What should I do?

[zeebeez]

Hi,

We have six zebra finches in our apartment in Canada.
My boyfriend is going to see his family for the holidays and I will be staying with my parents in the meantime in the same city (instead of being alone in the apartment). We have a dilemma on what do do with our finches. Either A) I leave them in the apartment alone and check on them daily or B) I take them with me. My boyfriend thinks I should leave them in the apartment since he thinks it will scare them to be moved and it's too cold outside. I think it's better to bring them with me in case something happens... It is cold here.. The temperature has varied from -3 to -27 degrees Celsius. We would take them via car and covered so they will have to be outside for just a minute or two. He's worried that they might die or get too stressed out during the move but on the other hand, I'm worried about leaving them alone almost all the time for two weeks.

Please let me know your professional opinions! It would be so helpful!

Thanks

[w.l.]

Leave them, especially if you can check on them daily.
What could happen to them?
Chances are they will be happy on their own, while moving would indeed stress them.

[lovezebs]

zeebeez

I agree with your boyfriend.

Zebra Finches, and most other Finches in general are not really all that people oriented (unless they're an only bird which was hand fed and hand raised by people).

Your Zebras, should be fine, as long as they are cleaned, properly fed, and have clean water .

If you are very concerned about not being able to come by every day, add extra food containers and water tubes to the cage.

I think dragging them over to your parents house (which is a strange place for them) in sub zero temperatures, would be a lot more stressful to them, than being left in their own familiar environment.

Let us know how it goes

[Sheather]

Personally I would take them if you could, save you the daily trip, I don't think zebras are likely to stress. For a while a few years ago I had to take my finches (societies) back and forth between houses every few days and they didn't mind it.

[Sally]

When you talk of daily visits, is the apartment nearby? Personally, I would leave them in the apartment and just check on them. I often go out of town for the weekend and leave my birds. As long as they have access to plenty of food and water, they should be fine. If you can check on them every day or every other day, that is the same care they would get from a pet sitter.

[Chihuahua]

If I'm only gone for two or three days I've always just loaded up the caged pets with extra food and water and they're fine for that time.

[GouldianGuy]

back in the day we'd drive my canaries 4.5 hours to visit my grandparents on a long weekend and they did great!

[wilkifam]

My birds travel all the time to shows. They adapt fine. I also don't take them if I don't have to, but I have an excellent bird sitter who takes better care of my birds than I do.....

[Icearstorm]

zeebeez

I would leave them as checking on them once a day should suffice, but it may depend on the cage setup for longer departures. If you have stocked food and water inside the cage in a way that it will stay clean and easily accessible for the birds, then you can leave them alone for several days without worrying. I frequently leave my birds at home for the weekend; their hopper feeder can store at least week of food and their covered water dish can stay filled and clean for around five days (probably for longer if they didn't bathe in it).
If you leave your birds, just do not provide perishable food or put vitamins in their water, as spoilage would likely present the most threat. A week here and there of nothing but seed should not harm your birds, provided that they are fed a nutritious diet for the rest of the year.
If you do take them, have your boyfriend get the car's heat running before you bring the birds so they can warm up immediately upon reaching the car, rather than having to wait another minute or two.

[wildbird]

Either way they should be ok. If you're going to worry about them all day every day, then consider taking them with you. If you do, be sure to keep them warm while tranferring from the house to car. If they seemed stressed out in their new environment, you could bring them back. Be sure that you consider the environment they will be in there: any other pets, cats, dogs. Any chance of teflon pots or pans being used or any kind of air freshners. You would be able to fix veggies, greens and other foods they may used to if they were with you. Good luck in whatever you decide.