Boarder Crossing with Frozen Whole Prey

[bitbyter]

I just got off the phone with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and apparently there is no issue with bringing Frozen Feeder Animals across the boarder from the U.S.

This means that if you are a reasonable distance from the boarder like I am (~40 minutes) you can have RodentPro or one of the other companies ship it to a boarder drop service (gives you a U.S. address) like www.Kinek.com and pick it up when they call.

This is the relavent section of the CFIA website:

11. Foods for ornamental fish, reptiles, snakes, bearded lizards, turtles, tortoises

Foods for ornamental fish

Ornamental fish food containing animal origin ingredients such as: fish meal or other meals derived from aquatic animals and/or terrestrial animals:
The import conditions are the same as for commercially prepared pet food (see sections 1 or 2 above, as applicable).

Foods for reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, etc.)

These foods are comprised of whole insects, annelids or other whole animals like crickets, blood worms, rodents, sea worms, etc. Only dead/processed (canned, pouched or dried) finished products are eligible for import into Canada, without import permit, from all countries.

Note: Insects and other whole animals, either live or which can be regenerated (tomato horn worms, butterworms, etc.) may be subject to an import permit issued under the CFIA Plant Health Program.

If insects are ground up into a meal or paste and are no longer recognizable they will be considered as rendered products and treated under conditions contained in the Rendered Products policy.

I also called them to be sure and they confirmed I would have no issues at the boarder. If the boarder guards hassel you for any reason they said you can call the CFIA at 1-800-835-4486.

[Sherry]

I'll do that, but rodent pro and hare today refuse to cross border ship. Too much hassle I guess. At least that's what they told me a couple years ago.

[bitbyter]

True, but this is shipping to the U.S. Side of the boarder (via kinek.com) and then you bring it across yourself. I was just worried the boarder would be an issue but apparently not.

[Deleted]

Hey wow this is amazing news. I'm very close to the border and these prices are less than half of what I've been looking at getting up here. This'll make feeding so much cheaper for me. I'll be able to easily feed up to 20 adult mice per week (basically two each a day ) This should in theory account for up to or around 50 percent of their diet each day?

I'll be setting this up soon, granted there are no problems.

I've a question about the hairless mice if anybody knows. They're perfect for my two right now because I have to blend them up and I hate the hair being in there, how do they get the mice hairless?

[Sherry]

It's a genetic mutation

[bitbyter]

Yep geneticly modified can be a good thing. I'd hate to be a professional mouse shaver! ;D

[lumene]

Here is the process courtesy of my friend/ semi idol Rebecca Purdom, Corn snake breeder.
She does this for all almost 200 snakes she has every few weeks. Rodent Pro is her feeder of choice.



Importing feeders into Canada is done somewhat similarly to the above scenario, but leaving out all the US mumbo jumbo.

PRINT YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE you go down! Make sure you have TWO copies!

As far as Americans are concerned you need to pay a US border Usage fee. Basically get into their commercial crossing line and you will have to pay something like $11 to go across. If you get caught going into the US to pick up goods for your business and you have NOT paid the border usage fee you could be subject to a $5000 US fine.

I have my rodents from Rodent Pro shipped to the nearest Greyhound station to me. They will ship via Fed /Ex or UPS to my package express box, but because they use air, shipping costs almost double. Considering I already pay about $150 per box in shipping an handling I think driving the extra 1/2 hour to pick them up at greyhound is well worth it!

So back to the process. Again, you need that business number, which is free. You should go and pick up your rodents and just open the tops of the boxes. This way it's easier for the Canadian Border people to inspect if they need to.

Drive back to your border crossing and again, get into the commercial lanes if they have one at your crossing. If you don't have a commercial lane you tell them at the window you are importing for your business. They will ask the value of your goods. Tell them the value WITHOUT shipping costs. They will then hand you a yellow slip and direct you into the office to complete your B3 form. See above post for instructions on filling out a B3. It honestly takes me about 3 minutes beginning to end to do the forms once a computer is free. You then hand the package into the agents, they enter their info. in the computer and you pay your GST.

Tada! That's it, it's that easy.

If you are getting just a single box of rodents you may be able to say that they are for your "personal" use for your pet snake/s. Again though, be aware, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to question why you need a whole box of rodents just to feed a couple of pet snakes.

In the situation it is for your personal use you would not need to pay the US border usage fee, and you would go into the regular lane at the Canadian border, again telling them the value of your goods, and you'll go in to the office with your receipts and pay your full HST taxes on the Canadian value. You would not need to fill out a B3 in this situation.

You're welcome...

[Sherry]

That's handy to know! Thanks

[bitbyter]

Thanks lumene, the guy at the CFIA did mention that more than a single box of prey may cause them to give you a hassel but I didn't think to mention that. I should be doing this in the next month or so. I'll post my boarder experience here when I do.

[Deleted]

I am about 6 hours from the border, unfortunately! I wish I could do it, as some raw ground providers seems to have a lot of things I'd love to try for my guys!

Guess I got two choices, move closer to the border, or simply keep doing what I'm doing here! hahaha

That info is pretty cool though! I NEVER in my life assumed they'd let raw meat go through!

[Deleted]

If they raise their eyebrows at more than one box of frozen mice - you could just tell them the snakes are really long, but have tiny mouths.

Why not just tell them the frozen rodents are for feeding your ferrets?

[lumene]

The border raises eyebrows about bringing a lot of any animal, dead or alive in one direction or another.

If people in Canada ask me, I can find rodent breeders for you.

In BC and Ontario there is:
www.coasttocoastmice.ca/

Also in BC is Annies Rodents
www.annies-rodents.com/

(I only know the because I use them a lot, despite Annie's dislike of me, if she knew I was a paying customer she'd flip her lid).

[goingpostal]

My worry would be the border people giving you a hard time, probably good to have that printed out, I know ours tend to be dicks, I live in the US but right on a border crossing, one of my jobs we got all sorts of random stuff left behind and at my post office job we saw lots of people mailing stuff home. But I know the pet store here used to sell live mice, fish, crickets, etc to Canadians. It is good to know since I sometimes sell feeders.

[lumene]

If you bring more than one box over they might think you're a breeder. Breeders need permits to bring anything over the border (something about selling American goods in Canada... la dee da)

[bitbyter]

Hello everyone,

I finally got the time to start their transition to raw / whole prey and sent off an order to Rodentpro. My order shipped on July 10th at 12:03 pm and arrive at my Kinek drop point (UPS Store in Lewiston New York) at 11:54 am July 12th. I drove down and just came back so all in all not quite 48 hrs round trip from the packer.

First off, I was surprised to not be picking up a styrofoam container but a plain cardboard box.



At the boarder I had abosolutely no issues except that I had been in the U.S. such a short time they made me pay taxes on my purchase (grrr). Once home I figured I'd photograph the unboxing for everyone here.

The box was not taped but industrially stapled closed. HOLY CRAP are those staples hard to get out. 20 minutes later here is the opened box



Two layers of what looks like plastic wrapped fiberglass insulation (but it could be anything, I may write them and ask).



Brown paper bag full of dry ice. Everything was still absolutely frozen solid after 48hrs on the road. I think I could have waited until the weekend to pick it up if I had to (another 2 days).



My rabbits (larger than I expected, I'll most likely have to quarter them)



My mice, chicks, rat pups and just at the bottom you can see the guinea pigs



Bar sized freezer in the Ferret Room with Rodentpro order and various frankenprey





All in all it was a painless boarder crossing and once I figure out the cost after gas, shipping, and taxes, I'll let you know if there were any savings when compared to Canadian suppliers pricing.