Bringing Home Baby!

[JLambert]

Well, I made my first post today about my impatient wait for our baby GCC, and just got the email that he/she is ready for pickup!

I can't wait to share pictures and updates. I have a travel cage ready to go and will be picking him up tomorrow, the aviary is about 2 hours away. Any tips for travel, as far as keeping him comfortable?

Any other tips? When we brought our other conure home he was a little older, so we didn't have any issues with him reverting back to wanting to be handfed like we did recently with our Tiel. I have Roudybush on hand and also Goldenfeast, which is what he's been weaned onto at the aviary. His cage is ready to go, should I take out the bottom grate in case he wants to forage? I don't know if conures are like Tiels in this way.

 

[ZephyrFly]

For traveling talk to him softly on the journey (low radio too for some background noise.

As for grate, I've never heard of removing the grate for foraging and I personally wouldn't. They poop and the grate is there so they are separate from the poop and the paper that catches the poop.

 

[TacoNTiki]

Congrats on your new baby, and so sorry to hear about your loss. We would be devastated too. In fact I am always worrying about such accidents... They are sooo little and fragile. I am even afraid of dropping anything heavy on them.

I prefer the grate in the cage. And I may be wrong, but I don't think conures forage like tiels do. We have a tiel too and leave the grate in her cage. We have a shallow dish on the grate that we put her seeds on. She forages off the dish, as well as her harrisons in a separate food dish (so I can keep track how much harrisons she actually eats.

Kiwi is a cute name. Can't wait to see pics.

 

[rosembers]

What a joy! You are going to love that lil baby!! You probably want to keep the grate. GCC's definitely forage around on the bottom of the cage and if they ingest feces that will naturally be there, it could make them sick or give them high levels of bacteria. Conures get into EVERYTHING!! One thing about transporting birds, is to make sure they don't have any heavy toys inside their transport cage (as they can easily flop around from side to side from slight car movements and can bump your bird and harm them).

 

[JLambert]

She did great on the ride home and thanks for the advice about the grate! I left it in and she found her food and water bowls quickly and easily. I'm at work and can't access photobucket, but will update with pictures this afternoon.

Also, any thoughts as to how long it will take her nails to grow back out? The breeder (sweetest lady ever, by the way) trimmed her nails before we got her. Unfortunately, they were cut a little too short because she is having a hard time holding onto things. I feel so bad for her and am anxious for her to be able to grip correctly again.

I was planning to let her rest in her cage some when we got home with her but she kept coming to the door and quacking, so of course we ended up playing with her most of the evening. She's a sweet little thing, she already loves scritches and seems to be a quick learner, already doing well with 'Step Up'. She is extremely curious about food which is great, our other conure seemed to be scared of new food so it was hard to find treats for him. I think she is going to fit right in, the kids love her and even my husband who calls me 'crazy bird lady' was cuddling her by nightfall.

 

[JLambert]

Here she is! With my oldest daughter and on the car ride home. She's such a little monkey and so sweet already. She quacks after me when I leave the room and kept hopping off the chair to run to my husband. Such a love!

 

[Terry57]

Awww, Kiwi and your daughter are both adorable!! How is Kiwi settling in now?
Congrats on your new addition to your family

 

[JLambert]

Awww, Kiwi and your daughter are both adorable!! How is Kiwi settling in now?
Congrats on your new addition to your family

Thank you! I'll have to get a picture with her and the other two at some point.

She seems to be settling in well. She is way more curious and less scaredy cat than our last GCC. I let my son hold her while he was eating breakfast and she leaned over to look at his cereal, then jumped right in the middle of the bowl! I wish I had gotten a picture, it was hilarious. She dipped her head into the milk and just looked so confused. We are working on pressure control with her nibbles because she is super nibbly! She seems to be learning really quickly. She's eating like a champ, even sharing my scrambled eggs this morning. She's currently snuggled up in my hair asleep, so I'd say she seems pretty happy!

 

[GreatBlue320]

She's adorable! Congratulation!