If you are despatching live yabbies and they need to be alive at the other end and stay alive long after receipt then the packaging of those yabbies is critical for success transport. There are a number of different methods, this is just one way. These are the critical steps you will need to follow to ensure successful live transportation of smaller yabbies like bait or dam stock yabbies:
Regardless of the size, yabbies need to be purged and healthy before they are packaged. They need to be purged for around 3 days to ensure the waste line (intestines) is clear and free of food. Just like the previous packaging article, this is important for restaurant supplies but also important for aquarium, bait or dam stock yabbies as a purged gut will ensure that the transport box of crayfish is not contaminated with wastes.
You will need one and a half sheets of chill wrap. Chill wrap gel sheets are cut in half and stacked one on top of the other.
You will need bubble wrap
You do not want your live yabbies to come in direct contact with the frozen gel packs. We use bubble wrap to cover/wrap the gel packs. This helps retain the gel packs temperature and stops the yabbies coming in direct contact with the frozen gel. We cut the strips of bubble wrap and keep it in the freezer with the gel packs so it’s cold when ready for packaging. Wrap the gel sheets and secure with some brown packaging tape.
For smaller yabbies like dam stock and bait we use wood wool as a packaging material. Wood wool is an entirely natural product manufactured mainly from plantation timber. Its natural, food grade and environmentally friendly. It can be reused or thrown into the dam with your dam stock or used in your wood heater.
The wood wool needs to be soaked in water. Ideally for 2 weeks or at least 3-4 days to ensure it is fully soaked and absorbed all the water it ever will.
We just freeze up half a take away container of water in the freezer and use that as an ice brick for packaging.
Dam stock and bait packed this way should have over 98% survival over a 48 hour period. We always add 5% extra to ensure the customer receives 100% of what they paid for.
If you need more information on the commercial farming and selling of yabbies, then I recommend you purchase a commercial yabby farmer book. This will tell you all you need to know.
If you wish to stock your own dams – we sell dam stock yabbies via our sister company Austsilvers.
Habby yabbying
Rob McCormack