Packing tips.

I'm going to be sending out 25 brown widow babies, hopefully tomorrow. I'm planning on straw packing them individually to avoid cannibalism. A heat pack should be delivered today but it may be a jumbo as the last time I purchased from this person he sent a 72 hour jumbo. Either way it should be a 72 hour heat pack. I don't have any styrofoam (should have kept all these other materials I had accumulated). I did ship something out last week that got there safely in two days without styrofoam. I packed it heavily with newspaper and placed the items in a small flat flat rate box that had newspaper stuffed in with it too.

I'm just mainly concerned with keeping them warm enough without killing them. I'm using a medium flat rate box so I don't have a lot of room to work with in there either. It's supposed to get pretty cold over the next couple of days so I'm a bit concerned.

So far my two options are these: pack 25 straws. Tape them together and place inside of small flat rate box cushioned with paper towels or newspaper. Line the larger box with crumpled newspaper (I have plenty) and place the flat box in the middle. Where do I put the heat pack? I was thinking of wrapping in a sheet of newspaper, lightly since it's supposed to get cold, and placing it around an inch away from the smaller box with a newspaper stuffed in between?

My other idea was putting the taped straws in a padded deli cup, instead of the flat box, and placing THAT in the middle as the last time I shipped with the flat box inside of the medium priority box there wasn't much room. I have to find that sweet spot where it will keep them warm but not kill them either.

As for the straw packing I was planning on lightly dampening the tissue paper before stuffing the ends of the straw. Any reason I shouldn't? Thanks for any help!

what are the temps like where you are at and where you are sending?

widows are pretty darn hardy, even with cold temps.

and i don't see a reason why not to moisten the TP when you pack it. shouldn't be too necessary, but i usually do the same when packing just in case

you do have to find the sweet spot to not fry them while still keeping them warm. never place it directly against the container but you already know that. newspaper can be a pretty good insulator. not as good as styro, but still pretty good. it acts as a good insulator because it has a lot of trapped air in the paper fibers.

I normally separate the heatpack from the slings by 2 sheets of scrunched up newspaper so that there is about 1 to 1 1/2 inch open space between them both. I also fold a sheet of newspaper around the heatpack but leave both ends open because as far as I'm aware the heatpack needs an open flow of oxygen to work properly. (i'm probably wrong on that LOL)

Widowman10 said:

what are the temps like where you are at and where you are sending?

widows are pretty darn hardy, even with cold temps.

and i don't see a reason why not to moisten the TP when you pack it. shouldn't be too necessary, but i usually do the same when packing just in case

you do have to find the sweet spot to not fry them while still keeping them warm. never place it directly against the container but you already know that. newspaper can be a pretty good insulator. not as good as styro, but still pretty good. it acts as a good insulator because it has a lot of trapped air in the paper fibers.

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Good to know! The only place I can find a sheet of styro is Micheal's and it's pretty pricey for a small sheet.

I'm mailing them tomorrow afternoon, hopefully if this heat pack shows up today (out for delivery in tracking status). I'm mailing them from Raleigh NC. The temperatures are going to be ~ 39 as a high and 26 as a low. I'm sending them to PA where the temperatures are going to be lower...

---------- Post added 01-22-2013 at 05:05 PM ----------

peterUK said:

I normally separate the heatpack from the slings by 2 sheets of scrunched up newspaper so that there is about 1 to 1 1/2 inch open space between them both. I also fold a sheet of newspaper around the heatpack but leave both ends open because as far as I'm aware the heatpack needs an open flow of oxygen to work properly. (i'm probably wrong on that LOL)

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try to remember that! I'm placing them in a padded envelope, possibly, and then placing them in a flat box. Then I'll place them into a larger box that's going to be lined with crumpled newspaper.