When summer sun shines the brightest, there is only one thing on my mind: HOLIDAYS!
However, for this year’s holidays, my partner and I have decided not to take our bird with us. Still, we wanted to offer some fun time to our sweet Elvis the green cheek conure parrot as well.
Our solution: the Holiday Pet Hotel!
The decision
Taking our parakeet to the Parrot Hotel was an easy one. We knew that he was not enjoying himself when with us on holidays.
Our green cheek conure parrot likes his home routine.
He likes to be in the same room in our house, with both of his parronts home and cuddling with him.
Our conure also likes when we are just sitting in the living room watching TV. Then he can calmly eat, play and cuddle some more with one of us.
Choosing the right hotel
The most important thing we wanted to make sure of: our bird is happy while away.
To ensure that, we chose a place where we thought the birds were happy and playing as they wished, a place that was also able to give a bit of more attention to him, play with him and watch him.
We also knew what we did not want.
We did not want a place where we thought that the birds would never get out of the cage. Nor a place where the birds had no toys in the cage.
We wanted a pet hotel that felt happy, with playful birds jumping all over and joyful parrot sounds.
To find such a Holiday Pet Hotel we reached out to the pet store where we purchased our parakeet. Their recommendation became our final choice.
The first experience with the Holiday Pet Hotel
First thing we heard already from the front yard were the happy bird sounds, playing and flying around.
The moment we entered the room, we had conures and other parakeets flying to us and playing on our shoulders.
We instantly got a good feeling about the place and knew we made the right choice for our parrot’s holiday destination.
Of course the other birds got curious about Elvis, their new friend. They started jumping on his cage and getting a close look.
Elvis on the other hand could not comprehend what was going on. It was a bit too much happening for him. Still, he was on his front perch in the cage, watching everyone closely.
The Pet Hotel had two lovely ladies taking care of a few parrots. They told us that it is best to keep him in the cage for the first day, so he gets used to his new environment. The following day he would be let out of his cage to interact more with other birds and fly around.
After saying goodbye to our baby bird we departed for our holidays.
While on holidays we kept close contact with the hotel and were getting the latest updates on our bird. We also received some short videos of him playing. That assured us once again of the right choice of Holiday Pet Hotel.
Picking our parrot up
When we arrived at the Pet Hotel, our bird was out of the cage playing with one of the ladies on her shoulder.
He also happily came to us and stood on our shoulders while we greeted him.
I am not sure whether he has recognized us or not. What I noticed was: he was friendly both to us and to the ladies at the hotel.
On the other hand, he has not interacted much with the other birds there, even though the majority of them were green cheek conures just like him. I think our Elvis is a people bird and not so much a birds bird. He has been interacting with humans only since he was 11 weeks old up until almost 2 years old.
Once home, the first thing our bird did was jump on his big cage and start hopping from one spot to the other.
We could tell that Elvis was happy to be home. His reaction was exactly what we had expected. He loves being home above anything, regardless where we take him.
First days home
What we have noticed in the first days we got our Elvis back:
- Boy he was HUNGRY!
- He did not receive his dose of CUDDLES
- Elvis did not SMELL like Elvis
- Our baby was very TIRED
We have recognized all the above. We knew that our bird gets stressed in new environments. Because of that he eats much less, he sleeps worse and therefore is more tired than usual.
We have experienced all of it when we took our parrot on vacation with us two times before. He absolutely hated being away and could just not be his usual self when away.
However, the new smell was something new for us. Even after three baths, our parrot would still not smell like himself. He would just smell differently ?
After royal meals for a few days in a row and a few good night’s sleep, our green cheek has finally started behaving like himself.
In the future
Our parrot has had his first experience with the Holiday Pet Hotel.
We consider it to be a success given that:
- The place had a limited number of birds, therefore Elvis had sufficient attention and care
- Our bird was let out of the cage and has interacted with other humans
- He received fruit and veggies apart from seeds
- He has learned to adapt in a new environment without his mommy and daddy
It is also very likely that our parrot will return to the same parrot hotel when we decide to go on holiday again.
You can see below some video images of my parrot at the parrot hotel:
Have you ever been to a Holiday Pet Hotel?
What is your experience when allowing other people to take care of your baby?
Let Elvis know in the comments below, he is curious to find out! 🙂
To all the Parrot Lovers,