Tips for Your Pet Birds First Month Home
Sunday, 07.01.2007, 10:40am (GMT)
For any new pet moving to a new home can be a very traumatic experience
and in some cases even more so for a pet bird. Many times if bird was
hand fed as a baby it may have stronger attachments then other birds.
However if you take the time setting up your birds new environment
properly with some extra care, it will a bit easier for your pet bird
to make the adjustment to it's new home.
One of the most important things you should first do when you bring
your new bird home is to place its cage in an area that does not have
an over abundance of activity or confusion. Even though we are trying
to make sure our new friend doesn't feel like he is caught up in the
middle of all the household action. We also want to make sure that he
does not feel all alone by putting him in some unused room by him self.
Ideally you want to find a spot in your home where he can still
interact with you, but there won't be constant loud noises or lots of
sudden movements that can continually startle him.
In situations where you already have another bird in your home, it
would be best to segregate your new arrival for about thirty days. The
reason you want to do this is to help ensure that if your new bird has
an infectious disease, you won't infect your original bird. When
creating a quarantine for your bird, it would be best to keep him on
floor in a completely different room of the house. Also make sure to
keep their food and water dishes apart and do not interchange them even
after washing. If your home has a central air conditioning system, you
may have difficulty being able to ensure a true quarantine. Since these
kinds of air conditioning system employ air duct systems which carry
the air from one room to other rooms in the house. Regardless it is
still a good idea to quarantine the new bird than immediately putting
exposing him to your original pet even if you have air ducts.
You should also make sure that any new bird you bring home is in good
health. So be sure to take him to your local avian veterinarian for a
general check up. Your veterinarian will be able to check and make sure
that your new pet bird is free of any contagious diseases, worms or
bacterial infections. This is even more important in cases were you
have a hand fed baby bird, the reason being is that if the bird wasn't
properly hand fed it is at a higher risk for having a bacterial
infection.
When ever you bring a new bird home you should closely monitor their
eating habits during their initial adjustment period. If you notice
that your bird doesn't seem to be eating at all during the initial
twenty four hours, you should try and offer him some spray millet.
Spray millet is pretty much a dessert for birds. Another option is to
offer him a whole grain cereal which may coax a frightened bird into
eating. If you just brought home a newly weaned baby bird and he is not
eating and is also making various squalling noises, your new bird may
have regressed some and will need to be hand fed slightly longer. In
these situations call your breeder for assistance.
If for some reason you cannot get in contact with your breeder, odds
are you can buy some hand feeding formula from your local pet shop. To
use the formula simply mix up a tiny quantity of the hand feeding
formula until it reaches a consistency close to that of pudding. Then
offer some of the mixture to your bird by putting some of the formula
on a plastic spoon. If all is well he should eat it right off the
spoon.
Lastly, you should not be afraid to interact with your new pet bird,
just make sure you don't get out of hand and overdo it. At first you
should only try to work with him for 10 minutes at a time and no more.
If he continually flies away and you notice your self having to chase
and catch him, Just put him away back in his cage for a bit until he
starts to calm down. Every time you chase and catch your bird it cause
him some stress, which is something we are trying to minimize for our
new friend.
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