Shipping an Eclectus?????

Please help! I am considering purchasing a Male Eclectus baby (5 months old). It is very difficult to find a breeder near me, I live in Bakersfield, CA so I started looking at options outside of the state. I did find a breeder with beautiful pictures who claims to have been shipping birds for over seventeen years. I am seriously considering this option at the moment but purchasing a bird that I have never met, as well as the possible trauma of the flight and shipping process, makes me nervous. The baby would have about a three hour flight, supposedly in an airline specializing in animal shipments.

Anyone have any thoughts! Please help me out! I am not sure what I should do at the moment. Thank You!

Have you checked out the breeder's rep. and gotten some references to talk to? My first thought on buying site unseen is a scammer. There are many of them in the bird business. I would suggest that you have an avain vet lined up and ask them about the issue of shipping birds. Seems to me it would really stress out a young bird.

Lots of breeders ship parrots. SB made a good point about getting references on the breeder.

The breeder we got our RFM and CAG from ships within the US. When we asked about this she said that some people have backed out of purchases because it can be expensive since she'll only ship birds in good, heavy duty crates than can run almost $100. Shipping can tack on another couple hundred dollars to the cost of a parrot.

anbrownucsd said:

Please help! I am considering purchasing a Male Eclectus baby (5 months old). It is very difficult to find a breeder near me, I live in Bakersfield, CA so I started looking at options outside of the state. I did find a breeder with beautiful pictures who claims to have been shipping birds for over seventeen years. I am seriously considering this option at the moment but purchasing a bird that I have never met, as well as the possible trauma of the flight and shipping process, makes me nervous. The baby would have about a three hour flight, supposedly in an airline specializing in animal shipments.

Anyone have any thoughts! Please help me out! I am not sure what I should do at the moment. Thank You!

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Hi, I ship my young Eclectus if i sell outside my location. Eclectus are tough & cope with travel very well. The last babies i shipped were in their travel box for approx 7 hours. They arrived safe & sound. Airlines ship animals everyday so they do have the experience. I have had to ship birds in from other states myself & they have always arrived in very good condition. Parrots have a wonderful will to survive & are tougher than most give them credit for. They definitely are not fragile.

Talk to the breeder about your concerns & by all means ask heaps of questions about the baby. At 5 months he is of a good age. Ask if he was hand reared or parent reared, the weight of the bird, what foods is he fed, if he is still inside & being socialized or out in an aviary. Make a list. If you are a good judge of character & feel confident that this breeder is a honest person by all means go ahead & get your baby. The breeder should also be willing to give you contacts of their previous clients. Not all breeders are scammers & are very honest people that sell good quality companion parrots.

I hope this is of help.

I just can't believe you can't find any in CA. I've found many Eclectus on classifieds that's in CA. I guess I'm old fashioned, I don't do shipping.... I'm not against breeders that do, definitely not you Pedro, you know I'm on your side. But I prefer driving a distances to pick them up. When I was looking for Moluccans, I was willing to drive 9 hrs there and 9hrs back to pick one up until they back out at the last minute. Until I picked up my Eclectus pair that was pretty close, picked up a new cage along the way so it took 7hrs total to go there and come back. I would really suggest look for breeders in your area if you can cause I have seen MANY breeders in CA. Just google for Eclectus breeder listings.