Shipping Policy

The FLAT-RATE shipping fee for retail published website listed animals to any U.S. continental location is $39.00 per order/per location--regardless of how many animals are on an order. There are no other shipping and handling fees associated with weekday door-to-door overnight domestic FedEx service. (Texas residents pay 8.25% sales tax for all orders).

Due to the current next-day carrier policy, any live arrival guarantees are honored solely by South Mountain Reptiles – not the carrier. This live arrival policy applies only to shipments with domestic (U.S.) destinations. Since the live arrival guarantee is strictly SMR policy, please, do not contact the carrier for any reason.

Unless we are not able to supply the types of snakes reserved by prepayment or deposit – before they were available for shipping – no refunds will be issued. If we are not able to fill the order as specified by the customer, we will offer a refund, or credit to be used within a specified time period.

We only ship FedEx Priority Overnight on Mondays and Wednesdays for respective next-day scheduled delivery, but only if those days are not in conflict with a national holiday, prior arrangements, and if weather permits.

Orders to be shipped on a Monday or Wednesday must be processed prior to 2:00 pm--Central if you specified for us to ship on the day of the Monday or Wednesday order.

Animals shipped via door-to-door carriers will be guaranteed to arrive alive only if the package is personally received from the carrier by the customer (or an agent of the customer) on the first delivery attempt. Packages not handed directly to the customer (or agent of the customer) are exempt from our live delivery guarantee.

Signature waivers or any respective instructions from the customer to leave the box (not personally hand the box to the customer or agent thereof) automatically negate our live arrival guarantee. All shipping fees and terms apply only to retail orders for snakes purchased at our advertised prices.

Wholesale orders may have higher shipping fees and will be handled on a one-by-one basis.

You may alternately choose airline cargo which is available to most major U.S. airports. The premium counter-to-counter service must be prepaid to SMR prior to shipping. At this time, the cost for domestic airline cargo (Delta Dash) is $120.00. Airline service is only offered by appointment. We’re very far from an airport and usually only ship via the airlines once a month.

If your package is shipped via the airlines, all reptiles will be guaranteed to arrive alive if picked up by the customer (or agent of the customer) within four (4) hours of flight arrival and only if the temperature at the destination airport is above 40^oF.

If any animals are injured or dead, you must notify us within one hour of accepting the shipping box. SMR will not in any way guarantee shipments that are delayed or lost by the airline carrier, but claims may be made directly to the airline carrier in such rare instances.

In the event of dissatisfaction with your order that is not related to transportation, you are responsible for notifying us within 48 hours of flight arrival.

If you elect to return the reptile(s), you will be responsible for all expenses required to properly and safely return the reptile(s).