Baby Aracari homecoming prep - any advice?

[echocharlie]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and have been nosing around in preparation for our baby green aracari's homecoming in a couple weeks. I was wondering if anyone had any advice for the whole homecoming process. He'll be around nine weeks old (one week post weaning) and flying out commercial (3 hour flight) then going for a 45 minute drive. I have a moderately crazy house with twin toddlers and a six year old and a dog but no other birds. I read in some other parts of the forum about comfort feedings and various other homecoming practices but I don't know how much of it translates to the aracaris. I'll definitely be asking his breeder for his input but I figured I'd tap this treasure trove of experience as well.

Thanks for taking the time to even read my post!

 

[Greycloud]

Welcome! I will alert waterfaller1 (Carole) she owns a green aracari and has a lot of knowledge about them.
@waterfaller1

 

[echocharlie]

Thanks Greycloud! I sure love your monochromatic bunch - I've been enamored with greys for as long as I can remember Is the cockatoo an honorary grey?

 

[Greycloud]

Sammy U2 is a great boy! Unfortunately, I developed horrible allergies to his dust and I had to place him in a wonderful sanctuary with a friend. He is doing fantastic though and that makes me happy!

 

[echocharlie]

I'm sorry to hear about your having to rehome Sammy! I had to rehome my beloved sun conure that I'd had for 10+ years when I joined the Air Force many years ago. I know how sad it made me feel to say goodbye even knowing he was going to a great home - so I feel your pain. Glad to hear he's doing well though! And in a sanctuary, what a lucky bird- I bet he is a happy boy!

 

[waterfaller1]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of ramphastids! I would just have a nice tupperware full of cut fruits on ice for the drive home. No need to worry about him reverting back to ":comfort feedings" He's not a parrot. If he gets uneasy, simply spending time cuddling as he drifts off to sleep, letting him nest in your shirt, and handfeeding bits of fruit with your fingers should do the trick. Is this your first bird? Do you have a huge cage all set up for him? Welcome to Avian Avenue!

 

[echocharlie]

Hello again, waterfaller! Thanks for the advice! I've been keen on getting one of the smaller toucans for the past five years and have been doing research on them on and off ever since. And now I've obviously been digging in and reading as much as I can since we took the plunge and he's now destined to "soon to be ours" but it's definitely been trickier to find info on them. So I am most appreciative of your input! I can definitely dig your suggested comfort techniques - I just can't tell you how eager I am to bring the cuddle bug home! I had a rescue sun conure when I was a kid who I kept for over 10 years before I joined the military and I had to give him up . He was one of my favorite rescues as I loved that he would ride around inside my shirt and just hang out with me. And oh, that haughty avian personality! He was just the best He really triggered my lifelong love of birds. We currently have backyard chickens but as much as I like them they're not quite the same thing to me... although my polish rooster does like to ride around on my shoulder!

I would have liked to have gotten one of the double flight cages that's 64" x 21" but my spot for his cage wouldn't accommodate the extra length. But I expect his SS cage to be delivered any day now and it's 24"D x 36"W x 52"H, and all his toys and perches are sitting in boxes waiting for their new home and owner. I have a small case of papayas on order and a handshake deal with my closest grocer to carry/order them year-round for me, his Mizuri softbill pellets in their new home, avian probiotics in the fridge, water-decaffeinated black tea in the pantry, and starryberry's handy shopping list saved to my phone! I feel like we're as prepared as we can be but I suppose I'm coming down with new baby jitters. Which is funny as I didn't have jitters when I got married, when I had my first baby, or even when I had my twins... but with this little guy I'm finding myself nervous about doing things right!

Now I do also have a couple of avian vets that are somewhat close to us picked out (thank you AA for recommendation!), do you recommend taking him in as soon as we get him to be checked out and establish a baseline or would you wait until he's settled a bit?

Sorry for the book length post but thank you kindly for your help!

 

[waterfaller1]

Excellent! I love a person who does their research and gets everything in place for the homecoming. You sound like you are going to make a great toucan mom! This guy will definitely take that spot "in your shirt" if you let him. Pico drives me absolutely crazy with it. If I don't let him in, he keeps poking me in the neck until I do.
The only thing I would say about all that you have, is just keep in mind you may eventually see the need for a bigger cage. For now you can slowly expand his habitat with things like boings strung as roadways, atoms, there are wingdows, rope roadways, playstands, and a myriad of other things that you can turn your house into a toucan playground. They love to hop and fly. I hope you have read the stern warnings against clipping them. It really cripples them.
I look forward to sharing experiences and watching your little one grow.

 

[echocharlie]

Thanks so much for the vote of confidence and tip regarding his cage and extra play area. Once we get him home and somewhat establish our routine I hope to get a couple playstands and definitely some of the great toys you suggested! Here I thought I'd been through all the bird toys on the internet and there were quite a few you mentioned that I definitely don't recall seeing! I have heard that you seriously affect their personalities if you clip them, that said I have no interest in clipping his wings... after all, it is I that chose to adopt a flying animal I am incredibly interested in these experimental harnesses I've read about folks trying with their aracaris though! I'll need to go digging through the forums again to find them and get more info. I think it'd be so great to take the little guy for a walk!

Pico sounds like such a little character! What a hoot that he pokes you "Hey mom, let me in!". All I can do is shake my head... it sounds like the breed will fit in perfectly at our house!

 

[Aubrey]

I'm so excited for you

I know barely anything about this breed but they sound like a hoot!

 

[H110hawk]

Congratulations! We found the best thing for our bird was to give him a few hours to just chill out without us trying to interact with him. Which breeder are you getting him from?

One thing we did to help make sure our home was toucan safe was just throw/give away anything we could which was toxic to them. Then we bought a bunch of large spray bottles, giant thing of baking soda, borax, and vodka ( ) from the hardware store to mix up cleaning solutions. We write the formula write on the bottle in sharpie. These aren't exactly them, but you want something similar which feels like it can hold up since you won't be replacing it every refill:

http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Guys-ACC_130_03-Professional-Resistant/dp/B00BCH4WWC/

Anything we couldn't live without (nail polish remover, hair spray, some kind of bug spray) is well away and only used when Mindo isn't around. We just go outside to put on hair spray for example right before leaving, and don't go play with Mindo after putting it on.

 

[echocharlie]

Giving him some quiet time definitely jives with my understanding of stressed animals. Thank you for the reminder - I'll definitely let him dictate when and how introductions go I'll admit, it'll be tough keeping my mitts off of him though. But yes... mustn't further stress the little guy!

So the baking soda, borax and vodka mixture is what you use to clean his cage or just as a general all purpose cleaner? Either way that's great info! What ratios do you use?

He's coming from Miguel Rocha in S. CA. He came highly recommended from another source who's outfit I really liked and I was impressed by our phone conversations. Don't suppose anyone else has had any experience, good or bad, with him?

 

[waterfaller1]

I use F10 to clean, it is made for this purpose and actually kills bacteria and known viruses.

 

[H110hawk]

We have them in various mixtures for use around the house. To clean his cage we put him in his carrier or sun cage and drag the thing outside. It gets scrubbed and hosed and sprayed liberally with vinegar solution. (The thing I forgot above.)

I will have to look up our mixtures, but google will find them pretty quickly. The ethanol (vodka) is only for glass cleaning since it helps it evaporate quickly.

Good luck! We found blueberries were good at buying his trust. After the first day though he was clamoring to get out of his cage. Took us a week to be comfortable enough with him to let him out, and he of course flew smack into a wall minutes after he came out. He was fine 5 minutes later.