Traveling with Finches?

[Dolfan]

Recently, I bought a pair of Zebra Finches for my daughter. They had babies so now there are seven. Anyway, we like to travel but have some concerns. We went away for a weekend and left them with plenty of food and water. When we returned home, they were fine. However, we are planning on a 1 week trip to Washington, DC in the fall and are thinking of bringing them with us. We would like to know which hotel chains are bird friendly. Are there any in the DC area that would be suitable to bring a cage with finches into the hotel room? Alternatively, if we didn't bring them with us, is it possible to find a boarding place for birds (like they have for dogs)?

Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

[wildbird]

AAA travel club has a pet friendly motel book available for $10.00. When you choose a motel, you should call them first to be sure they will take them. There are not places that board birds like there are for dogs & cats. Sometimes avian vets will board them, but the birds will usually do better in their own home than boarded , if you can't take them with you. How old are the babies? If you leave them at home, you will need a trusted person to care for them.

[Sally]

I was lucky enough to find a pet sitter that not only has experience with dogs and cats, but she can be trusted with my birds as well. Personally, that would be a bit of a hassle to take 7 birds along with you on vacation. If you decide to do it, I can make one suggestion: take a big bed sheet that you can put under the cage. This will cut down on the mess that gets scattered in the hotel room, and the hotel cleaning staff will thank you!

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care and especially the Zebra finch. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on. I note that you have 5 babies out of your original pair. You will need to take care that you don't have inbreeding, as Zebra finches are not monogamous.

[debbie276]

I would also add, in the car you may need to put a light sheet over the cage. Sometimes the light flickering as you drive along will disturb them enough that they freak out. A sheet tends to cut down on the flicker and startling movements.

good luck, please let us know how you do

[MiaCarter]

Agreed with the others.

The sheet in the car is a great idea! And putting a sheet or drop cloth under the cage is great too. Makes clean up super simple.

Today, a majority of hotels are pet-friendly, even if they don't advertise it.
(but many chains are franchises, with unique rules, so you always want to call ahead.)

I'll caution you that bringing them with you may cause a lot of stress for you and for them.

The car will be the source of the most stress so to reduce that, I would do some dry runs, just as you'd do with a dog or cat.

Take them on some car rides so they can get acclimated to the environment and the feel of the car in some shorter rides. I'd aim to take them on 1 or 2 short rides per week between now and your trip.

That way, they'll learn that it's A) temporary and B) they'll become accustomed to the feeling of being in the car and you can troubleshoot any freak-outs. (And if you find that it's just too stressful, you can find alternate plans....better to realize that before you've left vs. 150 miles from home!)

If you do take them, be sure to put closures on ALL of the doors (zip ties or bread twist ties should work) to avoid anyone getting lost.

If it's a 2-part cage, with a plastic clip-on bottom, ALWAYS hold/carry the cage from the bottom (I've had the bottoms fall off randomly. Nearly lost a hamster like that!)

I would also invest in a supplement designed for stressed/sick birds. Just to help meet their nutritional needs during your trip. Morningbird Thrive or similar.

I might also look into the possibility of finding a petsitter if you're going to be doing lots of driving and hotel switching, as that could prove very stressful for everyone.
(Whereas if you're doing one long drive out and back and staying in one hotel, then it won't be a big deal at all to bring them along)

You can ask your vet for a recommendation for a petsitter. They usually have a few good people they can refer you to (and often, the vet techs petsit for extra cash.)
They wouldn't even need to visit daily. Every other day could be good as long as they put in enough food and water.

[wildbird]

Just another thought. When staying at a motel be sure that you are there in the room with the birds when they come in to service the room. You don't want them spraying anything in the room and just a stranger vacuming and changing the bedding could scare the birds. When you are not there, put the "do not disturb" sign out.

[Sally]

Just another thought. When staying at a motel be sure that you are there in the room with the birds when they come in to service the room. You don't want them spraying anything in the room and just a stranger vacuming and changing the bedding could scare the birds. When you are not there, put the "do not disturb" sign out.

Good advice! Often, housekeeping does spray a room freshener after the room has been cleaned, which could be fatal for our birds.