QUAIL BITTEN BY RAT

[JessicaJessica13]

my youngish male coturnix has been bitten by a rat. i just noticed it now, as he keeps kicking when I hold him(he's usually always calm and loves to be pet). I can tell that it hurts him. it's dried, but you can tell that there was blood. a rat about 7-8 inches got into our cage with 3 quails and attacked the 5 day old. Sadly, the baby bled to death by the time we found it. the rat ran away. I need to know if this'll kill my male or not- please let me know anyone!!(the cage "holes" are an inch tall)

 

[JessicaJessica13]

This is the bite.

 

[JaeG]

Quail are tough little birds so there's every likelihood he will survive. Rats will bite quail through the wire gaps if they are big enough and an inch is big enough (I've had one bitten through half inch wire), and its more than big enough for mice to get in and steal your quails food. So some wire with smaller gaps may be needed. Set some traps too to catch those rats.

 

[JessicaJessica13]

Quail are tough little birds so there's every likelihood he will survive. Rats will bite quail through the wire gaps if they are big enough and an inch is big enough (I've had one bitten through half inch wire), and its more than big enough for mice to get in and steal your quails food. So some wire with smaller gaps may be needed. Set some traps too to catch those rats.

thank you so much for the reply. I am really worried for the little guy. we have traps set up, but haven't caught anything. we don't have mice here, just rats. most likely the rat died- he was stabbed. my boyfriend used a sharp tool to stab it but he only got it once. the rat started bleeding. once it was stabbed it ran out so fast you could barely see it run.

 

[JaeG]

Rats are horrid things. We have huge ones where we are. I'm in New Zealand and they are an introduced species and there is nothing here that will hunt them except for the odd domestic cat (that doesn't really have to) and maybe a hawk, but there aren't any of those around unless you live in the country. So we've had to trap and kill them. Not fun but necessary.

I've had a male quail severely scalped I thought there was no hope for him, but I isolated him and with no treatment of any kind he healed up just fine. So they really are tough little birds. I hope your boy heals up well. Just make sure the other birds aren't picking at the wound.