How to Ship a Tarantula During the Summer

Tarantulas are tropical creatures that survive heat well. They slow down and become more docile when they are chilled. If you fear your packaged tarantula might sit out in the sun at its destination you can put a gel ice pack in your shipment to ensure your bug's safety. You should ship the way exotic pet stores ship which is usually overnight. That way your spider will spend as little time in transit as possible. And you should never ship a tarantula through the mail. It is illegal to mail tarantulas and from time to time people are arrested for it.

Things You'll Need

  • Gel ice pack
  • Paper towels
  • Deli cup
  • Thumb tack
  • Refrigerator
  • Trim paintbrush
  • 8-by-8-by-10 inch cardboard box
  • Styrofoam peanuts
  • Strapping tape
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Freeze a gel ice pack. Dampen six paper towels. Punch 12 holes in the lid of a 16 ounce deli cup with a thumb tack.

    • 2

      Put the tarantula in its cage in a refrigerator for ten minutes. Line the inside of the deli cup with the damp paper towels.

    • 3

      Remove the tarantula from the refrigerator. Encourage the tarantula to crawl from its cage into the deli cup by gently pushing it with any trim paintbrush.

    • 4

      Push a dry paper towel into the deli cup on top of the tarantula. Loosely stuff the deli cup with crumpled, dry paper towels. Close the lid on the deli cup.

    • 5

      Fill the bottom three inches of an 8-by-8-by-10 inch cardboard box with styrofoam peanuts. Set the deli cup in the center of the box on top of the styrofoam peanuts.

    • 6

      Fill the box with styrofoam peanuts. Set a frozen gel ice pack on top of the peanuts.

    • 7

      Completely seal the box with strapping tape. Address the box.

    • 8

      Ship the box by next day shipping using a private shipping company like UPS or Fedex.