Hi everyone. I'm a brand new Eclectus owner. Our family adopted Echo, a 10 month old male, 10 days ago. I've had birds before, but this is my first parrot. He seems to be settling in nicely. I took him to an avian vet first thing, and the vet found evidence of infection, protein deficiency, vitamin deficiency, and lots of stress bars on his feathers. He just had his last round of antibiotics/antifungals today. Starting probiotics today. He acts like he feels a lot better now. We've upgraded his perches (his too small cage came with a dowel and a sandpaper perch) and water bottle, added a sun lamp, added a heat lamp for his recovery period, and we transitioned him to a better diet. We just bought a big cage this weekend off of craigslist, and I'll be sanitizing and setting that up today.
So, now my questions. We are leaving next weekend for a 9 day vacation. We will be traveling in our motorhome, and once we're at our destination we'll be spending our time between our motorhome (sleeping and breakfast), my dad's house, and some "out and about" during the day. We would like to take Echo with us. We would have him in the motorhome with us at night and at my dad's house during the day. I'm thinking of using a 24wx18dx19h crate, and moving that from motorhome to house each day. He would be able to come out of the cage for at least a few hours each day when we're home. Is this reasonable given the fact that he's so new? I certainly don't want to stress him unnecessarily. What about cage size... can he stay in a cage that small for 9 days (the cage he came in is 24wx22dx34h).
We will have a house sitter at our home while we're gone, but she and her kids aren't really comfortable with parrots. I'm torn as to which is the lesser evil: leaving him in his relatively new, but becoming familiar, surroundings with unfamiliar people and no opportunity for interaction/out time... Or carrying him with us in unfamiliar surroundings, but with his relatively new, becoming familiar (he does get excited when he sees us most of the time) family.
Thanks in advance!
Lauren
So, now my questions. We are leaving next weekend for a 9 day vacation. We will be traveling in our motorhome, and once we're at our destination we'll be spending our time between our motorhome (sleeping and breakfast), my dad's house, and some "out and about" during the day. We would like to take Echo with us. We would have him in the motorhome with us at night and at my dad's house during the day. I'm thinking of using a 24wx18dx19h crate, and moving that from motorhome to house each day. He would be able to come out of the cage for at least a few hours each day when we're home. Is this reasonable given the fact that he's so new? I certainly don't want to stress him unnecessarily. What about cage size... can he stay in a cage that small for 9 days (the cage he came in is 24wx22dx34h).
We will have a house sitter at our home while we're gone, but she and her kids aren't really comfortable with parrots. I'm torn as to which is the lesser evil: leaving him in his relatively new, but becoming familiar, surroundings with unfamiliar people and no opportunity for interaction/out time... Or carrying him with us in unfamiliar surroundings, but with his relatively new, becoming familiar (he does get excited when he sees us most of the time) family.
Thanks in advance!
Lauren
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