Project of adoption: help me

[SunTruth]

Hello all,

After the dramatic event that occured to our parrot recently (see my recent posts) my family is starting to consider getting a new baby in our home.

For some context my beloved friend who recently passed away was a senegal. We got him when he was 2, and we were already his 3 or 4 family. We had no experience with birds. We did our best and we probably made mistakes, some of them that will not get out of my mind like not understanding the disease he was suffering from (see my recent posts).

We are considering welcoming another bird in our family. This time we do not want to « frick up » and we will try to get the maximum of information.

First, we want to adopt a newborn. We do not feel we are experienced enough for an older bird. Maybe we are wrong I do not know, if so please tell me. Of course it would be better to give a family to a bird from a refuge needing a home, maybe I will do it in the future if I feel confident enough but right now it seems to us that a newborn could be easier for us.

Secondly we want another senegal. I am trying to get a maximum of information about breeders where I live (Europe). So I would like to know which disease test I absolutely need to ask a breeder. I checked and for some reason the disease we suspect might have killed our beloved bird, pdd induced by the bornavirus, does not seem to be systematically tested by breeders. Could anyone tell me why and which disease test I absolutely need to obtain from a breeder. I understand that pdd reflects the symptoms of the bornavirus, but I do not get why the bornavirus is not systematically tested.

To be clear please help me not doing mistakes, or as less as possible.

Thank you.

 

[Lee C]

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your Senegal. I am only reading of it in this message, so I don't know any details. I have Senegals. They are special. I only have experience with adult parrots, from my local rescue. I have had many challenges, as I've done some fostering and boarding, too. I once thought getting a baby parrot was the easy way out; but, I no longer think that. There are as many challenges with raising a baby bird as there are with transforming an adult. The evidence is in parrot rescues, shelters, online forums, and groups. People who start with babies have lots of challenges, too. I hope you will consider adopting another adult parrot who needs a new, forever home.

Also, disease testing can be challenging. My avian vet warned me about false positives, false negatives, and a lot of parrots who test positive, but show no symptoms for many years.

Note: the cage in the photo is not used as a cage; it is just an attachment support for branches. :]

 

[SunTruth]

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your Senegal. I am only reading of it in this message, so I don't know any details. I have Senegals. They are special. I only have experience with adult parrots, from my local rescue. I have had many challenges, as I've done some fostering and boarding, too. I once thought getting a baby parrot was the easy way out; but, I no longer think that. There are as many challenges with raising a baby bird as there are with transforming an adult. The evidence is in parrot rescues, shelters, online forums, and groups. People who start with babies have lots of challenges, too. I hope you will consider adopting another adult parrot who needs a new, forever home.

Also, disease testing can be challenging. My avian vet warned me about false positives, false negatives, and a lot of parrots who test positive, but show no symptoms for many years.

Note: the cage in the photo is not used as a cage; it is just an attachment support for branches. :]

You are really luck to have these beautiful senegal. Now I really think my family would prefer a baby one. If it was only me as you said I would tend toward offering home to a parrot needing one. But it will happen in the future I hope.
If you want to see my sad story go in the poicephalus part of this forum.

 

[sunnysmom]

Something to read through before deciding to get a baby: Baby to adult. Will they still love me? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

People think getting a bird as a baby will make things easier- it often doesn't work that way. All my birds have come to me as adults and are amazing. "Older" doesn't mean you can't still have a great relationship with them.

 

[SunTruth]

Thank you a lot.

We do not exclude adopting an older parrot, but the thing is after what happened we are now absolutely terrified by the idea that we might adopt someone sick. I am not saying that in the sense that I want to exclude parrots solely on the basis that someone is sick, these parrots deserve a welcoming home and happiness too.

But for us in our home after what just happened we are really afraid of sickness and I do not want my family having to deal with these dramatic event once again.

As an example right now we are still frozen in time by what happened and what we could have done better.

So I do not know I understand the idea of adopting an older parrots but the health thing is really what would make us hesitating.

 

[sunnysmom]

Thank you a lot.

We do not exclude adopting an older parrot, but the thing is after what happened we are now absolutely terrified by the idea that we might adopt someone sick. I am not saying that in the sense that I want to exclude parrots solely on the basis that someone is sick, these parrots deserve a welcoming home and happiness too.

But for us in our home after what just happened we are really afraid of sickness and I do not want my family having to deal with these dramatic event once again.

As an example right now we are still frozen in time by what happened and what we could have done better.

So I do not know I understand the idea of adopting an older parrots but the health thing is really what would make us hesitating.

I am not trying to convince you, honestly. But just an FYI, reputable rescues will have all the birds vet checked. That's not to say there couldn't be a hidden genetic problem etc. But for instance, I am typing with the sweetest little 4 year old cockatiel foster on my arm. She came to the rescue very underweight. She's been to the vet twice and has been now given a clean bill of health. My other 3 rescue birds that I adopted, zero health issues- but again, vet checked before placed for adoption.

I am sorry you had the experience you did, and again, I am not trying to push an older bird on you but just explaining most rescues' processes for anyone reading.

 

[SunTruth]

Hello,

Yes I understand that. Now I am not sure there are such rescues in the country I am living in. To be honest I did not check but you are giving me the idea to take a look if there could be such rescues here. For sure it exists for dogs and cats but I never heard about it for birds.

 

[Pixiebeak]

Sorry for your loss

I can understand wanting to get a young one.

I suggest getting the baby after it's fully weaned by abundance. There is a lot of risk in finishing hand raising a baby yourself..so many little one fir here when they are passed from a breeder before being weaned.

Have you found a breeder near you? Must be an exciting time .

 

[zoo mom]

BEFORE YOU GET ANOTHER BIRD:
Make sure you sanitize everything. Bornovirus can live on surfaces for quite a while. All hard surfaces should be cleaned with a bleach solution or an approved veterinary cleaning solution and rinsed well. Carpets should be cleaned. Clothing, bedding and stuff should be washed in hot water, as hot as is acceptable. Any toys or perches that were used by your other bird should be disposed of or sanitized. For more information search for pdd on the forum. It would be awful to get another bird and it get sick from leftover virus from you poor beloved baby that you lost.

Good luck.

 

[SunTruth]

Sorry for your loss

I can understand wanting to get a young one.

I suggest getting the baby after it's fully weaned by abundance. There is a lot of risk in finishing hand raising a baby yourself..so many little one fir here when they are passed from a breeder before being weaned.

Have you found a breeder near you? Must be an exciting time .

Hello,

We tried to contact several breeders here but it turned to be more difficult than we planned. Some of them did not even bother answering our calls. Anyway apparently the breeding season is over and one breeder asked us to contact him back in February. And yes we will never accept a breeder selling babies that are not fully weaned.

BEFORE YOU GET ANOTHER BIRD:
Make sure you sanitize everything. Bornovirus can live on surfaces for quite a while. All hard surfaces should be cleaned with a bleach solution or an approved veterinary cleaning solution and rinsed well. Carpets should be cleaned. Clothing, bedding and stuff should be washed in hot water, as hot as is acceptable. Any toys or perches that were used by your other bird should be disposed of or sanitized. For more information search for pdd on the forum. It would be awful to get another bird and it get sick from leftover virus from you poor beloved baby that you lost.

Good luck.

Yes I am planning to do that but right now I do not want to throw anything from our best friends and family member that passed away.
I am planning on using a steam machine advertised to kill virus and bacteria several times, and then applying a bleach solution, and then going back to the steam machine. Anyway it is not right now that a new parrot will Enter our home and I will do that in some weeks or months, but definitely some months before we welcome a new member in our family.