The Need for Closure: Getting a Necropsy

Photo by Dave Location: Saipan, MP Shown: Swainson Toucan "Meaka"  Before I forget to add them, these articles are so important to read if you have a pet bird of any kind: The danger of fumes. Necropsy: What it is and why it should be done. The last time we had a necropsy done on a bird, it was on our parakeet Lexi. They never found ...
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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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Bird Travel Trailer

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Orlando, FL Shown: Bird section of travel trailer For those of you that remember my Traveling in Style post, you will appreciate this one. Originally, we equipped our trailer with enough cages to accomodate our flock when we would be traveling a bit. However, it was never meant to be "full time" traveling based on ...
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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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