- Aug 12, 2011
- 7
- 1
- 7
Hi there everyone
I am fairly new to this world of caring for button quail but I love it so far! I purchased two quail a few days after my 21st birthday in early June, one is a male chinese painted named 'peep-peep' and the other is a female silver named 'peep'. I was told they were around 3months old when I purchased them.
They live in an elevated terrarium L:120cm W:30cm H:45cm with a clumping sand floor covering and soft wire roof to ease the stress of "boinking". My father in law helped me make them a little wooden elevated 'nesting box' filled with straw and hiding places underneath the elevated floor. I have silk plants in the tank to provide cover and grass stickers along the side of the glass so they don't walk into it
I feed them every day with turkey crumble, finch seed mix, broccoli, peas, shell grit and occasionally millet spray and live mealy worms. They have fresh water every day.
I feel like this is a good start, but there are some issues that I need to resolve.
1) Peep, my female silver button is balding
I thought it was initially from boinking, but I caught the male pecking her head one night. It has not got worse or better over the last few weeks. Could this be from mating? I was thinking I could combat this issue with low ambient light and some of that blue dye I have read about and a high protein diet to help her regenerate her lost feathers.
2) Peep seems 'stressed' during full daylight hours. She runs up and down the terrarium rapidly while Peep-peep just chills. Is this normal behaviour or is my poor girl stressed? She chills out down in the evenings when the light is fading. Will she always be a skiddish quail?
3) Is sand in the bottom of the tank a good idea? It is clumping sand, and I have modified a cat pooper scooper to sift small sand through while catching the poops. I scoop their poops every other day and change the sand every few weeks for clean sand.
4) I am not sure if my female is actually female! She is a plain coloured silver and has no bib or markings BUT she makes calling noises that resemble that of what I have read a male should do. She stands tall and 'crows' three or four times loudly. The chinese painted makes these noises too.
5) My chinese painted does this very cute but odd hopping thing. He crouches in the sand as low as he can get, and hops around! He walks normally, but does this every now and then. The hopping is not very high, it is just like a little happy bounce around the tank. Is this normal?
Any help would be appreciated. I love my little quails and want to give them the best care possible <3
Thanks!
Ashley
I am fairly new to this world of caring for button quail but I love it so far! I purchased two quail a few days after my 21st birthday in early June, one is a male chinese painted named 'peep-peep' and the other is a female silver named 'peep'. I was told they were around 3months old when I purchased them.
They live in an elevated terrarium L:120cm W:30cm H:45cm with a clumping sand floor covering and soft wire roof to ease the stress of "boinking". My father in law helped me make them a little wooden elevated 'nesting box' filled with straw and hiding places underneath the elevated floor. I have silk plants in the tank to provide cover and grass stickers along the side of the glass so they don't walk into it
I feed them every day with turkey crumble, finch seed mix, broccoli, peas, shell grit and occasionally millet spray and live mealy worms. They have fresh water every day.
I feel like this is a good start, but there are some issues that I need to resolve.
1) Peep, my female silver button is balding
2) Peep seems 'stressed' during full daylight hours. She runs up and down the terrarium rapidly while Peep-peep just chills. Is this normal behaviour or is my poor girl stressed? She chills out down in the evenings when the light is fading. Will she always be a skiddish quail?
3) Is sand in the bottom of the tank a good idea? It is clumping sand, and I have modified a cat pooper scooper to sift small sand through while catching the poops. I scoop their poops every other day and change the sand every few weeks for clean sand.
4) I am not sure if my female is actually female! She is a plain coloured silver and has no bib or markings BUT she makes calling noises that resemble that of what I have read a male should do. She stands tall and 'crows' three or four times loudly. The chinese painted makes these noises too.
5) My chinese painted does this very cute but odd hopping thing. He crouches in the sand as low as he can get, and hops around! He walks normally, but does this every now and then. The hopping is not very high, it is just like a little happy bounce around the tank. Is this normal?
Any help would be appreciated. I love my little quails and want to give them the best care possible <3
Thanks!
Ashley
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