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I have been trying to figure out how to change shipping so that it is easier on myself as well as customers, and I have decided to go back to flat rate shipping that includes insulation and anything needed to keep live insects safe in transit.

I can’t bring myself to ship nymphs without insulation when I know it is needed so I often include it anyway. I also often see many responsible buyers choosing the insulated option when it isn’t necessary (still the safer choice though!). I have not worried too much about it in the past as my shipping prices normally allowed for a little wiggle room to cover those that did not purchase the insulated option when it was necessary. However, I am noticing far too many customers simply going with the cheapest option even with the increase in temperatures. This, coupled with the extra time in shipping due to USPS delays, is causing an increase in dead critters and hatched flies, and it’s taking a toll. Contacting dozens of customers weekly to suggest they pay extra for insulated is far too time consuming.

Rather than having to start enforcing my replacement policy and denying replacements where weather was extreme and no insulation was purchased (I have yet to ever enforce it), I will be buying the insulation and ice packs in bulk and charging a flat fee when live insects are purchased. The safety of the critters must come first. It is a larger cost for me up front, but it will allow me to include insulation on all orders when necessary and extra ice packs if needed as well (especially when feeders are ordered).

I know it sucks to have to pay a little more in shipping, but I assure you it is better than you receiving dead nymphs and paying shipping again for the replacements, which costs you twice the shipping amount and me twice the nymphs.

I want to thank everyone for their understanding and patience over the past few weeks with delays due to USPS shipping. I am still only shipping priority on Mondays and Tuesdays, and MAYBE Wednesdays if you are close to me. Otherwise, only express will ship on Wednesdays.

I still plan to ship the day after Memorial day, although traditionally USPS takes a little longer to ship during that time, so please be patient. I may end up holding some orders until the following week. Fly pupae will only remain pupae for so long in the mail, even if I include ice packs. The ice packs only stay frozen for MAYBE a day. It buys a little time with 2 or 3 day shipping, but 4 or 5 days is almost guaranteed to arrive with a bunch of flies instead of pupae. Please be prepared for that. I plan to post some video/picture instructions for those that are not familiar with how to work with hatched flies, or just would like to know how I deal with them.

Today I received notification that USPS priority mail estimated delivery times of 2 to 3 days is now 3 to 4 days. This has already been the case for several orders over the past couple of weeks although it has not caused too much of an issue except for house and bluebottle flies arriving hatched or non viable. It is not too common, but please let me know if you experience issues.

As a result of this, I have to switch to faster shipping from my suppliers. This should not impact you guys much as my prices for shipping and products will not be changed, just the time frame of shipments during the week. I will need to change the shipping of priority packages to only Monday and Tuesdays. Express and SOME priority (based on location) will still be shipped on Wednesdays. I know it sucks to have to wait for an order longer than expected, but this is necessary for the safe shipping of live insects.

This week shipping will be affected as I had planned to ship a large number of packages Wednesday. With this last minute change, I will not have time to get them out sooner. I apologize for the delays but I will only have time to ship packages Tuesday, and will save many of the Express and local-ish shipments for Wednesday so I can focus on getting as many priority shipped on time as I can. Any customers packages that must wait until next week will be notified. I appreciate your patience in this transition. It should only affect packages that were expected to go out this week.

We have experienced a large increase in orders, especially feeder insects, over the past few weeks. I just wanted to let everyone know we are still trying to ship as normal, however there may be a day or 2 delay due to time constraints and space limitations. I still work full time and with school being out we have 1 extra kid to drag along . There is also only so much room in our vehicle for packages and we prefer to not have to make multiple trips. We will instead be shipping 3 days a week instead of 2. Most people will not notice any difference, but we just wanted to give a heads up just in case. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Orchids are shedding to L2. Sale ends tonight and prices will return to normal. Idolomantis diabolica and Idolomorpha lateralis nymphs will go on sale rates due to not shipping out for POSSIBLY over a week. I have waited a week before posting these but the last few times they took longer than predicted to shed to L2, so I am being overly cautious in my predictions this time around. Prices will return to normal once they start to ship. T. elegans will also be available shortly.

We just came back from a reptile expo and it was amazing. It was a bit easier this time around as I asked a friend to help, so we were not as overwhelmed as we generally are. I still have some nymphs left over and will be offering them at the show prices for a day starting sometime Sunday once I am get a minute to sort everything out (need sleep for now!) and ending Monday evening.. Prices will return to normal after that.

*** Extended until the morning. I am too tired to edit anything else tonight, lol. Not a ton left anyway, so get them while you can. ***