Did not quarantine!!!!

Well, I have a bit of a mess...maybe a really serious mess. Please advise me, those of you with experience in this area.

As some of you know, I recently lost my beloved 20 year old conure, Sam. I was overseas at the time working and my husband, feeling guilty about Sam's death on his watch, decided to "replace her" immediately so that I would not come home to an empty cage. Without asking me, he found and purchased a Crimson Bellied Conure. I returned a week later to find her instead of Sam. You can imagine my grief. Antoinette especially helped me through a pretty rough time.

Meantime, it is not the new bird's fault and I have used free moments and taken a couple of days off to socialize this baby and she is coming along fine. Her name is Gem and she is going to be a sweet little addition to our insane houshold of extended family, two languages, two teens (and all their many friends!!!) two dogs, two cats, two horses, two ducks (outside!) and two senior citizen (14 and 15 year old) parakeets.

Here is the problem. I am at work. I get a page from my husband. The sweet idiot has now taken a GCC (he says four weeks hatched but that can't be right??!) from a local petstore. Apparently he contacted them after Sam was killed and they said they would get him one. Then he found the CBB and forgot that he had approached the pet store owner. So this morning, they call, he goes, sees a bird that looks like Sam and brings him/her home AND PUTS IT RIGHT INTO GEM'S CAGE! He called me five minutes ago and told me what he had done. The two birds have been together all day, apparently. I didn't tell him to remove either bird because, honestly, I don't have a second conure cage. I could move the keets to a smaller cage and put the GCC in there tonight (the keets live in a conure size cage) but MIsha is not able to do all that on his own as only I handle the keets.

So, folks please weigh in. Do I leave them together now that the harm has been done? Do I separate them and enforce a normal 30 day quarantine? Do I get a divorce? (Just kidding on the last one. I have been married to the guy for 21 years and should have anticipated such a bonehead move from my brilliant but common sense challenged engineer of a husband.)

I intend to contact the local petstore and try to get info about the little GCC, but am not going to able to do that for a bit as I have used my short sanity break today to send this thread. I will not be home for about 5 hours as I am teaching a class tonight, so these birds will have been together for something like 11 hours. Opinions please???
Barbara

How can you be mad when he did something so sweet, albeit, boneheaded?

Personally, I'd spearate them....just in case. I only say this because maybe length of contact has something to do with any transmitted diseases. However - since I'm not a vet or expert in anyway, I may not know what I'm talking about

Awh I hope someone with more expertise can help you out Although I must say How lucky you are.....all my boyfriend says is "No more pets when we move in together" lol

First of all congrats. on your new birds. This will help in your healing process. If it were me, I would take both birds to an avain vet to rule out any diseases. If they both get a clean bill of health and the vet thinks it would be ok to put in same cage then by all means do so. Sounds like your engineer spouse needs some avain education now that you have 2 birds. Good Luck.

Thanks, everyone for the quick feedback. I am not mad-- just frustrated that, try as I might, my guy just doesn't get the idea of quarantine. I tried to explain the risks when I got back to country and found new bird in Sam's space. Even though the cage is in another room from Sky and Merry, the old and fragile keets, he was going from one room to the other changing water, cleaning dishes, putting in treats, etc, without washing hands or sterilizing anything at all. I thought he had it clear after that, but when I began sputtering today about him slipping in the new conure, he replied plaintively, "but they are the same kind of bird."

I did take Gem to vet as soon as I got home from Copenhagen, but that was four days post her arrival in our home. She checked out fine and came from a breeder with no history of infectious disease. (I checked!) She has been fine since and has not seemed ill in any way. Neither my old keets. I made an appointment today for the new GCC, but that won't be until Friday (first avain slot available.)

So, in meantime, do you all agree that best response would be to 1) stay married to my well-meaning, space cadet of a spouse and keep trying to explain the avain 10 commandments in English and Russian, 2) Separate birds tonight and introduce state of quarantine at least until next Friday's vet check and perhaps for the full 30 day?

Finally, on top of all this, now I have two babies to socialize. I have only done rescues up to now. Had conures since I was a kid, but only one at a time and always started with adults. I am on a real learning curve here!
Barbara

Barbara

bogo1 said:

1) stay married to my well-meaning, space cadet of a spouse and keep trying to explain the avain 10 commandments in English and Russian,
Barbara

Click to expand...

