Noah’s Unintentional Ark
While we were on vacation in February enjoying the (partly) sunny gulf coast of Florida, Colorado’s temps plummeted into icy oblivion & a sprinkler pipe froze & burst outside our home, transorming the bottom half of our bi-level house into a flat mucky pond. Fortunately, our house sitter returned from her errands in the nick of time, called us, and soon enough we had a deluge of friends working to save our furniture, belongings - and most importantly - our pets.
I’ve posted photos of my Bird Room before. (You can find them on Petcetera Pet Sitting’s Facebook Page.) All of my parrots and rodents, with the exception of our African Grey Howie, live in the pretty green bird room, which was miraculously - almost - untouched. Only a small amount of water intruded and dampened the carpet. However, because of the amount of water that flooded the house, the carpet had to be removed throughout and the animals - all 9 who live downstairs - had to move upstairs with us and the majority of our downstairs furniture.
As mentioned, we were out of town when the flood occurred (on a Thursday) and didn’t return until the following Monday. In order to protect our African Grey from drafts in the basement, he was moved upstairs into a spare large cage I had on hand. (His home cage had to be dismantled in order to be moved & we took care of that when we returned.) The guinea pigs, who live in a floor level C&C (cubes and coroplast) cage, were also moved upstairs since we weren’t sure whether the water had seeped into the coroplast. The rest of the pets stayed in their home cages since they were well above the floor. Fans and humidifiers were placed throughout the basement with instruction not to place them in ways that could harm the birds.
(For the record, our special needs dog Milo was medically boarded while we were away. Our other dogs, Evo and Echo, were boarded the day of the flood through the day of our return. Our gecko, Ember, lives in my office upstairs, which was not affected by the flood.)
We were prepared to return to a world turned upside down. Due to the help of our friends, the damage to the house and our belongings was minimal, but carpet would have to be replaced, and within days we were informed that the tile found underneath was asbestos positive. Baseboards had been ripped out, laundry room linoleum was damaged. The days after our return were stressful, spent planning on how to live on the first floor of our home with 13 pets, 6 of whom require large cages.
Most of neighbors probably shake their heads when catching a glimpse of our garage. Being an animal person, pet sitter, and Regional Director of a dog rescue, our garage is filled with an assortment of dog and cat crates, extra small animal cages, emergency bird cages, and dog beds. But I’ll tell you this - as much as our garage resembles that of an “animal rescue items” hoarder, I’ll never regret that I was able to house my pets in temporary cages until their home cages could be dismantled and moved upstairs. I never took photos of the pets’ temporary arrangements, but now that I’ve got their homes reconstructed, I thought I’d share their living arrangements.
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My office now houses 5 parrots and 3 rodents.
Left to Right: Hahn’s Macaw Panzer’s cage; Green Cheek Conures Bonzai! & Miso’s cage (their home cage is double the size in width & could not be brought upstairs. The cage they live in is Pocky’s home cage.) The guinea pigs are sitting between Bonzai! & Miso and Pocky’s cages on the floor. Pocky, Senegal parrot, is in the brown cage, which is the cage used to temporarily house our African Gray before his home cage was moved upstairs. The cage otherwise lives in the garage for emergencies just like this one!)
Pongo, the red rumped parakeet’s cage (in back) and Dobby the Degu’s cage.
Dobby’s cage, supplies underneath and his exercise ball.
Dobby in his wheel. Degu’s are Chilean rodents.
Pongo the red rumped parakeet. He is not tame but he loves singing to us.
Panzer’s cage had to be dismantled and reconstructed in order to move upstairs.
Hahn’s macaw Panzer.
Green cheek conures Bonzai! and Miso’s cage.They are in the top left corner.
Another view (pre-toy explosion) to show where the piggies are. Bonzai! and Miso are visible in the top left hand corner. Miso is the lighter one (called a “Cinnamon” color mutation.)
Moving the guinea pigs (Oliver and Holmes) into a cage this small was very difficult. This cage is about a quarter of the size of their home cage, but it’s the best I could do with the space that I have. I keep telling myself it’s only temporary, and it is.
Sengal parrot Pocky’s cage. In this photo she is near the top, sitting behind a toy.
Pocky! She turns 7 on March 10th!
Our gecko Ember moved into our living room, as well as our African Grey Howie:
We have a way to go before the downstairs is livable again, but we’ll get there!! In the meantime, the birds will be undergoing their annual veterinary exams so that we’re prepared to board them if necessary. (Painting the house may require that the birds be removed; it’s dependent upon how well ventilated the house is, the type of paint used, and how well the painted areas can be sealed off from the parrots. Oh, and the tile is being removed with no risk to the parrots. Fortunately, it’s not fibrous or air borne and can be wet down and peeled up. We’re removing it ourselves using respirators, latex gloves, and protective clothing.)
The good news is that when the basement is finished, the birds and rodents will be upgrading to an even larger bird room!! Since we had to give away much of our upstairs furniture (not enough room to store it), we’re rearranging the entire house and giving the former guest room to the pets. I’m currently eying a color called “Peacock Tail” for the new room. I can’t wait to show it off … though you might be waiting a few months ;)
