Traveling vs Bird-sitting

[Brendon.]

Hi there,

 

I'm new to the forum so I guess you can consider this my first post. My name is Brendon and I'm a 19 year old student from Toronto, Canada. I'm going to be getting a weaned TAG in January from a breeder whom I've already gone to visit and found one that seemed to get along with my family and I.

 

I've had birds before, but they were smaller than a Grey and required less of a commitment. I figured this was the next "frontier" for me, and after a lot of deliberation, decided that I am ready to dedicate myself to a new bird wholeheartedly.

 

My number one priority with my new bird is going to be socializing him and getting him used to a broad range of external stimuli, people and situations. I've already begun assembling bird-safe toys and have acquired a new, fairly large cage for it to inhabit. A fair amount of research has also been done into appropriate feeding, bathing and training requirements. However, I am still left a couple questions I was hoping someone with a little more experience might be able to answer.

 

I'm a student at a University a fair distance from my home, in Toronto, where I formerly lived with my family all year. As a consequence of that, for the majority of the school year I live with several other people in a house closer to my school. My housemates are all very good with animals and I trust them to take care of my pet completely if called upon. I am actually rather excited by the prospect of raising a bird around so many people because I see it as an opportunity to get it used to a variety of different individuals early on. That being said, my question pertains to its routine care.

 

Every few weeks I tend to either drive or take a bus back home to visit my family, who are also planning to be very much dedicated to my new Grey. The trip is usually about an hour and is fairly uneventful. I have an additional bird cage, one that is slightly smaller (but still sufficient) that I plan to leave with my family for the odd weekend I will be home. However, I'm wondering if traveling with my bird is such a good idea, given that it would be a regular, drastic change in environment and tempo and I know that a healthy Grey mentality is dependent on routine.

 

Do you think it would be wiser for me to bring my bird home with me in a carrier on occasion, to occupy his "second cage", or to leave him with my capable roommates for a couple days? On the one hand, I do not want to traumatize him, but I don't want him to develop trust issues in light of my absence for a couple days. I was just wondering what you guys thought.

 

Thanks so much,

Brendon

[Ray P]

Hi Bredon and welcome to the forum.

That is a good question and will tell you about Corky my Cag.

My family lives all over the place Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvannia, West Virginia, MD. and Alabama so from the start Corky has traveled. At first from our home in Ohio back and forth to Pa. and MD. when she was less than a year old. When she was a year old we took a month long trip and covered a good share of the U.S. We never leave her home, She always goes with us along with our Blue fronted amazon. When they see their travel cage come they know we are going on a road trip. They seam to enjoy the trips because they are very close to us in the van or motor home and will sing and talk to us as we travel.

Start your bird with short trips and I think you should be OK.

[Talon]

Great advice from Ray, i would do the same if I were in your shoes. Take him home with you, he will know you and trust you the most.

 

Welcome to our family, look forward to hearing more from you!

[birdhouse]

Hi Bendon. Welcome to GF & congratulations on your soon to be new fid. Very nice to see you trying to get so well prepared for your life together.

 

It's true that most greys tend to be most happy in a stable environment. But "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." They're much too intelligent to be sentenced to relive Groundhog Day for 60-80 yrs.

 

A well acclimated bird can benefit quite a lot from traveling w/a trusted parront, like Ray said. They can really thrive from the stimulus of being out in the world. You might get another different perspective if you follow some of the threads that dhorje has posted. Lots of beautiful photo's, too.

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?193901-In-the-car.

 

Taking your fid w/you for visits can be very doable. If the bird has the right temperament. But that's something that even being raised in a conducive environment can't predetermine. So by all means give it a try. Just be sensitive to your baby's needs & adapt if it turns out that (s)he's more the stay at home type. Very lucky that you have such a great support system to fall back on if need be.

Edited December 21, 2011 by birdhouse

[carlsjr]

i would take the bird with me.

[Luvparrots]

Hi Brendon, I can already tell that you are going to be a loving and caring parront. TAGs, to me, are much more easy going than CAGs, so good choice of greys. I would give the traveling with your grey a chance. Or course, it is true that it all depends on the grey, but if you start a young grey traveling, I see no problems. Start with short trips and always explain what is going on to your grey. Greys are very intuitive and quick learners so if you explain things, are calm and reassuring all should be fine. Mine travel to my daughter's occasionally and they love it. There is one member here who sometimes takes her grey to work with her. It all depends on your attitude and comfortable as that is what your grey will be reading and sensing.

[MarcusCAG]

If you can take your baby with you, then by all means do so! If they identify you as their flock (or at least the most important part of it), do you think they would be as happy being forced to be away from you for regular spells? That being said, it's lovely that you're thinking ahead so much with all of this, and all the best to you and your future Grey.

[Eshana]

An hour isn't all that long of a time that your grey couldn't handle it. In fact; many birds enjoy going for rides with their companion humans!

 

What's your concentration, by the way? I'm an Undergrad Corporate Communications major :cool:

[Brendon.]

 

What's your concentration, by the way? I'm an Undergrad Corporate Communications major :cool:

 

I'm doing a double major in neuroscience and philosophy. Only in my second year as of now though

[katana600]

It is a very caring and thoughtful thing to think about ahead of time Brendon. You are to be commended for bringing this up and thinking about it in great detail ahead of time. It is a timely post for me. Every grey is different of course. Once you get yours your situation will change as your life changes. We have had our TAG Gilbert for nine months now. He was rehomed multiple times and has issues from the changes. With that said, we made a trip of a thousand miles (one way) by car. I went first without him for a week and returned home to get him and take him with me for an extended stay. Since then, I left him for three days with my daughter and he was fine. For Christmas with family, it was back in the car with two parrots and four adults for the round trip again. This time, he bonded in the car and allowed my daughter and husband to scratch his head and that was a first! So, going with me has been in his best interest. A very scared bird at home when any new person comes in was a very different gregarious little fellow talking to the housekeepers in our hotel room when I was out of the room! You will learn what works best and you will adapt your methods to suit your bird's temperment and tolerance. I vote for many people in his life but the constant is you. I so appreciate how you are thinking ahead.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

NEVER leave him with your housemates. He is your responsibility, that you have chosen.Ryan my 20 yr old, loves Sophie. When he is home from college, he wants her to go everywhere he goes. I know she will have fun.The answer is always no! I am her Rom (mom), she doesn't like when I interfere with her fun. Too bad! The fallout of being the " parent", really sucks. Sophie gets mad at me all the time! Oh well!Birds, dogs and kids... always try to make me feel guilty. It doesn't work! Nancy