I bet they sound better in Russian.

Since your new bird came from a pet store it would be more likely to have diseases then if it had come from a private breeder due to the exposure. I would do the quarantine just for sheer peace of mind. I would also have your husband read up on how to do this so that he understands. You take care of your resident birds first and then the new birds. In between is handwashing, changing of shoes, and wear some kind of coverup. I am giving you a link for your spouse to read. Please have confidence in your self, we are here to help you.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6040918_quarantine-new-pet-bird.html

Again, many thanks. Well I got home and met the new Sam. She seems very young indeed. I was too late home to reach pet shop to find out age and if bird needed special feeding. Unlike Gem it appears that Sam has been hand raised as I was instantly able to handle her. I also received a call from my vet on my drive home. He asked me to call tonight if the new bird seemed ill in any way (as this was before I had reached home to evaluate situation) and if so he would jam my whole flock into his schedule tomorrow. Now that I have seen the GCC she looks okay if young. She is eating willingly and drinking fine but also goes to Jen for feeding. Jen touches beaks with her but doesn't regurgitate food. So when I called Alan back he said at this point he would let the conures remain together as the "new birds" but he wanted us to maintain the quarantine to protect my old budgies. So after getting that word I told Misha and kids to leave my old keets be and that I alone would care for them for next month. This way I can maintain the quarantine. I know my keets are healthy even if pretty old so I will work from them to the conures and change to work clothes in between. And the reverse at end of day. So all, thanks for advice, encouragement and marriage counseling. And thanks to the parrot forums for bringing you all together. Don't know how I managed without you all these years!
Barbara

No divorce! Give him a slap and a kiss from me!
Definitely separate the babies. Better safe then sorry. Is the GCC weaned? I would definitely call the store in the morning for more info. Get a vet check on the new baby.
Congrats by the way!

Hi Barbara, well I guess its not the end of the world, since they've been in close contact you might as well keep them together and quarantine both as though you were starting from scratch, I agree with others get them vet checked and keep them away from your budgies till the quarantine period is over, congrats on the new fids and good luck the rest of the way

Gem(CBC) checked out fine with vet when I had her checked out last week after I got back home. I have appointment for SAM(GCC) on Friday but Alan would see her earlier if we have emergency. Pet store opens at 9am tomorrow so I will find out the weaning status of Sam. I can't imagine that they would just hand over an unweaned baby to my clearly novice husband. That said this bird is trying to get Gem to feed her. She is also eating pellet food and drinking and a monitored her long enough to check droppings which seemed appropriate. I will find out in morning for sure and adjust accordingly. Again thanks. You are great.

Got paged in middle of night here so after resolving that shined my phone light into cage to check on Gem and Sam. They are a ball of feathers crowded together on the snuggly and seem very content andpeaceful. Pretty cute.

Congratulations on your new additions. It is so nice that they like each other and I am sure after seeing them snuggling together it will be very hard to separate them. I'll just keep them away from the other pets and leave them together - very cute.


How about some photos?

Sounds like Mother Nature made the decision for you. If you can take some photos we would love to see them.

Okay all, so far so good. No one is sick or battered and Misha and I are still married!

We are maintaining the quarantine separating the new young conures from the cranky old keets and so far, no mutinies from Avians, teens or Russian subversive elements (my opinionated character of a mother-in-law ). The babies are acculturating well to our crazy home and seem to be easygoing types. Both are sitting on a shoulder now as I write this and I am learning to treasure them even as my grief for Sam is still a dark place at times. But I must admit my husband knows me well. If I had come back to Sam's empty cage and nothing to distract me from the loss of my 21 year feathered friend I would have cleaned the cage and put it out of sight. This way I have been forced to get my avian act together regardless of jet lag and loss to care for Gem and the little Sammy and the guilt and selfpity has had to get set aside. So thanks all for guidance and humor and for your long distance expertise!
Barbara

Hey Barbara, glad to hear things are going well so far and Ummm the play by play description is great, but we'd REALLY like some pics if possible

Okay how do I do pictures. I have a bunch on phone but don't know how to get them on forum. Do I have to get them into computer first?? I am writing now from a Droid and don't normally use computer when on forum but could tomorrow as I am taking a day off. How do I put pictures up?
Barbara