Checkers-
I'm thinking of hand raising a pigeon this summer.
Any tips for a person who is trying this?
I HAVE done my research for almost a year and I DO have some basic supplies.
(no jokes!)
thanks!
I was talking about a newborn pigeon.
Answer
Eep! Don't listen to that guy! Baby pigeons are very delicate and need a LOT of care, especially hand feeding!
I'm wondering how you are going to get a baby pigeon? Fostering? Anyway, if the pigeon is a newborn with little or no feathers, you're going to need to keep it in a box with a heating pad on the bottom until it is fully feathered. Put a towel over the heating pad, and keep the baby on the pad, and under another towel. At that young age, they are 100% dependent on you to give them warmth. The inside of the box should be between 80 and 90 degrees ferenheit, and when it starts getting feathers it should be between 70 and 80 degrees.
To feed it, you should buy some parrot feeding formula at the petstore. It is called EXACT and comes as a powder. Just mix the powder into the formula like it says on the package. The easiest way that I have found to feed baby pigeons is by poking a hole in the side of a paper dixie cup just big enough for the beak to fit through. Fill the cup up to the hole with the formula and put the baby's beak in the hole. When you tip the cup, it should instantly start drinking like crazy and gulping down food. You will be able to see the food in the baby bird's crop after it has finished eating. When it stops bobbing it's head, take it's beak out of the cup so it doesn't inhale any food, and immediately clean any spilled food before it gets hard and caked on the bird.
The reason baby pigeons and doves like to feed this way is because in their parent's care, the mother bird would put her beak around the chick's beak, and the chick would reach into her throat to get it's meal. Pigeon babies do not gape for food when they are hungry like sparrows or other birds. When they put their beak through the hole, it feels like they are putting it into the parent's mouth, and it feels natural. This works WAY better than any syringe or eyedropper, trust me!
When the baby is a newborn, it will need to feed every 20 minutes to half an hour, and every hour or two at night. After a week or two, it will be able to go 1/2 hour or 45 minutes without food and probably sleep through the night for 6-8 hours. Soon, it will be able to go two hours between feedings.
At about 4 weeks old, the bird will start practicing to fly. This is when you should start leaving some bird seeds in the cage, and it's instincts will tell it to peck at the food. Soon, it will eat more and more seeds until it no longer needs to be hand-fed and will refuse the formula. At about two months old is when the pigeon would be fully weaned and mature enought to live on it's own. Then, depending on what you were intending to do with the bird, you can either prepare it for realease in the wild, or keep is as a pet.
If you keep it, when it becomes sexually mature around 6 months old, you will be able to tell if it's male or female by it's behavior. A male will tend to get more agressive and often breaks the bond with you. It will "dance" by cooing loudly and twirling in circles. A female won't do the "dance" behavior, is generally tamer and more peaceful, and might lay an egg or two some day. Females (im my experience) have a better relationship with the owner, but if you are constantly handling and socializing with a male, it can maintain it's pleasant attitude.
I hope this helps you, and I hope all goes well! Good luck with your pigeon! If you have any more pigeon questions, please email me. I'd be glad to help even more.
Eep! Don't listen to that guy! Baby pigeons are very delicate and need a LOT of care, especially hand feeding!
I'm wondering how you are going to get a baby pigeon? Fostering? Anyway, if the pigeon is a newborn with little or no feathers, you're going to need to keep it in a box with a heating pad on the bottom until it is fully feathered. Put a towel over the heating pad, and keep the baby on the pad, and under another towel. At that young age, they are 100% dependent on you to give them warmth. The inside of the box should be between 80 and 90 degrees ferenheit, and when it starts getting feathers it should be between 70 and 80 degrees.
To feed it, you should buy some parrot feeding formula at the petstore. It is called EXACT and comes as a powder. Just mix the powder into the formula like it says on the package. The easiest way that I have found to feed baby pigeons is by poking a hole in the side of a paper dixie cup just big enough for the beak to fit through. Fill the cup up to the hole with the formula and put the baby's beak in the hole. When you tip the cup, it should instantly start drinking like crazy and gulping down food. You will be able to see the food in the baby bird's crop after it has finished eating. When it stops bobbing it's head, take it's beak out of the cup so it doesn't inhale any food, and immediately clean any spilled food before it gets hard and caked on the bird.
The reason baby pigeons and doves like to feed this way is because in their parent's care, the mother bird would put her beak around the chick's beak, and the chick would reach into her throat to get it's meal. Pigeon babies do not gape for food when they are hungry like sparrows or other birds. When they put their beak through the hole, it feels like they are putting it into the parent's mouth, and it feels natural. This works WAY better than any syringe or eyedropper, trust me!
