Traveling almost 3000 miles with a female eclectus

[c3honey84]

Hey everyone! I just thought I would share my experience driving from new Jersey to the Florida Keys with Roxy! I know a lot of people are nervous about traveling with their pet bird and decide to board them instead. Well, let me tell you, traveling with Roxy was great!! First of all, I took her to the vet the week before and got a certificate of good health just in case we got stopped by anyone. We left at midnight and I put her in the travel cage and covered it the night before. I put her in the back seat and kept her covered until around 7am. (Keep in mind also that I have a rather large travel cage for her. It's about 24 x 17.) She LOVES the car! She was looking out the window the whole time and making her cute noises. At one point, I even sat in the back seat with her while we were on the road, and I took her out. She just sat on my arm and looked out the window. We drove 14 hours to Savannah, Georgia and stayed in a pet friendly hotel. We left her in the room with the tv on and went to dinner. Came back, went to bed, and got up early again to drive another 13 hours to the keys. She was even more comfortable the second day. She was talking and playing with her toys just like normal. The only thing that was different than our normal road trips was that we could not stop on the way and eat out at any restaurants because we had her in the car, but it was no big deal. Places like Cracker Barrel have take out, so we just ate it in the car. In the keys, we rented a house so we did not have to worry about getting a pet friendly hotel. I fed her every morning, then we went out on our boat, and came back to hang out with her in the afternoon. Then we would go to dinner, hang out with her some more before bed, and then cover her for the night.

I think more people should think about taking their parrots on vacation with them. I am so glad I did, and it honestly went better than I thought it would. We did exactly everything that we would have done if we had gone without her. Just cleaning up after her each day, and feeding her was more than worth the anxiety I would have felt if I had left her with someone or boarded her somewhere. All I'm saying is think about it!

 

[PortaPerch]

Great!

Our first trip after getting Chewbaca, we boarded her for fear of hotel destruction. This time we took her, and it went even better than we hoped.

Greybeard says "Go bye bye" every day now.

PP

 

[parrot14]

Wow that is great! I don't think I brave enough take my fids that far

 

[friedsoup]

Did your fid get to do the Duval crawl ? She wouldn't have been the first one, people there love your bird and want to take pictures of the bird they saw in Key West even if it also is a visitor.

 

[c3honey84]

Did your fid get to do the Duval crawl ? She wouldn't have been the first one, people there love your bird and want to take pictures of the bird they saw in Key West even if it also is a visitor.

Haha! We actually stayed in Marathon, but we visited Key West and she stayed at home. But I always see that umbrella cockatoo who just hangs out on the front porch of that one store on Duval street. Next time I'll have to get her in her harness and bring her!

 

[horsesculpter]

Our Sunny goes everywhere with us including on the boat! [In her case a canoe]. She loves it! She rides between us in the pickup and has seen eight states and about 15,000 miles in two years. Traveling with them is not as hard as people think. Good for you and your baby. It might not be for every bird but the more adventurous love it!

 

[OtterKin]

Quite a trip!
I just drove my cockatiel, linnie, and two budgies from Seattle, WA to Tallahassee, FL in the middle of August. Couldn't have picked a longer distance unless we came from Alaska. I wasn't as nervous about the birds as I was my herd of cavies (guinea pigs)- they can heatstroke very easily. We didn't have the money to stay in hotels, so we rest-stopped it. With extreme diligence, no one (bird or cavy) overheated. They weren't covered at night because it would have been very awkward to do so, but they would go to bed when the sun set and didn't appear fazed by headlights or trucks rumbling. I misted them a few times, but the linnie and budgies weren't amused so I ceased. I don't think they particularly liked it though, primarily if just because they were cooped up for a week. It wasn't safe to let them out in the car, they could get places I couldn't retrieve them without unpacking the car. Beattle (my linnie) took to two-hour screaming fits in which I was ready to make him walk to Florida. He has stopped since we arrived, thank god. The budgies didn't seem to care at all and Alice might have enjoyed it if she could have stuck to us like glue. Everytime we walked away from the car she would call for us, then resume calling when she saw us walking back. This is not her usual mode of operation, I think she was nervous in the environment unless we were there.

So that was my experience!

 

[SunConureMom]

I'm so glad to see that other people travel with their fids. We took ours camping recently and I was a bit nervous about it but I just couldn't bare to board him. He traveled very well and was a joy the whole trip! We had more fun with him than we would have had without him.

 

[mtdoramike]

I wouldn't think twice about it. But I would start out with a few day trips first before that long of a trip. But my male Eclectus and my Senegal LOVE to ride.

 

[Remy]

I traveled a lot with Puck, although not such long distances. My boyfriend lives about 70 miles away from me, and he'd go up every weekend. Puck was (almost) always good, and was generally content to hang out on top of his travel cage (or in if he was sleepy), or on my shoulder. I think he would have done well on a longer trip.