Going away for the weekend...will Hotrod be okay?

[Hotrod]

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are leaving tonight to go to on a mini-vacation, we are stopping by home before we leave to make sure Hotrod has plenty of food and water before we go. We will be returning Sunday, early evening. I was going to fill up a couple of his bowls with food, and fill his water to the top. Do you guys think he will be okay while we are gone? He is used to getting out every morning for a couple of hours, and a couple hours every evening. He also is in a new cage, so maybe he won't get TOO bored. I have never left him for longer than about 12 hours. I am just wondering if he will be okay, and if anyone else has done this?
Thanks guys!

 

[riddick07]

I have done this with mine. He should be fine! If he doesn't make a mess of his water or use much in a day then a bowl of water for a day or two is okay. He will either be a huge grump when you come back or a huge suck up

 

[crimson]

idk, it makes me nervous to leave him for that amount of time.

we all know that it's not just about the food and water.

Birds can get into a heap of trouble in a second, even in their cage.

You really should get someone in to at least check on him twice daily while your away.

 

[veimar]

Is it about 3 days? Wow, I never left Parry for so long, but I dunno exactly - maybe he would be fine. Usually when I'm gone for the whole day he is very happy when I come back. I was actually planning to buy him a small travel cage and take him with me if it's possible, of course.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Is it about 3 days? Wow, I never left Parry for so long, but I dunno exactly - maybe he would be fine. Usually when I'm gone for the whole day he is very happy when I come back. I was actually planning to buy him a small travel cage and take him with me if it's possible, of course.

Veimar, if you get a travel cage make sure you also get twist-ties to bind the door/ food and water hatches. They can work out how to open those flimsy travel cage doors in an instant and be gone (trust me I know!).

 

[Hotrod]

About two days.. I am going to play with him and have him out for a while this evening before we go. It will be Friday evening through Sunday late afternoon/evening that he will be alone. And of course I would get him out when I got home Sunday. So he would be alone Friday night, all day Saturday, Saturday night, and most of Sunday during the day. So at the MOST, 48 hours of alone time from the time that we leave til the time we get back. The only full day he would be alone would be Satuday.
He has a new cage to keep him busy and interested I am hoping, and we also have a cat who roams the house. With his cage being in the living room, they would at least keep each other company, being able to see and watch each other at times.

 

[Kiwibird]

I would personally not feel comfortable leaving Kiwi more than overnight without someone checking in on him. Beyond food and water, what if he got injured, tangled in a toy, became ill? Also, with Kiwi specifically, he likes to bathe in his water and will nearly empty his dish. If Hotrod decided to do something like that, or flung all his food out because he was upset you left, what would happen? However, it is your choice whether or not you feel comfortable leaving hotrod for that period of time without anyone checking in.

I would have a neighbor, friend or family member "on call" *just in case* you get held up for any reason on your trip who has a key and can come take care of Hotrod. Obviously, no one ever wants to think about a situation arising on vacation, but if it does, you can't just leave him there needing food and water if something were to happen.

 

[Hotrod]

I would personally not feel comfortable leaving Kiwi more than overnight without someone checking in on him. Beyond food and water, what if he got injured, tangled in a toy, became ill? Also, with Kiwi specifically, he likes to bathe in his water and will nearly empty his dish. If Hotrod decided to do something like that, or flung all his food out because he was upset you left, what would happen? However, it is your choice whether or not you feel comfortable leaving hotrod for that period of time without anyone checking in.

I would have a neighbor, friend or family member "on call" *just in case* you get held up for any reason on your trip who has a key and can come take care of Hotrod. Obviously, no one ever wants to think about a situation arising on vacation, but if it does, you can't just leave him there needing food and water if something were to happen.

