Traveling

[mjv413]

Good morning everyone! I wanted some advice on traveling....

We took Piper this weekend for an overnight hotel stay, we went to the Dave Matthews Concert about two hours away and thought it would be a great test to see how she does. She has a kings cage travel carrier, and as long as the door is open she likes sitting on it in the car. As soon as she is locked in the cage, however, she is absolutely NONSTOP. She roams around and around, upside down, sideways, etc. We recorded what she did when we were at the concert (3-4 hours), and literally 90% of the time she was moving. I will admit that when we returned, she seemed a little frazzled.

 

Any advice as to how make traveling a little easier??? In the future, we want to take her with us, but I worry that it stresses her out more than it is worth. Please note, she does the same thing in her cage even if we are sitting there with her.

[CLB]

I do not have a lot of experience, but I am wondering if Piper is accustomed to spending time in her cage alone. You mention that she paces even in her "big" cage. It seems very possible that she has not learned how to keep herself busy and instead stresses out when she is unable to play with her human companion. Independence is a valuable trait. Just a thought.

[Greywings]

It wasn't just the travel, but new location, new surroundings and you left while at the concert. that could be a bit disturbing as well. I think that CLB is correct with that observation and add a little new things stress to that as well. Perhaps a little chamomile tea in the water bowl or a favorite treat given only inside the cage to get her more familiar with good things happening there.

[FreyaRuRu]

We travel with our birds everytime we go somewhere! In order for us to avoid the stress when we are not there and they are in a new place (the hotel) and a cage they arent in all the time (its not home, make sure you have toys in the travel cage too..) we place them in the bathroom with the lights off. This keeps them calm and lets them sleep. This is usally only for a few hours while we step out for dinner or do whatever we came into town for. They dont seem to mind at all because we always come back and they were sleeping anyways! Their normal route of night cuddles still occurs when we get back even if later than normal. They than sleep in their travel cages on the desk where they can see us and they go right to bed! This is the best advise I can give being we have taken our grey every weekend since we have gotten her somewhere new!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

mjv413 You meantioned Piper would demonstrate the same behavior if you were just sitting there with her. I suggest be patient with her, make sure she is comfortable, but absolutely.... continue to train her to travel. Being a part of the family, is the most important thing for a grey. They adapt much easier than many think in my opinion. I know I could take Sophie into her worst nightmare on my shoulder, tell her " I've got you covered" ( she understands this), she would sit on my shoulder and trust me that no harm would affect her. Love and Trust! Thats what the relationship is about. Nancy

[mjv413]

Ok great guys, thanks. What I mean was she paces in her big travel cage... it is not a small one. She is quite content alone at home in her normal cage, and she paces in her travel cage even if we are sitting right next to her. She has all of her favorite toys and perch in her travel cage when we go anywhere, and I tried the favorite food thing. She just doesn't seem to like being in the travel carrier itself, whether we are in the hotel/out of the hotel, and we have tried it at home as well and she still just paces back and forth in it. I will continue to try to get her to enjoy being inside the carrier

[itsjustnikki]

The first time I took Tango with me overnight some where he paced the whole time. He was used to being in a carrier and going places because he would go to work with me, but this was the first time I had taken him overnight and in an overnight cage. He was all over the place all night and I didn't sleep either.

I now have a king's travel cage that is similar to Tango's regular cage for travel and he loves it. (The first cage was a small cage I got from a petstore I used to work at in college.) I started getting him used to by making it a sleeping cage at home in the bedroom so that he didn't associate it with me leaving him somewhere or us going somewhere unfamiliar. Maybe trying this would work for you.