Shipping policy

Live Animal Shipping — Overnight Only

All live animals (fish and reptiles) are shipped via overnight shipping ONLY. No exceptions.

We take the health and safety of every animal seriously. To ensure your animals arrive alive and healthy, we exclusively use overnight shipping for all live animal orders. We do not offer standard ground, 2-day, or any other shipping method for live animals under any circumstances.

Why Overnight Shipping?

Live animals cannot safely spend multiple days in transit. Overnight shipping minimizes stress and ensures the fastest possible delivery to keep your animals healthy.

Shipping Schedule — Your Order Ships the Following Week

We ship live animals on Mondays and Tuesdays only, so nothing is ever left sitting in a carrier facility over a weekend.

Your order ships the following week, not the same week. An order placed this Monday goes out next Monday or Tuesday. This wait is deliberate.

We stop feeding your fish several days before they travel. A fish shipped on a full stomach fouls its bag — waste turns to ammonia and the animal spends the journey breathing it. A fasted fish arrives in clean water. Fish can go a week or more without food with no harm, so a few days off feed costs them nothing and protects them for the whole trip. We use that week to condition your animals and check them one last time before they go in the box.

We will email your tracking number on the day your order ships.

We Decide When Your Animals Ship

Jungle Express determines the safe ship date for every order, and that decision is ours alone. Before every shipment we check the forecast at our facility, at your delivery address, and along the carrier's route. If any point on that journey is unsafe, your order does not leave the building. A weather or holiday hold is not grounds for cancellation or a refund.

A fish travels in a sealed bag of water it cannot leave; a reptile travels dry and tolerates a wider swing. So we run two different sets of limits.

Live fish and plants: below 40°F we do not ship; 40–70°F heat pack; 70–80°F ideal, no pack; 80–95°F cold pack and hold for pickup at your carrier facility; above 95°F we do not ship.

Live reptiles: below 35°F we do not ship; 35–70°F heat pack; 70–85°F ideal, no pack; 85–95°F hold for pickup at your carrier facility with a cold pack; above 95°F we do not ship.

If your order contains both fish and reptiles, we apply whichever limits are stricter.

We do not ship around major holidays. Carriers do not guarantee overnight delivery on or near a holiday, and that is exactly how a live animal ends up sitting in a sorting facility for three days.

Where We Ship

We do not ship live animals to Hawaii. Hawaii prohibits the import of most non-native animals, and live animals cannot be sent to Hawaiian addresses. Dry goods and supplies ship to Hawaii normally.

Checking that a species is legal where you live is your responsibility before you order. Laws vary by state, county and city. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order we believe is restricted or prohibited at the delivery address, and we will refund it in full before it ships. See our Terms of Service for the full terms.

Live Arrival Guarantee

We guarantee live arrival on all overnight shipments. If an animal does not arrive alive, please photograph the animal immediately upon opening the package and contact us within 2 hours of delivery. We will work with you to make it right.

Shipping Costs

Overnight shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your location. Because we only ship overnight, there is no standard shipping option available for live animal purchases.

Full details — including weather holds, what the guarantee covers, and how to acclimate your animals — are in our Shipping & Live Arrival Policy.

If you have any questions about our shipping policy, please contact us before placing your order.