Nyassa's Journal

1999-Mar-27

Homecoming

I begin the drive up to the breeder's place, to pick up my new pet. I remember the bird-related things, like the carry case (which isn't QUITE the right style, more below) a bowl for water, and of course water. And two towels to line the case with. I should have had more towels, but two worked. It is a little over an hour drive in good traffic from my place to the breeder's. Finally, I get there, and this time don't have to call for directions mid-trip.

They already have him out, along with two Amazons, playing on their jungle gym sort of setup. (I really wish I could get a stock of those sticks they use to build their own setup, or rather get them cheaply. The setup I have is sorta wrong for Nyassa I think.)

While I remembered everything about transporting the new critter home, I forgot the contract. That's ok, we filled out and signed a new one, and Nyassa approved, although we had to wipe his signature off. I was a little worried about the contract (which I looked over several times of course) since it had a clause that the breeder could keep the bird and offer another, or a refund. I understand why that's there, but when I called ahead I heard how sweet and gentle he was. Luckily, they didn't decide to keep him (whew!) and so he needed a nail clipping.

I don't know if you've ever held a baby Grey on your hand/arm before, but those nails are like eight little pin pricks. They got cut back one by one, causing a small squeak of surprise from the towel-wrapped Grey. I also chose to have him DNA sexed at the same time, so they intentionally trimmed one nail too close, and drew the blood sample from that. And an application of Kwik Stop raised quite a squeal from Nyassa. When they let him out from under the towel, he ran to me, since I was one of the three who didn't just hurt him.

He got over that quickly, and made up with his caretakers before we left. So, now it's into the carrier, car, then down the road we go!

Of course I hit traffic on the way home. Go figgure, it's California. In any case, we made it home without so much as a squeal, but there were a great deal of whistles, little squeaks, "whoop!" sounds, and other not-too-frightened bird sounds.

The carrier was one of the ones that is open on the top with a metal cage, and the sides have slots in them. For a bird, who often is more at ease in uncomfortable situations with a roof, this was exactly the wrong setup. I think I'll get one that is a mini-cage, with a solid top, for any longish trips. The carrier I have is plenty for short trips, and Nyassa is already familiar with it.

So, we made it home. I already set up his cage, have food ready for him, etc. He decides to almost totally ignore the food, but he takes a long drink of water. He then takes a nap on my hand. Try as I might, he wouldn't step off, unless it was on my shoulder. So, I held him for about 10 minutes while he rested. It gave me time to study his feathers.

The first night was hard on us both. He really hated being in the cage at all, but after I covered his cage on three sides, he calmed down. I had to leave the light off for a while first but he was still tired, and slept through the night.

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