxes by courier. Unless you are in a remote area and this is your only address this option will only be shipped by Canada Post. A signature will be required to receive all orders. You can request that no signature in required so that the courier will leave the parcel at your door. This is done by request only and it relinquishes our responsibility if the parcel is stolen.
During colder months we ship plants similarly to the way we ship our animals which is in insulated box with heat pack. We will pick the best courier for your location. Because of the nature of express shipping the larger the box the greater the shipping costs sometimes exponentially. Large orders of plants can cost quite a lot to ship and this will be reflected in a surcharge. We will contact you the week that your is planned for shipping to make sure you will be home to receive.
The shipping rates you see are the actual rates we pay. We make zero on them. This also includes new boxes, packing materials and all labour involved.
We are now in cold weather shipping season. When temperatures at the destination are below freezing plants will be shipped in an insulated box with heat pack.
NF, PE, NS, NB, MA, SK, AB, BC
Warm Weather Rates
$48+ Courier expedited shipping. Some rural locations and larger orders will see surcharges starting at $15, 1 to 2 days by express or expedited option. This is for most locations considered as next day shipping
$33+ Courier Regular shipping. Some rural locations and larger orders will see surcharges starting at $15, 2 to 5 days depending on distance from shop as this is ground shipping.
All orders to NF will see a surcharge of $10 to $15 due to very high fuel surcharges. Very sorry but this cannot be helped
NU, NT, YT. - Service to the territories is by Canada Post. Shipping rate will be in effect starting June 1st
ON, PQ.
$38.50+ Express with some postal codes starting with P and some in J and G seeing a $10 surcharge. Surcharge of $10 for orders larger than 8 plants will also be applied. Orders greater than 12 plants will be $20. There is a 1 to 2 day travel time for these orders
$25+ some postal codes starting with P and some in J and G seeing a $10 surcharge. Surcharge of $10 for orders larger than 8 plants will also be applied. Orders greater than 12 plants will be $20. There is a 1 to 4 day travel time for these orders
Delivery
Tails & Scales offers local delivery within the GTA. Rates are $15.00 for Toronto and $20.00 outside the City If the local delivery option shows up in the checkout of your order then the service is available to your address. Municipalities in our delivery zone include all of Toronto, Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville, Burlington to Niagara, Pickering to Oshawa. Guelph, Brantford, Kitchener, Waterloo, Aurora to Barrie (most of Barrie). There are some addresses that show delivery is available but are actually out of the delivery services zone. The service has been expanding their reach into these postal codes and will hopefully be available in the near future (as of Aug 9th, '24)
Plants with Animals
While the vast majority of plants that we sell are usually purchased to be kept as just plants in pots, houseplants etc some of you may be purchasing plants to be kept with animals. We do not change the growing media in the pots to animal friendly media. We keep the majority of the plants in the media that they are received by us from the nurseries, growers etc. They may very well contain perlite, vermiculite, fertilizers and some other plant friendly growing media additives. We do not change these over to different media
If you are putting plants you purchase from us in closed vivaria you may want to remove some of the media before planting. This is not always necessary as some plant pots only contain sphagnum moss etc but for nursery grown plants some of you may want to remove some of the media. Commercial vivaria media like Reptisoil from Zoo Med has necessary nutrition and is more suitable for closed conditions. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to do their own research on how to set up vivaria using live plants. We may no claims as to suitability of all plants for closed system vivaria.
Some plants may also have some toxicity issues for animals if ingested. If the plant you purchase is going to kept such that it may be eaten by a companion animal please research the plants possible toxicity.