FINCHforum

This probably qualifies as a stupid novice question, but eh.

I picked up a male Zebra while at school, and I'm taking him home to the rest of my flock for Thanksgiving; the drive is about 461 miles and about seven or so hours. I've done this drive with birds before, but before, it was a pair, and all I ended up doing was putting their cage in the back seat. In this case I'll be using a critter carrier because of space constraints, and it's just the one.

The main question is, what's the best way to go about regarding water for the trip? I know Zebras are originally from the Outback and presumably can go decent times without water, but is seven-odd hours too much? What I did before was to empty their water dishes while driving and fill them up when I stopped (I typically stop every two hours for my own well-being and to stay alert), but that was with a cage with sliding doors, not a critter carrier. I'd do the same thing but I'm worried about him escaping easier.

So with that all said, how should I go about keeping him hydrated, or is it even necessary to worry about for a trip that length?

We drove from Nj to Ft Myers with ours during a move. It took us 3 days, we stopped overnight to rest, we also had a large dog and 3 cats with us.

I used a few water tubes and seatbelted the cage firmly in the front seat, put a cover over part of the cage so trucks going by would not spook them. The cats were crated in a dog kennel in the back of our Civic wagon and my husband had the dog in the front seat of the van. Made for an interesting trip!

Once we were at the hotel or stopped for lunch I gave them a water cup. They did fine.

When people order birds and have them shipped, what the shipper often does is tape a small dish to the bottom of the carrier with a damp sponge in it. Then you don't get the water just splashing out. If thirsty enough the bird can get enough water from that to keep it going for hours.

I use a water tube. Also the sponge in a container, slice of orange, grapes works.
One thing I would recommend with the water. Carry a bottled water, or one filled from your tap. Changes in water can have the same effect on finches as with humans..... diarrhea, with humans it is an incovienance but with finches it could be fatal.

franny wrote:When people order birds and have them shipped, what the shipper often does is tape a small dish to the bottom of the carrier with a damp sponge in it. Then you don't get the water just splashing out. If thirsty enough the bird can get enough water from that to keep it going for hours.

Fran the sponge they use, it it a natural sponge? The colored ones have dye that bleeds into the water.

I would use natural - but I suppose a cellulose sponge might be OK, if it doesn't have any cleaner product in it and is a natural colour (doesn't appear to leach out any colour). To be safe, best to just use a small natural sponge, like you buy for applying makeup.

Great idea!!!!! I'll remember that if we ever drive a distance to and from a bird show. Thanks. John sent me birds and there is a bowl in the box but I never looked inside of it.

When I shipped Sundance off to Liz, I hung 2 regular seed cups one with a bit of seed and the other about half full of water with some vitalize in it to keep his stress level low. I also handed over a pre-mixed bottle for refills in case of eventual spills.

I am assuming that everything went well, because he made it into Liz's loving hands about 8 hours later.