#morbidstutorial

First thing we have to do is understand some basics about heat transfer. Heat transfer in a box primarily occurs through direct contact (conduction), so the goal is to add as much insulation between the areas of conduction as possible. Dry air is a great insulator, because there is less mass close together in air so less chance for direct atom to atom heat transfer. Paper also makes a good insulator, partially because it has a low heat transfer ability and partially because it can be easily crumpled and form lots of dry air pockets. More insulation is layered on the bottom, because the bottom of the box has more direct contact with the surface that it's either going to be gaining or losing heat from (think of it sitting on outside on the frozen ground or on hot pavement). The other main form of heat gain is from the sun, which is a bit harder to deal with. The sun transfers heat through radiation, and an enclosed space sitting in the sun will easily get an inside temperature much hotter than the surrounding air temperature (think of your car). The thing with insulation is it works both ways, although it slows down the heat gain from the surrounding area, it also slows down the release of heat if the outside temperature is cooler than the inside of the box. This is great to insulate from cold outside temperatures, but in hot environments this can cause heat to slowly build up in the box over time, especially over the course of multiple days and exposure to extreme temperatures. This can also create a "greenhouse" effect if you're using a heat pack during shipping and have a completely enclosed Styrofoam wall around the entire box. The heat pack will continue to release heat, but the heat in the box will have no where to go. If using a heat pack and Styrofoam, cutting some holes in the box or leaving the lid of the Styrofoam off will give the heat some chance to escape, while also appreciably protecting the inside from heat loss through wind or through direct contact with the cold ground.

Because of how these factors play together, shipping in heat is much more dangerous than shipping in the cold. Invertebrates also tend to die quicker in extreme heat, while they can get fairly cold for short amounts of time and just have a slower metabolism for that time. Generally, you should avoid shipping above 90F or below freezing. The most dangerous time is when the box is on the truck at the destination city and being driven around before being delivered, as most of those truck are not temperature controlled, and they would be essentially sitting outside for a number of hours. If temperatures are beyond these limits and the shipping cannot wait, please consider shipping hub to hub (the hold for pickup options) so that the box is kept inside in the destination city. Using heat and cold packs is up to seller discretion, typically I would recommend to try to keep the inside of the box as close to 70F as possible, and determine if the temperatures are extreme enough that a heat or cold pack is the only reliable way to achieve that.

This specific paper pictured here is packing insulation I got from Fedex, but crumpled newspaper, paper towels, or any other kind of paper that can form sturdy insulation with a lot of air gaps can be used. Personally I don't use loose packing material like packing peanuts, and I generally don't use Styrofoam at all, but several other sellers use Styrofoam to reinforce the box and for it's better insulation properties.

For larger scorpions, we line a deli cup with paper. It consists of a folded square of paper towel at the bottom, and a loose ring of folded paper towel around the edge. This provides a space for them to sit in while cushioning their surroundings in case the box is handled roughly. Depending on the species, they may or may not need the paper towel to be sprayed. Arid species shouldn't need to be sprayed at all, while everything else might need a light misting. Regardless, the paper towel should never be saturated. If condensation immediately forms on the sides of the cup or the paper towel is dripping wet, wring it out until its just moist to the touch. Too much humidity makes the air a poor insulator.

The cup is finished off with another square of paper. Ventilation holes should be added, scorpions have very low metabolic requirements and can survive quite a while without fresh air, but it's still better to add them. There should be just enough to provide some air exchange but not so much that it would dry out the inside of the cup too quickly. Some tape on the edge prevents the cup from accidentally opening during shipping, or from the scorpion from pushing the lid open. Only a light amount of tape is needed, too much tape can be a pain to remove and risks sticking to the animal if a lot of it is left on the lid and sides. I use this deli cup method for almost all of the scorpions I ship. For very large scorpions, a large deli cup or a small food storage container can work under the same principles.

How the scorpions are packing into the larger shipping box is dependent on what or how much you're shipping. If it was just a handful of larger containers, they can be safely packed directly into the box. Because I am also shipping several smaller scorplings, I'm using a double containment method to keep the smaller containers from shifting around. We do this by forming a larger version of the deli cup using a food storage container. For small scorplings, I use paint containers. Setting up and packing the smaller scorplings will be discussed in part two.