Toucans???

[kookykate328]

not that im going to get any, but how much would toco or keelbilled toucan eggs be??? also is it possible to hatch them in an incubator?

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
The thing about buying eggs to hatch in an incubator is that the only eggs you'll find for sale are precocious-baby species. These eggs hatch, and the babies are immediately able to walk around and feed themselves. They don't need their parents if they are provided with warmth after hatching, until they grow out their feathers and can maintain heat.

Toucans, finches, parrots, and most other "cage birds" are altricial-baby species. These eggs hatch, and the babies are typically blind, naked (or almost), and defenseless. They must be fed regurgitated food by their parents (or handfeeding formula by a human raiser). These eggs are generally not available to purchase the way poultry eggs are because it is much more inconvenient to raise a newly-hatched parrot (or toucan, or finch, etc) than a newly-hatched chicken (or duck, or goose, etc). Most people would rather let the parents raise the babies (at least for a little while), pulling to handfeed (if desired) when the babies are a bit more robust.

Oh, and toucans are rather expensive. Would you pay a few hundred (or a couple thousand) dollars for one egg, hope it hatches, and then deal with round-the-clock handfeedings?

 

[clinton9]

Hi kookkate328,
Toucans are difficult birds to keep, and they need a bigger avairy and they are not intelligent birds, as their brain are rather small.
They need foods as insects, small eggs, fruits, berries and baby toucans cannot walk until 1-2 weeks old, and they (baby) need to be keep warm and be fed 24 hours for a week.
Droppings are not solid, and when they are growing, they need saw chippings to sit on.
When kept in avairy, they get bored unless you hide the foods or put branches with berries for them to work for their foods.
They are active birds.
These toucans strongly dislikes cold temperature and cold winds.
They (babies) are best parent-reared since if they were hand-raised, they may not know how to look after their babies.

They are small to medium sized birds with outsized colourful beaks.

When baby Toco toucans come out of nest, they did not have beak colour of parent"s beak, these beaks were plain pale yellow, for unknown numbers of months, before become more like their parent"s beaks, otherwise juvenile and adult plumages are same in colours.

Remember birds change their colours as they mature.

Cheers

Clinton.

 

[kookykate328]

thanks i was just wondering im not really going to get any

 

[bagendhens]

as far as im aware you cannot buy tucan (or similar) eggs (at least not legitimatly) anyone selling them are typically scammers (even zoos and breeding programs cant get eggs)

can tell you from experience that they make terrible pets though lol, i thought lories were messy...
then i had to take on bird keeper duties one day at the zoo i worked for...the tucan and turoccos....EWWW! talk about projectile pooping! lol

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, they are terribly messy. I had one, a finch got loose and he snapped it up as it flew by! Interesting birds.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Toucans are very expensive. Last babies I saw for sale were going for $10,000 a piece! I've also heard their lifespans in captivity are fairly short, which I found interesting.

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
Their lifespans are short when they are not fed properly. Toucans (and many other softbilled birds) are prone to haemochromatosis (iron storage disease), and need diets that are meticulously low in iron. The old books used to advise feeding toucans totally inappropriate food, like dogfood or pinkie mice. Today, you can find low-iron softbill pellets (I can't remember offhand the ones that are lowest, but they're mentioned on many toucan sites), and this and plenty of fresh fruit every day forms the basic diet. They won't live as long as parrots of the same size, but with proper care, you can get up to twenty years, I think.

The Rhamphastos species (large black toucans with colorful beaks, like the Toco, Keel-billed, Cuvier's, etc) are the most expensive, with prices like you mentioned. There are many smaller species (called toucanettes and aracaris) that are much more reasonable, and make better pets for indoors, and are often for sale as hand-fed babies. Care is the same, but cages are smaller, and so are prices, since the smaller birds are bred more easily.

 

[debs_flock]

Here's a site for you to read.............and drool over!

http://www.emeraldforestbirds.com/

Deb