Thanks so much for the advice. I think my (future) mother-in-law would be able to peak in Saturday just to make sure he seems to be doing okay. With us seeing him later today, and us returning Sunday, I am mainly concerned about him being alone all day Saturday.
He never bathes in his water bowl, and never usually tips his food over...but I never thought of him doing that from being upset that I left. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

It may be good if you found someone, a friend/neighbor, you trust to check on him. And maybe get used to each other (even if not on this trip, but for future trips).
I never left Georgie without someone visiting her at least an hour per day. If she refused to come out, stand and talk to her, eat a meal beside cage, etc. And she still was ticked off and squawked at me when i came home.
Gil has never been left without me. I take him with me.
In any case, your bird "should" be fine, but will most likely be upset with you a little bit. Maybe put a radio on a timer too?

OH YEAH--i'll add this too. Georgie normally had one of my parents checking on her. They would spoil her like mad, giving her french fries, bagel with cream cheese, popeyes chicken....crazy stuff. So you may need to put your foot down with whomever you select as a 'guardian' because people can have different ideas of what is 'ok'

 

[Bundiibird]

A couple of weeks ago we were going away for a couple of days with my family. Now I usually leave Bundii with my mum but she was come along with us.

So I brought these surveillance cameras that I could log into with my smart phone. That was I could see that she was doing fine. I had someone on standby with a key, that if she was in trouble or needed water or food, they could get in to her.

It seems a little extreme but I had piece of mind and she was fine. I was away from Wednesday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

At the end of the day, it's what you are comfortable with. You know your bird best.

 

[TessieB]

I'm a wimp when it comes to leaving my animals. I hire a petsitter for weekend getaways, just in case.....

 

[riddick07]

I'm imagining Folger with some clueless babysitter right now I agree that if you can get someone to check on him thats better but a bird can kill himself even when your away at work or on a run to the grocery store or when you are sitting in the living room so.... that should make you feel so much better:52::54:

I do have a birdsitter though she will be away at college soon enough... I might have to try to train one of the kids I babysit... I already got her into horseback riding. Her parents might kill me soon

 

[RavensGryf]

I've done it for years with Robin, and he's going on 20. He's completely fine, but then he's a pretty roll-with-the-punches type of guy. If you have an individual who's a bit higher maintenance or plucky type of personality, maybe have someone trusted come in to check? It depends on the individual bird I guess, but out of necessity Robin wasn't ever overly babied, and it worked out for us. I hope you had a nice mini-vacation

 

[Hotrod]

Everyone, thank you so much for the advice!
So the weekend is over and here we are at Monday. Little Hotrod was just fine. I zip-tied his food doors so he didn't get bored and try to figure out how to open them. (Don't worry, I didn't cut the zip ties so he wouldn't cut himself) I gave him three bowls of food and three of water. He has never had too much interest in his toys (besides climbing on them) so I was not too worried about him hurting himself. Besides, he couldn't really get hurt with the kinds of toys he has. He is a very happy, content bird, so I wasn't worried about him plucking his own feathers out or anything. When we got him from the previous owner, it didn't even take him time to adjust to our house. (I am sure it did, but what I mean is he was absolutely happy and loved me from the get-go.) So we went on our trip and I told myself that if I got too worried, I could call my fiance's mother to check on him. But I didn't end up doing so, because I decided I knew he would be okay. Besides, I didn't want him creeped out with a stranger coming into our home without us there.
When we got back, he was so tickled to see me! He kept saying "I love you." It was so cute. He still had plenty of food and water. Here's the funny part...
When I went to set my alarm last night, I realized I had never turned it off! And my alarm says in a British accent when it goes off, "Good morning, today is "April 7", the current time is "7:42", the current temperature is "67", have a nice day." I know it will go off for a couple hours nonstop, but I have no idea how many hours! So I guess Hotrod and my cat, Selah, had that keeping them company, lol. I just hope it didn't scare them. I felt really bad about it when I noticed I left on..

 

[veimar]

I'm glad it worked out! Years ago when I was a student I forgot my alarm clock on in my room and left abroad for 3 months. That alarm was super loud and just didn't go off! My neighbors had to call the police to break the door and unplug the alarm.