Can you ship live crabs???

[mrscharms]

One of my ebay buyers who I've become friendly with wants me to ship her some crabs from DE to FL...is this possible??  Any tips??  I know they ship live lobster all over the place...dry ice??

Janice

[jack1747]

Here's a place that will do it.
http://www.crabplace.com/shopping/hardcrabs.asp

Might want to call them and ask some question like you are thinking about placing an order...

[mrscharms]

Thanks, Jack..spent a ton of time on that site...first of all, I can't believe the prices!!! OUCH!!  I found through reading that they use dry ice and cold gel packs...I'm not sure I can do this!!!  Neat recipes on the site, too!

Janice

[jack1747]

We used to ship crabs and fish packed in just sea weed and a little ice.  I can remeber going to the airport and shipping them.  The reciever would be at the airport waiting to get the shippment when the plane landed.  The stuff spent less time traveling than when we brought stuff up to Baltimore by pickup.

[rock n crab]

hey Janice, maybe you could try to clean them before they are cooked, freeze them and pack the frozen crabs in a small cooler with ice, keep the crabs out of the ice...... This is how I plan to send some to my sister in NC.......

[mrscharms]

That is exactly what  I am going to do, Rock....cook and clean them for her...the weight will be less and I think they will be safer.  She really wants these!!  Can't she get crabs in Florida???  

Janice

[rock n crab]

I wasn't gonna cook the ones I send out..... I was gonna clean them, freeze them and ship them...... She can cook them at her place, that is part of the crab eating experience....wouldn't want to rob her of that....

[luke at uscoach]

Hi Folks:
A little different but kind if the same idea.

I have a large vegetable garden and decided to send some vine ripened Burpee Superstake Tomatoes to my sister in Florida.  I picked them the night before and refrigerated them.  Brought them to work the next day and kept them refrigerated.  UPS picks up at our business around 4:30PM.  About 4PM, I took them out of the frig. packed them in a box surrounded by styrofoam peanuts, and sent them to her Next Day Air.

She received them at her work at 9:30AM the next day and they were still cool.  Cost $47.00 to ship 8 tomatoes, (who cares, it was for my sister) but her boy friend, who comes from the farm country in Tenn. said he had never seen tomatoes that big nor tasted anything like them, needless to say my sister was dying for N.J. Tomatoes.

Packaging and keeping the Chill is most important, and of course over night shipping is the only way to go.

Happy & SAFE Crabbin' to ALL!!!

LUKE at US COACH

[mrscharms]

Luke!! I beg to differ!  You should never refrigerate 'maters!!!  It takes the taste away!

Janice

[jack1747]

Luke!! I beg to differ!  You should never refrigerate 'maters!!!  It takes the taste away!

Janice

Would the taste come right back once they warm up

[mrscharms]

Nope!!!  lol.

[LUKE at US COACH]

Hi Ms. Charms:

I would not argue about tomato refrigeration, however, what I shipped were vine ripened and I wanted to overcome shipping temps.

Now, while we are talking about tomato refrigeration.  I bring one in to work each day, stick it in the frig., and take it out at lunch time and it tastes like I just picked it.

Also at home, as they ripen,  and I bring them in from the garden, we keep them out and then they might be in the frig. for up to 3 days, and out of this Jersey sand, they are the best!!!!

I think the key here is that they are vine ripened, not  GREEN guy that was picked and shipped from across the country or from some other part of the world, before we ever get a chance top buy it, no less eat it!!!

To refrigerate  at that stage of the tomatoes' life is a waste of time, as all we are eating is cardboard to begin with.

Just my thought on the matter based upon my experience and I Hope it HELPS!!!

LUKE at US COACH

[mrscharms]

Nothing like a Jersey tomato....used to live there and grow great ones myself!!!

Janice

[mragoche]

I know this thread is dead but I figure I'd get it current for all of those using "the google."

If you want to ship live crab, you really have two options:

1) Small, moist, insulated, and cold.
2) Large, aerated, liquid, and cold.

The second is more for commercial users or those who want to hold crab indefinitely. I will tell you right now that my company makes systems to do this. It's not something you want to do yourself. You can check my site http://www.ari1.com/products.

But the first is fairly easy. What you have to remember is that crab take in oxygen and food, then dump out waste, largely in the form of ammonia and and carbon dioxide. Both are lethal to crab if they build up. When the crab are "purged," they will create less waste and ship much better. If you leave them in a trap with no food, they will purge in 24 hours. You want them to be free of mud, purged, and cold.

Now that your crab are purged (you can also ask the person you buy them from), you want to get their body temperature very close to 32 degrees F. Too much below that and they'll die. Much above that and they'll die. DO NOT MESS WITH THE CRAB. They hate that! The more they respirate, the more they metabolize and the closer they are to dying.

So get a foam box, ice cubes in zip locs, and a clean, wet towel (some people use seaweed, which is actually better to use). The most crucial part to remember is that you DO NOT want the crab to be submerged in ANY depth of water. As soon as they are, they'll excrete ammonia and CO2 and, you guessed it, they'll die.

Put a damp towel on the bottom of the cooler, place the crab in the cooler, then another damp towel on top of them, then the ice packs. NO DRY ICE! Dry ice is CO2. Any guesses what CO2 will do? Yep. Kill em.

Now ship immediately. Label the box live seafood and ship them as quick as humanly possible! Good luck.