Scorpion shipping during November in Pennsylvania

Hello, I just placed an order for a few scorps from out of the country.  I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with getting scorps during winter months?  I will be home when they get here but I'm not sure if it's a good idea with temps being down in the 40's or sometimes even lower at night.  During the day it's usually in the 50's around here (Mid-Eastern PA).  I could wait till the spring but I'm super anxious to get them ASAP!!!  I know it gets pretty cold in the desert at night sometimes, so I'm thinking as long as the insulated package isn't sitting in freezing temps for long at all it should be fine.  Anyone got any input? I would much rather wait than lose any of the scorpions!

Hey Ian,

Well, the package itself will be on a plane, then it will spend most of it's time either in transit, or at a post office. And it also depends on who you order from too. Different sellers pack differently. Was it a transcontinental package?

I too get worried about ordering in the winter, but the way I see it, you should be fine. I know how exciting it is to buy new pets, but one needs to plan ahead before buying. One of my pet peeves is when people say "I got a new scorpion today! How do I care for it?". Haha. In this case, it would have been more appropriate to post this question before buying them.Sorry I can't give you a definite answer, I'm sure ~Abyss~ will though.

So what'd you get?

A reputable vender will check the weather forecast for sending and receiving locations and consider how long the shipping takes. They will often pack the scorps in an insulated box with heat packs. Most good venders will not ship if they don't think it's safe for the scorps. This had been my experience. If one deals with an unproven vender then all bets are off. If you are getting scorps from a good vender they will probably be OK. I have never ordered scorps from out of the country though.

Thanks guys, I ordered from Vivxy and he looks like a good dealer from the reviews I've read. It's kind of a big order but he said he's mailed in these temps before with no problems. I was going to try and find a friend from a warmer state and then have them overnight them to me, but haven't been able to get in contact with anyone yet.

Yeah you'll be getting it in a yellow envelope, very little insulation. What'd you get from him?

There should be no problem. I have sent a few packages in Winter time when temps were below 50-40F to other countries and I have never had a casualty. Scorps are tough little critters and like Patcho said, they will be in transit most of the time so the temps won't be too extreme.

Personally i think you should have waited until you received the package before posting or not mentioned the name of the active forum member you've brought them from.....Seems weird to me to order from a known breeder (who you've named) here on the forum and then start raising doubts and worries after you ordered and before you've even received the package.......ok to do normally but weird when a name is added to it!!.....i know you've not mentioned him in a bad light but that will undoubtedly happen if anything goes wrong and it may not be his fault.....only throw names out when something has actually messed up or to praise the individual for good packaging skills...not before!

With regards to your question though no one can really give you a definitive answer....There's differences between the toughness of varying scorpion species as well as differences between young, moderate and older animals...on top of that you have the method of packaging (very important in low temp conditions) plus the variables of what's going on from the time it's leaves home until it reaches destination and lastly, the health of the individual scorpion is also a part of the equation..
I only buy scorps if i can collect them personally at this time of the year and that is simply because i have lost scorpions during the cold period to bad packaging (sure you get your money back but i would rather the scorp lived!), sudden drops in temperature and delayed post.............

I wouldn't blame him if the scorpions didn't make it, I brought it to his attention before I posted and he said he hasn't had any problems in the past. Ultimately I just wanted to see if anyone has ever had casualties from shipping in the colder months before so I could either tell him to send them or wait. I wouldn't want to place blame because even if there was a problem, I would still be interested in ordering from him in the future. He has a great collection and plenty of positive feedback.

Also I got some breeding pairs of P. transvaalicus, A. australis, A. australis hector, and A. bicolor.

They're just about here!!  I requested email updates for package tracking and they just went through the local sort facility. Unfortunately this is one of the coldest mornings we've had so far since the summer. It's 25F, hopefully they don't stay outside long, I told one of the ladies at the local post office to call me when she gets the package so it doesn't go outside anymore. I'll let everyone know how it goes after I get them. Really hoping they all survived!!!!!!!

They just arrived a little while ago, he did a great job and all survived but two of three baby Androctonus bicolor he threw in as freebies!!!!!! They look amazing, the female P. trans are HUGE, I just got two baby Grand Terre Giant Gecko babies in the mail that cost almost 4 times as much as all these and I'm more excited about them(the scorps). I'll be sure to give a good review in the seller review forum...

Oh I forgot to add, I called the post office and they forgot to hold my package, it was 25 degrees so I ran out to look for him, couldn't find him so I came back to wait patiently for hours. I was so scared they'd freeze to death!!! They're very very resilient!!!!