The second shipment arrived from amazon, late as the first, and also with about 80-90% of the bugs dead. Fortunately, Amazon refunded me in full for that as well.
I looked into march biological as Torno recommended. Thank you! I was disappointed to see that they were currently out of ladybugs, but I did order some nematodes. Brad, the owner, called me personally soon after I placed my order. He told me I would need to select 2 day shipping to ensure the nematodes arrived alive. We struck up a bit of a conversation and I told him about my amazon ladybug experience and asked him when he would have the ladybugs in, which were listed as being out for the next two weeks. He was kind enough to tell me if I could hold off for 1 week, he would ship me some of his ladybugs along with my nematodes to save on shipping. Pretty cool he got me the ladybugs sooner than 2 weeks, and the customer service was A+. I was a little upset as two day shipping from the pacific northwest to alabama is a little pricey, but was so impressed with the customer service and Brad that I went ahead and did it. I am very glad I did. I counted only 2, yes 2, of the 1,500 ladybugs that had died. The nematodes were deployed to help control fire ants in a shaded bed I want to plant some more green beans in.
In short, if you need any sort of beneficial insects or biological controls, you cannot go wrong with march biological.
http://www.marchbiological.com/