Maineiacjay
New member
- Nov 11, 2013
- 11
- 0
- Parrots
- Hahns Macaw (Berlin), Sun Conure (Skittles), RIP Connor (Black Cap Conure)
I didnt actually realize there was a section for this... its a little late, but i wanted to post in hopes that others can learn from the mistake that cost me by goofy boy a few months ago...
i have always loved animals and had a great connection with nearly any animal in my care. when i was young, my mom went to the pet store to get me a ferret. the employee pulled out a young male that promptly bit my mom, hard. the employee apologized and went to take the ferret back but my mom, knowing nobody would buy a bitey ferret, told her she would take him. this was Rascal, and he lived 10 happy years in my care, the only person he wouldnt bite!
i have a zoo now, with my husband in our new house. we have the birds, a rescued ferret, a chinchilla, a turtle, 3 cats, 4 fish tanks and 2 dogs. one is a husky, the other is a german show/work rottweiler all the way from Nebraska. this dog has intense drives, prey and toy.
i bought Connor, a black cap conure, 3 years ago, he was the most cuddly little bird id ever seen. i honestly wasnt very interested in owning birds, but i had nothing against them, they just didnt seem very interesting, just loud.. but a friend of mine on a forum owned and bred conures and was constantly posting photos of her birds and stories. so when i saw Connor at the pet store, i decided to get him. i spent almost $1,000 on him, the cage, the best food, toys, perches, everything i needed and everything he could ever want.
3 years i had him and he was a great companion. a couple years later, i got my then boyfriend interested in birds and one day, we went out to find him his perfect bird. at the 3rd pet shop, we found a sun conure that i fell in love with. id never actually encountered a friendly sunny (no lie). my then boyfriend bought her for me. 2 more stores and we found him a jenday.
between the 3 birds (the jenday was stolen by my husbands parents shortly after his purchase), we went probably once a month to get their wings clipped and toenails clipped. but after we got engaged and bought a house, i decided i didnt want to clip my birds wings anymore since we had the plan to give them the spare bedroom, now referred to as the "bird room".
for 5 or so months, the birds had their separate cages. they were opened during the day and closed at night. the door to the room was always shut to keep the other animals out. the room itself was bird-proofed and safe. then, i started keeping the cage doors open at night. they werent getting into anything and they always put themselves to bed once the sun went down anyways. i didnt see the harm in it...
now, my husky is an inside/outside dog. he is an escape artist and has escaped every crate hes ever been in and will destroy the house until we let him outside (he really cant stand being inside for more than a few hours). my rottie on the other hand, cant stand the outdoors, so she is inside at night in a metal crate. however, my husky has taught her how to escape the crate, so we wired it up, all around the edges, and used metal clips on the door (4 of them). but after 5 months of not trying to escape the crate (this is her bed, she is in there even if the door is wide open), we thought, why not try and leave the clips off? and we did, for a couple months, no issue.
then Connor discovered a small gap under the bird room door. i still cant believe he fit under the door. we woke one morning to him calling to us from the kitchen, 2 rooms away from the bird room. my rotties crate was around the corner and when we came out, she was sleeping, not caring about the bird close by.
we stupidly waved the issue off. my cats are terrified of the birds and wouldnt touch it, and xee had no reaction to him when he got out, if he even tried it again. we arent sure what made him decide to come find us that morning...
but connor DID do it again, and it would be his last time. my hsuband got up for work before me as always. he woke me up with a sad look on his face. he said there were feathers all over the floor and Xamira (rottie) was out of her cage. i jumped up and went to the spot with the feathers. they were everywhere, so many feathers, i knew there was just no way he could not be dead, but there was that small hope that maybe there was a chance. maybe he crawled under the chair? i even followed some drops of blood into the laundry room where i thought maybe he could have gotten around the washer and out of harms reach... but he wasnt of course... he wasnt anywhere... i sadly cleaned up the feathers, mopped the blood.... i knew where he was and what happened, but i couldnt think about it, it was heartbreaking. i found the red feathers from his wings and a part of his beak in my dogs crate... that was the worst, i think my heart skipped a beat. i had a hard time cleaning everything up without sitting down to sob.
i will always blame myself for what happened to Connor, there really is so much i could have done differently. when he got out that first time, i should have patched the gap under the door and put those clips back on my dogs door. i cant blame her, she was bred with high drives, i knew this, i *requested* it. i didnt do any of this and Connor paid the price.
the lesson from this? make sure your birds cannot get out. my birds are locked in their cages at night, the gap in the door is no longer, and even though my rottie is making no attempt at escape, those clips are on her door every night. watch your birds and keep them safe. accidents happen, but most are preventable. i hope this story helps others through their tragedy and helps prevent something similar from happening.
