Chances of inverts surviving 4 days in the mail?

[jfoahs04]

I'm guessing the odds aren't great, but I figured I'd see what experiences others have had:

I have a Reef Cleaners order that was scheduled to arrive today (2-3 Day USPS priority) at the latest. Shipped out Tuesday afternoon. Looks like the weather delayed it and the package is now going to arrive tomorrow (I actually requested it to be held at the post office). I ordered a few snails (astraeas, bumblebees, nassarius), a pom pom crab, and a peppermint shrimp. I'm assuming it's unlikely there are survivors?

To complicate matters further, I'm supposed to leave town for the weekend (nothing big or expensive) and I'm a little torn on what I should do. If there's a chance that these guys come in alive, I think as a responsible reef keeper I should put off leaving tonight and wait for the order even though it's not a huge one. But I also don't want to put off leaving if there's zero chance anything is alive.

Interested in thoughts/experiences.

 

[ChrisV]

I'm guessing the odds aren't great, but I figured I'd see what experiences others have had:

I have a Reef Cleaners order that was scheduled to arrive today (2-3 Day USPS priority) at the latest. Shipped out Tuesday afternoon. Looks like the weather delayed it and the package is now going to arrive tomorrow (I actually requested it to be held at the post office). I ordered a few snails (astraeas, bumblebees, nassarius), a pom pom crab, and a peppermint shrimp. I'm assuming it's unlikely there are survivors?

To complicate matters further, I'm supposed to leave town for the weekend (nothing big or expensive) and I'm a little torn on what I should do. If there's a chance that these guys come in alive, I think as a responsible reef keeper I should put off leaving tonight and wait for the order even though it's not a huge one. But I also don't want to put off leaving if there's zero chance anything is alive.

Interested in thoughts/experiences.

I guess it depends on where they are stored overnight. If inside, I wouldn't be surprised if some survived. As long as they don't get TOO cold, then cold is better than hot. Their metabolism slows down quite a bit. The prom pom crab may be toast, but I bet the astrea snails live.

 

[MarkSzy]

I had an order come in from them a month ago, all three crabs were dead and most of the hermits. That was 3 days in the mail, most of the snails did survive though.

 

[jfoahs04]

Thanks. I guess we’ll see. The overnight lows are in the teens, so hopefully the box is inside somewhere rather than on a truck or loading dock.

 

[Edward]

I had an order from them be delayed when it wasn't this cold but still below reef temps. 90% of the inverts were DoA unfortunately

 

[luu78]

This week I ordered 3 sexy shrimps to add to my existing 4 to start breeding them. They were supposed to arrive Wednesday but were delayed and didn’t get delivered until Thursday after 1pm. When I inspected the bags, the water temp was 58F and there was no real sign of life. The three fish (blue-throated fairy wrasse, blackfin fairy wrasse, and linespot flasher wrasse) as well were barely breathing and seem to be on their last breath. So I filed the warranty online and got them out of the bags and into a container with my tank water at 76F. I felt depressed and was so pissed at FedEx for such a delay causing all this deaths on my pets, THEN…..about an hour later, the all started coming back to life. Amazingly, 2 of 3 fish started eating live brines I have readily for my golden angelfish that I recently acquired. It was surreal of an experience. Everything just came back to life. Today, the third fish eats as well. I told them to put the DOA claim on hold since I didn’t want to take advantage of the situation and filed the claim since I only had 2 hours after delivery to file and they were pretty much lifeless when I took them out. So, hopefully yours will make it! Good luck!