When the baby is a newborn, it will need to feed every 20 minutes to half an hour, and every hour or two at night. After a week or two, it will be able to go 1/2 hour or 45 minutes without food and probably sleep through the night for 6-8 hours. Soon, it will be able to go two hours between feedings.
At about 4 weeks old, the bird will start practicing to fly. This is when you should start leaving some bird seeds in the cage, and it's instincts will tell it to peck at the food. Soon, it will eat more and more seeds until it no longer needs to be hand-fed and will refuse the formula. At about two months old is when the pigeon would be fully weaned and mature enought to live on it's own. Then, depending on what you were intending to do with the bird, you can either prepare it for realease in the wild, or keep is as a pet.
If you keep it, when it becomes sexually mature around 6 months old, you will be able to tell if it's male or female by it's behavior. A male will tend to get more agressive and often breaks the bond with you. It will "dance" by cooing loudly and twirling in circles. A female won't do the "dance" behavior, is generally tamer and more peaceful, and might lay an egg or two some day. Females (im my experience) have a better relationship with the owner, but if you are constantly handling and socializing with a male, it can maintain it's pleasant attitude.
I hope this helps you, and I hope all goes well! Good luck with your pigeon! If you have any more pigeon questions, please email me. I'd be glad to help even more.
Baby Bearded Dragon Care?
Brooke Wet
Hi there! I bought my husband a Bearded Dragon for his birthday about a week ago, but he's deployed right now, and I know only the basics of having a baby. Right now I have been feeding him fresh from my garden carrot tops, fresh parsley, meal worms, a mash that came with his juvenile box, and a papaya blend that came with it too. I have been giving him warm (NOT HOT) baths for a few minutes to get him used to bath time, and I keep my hand in the water with him. (Water only goes past his feet.)
What should I know to have a happy well developing bearded dragon? I'm trying to get him on a schedule, and would love alllll the pointers I can get. Thank you!
*sighs* I was asking the people of Yahoo because, I wanted some tips from first hand owners on bearded dragons. I know I can look these things up, but it's nice to know what other people have to say.
As for the meal worms, I'm working on trying to find a good place to buy him from crickets from.
Answer
Well first of all get rid of the meal worms, they are not a good staple for any age and certainly not for a baby. Your baby should be eating crickets or roaches, no larger than the space between his eyes, and fed 3x daily, as many as he will eat in about 15 minutes. Babies often do not eat many veggies, but as he ages he will eat more.
The UVB and temperatures are of vital importance. I am leaving you some links, but in short you need the Reptisun 10.0 linear bulb, which you will replace every few months even if it is still burning. The basking lamp can be a regular household bulb. His basking site should be around 110 degrees, the cooler side 75-80. You will need a good temerature probe to measure accurately, a stick-on thermometer will not do. Beardies like dark at night, so you can put the lights on a timer. If his viv will get cold at night (below 70ish, use a CHE and not a colored bulb.
Here are some good links:
http://www.beardeddragon.org/
http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/GeneralCare.html
And finally a list of good and not so good foods:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
So not use any particle substrate, including sand, calcium sand, walnut shells etc. Tile is great, easy to clean, attractive, and helps keep his nails filed.
Also do not depend on anything the big box store tells you to be correct and good information. (And a lot of what you may get here, as well.) Good luck, and I hope your husband will be home again soon!
Well first of all get rid of the meal worms, they are not a good staple for any age and certainly not for a baby. Your baby should be eating crickets or roaches, no larger than the space between his eyes, and fed 3x daily, as many as he will eat in about 15 minutes. Babies often do not eat many veggies, but as he ages he will eat more.
The UVB and temperatures are of vital importance. I am leaving you some links, but in short you need the Reptisun 10.0 linear bulb, which you will replace every few months even if it is still burning. The basking lamp can be a regular household bulb. His basking site should be around 110 degrees, the cooler side 75-80. You will need a good temerature probe to measure accurately, a stick-on thermometer will not do. Beardies like dark at night, so you can put the lights on a timer. If his viv will get cold at night (below 70ish, use a CHE and not a colored bulb.
Here are some good links:
http://www.beardeddragon.org/
http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/GeneralCare.html
And finally a list of good and not so good foods:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
So not use any particle substrate, including sand, calcium sand, walnut shells etc. Tile is great, easy to clean, attractive, and helps keep his nails filed.
Also do not depend on anything the big box store tells you to be correct and good information. (And a lot of what you may get here, as well.) Good luck, and I hope your husband will be home again soon!
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