Hotels, Holidays and CAGs

[tkessel]

Due to the camera angle and lens setting Wuzzie's travel carrier looks very small in the picture, but it is actually larger than it appears in the picture, and Wuzzie can easily get through the door, and there is about 2" between the perch and the bottom of the carrier, and room above for her to stretch a bit.  She can also go from perch one to perch two (not yet installed when I took the picture) so she doesn't feel like she has only one perch to sit on. 

Wuzzie is 17, and never had been in a pet carrier before I got one for her this summer.

For short trips I would not worry about food and water.  I sometimes think we treat our birds a bit too well, like they must have food and water present at every moment.  This would be like placing me at the Golden Corral (or other) buffet, I would eat whether I was hungry or not.    So a short time without food and water is OK.  More than two hours, or if it is hot, I would be more concerned about water.  More than 4 hours, then food would be a bit of a concern.

[jbaxter]

Thank you for your help and advice. The dimensions of Jeremy's carrier are as follows:

This carrier is suitable for any small pet including cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, parrots, small dogs etc.


Size - as it is of an iregular size the approximate dimensions are:-

Length ( 40mm - 48mm )  nearly 16 inches - nearly 19 inches

Wigth ( 25mm -33mm) nearly 10 inches - nearly 13 inches

Hieght ( 30mm ) nearly 12 inches

It's a 'FERPLAST ( Atlas 10 ) PLASTIC SMALL PET CARRIER'.

Does this sound about the same size as yours?

Cheers,
Julie

[tkessel]

Go to http://www.firstrax.net/product.php?b=3&id=38 and look at the  23" pethouse carrier.  That's it.  23"L X 15" W X 13" H.

[jbaxter]

Then Jeremy's carrier is a bit smaller than yours. But I don't think there's any significant difference.

I actually got him to stand on top of the cage door last night. Still haven't got him in there yet, though. 

Cheers,
Julie

[jules]

julie will jeremy let you pick him up holding his body? for a while i had to catch jasper and put him in myself.

on friday i took him over to my mums and to my amazement he just stepped up on my hand and let me put him in the carrier with no fuss. he then said 'are we going to see bella?' bless him 

eventually i'm sure jeremy will get used to his carrier,sitting on top is a good sign 

[jbaxter]

Hello Jules,

Quite honestly, I've never tried picking Jeremy up bodily. He's always been a very willing 'stepper upper' that it's never occured to me even to try. How might one go about approaching this - any ideas, anyone?

Cheers,
Julie 

[feika]

One way of doing or starting to do this is to have Jeremy sit on your lap and softly wrap his body with your hands stroking his head and ears gently and/or caressing his neck and chest. If he allows you to do that, after a while you may try your hand at picking him up by putting your hands beneath his belly in such a way that some part of one hand is put under the back half of his body to give support to his feet and keel bone and the other would support his chest with overlaping fingers.

First just lift him for an inch or two for a couple of seconds (2-3) while still sitting in the chair, don't go anywhere in the initial lessons and afterwards, when you feel that he's comfortable with hand wrapping, lift him up like this and take some steps but keep him closer to your own body.
Hope that works.

[jbaxter]

Thanks, Feika, I'll work on that (slowly). 

But, somehow, I don't think I'm going to be able to get him into that small carrier cage for this year's holiday since we go first thing Sunday morning. So for now we'll have tomake do with his large white travel cage.  But next year! 

Cheers,
Julie

[jules]

i used to be able to pick jasper up this way but now he doesnt like it 

also you could try letting jeremy step up and then rest one hand lightly over his back as you put him in the carrier. it does take some patience,wish i could be there to show you somehow but he will become used to it  good luck x

[feika]

That's exactly what I do with Jojo as she never ever go into the cage on her own, she holds the cage bars with her beak and climb the cage instead of going in, so I put my palm over her head and then she would go into the cage.

[jbaxter]

Thanks, Jules. I might give that a go this afternoon (depending on Jeremy's mood!). 

Cheers,
Julie

[jbaxter]

Voila! Finally got Jeremy into his small carrying cage by Jules' method. 

I offered him a monkey nut; got him to step up onto my hand; placed my other hand lightly over his back; and put him in the cage backwards - with the monkey nut still in his mouth. 

All I have to do now is find out whether he'll fall for it a second time. 

Cheers,
Julie

[jules]

hoorayyy it worked  i know all birds are different so glad jeremy cooperated. he might do it eventually without treats.

well done for having patience 

[jbaxter]

He grumbled and growled, Jules, but I stuck to my guns. In the end I think he almost got to thinking of it as a game. Anyway, he's always been a confident parrot (no signs of nervousness) and one who generally likes new experiences. So I'm hoping that when he realises how mobile his new 'carriage' will make him he'll grow to enjoy being in there. 

Thanks to all of you here for the enormous help and encouragement you've given me in finding a solution to this problem. I can't tell you how delighted I am to be able to allow Jeremy more family activities  whilst on holiday with us! 

Kindest regards,
Julie

[jules]

you're welcome julie and that's from everyone here too 

like i said before i was very surprised when jasper just stepped up and let me put him in his carrier on friday without so much as a struggle. i hope jeremy will be the same,as you said he is confident enough not to be too nervous to try new things.

alls well that ends well. hope you have a great holiday,all of you. jeremy included