fly high Connor!
sorry for the length..
i have always loved animals and had a great connection with nearly any animal in my care. when i was young, my mom went to the pet store to get me a ferret. the employee pulled out a young male that promptly bit my mom, hard. the employee apologized and went to take the ferret back but my mom, knowing nobody would buy a bitey ferret, told her she would take him. this was Rascal, and he lived 10 happy years in my care, the only person he wouldnt bite!
i have a zoo now, with my husband in our new house. we have the birds, a rescued ferret, a chinchilla, a turtle, 3 cats, 4 fish tanks and 2 dogs. one is a husky, the other is a german show/work rottweiler all the way from Nebraska. this dog has intense drives, prey and toy.
i bought Connor, a black cap conure, 3 years ago, he was the most cuddly little bird id ever seen. i honestly wasnt very interested in owning birds, but i had nothing against them, they just didnt seem very interesting, just loud.. but a friend of mine on a forum owned and bred conures and was constantly posting photos of her birds and stories. so when i saw Connor at the pet store, i decided to get him. i spent almost $1,000 on him, the cage, the best food, toys, perches, everything i needed and everything he could ever want.
3 years i had him and he was a great companion. a couple years later, i got my then boyfriend interested in birds and one day, we went out to find him his perfect bird. at the 3rd pet shop, we found a sun conure that i fell in love with. id never actually encountered a friendly sunny (no lie). my then boyfriend bought her for me. 2 more stores and we found him a jenday.
between the 3 birds (the jenday was stolen by my husbands parents shortly after his purchase), we went probably once a month to get their wings clipped and toenails clipped. but after we got engaged and bought a house, i decided i didnt want to clip my birds wings anymore since we had the plan to give them the spare bedroom, now referred to as the "bird room".
for 5 or so months, the birds had their separate cages. they were opened during the day and closed at night. the door to the room was always shut to keep the other animals out. the room itself was bird-proofed and safe. then, i started keeping the cage doors open at night. they werent getting into anything and they always put themselves to bed once the sun went down anyways. i didnt see the harm in it...
now, my husky is an inside/outside dog. he is an escape artist and has escaped every crate hes ever been in and will destroy the house until we let him outside (he really cant stand being inside for more than a few hours). my rottie on the other hand, cant stand the outdoors, so she is inside at night in a metal crate. however, my husky has taught her how to escape the crate, so we wired it up, all around the edges, and used metal clips on the door (4 of them). but after 5 months of not trying to escape the crate (this is her bed, she is in there even if the door is wide open), we thought, why not try and leave the clips off? and we did, for a couple months, no issue.
then Connor discovered a small gap under the bird room door. i still cant believe he fit under the door. we woke one morning to him calling to us from the kitchen, 2 rooms away from the bird room. my rotties crate was around the corner and when we came out, she was sleeping, not caring about the bird close by.
we stupidly waved the issue off. my cats are terrified of the birds and wouldnt touch it, and xee had no reaction to him when he got out, if he even tried it again. we arent sure what made him decide to come find us that morning...
but connor DID do it again, and it would be his last time. my hsuband got up for work before me as always. he woke me up with a sad look on his face. he said there were feathers all over the floor and Xamira (rottie) was out of her cage. i jumped up and went to the spot with the feathers. they were everywhere, so many feathers, i knew there was just no way he could not be dead, but there was that small hope that maybe there was a chance. maybe he crawled under the chair? i even followed some drops of blood into the laundry room where i thought maybe he could have gotten around the washer and out of harms reach... but he wasnt of course... he wasnt anywhere... i sadly cleaned up the feathers, mopped the blood.... i knew where he was and what happened, but i couldnt think about it, it was heartbreaking. i found the red feathers from his wings and a part of his beak in my dogs crate... that was the worst, i think my heart skipped a beat. i had a hard time cleaning everything up without sitting down to sob.
i will always blame myself for what happened to Connor, there really is so much i could have done differently. when he got out that first time, i should have patched the gap under the door and put those clips back on my dogs door. i cant blame her, she was bred with high drives, i knew this, i *requested* it. i didnt do any of this and Connor paid the price.
the lesson from this? make sure your birds cannot get out. my birds are locked in their cages at night, the gap in the door is no longer, and even though my rottie is making no attempt at escape, those clips are on her door every night. watch your birds and keep them safe. accidents happen, but most are preventable. i hope this story helps others through their tragedy and helps prevent something similar from happening.
fly high Connor!
sorry for the length..
