Update and Questions

[MayMay]

Well, we've had May May for several months now and she's definitely a member of the family! When we bought her she was only eating seeds and had ratty black-tipped feathers all over her wings. Now we have her on pellets and chop and all her black-tipped feathers have been replaced by pretty green ones. All in all she's a happy bird.

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Question 1: She will not poop in the morning until her cage is uncovered. Fortunately my husband is usually up early to uncover her but there are mornings where we're woken up by her squawking and as soon as we uncover her, PLOP, the biggest poop ever instantly comes out. I've read of some birds being potty trained (which we have not), and any other time during the day she just goes whenever she has to, but that morning poop apparently can't be done while under cover. Is that normal?

Question 2: We are planning to travel 500 miles by car (1 day in the car) for Thanksgiving and bring her with us. We plan to get a travel cage for the car and bring her bigger cage with us (we'll be staying at my parents' for a week). Anything we should do ahead of time to prepare her/us for this?

 

[weco]

As prey animals, parrots hold their presentations until daylight, so apparently MayMay considers the cage covering as still being sleep time and subsequently waits until you uncover the cage to make it daylight.....

While none of my guys have ever had a problem traveling by car, truck or van and actually they're ready to go if I ask them if they want to go for a ride, but you can take MayMay or short trips to the grocery store and/or other quick trips.....on long trips I put a few grapes, apple slices & orange slices in their cage for food/snacks & moisture.....when you stop for breaks/fuel/food, you can offer food and/or water.....some people like to cover their traveling birds, but mine ride just fine being able to look out & watch the scenery go by.....

Enjoy your trip.....

 

[veimar]

About question #1 - my gcc always throws out a GIANT poop in the morning as soon as he comes out from behind his curtain (he completely cage free). And he did the same when he slept in the cage. I think it's totally normal.
I haven't traveled with my gcc more than two hours, so I really dunno about a long trip. Maybe if you stop every few hours and take her out would help. Parry loves spending time in restaurants and shops with us, but now he flies too well to do that.

 

[MayMay]

Thank you both! I figured her *habit* was probably nothing to be concerned about. It just baffled me a bit. I will make sure we take her on some shorter car outings prior to our trip. We will be stopping every couple hours (we have two kids) so hopefully she will hang in there ok.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Pritti rode cross country twice by car. He was n a nice sized cage and would get frequent out time. The main thing I can think of is what will u put inside the cage. Hanging toys will be vibrating and moving pretty much anytime the car is moving. So consider using toys and accessories that can be secured to the side walls of the cage. Couple of perches. I would include one comfort type, lke rope. And a snuggly of some type.

 

[MayMay]

Good things to think about. May May will probably end up going across the country a few times in her life so she's gotta get used to being on the road at some point.

 

[mh434]

Our Conure loves to go for rides in the car, boat, motorhome etc. of course, he's a lot like a dog - no matter what you do with him, his response is usually "Oh boy, my favorite!"

We never cover him at night, and have never found it necessary (the Lovies, though, are another matter!). And he poops whenever he feels like it.

 

[JamesC]

All 3 of my fids hold it during the night and let loose big ones once I'm up and they get out of their cages. Tootsie sometimes holds it during the day until I come home.

Tootsie has made long cross country drives with me several times with no issues. A bit of upset at the start of the drive but after 15 to 30 minutes she settled down. It helped that I put a finger into her travel cage for her to grab onto with her beak.

The last long cross country was a 3 day drive with all three birds. All of them did well. I could not get them out too much cause I had a small Chevy S-10 extended cab and Tootsie & Rosco's travel cages were smooshed in the back. I supported their travel cages with pillows and such to minimize shocks as much as possible. The truck didn't have the smoothest suspension and a couple of roads I ended up on were brutal. Sidney was up front with me and he seemed to enjoy it most of the time. I liked to partially cover their cages so that they had a place to retreat if the sun was shining into the vehicle and they wanted some cover. Every time I stopped for a break I would refresh water and give treats and get my hand into their cages for scritching if they desired it. Had the hardest time keeping Sidney from chewing on the seat belt that I used to secure his cage from moving around. Little brat!

Although I let Sid out a couple of times while driving, I would recommend leaving your bird in the cage. One of the times Sid was contentedly sitting on my leg and we hit a bump and he fell off into the pedal area. Fortunately in no danger. I realized that there was a chance of bad things happening with him loose in the truck. I imagined him behind the brake pedal and being faced with the choice of hitting a car in front of me or squishing the bird by hitting the brake. Not worth the risk even if he did like being out.

 

[MayMay]

Great info, JamesC. Thank you