Sharing Our Last Moments With Fiji

Photo by Mishelle Stafford Location: Bethlehem, PA In the show: Swainson Toucan "Fiji"  It's really weird to me to have photos of Fiji from her very last show with us. Just to look at them and know, it was her last one... but at the time not. It's just a strange thing.  I just wanted this entry to be about some of the things I've been going ...
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Coping With the Loss of Your Pet

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Moab, Utah Pictured: Swainson Toucan "Fiji" Sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for owning birds, toucans or parrots... it's like a catch 22 because they can bring so much joy into your life, but losing them is so hard and to bear it over and over again with multiple pets makes me feel like I'm not strong enoug...
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Listen to Your Bird... It Knows Best!

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Orlando, FL Pictured: Swainson Toucan "Fiji" I've trained my toucan, Fiji, to cry/scream whenever she needs the following: Food Water Sleep So anytime she screams, she gets one of those 3 things. Well, the food dishes in the aviaries outside are a bit awkward for her use but she makes do, somehow. I notic...
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Tea Time with Your Toucan

Photo by Dave Womach Location: Costa Rica Shown: Keel Bill Toucan  The only way to test for iron storage disease in toucans is to do a liver biopsy and when Dave and I did so with our Swainson Toucan years ago, we found she was very high in iron because when we first got her we were told she couldn't have tap water but that bottled water was ...
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Training Toco Toucans

Photo by Dave Location: Musha Cay, Bahamas Shown: Toco Toucans   A toco toucan is one of my "dream birds" and I finally got to work with some! They were wild caught and sold as "hand fed tame babies" which they were clearly not. They turned out to be wild caught. My job was to tame them enough that they would actually enjoy human interaction fr...
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Foraging Toys for Toucans

While I shop for foraging toys all the time for my parrots, I got to thinking... what about my Swainson Toucan? Are there foraging toys out there for toucans, too? Well, they haven't said "specifically made for toucans" but I have been applying my parrot ones to my toucan where I can. Obviously, they have their differences, but I'm finding ou...
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