caique travel

[Julianna]

I saw that ShaunaR posted a question about camping, but I was wondering what your experiences have been traveling with caiques. I'm planning on taking Pippi with us on a family vacation this August, and I'm trying to get everthing figured out early. A few questions: Do they get scared by the new surroundings at all or are they just curious? Did they seem stressed by the trip? What did you do to prepare them for the trip? How did they do with being away from the regular routine and home?

I purchased a parrot hotel today (aka a budgie cage ), and Pippi is warming up to it quickly. Does this seem like a good travel cage? I was a bit worried about it not holding up since it's made for a much smaller bird, but I figured I'd just use zip ties or c-clips to hold doors shut if she figured out how to open them.

Any personal experiences, advice, or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[ParkersMom]

I'll let you know next week. We are leaving in the am for a 15 hour car ride to South Dakota. It will be our first trip with Juno. She is pretty laid back so I think she will do fine.

 

[ParkersMom]

We are taking her in a cat carrier with perches attached and bringing a separate cage for her while she is there.

 

[Feu]

Huginn has taken 10-11 hour trips to my parents' house as well as recently taken an eight hour plane flight across the country when we moved in May. Truth be told, ours is a unique situation because I'm the only person I've ever heard of with a car sick parrot. Really though, as long as it's not a lot of starting and stopping, he does great! He's always really curious and has never shown any sign of agitation or anxiety. I was worried about the airports - my two cats were done with the whole thing 20 minutes in, but he took on the attitude of "I'm going on an adventure!" all the way to his new home. We've trained him for a harness, so in the layover airport he even took the time to come out and entertain a little girl who spotted him.

All in all, the biggest trouble my husband and I have ever had was on short trips (like to the vet) when Hu threw up from the red light stopping, and on longer trips when people kept stopping us to ask about him while we were hurrying to our next gate. He's been an absolute pleasure, and I doubt you'll have any problems.

 

[Jowelbg]

Bunsen & Beaker love to travel. We've only taken day trips, though.

They do get carsick like Huginn. We put a orb in their travel cage, and that absorbs some of the sudden stops, starts, and turns. It helped, but it hasn't eliminated the problem. Feu, have you had any problems with dehydration? I'm always worried about that with vomiting.

My one concern with budgie cage would be the bar diameter. Does Pippi chew on bars at all?

 

[Julianna]

Pippi doesn't chew too much on the bars so long as there are other things to occupy her. I've taken Pippi on day trips several times and she always really enjoyed the car rides, and she certainly never got sick! That's good to keep in mind, though. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Feu]

Feu, have you had any problems with dehydration? I'm always worried about that with vomiting.

We were worried about it on the plane more than in the car, as on long trips he settles down and on short ones we bring a water bottle. He's not had a problem, though - the flight attendants gave us water and a cup for him (and kept coming by to check on us so they could see him again!) and in the car we gave him water whenever we stopped for gas.

I love your parrots' names, by the way!

 

[ShaunaR]

The day you posted this thread we took Pixie out in her Pac o Bird Napsack on about an hour of driving total with another hour at our destination. We went to the hospital where I work so I didn't have her out of her napsack but she was able to interact with the mountain of people looking in at her and she did very well. I can't say enough about the Pac o Bird! As a product it's well made and worth every cent. It's secure enough that Pixie now goes outside gardening with me and on walks with us in the evening without worrying about whether she will get bit by mosquitoes or whether she is comfortable. She travels very safely as it has straps to attach it to my truck's seat belt too. I found so far anyhow that she seems to draw a small crowd wherever we go and she loves the attention, unlike a small dog who would be frightened. We leave on a 3 day camping trip in a couple of weeks so I will update you on what we learn then as well. Goodluck!