Button Quails = Good Pets?

[chickety]

Hi everyone,

I've seen differing opinions on this matter on websites. I'm wondering if button quails make good indoor pets?

- Are they smelly to have inside? The birds themselves, I mean, not the messes they make

- If I get 1 week old chicks and plan on spending a lot of time with them, what are the chances that they will become tame and friendly?

Two people I've spoken to online have said they don't make good pets while others say they are great pets. I want a pair only as pets, not for breeding, so I'm looking for some honest opinions.

Anything else you want to share that I haven't asked is greatly appreciated as well. Thanks in advance!

 

[Bettacreek]

It honestly depends on each person's personal opinion and definition of "pet". If you mean, can you take them out, kiss and cuddle with them, then no. If you mean gorgeous little birds that you can watch (usually from a distance, lol) and enjoy, then yes. You just need to be able to meet their needs, especially privacy needs, and you must be patient.

 

[BeautifulBlue]

I have a japanese quail as a pet, I hatched 4 - 2 males, 2 females, all of them were very tame, but the males were too loud for my parents, so they got rehomed. My other female passed away when I was in the middle of moving house.
But anyway, japanese are very laid back, button quail are jumpy and boink a lot so don't make ideal pets that you can handle without getting a good wingslap. I'd recommend japs to anyone as a pet

Japs aren't smelly, I know people that have them in their house, but like any bird, they make a fair bit of dust.
If you get one week old chicks and handle them frequently, they will become very tame, and as I said earlier, they are laid-back anyways so it shouldn't take too long to get them running to you for food or for a fuss.
I wouldn't suggest a pair of them (male/female) as the male will cause too much hassle to the female, if you're having a male I'd have 3/4 females to one male. A pair of females will be good company and they're not loud at all, but they don't take up a lot of space, so the more the merrier.

 

[saddina]

Yep! if by pet you mean "small enough to live in my house, and not reek up the joint", well yeah. If you mean, cute animal I can cuddle and play with.... nope.

If you want a bird you can keep inside, and stays realitivly small, perhaps bantam chickens? Alot of people keep silkies as housepets.

 

[Akane]

What makes a good pet is entirely personal opinion. What one person loves another will hate. I love my independent minded stubborn akita who generally makes a fool out of me in dog obedience classes because she couldn't care less if I want her to do something or not. I think she's perfect. Other people absolutely hate that type of personality in a dog and some would even prefer no one owns dogs like that by claiming they are bad pets and potentially dangerous. I quite disliked my degus for their destructiveness and being just plain too hyper to hold. Someone else on this forum posted a thread on how much they love their degus. Really it is opinion.

Button quail are cute little low maintenance birds to watch. They don't eat or drink much, they don't make much mess, they don't smell so long as you don't have 100+ like I do right now, and they produce little eggs like crazy. They are not good to handle. Even if you get chicks and handle them daily they may not become very tame. Odds are very low you'll be able to pick them up without chasing them about the pen. The best I've gotten are quail that tolerate me doing things in their cage and near it without freaking and running into things or smashing into the top of the cage. Those who have completely tamed buttons generally had a single chick they hauled around with them everywhere all day to keep it company.

Coturnix are much calmer and have more potential to be tamed but require more space and can end up being smelly. 1 coturnix equals the mess about 10-20 button quail in my experience. If your building an indoor cage big enough for coturnix you might consider making it slightly bigger and getting a pair of seramas or japanese bantams. I had a trio of japs in the house for a long time. They ran around in chicken diapers and slept in a 3x6' guinea pig cage. Now I have 6 seramas in the house. Small bantams will tame much easier than quail but they will require a lot more space and time since they really should be let out of their pen to exercise frequently.

 

[citalk2much]

I can really only second what everyone else has said.

 

[chickety]

Thank you, guys - very helpful! I've taken everything said here into consideration, slept on it, and have decided to give a pair a try.

I don't want to start a new thread for this, but I much prefer to keep them in a cage as opposed to an aquarium (too heavy for me!) or storage bin...will that work?

I have a rat cage with 1/2" spacing and I'm planning on getting a pair that is probably in the 5-6 week range. Will they still be able to get out of it?

Or maybe I should ditch the whole cage idea and just construct a storage bin habitat, hmm...except I'm not very handy at all.

 

[Bettacreek]

I would just make a tub-style cage. And, you don't have to be handy to make one! I have "multi-purpose" clippers that are supposed to cut through metal (but don't, lol) that I use to cut the screen and to cut the plastic bins to make windows. Just use a steak knife or a drill and drill holes to make corners for your window (twist the knife with pressure to drill, this is what I have to use), then cut with the clippers (don't ever close them all of the way, only like 1/3 of the way, this prevents cracking). Then just hot glue the screen in. I use aluminum, but would say to get fiberglass screen (the black stuff) because the aluminum can stab you and you have to be VERY careful to hotglue the ends completely so that the buttons don't get stabbed or scratched, plus, I'd imagine that it'd be easier to clean, but can't say for sure. It's like $12 for a 105qt tub-style bin, or you can get bigger ones. You could even use the huge dark colored ones, since it will help provide security, plus you'll be cutting windows out anyways.