HELP!! My male button quail is attacking my female quails feet!!

[angeliemo]

Usually my two quails act friendly with each other and love to cuddle and sleep together but this morning i noticed that my male quail was going towards my female quail and attacking her feet multiple times. Honestly I have no idea whats happening but right now theyre currently seperated. But im not sure what to do because the male is currently on my bed since I dont have another place for him.

 

[Nabiki]

You did the right thing separating them. Put him back in with her in a few hours and see how he does. The short separation may be enough for him to forget his "foot fetish."

 

[angeliemo]

You did the right thing separating them. Put him back in with her in a few hours and see how he does. The short separation may be enough for him to forget his "foot fetish."

Yeah hopefully he doesnt do this anymore because Im scared he'll start hurting her and cause her to bleed or something like that. Very strange that he suddenly started doing this and I have no idea why either. Thank you for the advice though!

 

[WoDia]

It happened with mine a few times, but when they were chicks. I chalk it up to curiosity. The toes are moving and probably look like live food to them. @Nabiki is right…. separation. Then, give him something else to draw his interest away from those enticing little toes (some type of treat, etc).

 

[Oob Child]

It happened with mine a few times, but when they were chicks. I chalk it up to curiosity. The toes are moving and probably look like live food to them. @Nabiki is right…. separation. Then, give him something else to draw his interest away from those enticing little toes (some type of treat, etc).

I've noticed that quail toes can look a lot like mealworms.. my Quail haven't actually hurt eachother before, but when they were chicks they sometimes had a little peck at each other's feet.

I had one chick from a batch I was sending to my nan's that was a real bully. It was only about 2 days old when it started attacking other's feet. It even took off one of it's siblings' toes .
Separated it for a few days and that fixed everything. Ended up being a male.

This was for a jumbo coturnix, though. Good luck with your birds. Idk why this would happen, unless your quail was young and has now reached sexual maturity or something

 

[angeliemo]

I've noticed that quail toes can look a lot like mealworms.. my Quail haven't actually hurt eachother before, but when they were chicks they sometimes had a little peck at each other's feet.

I had one chick from a batch I was sending to my nan's that was a real bully. It was only about 2 days old when it started attacking other's feet. It even took off one of it's siblings' toes .
Separated it for a few days and that fixed everything. Ended up being a male.

This was for a jumbo coturnix, though. Good luck with your birds. Idk why this would happen, unless your quail was young and has now reached sexual maturity or something

Yeah I have no idea why he did this all of sudden since he never has done that but after I seperated him for a few hours and put him back with my other quail he started acted normal and at the end of the day they were cuddling like normal.

 

[cathalmire]

Usually my two quails act friendly with each other and love to cuddle and sleep together but this morning i noticed that my male quail was going towards my female quail and attacking her feet multiple times. Honestly I have no idea whats happening but right now theyre currently seperated. But im not sure what to do because the male is currently on my bed since I dont have another place for him.

Do you feed them mealworms i heard they attack feet as feet look similar

 

[Oob Child]

Do you feed them mealworms i heard they attack feet as feet look similar

They love mealworms, but I doubt they would do that. I think they did it because there was already blood there. Baby quail do do that, though.