Holiday Shipping Embargo

During the busy holiday shipping season we've learned that shipping live animals and plant is a no go. The sheer volume of parcels being shipped invariably leads to delays and these delays can stretch into days. Needless to say this can jeopardize the lives and health of the animal or plant that's being sent. As a result we stop all shipments of live animals and plants until after the holiday season.

This year we are stopping all live shipments by December 4th. The last day for live shipments outside of southern Ontario and  southern Quebec will be Tuesday December 4th weather permitting. The last day for live shipments to southern Ontario and southern Quebec destinations is Wednesday December 5th weather permitting. Conditions must still be within our safe shipping temps to leave the shop.

The tentative restart date for shipping is January 6th weather permitting but this may change based on advice from the courier company.

We are sorry if this is inconvenient but the safety of the animals is paramount.

Winter Shipping

Live animal and plant shipping is now in place. Shipping of live animals and plants is possible but only if all conditions are aligned. Temperatures in Toronto and the destination city must be within a certain range to be safe to ship. Shipments in Ontario can be sent Monday to Wednesday if the overnight temps for two consecutive days are warmer than -10c . Out of province we can ship Monday or Tuesday only.

While shipments are booked and sent for Overnight Priority shipping it is possible that weather delays may make it a two day trip. We pack the animal shipments with one 40 and one 60/72 hour heat pack in Styrofoam lined shipping boxes. Parcels travelling by courier are often sitting in cold unheated trucks while they are being delivered. Heat packs will keep the inside of the boxes from freezing but they are in danger of freezing if the temps are much below the -10c threshold since they may be in a courier truck for up to 12 hours.

Delays of a few weeks are not out of the ordinary at this time of year. Please be patient and keep this in mind when placing an order for living things during the winter. Your order will be held and will be sent when it is safe to do so.

Winter packing

Shipping rates for animals during the winter is the same as for summer. We use Cryopaks in summer to keep temperatures stable and heat packs in winter to keep from freezing. We use the same insulated boxes in winter and in summer.

Plants shipments use different methods in winter and summer. In the summer we can use standard shipping boxes with minimal paper wrapping. In the winter we use similar packing to animals with insulated boxes and heat packs so the rate is higher.  

There are no changes to dry goods shipping. There are some products that are liable for freezing and will be wrapped in plastic bags. Courier travel times are 4 to 5 days and it is not unusual for liquids to freeze solid.