How to build a perch for the carrier-urgent!

[Morana]

It is settled. Zak is going on Friday morning to the avian vet and will have a full check up. I bought a cat carrier recently and he never saw it or was in it. I cleaned it and put it on the couch and he is not that scared of it but he is scared enough not to come in it voluntarily. I put all his favorite toys and treats in it and on it and they are peeking his interest. Hopefully till Friday he won't be so scared of it. So, I want to ask if you could help me with advices how to, present him the carrier and going inside it, better so he would be minimally scared. Second thing is, I need advice how to make a perch which will be inside the carrier. I am thinking it should be close to the bottom but still high enough so he can grab on to it while inside it. Time is very limited so I would appreciate any comments :-)

 

PS: He has to go this Friday because my vet is going on some trip and won't be back till 15.of March.

 

PPS: he is very, very much scared of the boxes so I'm afraid hell consider this carrier as a box too. Surprisingly he already came closer to this carrier than he would ever come close to a box.

 

Here are the pictures of the carrier:

 

 

 

[judygram]

I don't know what kind of perch you could put in that carrier, you might just have to go with putting a towel in the bottom for him to stand on, put a treat inside and foot toys and let him see you do that, it may encourage him to want to go inside to get it, do that several times until Friday and maybe you won't have such a problem with getting him inside. Maybe someone else has suggestions for what kind of perch you could make for that carrier but it would have to be close to the bottom for him to not hit his head on the top when inside.

[Sherrie]

Im with Judy on that one Morana, I really don't see how you would put a sturdy enough perch in that carrier. There is nothing really to connect it too.. I think just a towel and/or some newspaper would be sufficient really..... as far as getting Zak used to it, I think you're doing pretty much it.. I really don't have a prob with Greyson being freaked out about anything-- When he had his vet appt. I couldn't find a carrier until the nite before his visit, as soon as I got it washed up he was all in it making it his-- I really wish I could find one thing that he is fearful of '''LOL (just kidding") I truly feel blessed!!!

 

But I dont have any experience with the fearfulness that most greys seem to posess-- Im sure someone else can chime in to better answer that for ya tho! Good luck!

[bigbird519]

I use a cheap parokete cage for mojo. They are like 30 bucks at petsmart and the door is plenty big enough. I zip tied the little doors shut. Works greyt

[Dave007]

I doubt that your bird is gonna stand on any perch after its been put in a carrier. Most birds are usually quiet after being put in a carrier after the trip begins. A few towels in the bottom and that's it. He's also not gonna eat food or drink anything. You can put a couple of treats in but don't be surprised if he doesn't eat them. Other things will have his attention. After all, he's in a strange place and he'll probably stare at things.

 

How to put him in----if he's the type of bird that will hop on your fingers ansd allow you to put him in the carrier, fine. If not, take a towel, wrap it around him and put the bird in the carrier. Take the towel away.

***Hopefully till Friday he won't be so scared of it****

More than likely, a little bewildered and quiet. If this his first time in a carrier, it's up to you to put him in the carrier quickly and without lots of complications---in and out for future outings.

[Morana]

Well, I think your right. Zak won't sit on the perch the first time.. Maybe one day when I train him. I just didn't want him to sit in his poop..and he is gonna poop for sure..

I know he won't eat or drink, he never does when he goes to the vet.

Yea, the towel part is exactly what I wanna avoid, but if I wont have a choice....:-(((

I know I'll get him inside without trouble while we are home, but after needle poking and swabs, I think it will be a riot..

I'm still gonna try to do my best till Friday to make him as friendly as possible to his new means of transportation. And luckily, I found a pet-taxi (which is btw rare here in Cro;-) ). It is already scheduled for 8:45AM and off we go. I think it might not be that much traffic since it is early in the morning, but late enough that most of the people are gone to work.. :-)

 

Last two weeks I've been making a little tent/tunnel on the couch with a blanket/ more towel type of cloth and we are playing almost every day. I would ask "How does Zakica/or little birdie go through the tunnel?". He looks at me and most of the time, like a reply to my question, gets in the tunnel and exits on the other side :-) Of course there are his favorite toys in the tunnel so from time to time he gets "stuck" inside and plays..:-) So yesterday afternoon I put the carrier under the tent/tunnel and he was more inclined to go near it but he is far from ready to enter. However it it a good start.. He stood on the carrier tho...(while it was under the tent). We'll do some new attempts today.. :-)

 

Tnx everyone for the replies!:-)

[MarcusCAG]

If it makes you feel any better, when we first adopted Marcus from his former family (he was actually still unnamed in our eyes at that point), we just had a cat carrier to take him home in. We put a towel on the inside, and when my husband finally caught him in the people's home--Marcus hadn't been out of the cage in over three years, and he was fully flighted, but he let my husband wrap his hands around him without any sort of struggle after he burst out flapping from his cage into the living room--he just popped him inside and we shut the top. He was really pretty calm on the way home, which was spent talking to him. He got named during that ride too! But even without a perch, he was all right. Maybe one or two poops, but most of the time he was just holding onto the wire bars of the door and staring back out at his new parronts.

[InfamousAlice]

I've seen it done where people take a dowel or "pole" or perch ect and measure it to the width of the cage and screw into the dowel from the outside. Just make sure it's snug and not too far from the bottom, half inch to an inch is probably great. I made something similar for a conure I used to have.

[Morana]

I've seen it done where people take a dowel or "pole" or perch ect and measure it to the width of the cage and screw into the dowel from the outside. Just make sure it's snug and not too far from the bottom, half inch to an inch is probably great. I made something similar for a conure I used to have.

That is kinda what I thought of doing, but I won't do anything now. Just wait and see how it goes tomorrow. Tnx:-)

[judygram]

I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly tomorrow with the vet visit, be sure to keep us posted.

[Morana]

Thank you Judy! You can be sure that I will keep you posted :-)

I'm trying not to be anxious about the visit, hope it stays that way or he'll pick it up. I'll do my best everything goes as best as it can.

[KimKim]

My grey wont sit still in a small plastic kennel like that, he paces by the door and climbs up and down it. I thought about putting a hole on each side then slide a perch through and somehow secure it, but I never did. I switched to a small wire kennel/crate and attached the small twig like perches to the sides and one rope perch and he sits fine in the crate. He does not seem as stressed as he did in the plastic kennel.