Moving overseas with a bearded dragon

Our family will be moving overseas from the US to Europe in the near future. I am wondering whether it will be doable to move our Bearded dragon Toothless. She is about 1.5 years old right now.

Is it doable and not overly stressfull to move her?
She would need to get on a plane but not sure how this would exactly work with airplane rules, heating, lighting etc.
We would rather not sell her/give her up for adoption but will do so if that is better for her.

Any experiences from people who have done this or decided against it are welcome.

I would defiantly give the airline you will be using a call. Ask if you're aloud to bring reptiles on board the airplane and if there's any extra fees or anything.
As of lighting goes... the only thing that comes to my mind is a portable generator. Which A: are very expensive on Amazon and B: I don't know if they're aloud on planes; that's another thing I would ask.
They're might be another way but I honestly have no clue.

It would be sorta stressful because she's being transported from a place she's used to and into a new environment and has no idea what's going on but once she gets acclimated she should be fine.
What a gorgeous beardie though. I understand how it feels; I would never want to get rid of mine.. He's like a child to me.

Please keep us updated ^_^

You'll want to check the customs regulations as well as airline regulations. It may not be permitted to import a reptile across the border (I'm not sure) or there may be quarantine requirements etc. I would check on that before making a decision.

It can be a longer flight from the east coast of the USA to the west coast than flying from eastern USA to Europe.
People apparently ship live reptiles successfully from one side of the USA to the other , as live cargo.
I'd be checking out the way specialist reptile shippers package the reptiles they ship , that's going to be your model to follow.

I doubt any airline , especially international is going to allow you to a pet onboard as carryon . No matter how much you pay to do it. The dragon will have to travel separately and go through customs and quaranteen , and you will likely have to wait several weeks for her to be cleared in from quaranteen.

You might also need a keepers' licence to keep her as a pet in the new country too.

I'm going through the same exact scenario, and from my research, there are a couple of options. First, there are different companies that are designed to help people move with pets. While most of the ones I found didn't answer, one did, although they may be quite a bit out of your price range, starting at $3,000 to move from Colorado to Spain, although they do pretty much take care of everything. That was way to expensive for me though, so I decided to take the manual route. Here is a government website with all the rules, regulations, requirements, etc. for bring a pet from the US to a different country: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/take-pet-to-foreign-country
You'll have to check to see if you can bring a beardie into the country you're going to. If you can, the requirements are listed there, which can differ, but I think that most countries, if not all, require you to get a health certificate issued by a USDA Accredited Veterinarian, and then it has to get a USDA endorsement. You'll have to look in your area for a place that does that and also for a vet that is USDA Accredited and accepts reptiles. I think you can just call to ask if they are accredited if it doesn't say so on the website or something. The vet's fees vary, but I think the endorsement is about $40 or something. Then, you'll have to find a way to actually transport the reptile. What I ended up deciding on was the Live Animal Cargo in American Airlines, since that ended up being one of the only options I found, but there are probably other ways too, depending on which country you're moving to. It costs almost $700, but it's cheaper than the $3,000, and it's the cheapest I could find. I haven't actually moved yet, so I don't really have any experience, but this is just what I have found while looking for ways to transport my Marta. I hope this helps and you are able to move with your beardie!

Bare in mind too that if you try to "sneak" the dragon through in the bulk luggage or the carryon allotment and you get caught with by customs at the other end you will be in a lot Inappropriate word removed by Moderatorof trouble and it will likely cost you A LOT MORE than even $3000 in fines and penalties and you will loose the pet dragon and will likely be bounced straight back the USA , you might even have to go to prison.

You are likely moving furniture overseas in the move, as the international removalist what they do , they might have a system in place to transport pets as one of their services.

Thank you all, I’ll check with the airline as well as the pet shipping company we use for our dog to see what we are looking at in terms of permissions and costs.

The pet carrier that moves our dog can actually take her. Delta and KLM don’t accept bearded dragons but Lufthansa does. The additional charge is ’only’ 300 for that. Much less than the 3000 you got quoted martadragon. It comes with the certifications and the necessary.

We work with petaircarrier for that.

Only thing remaining is to find out if it wont be too stressfull for a dragon? And be without heat and light for that time?

Any idea what to transport her in?

Wow that's good news! Do you have an idea about the quarantine time (if any)? If it's just a shipment in cargo I'd pack her in a large insulated box possibly with a reptile heat pack between layers of box. I'd try to imitate the way the shipping companies pack them (or have the shipping company do it).

CooperDragon":3vys1za6 said:

Wow that's good news! Do you have an idea about the quarantine time (if any)? If it's just a shipment in cargo I'd pack her in a large insulated box possibly with a reptile heat pack between layers of box. I'd try to imitate the way the shipping companies pack them (or have the shipping company do it).

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I think it’s just the flight within 24hrs of our flight.
That is just a cardboard box with another slightly smaller inside?
With holes?
Where do I find something like that?

I don't think it needs holes. Here is a guide from ShipYourReptiles which may be helpful https://shipyourreptiles.com/en/get-help/get-help-packaging-live-shipments

We are shipping toothless this weekend.

Final result:
We use a box size 3 from shipyourreptiles, and won't use the heatpack or the plastic cups. We'll use the styrophome sides and fabric breathable bag into the box. The box will get 2 holes on each side. The box will then go into an old dog/ferret crate to make sure people handle it carefully and don't put anything on top etc.

During her transfer in Frankfurt she will go into the animal center and under a heatlamp in the aquarium, they will then put her back in the bag and box.

She will not eat for the 24 hours that we ship her.

Petaircarrier mentioned that they received several requests for bearded dragon shipment suddenly since I posted this and are gratefull for the additional business btw! They have been great along the way.

Costs were only $300 extra, but it was because we were also shipping a dog I think.

I'm glad to hear you have a plan in place and have had a good experience so far! Please keep us posted on the move. Good luck!

Glad to hear that it's going to work out. Make sure the holes that you poke are very small. They actually aren't needed because no cardboard box is airtight. I might add one suggestion, put some crumpled newspaper in the box as well so she doesn't flop or slide around as the cage is jostled. Make sure the pet carrier is not much bigger than the shipping box too so it doesn't move around in the carrier. Looking forward to hearing how it goes but it should be fine !