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How long is too long of a car ride for a betta?

3K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  bryzy 
#1 ·
I will be going out of town for about 6 weeks and would rather take my Betta to a friend's house who has her own betta and knows how to care for them then have my parents watch the fish. I am sure they would do fine but with two dogs and three cats they will have their hands full. My friend lives about an hour away and about 40 minutes of that is freeway.

Is that too long of a drive for a Betta?
If not what is the best way to transport my betta in the car?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
My girl traveled almost 3 hours in my car in her cup. I kept her in the cup holder and she did just fine. My boy traveled 2 days via mail in a little bag packed in an insulated box. He is fine as well.
 
#3 ·
I was worried about the car jerking him around too much, so I put towels around the cup (not over the top) and placed it in a larger bucket, which I buckled in. If you won't be driving or you'll have a passenger, you could just hold him in his cup and s/he won't get jostled around too much.

I cranked up the heat when I drove with mine, but if you don't want to you could stick a hand warmer between the folds of the towels to keep it a little bit warmer.
 
#4 ·
I transported three bettas six days cross-country in a rickety driving camper....an hour is certainly not too far. xD Your guy should be just fine.

I used the towel method as well with mine(with a bit of a variation, but I like the bucket idea). Since you just have one, you can wrap his cup nice and snug in a towel or two and put him in a smaller box or small plastic tub or something and tuck it down in the back seat or on the floor and that should keep things dark and fairly still.
 
#8 ·
I bought a boy in another city knowing i wouldnt be home for hours. He went to my grandmas where I floated him for a few hours in a heated bowl then wrapped him in towls and put his cup in the bowl. It was january in MN and very cold. We went to the airport a 20min drive. He stayed in the cold car for half an hour then made the hour ride home. He did great.
 
#9 ·
Thanks everyone! My little guy is pretty easy going I just wanted to see what everyone did for transport. He did good in his cup in the cup holder on the way home so i think that method might work best :) I might have my mom riding with me so if she does I'll let her hold him .
 
#10 ·
I'm taking my baby (he's not quite full grown) on a 13 hour car ride in mid-December. I plan on doing the towel/cup/cooler combo...cross your fingers! He's not very easily stressed out anymore since I move his tank to different locations frequently and he almost doesn't get stressed during water changes anymore...but it still makes me a tad nervous since the roads will be bumpy no matter how I drive!
 
#13 ·
I have a question too....If you wrap the cup in a towel, wouldn't you be getting traces of detergent in your tank when you float the cup to acclimate?
 
#14 ·
I wouldn't think so.....unless you use a LOT of strong detergent when you wash your towels I really don't think there should be any/much left on them once they're clean and dried and all that.
I have specific towels I use for my fish, but I wash them just like any other towels. I've wiped down the inside of tanks and patted dry decor after rinsing it with these towels(so it, you know, didn't drip all over the place when I moved it back to the tank)and never had any problems.
 
#15 ·
I have a special "fish towel" that I have for drying my hands before doing a water change or feeding. I just wash it in hot water with extra rinse. But yeah I guess I am pretty paranoid lol. XD
 
#16 ·
Oh I think I have like....three big towels, three or four medium towels, and probably a good six or so small towels I use to wipe things off during water changes/lay out when I'm doing things in the tanks do the water doesn't get all over our hardwood floor. xD I'll just use and hang them to dry a few times and then wash and dry them with the rest of my laundry every once in a while.

I totally know what you mean though. It can definitely be good to be safe rather then sorry.
 
#18 ·
I love how this topic went from traveling to towels, haha. I don't have any special ones for my fishies. Maybe I should?

I got a new betta on Tuesday and he endured the 2 hour drive home in the little cup that he came in. I had posted a thread asking about how to safely transport him too, lol. It was a spur of the moment thing.
 
#19 ·
My favorite thing to do cause of my new car is hold my bettas in my lap. I put the cup between me legs really close to me so there isn't any space on both sides of the cup, but only on 1. I then wrap the side tht has space with a jacket that's in my car.
 
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