twitching quail?

[coturnixxx8]

Hi, I have just noticed that my only male coturnix is twitching his chest non stop for some reason.I don't know if he's just having a hiccup or he has something stuck in his throat. He is plump, eating well, and sleeping well. I have 3 quails in total (2 females 1 male). They are on a turkey crumble diet with 25% crude protein and live in a 7 square ft hutch with one open area and one enclosed area. In the enclosed area I put paper based bedding and in the open area I recently switched the flooring from pine shavings into sand because of all the dust from the pine shavings is causing me allergies.
Why is he twitching so much??

 

[JaeG]

Has he got his mouth open when he does this? That seems to be a stress reaction so it may just be that such a big change in his territory has upset him. Hopefully he'll settle down soon and it will start feeling like home to him.

 

[coturnixxx8]

Has he got his mouth open when he does this? That seems to be a stress reaction so it may just be that such a big change in his territory has upset him. Hopefully he'll settle down soon and it will start feeling like home to him.

his mouth is closed when he does this. He was the first to have dust baths in the sand when I switched it in. I thought he really liked the sand. Are there any health concerns related to quail twitching a lot?

 

[coturnixxx8]

Has he got his mouth open when he does this? That seems to be a stress reaction so it may just be that such a big change in his territory has upset him. Hopefully he'll settle down soon and it will start feeling like home to him.

his mouth is closed when he does this. He was the first to have dust baths in the sand when I switched it in. I thought he really liked the sand. Are there any health concerns related to quail twitching a lot?

 

[JaeG]

I haven't come across any and if he's active and acting like his usual self I wouldn't worry too much. He may have eaten some of the sand as grit so perhaps he's sort of rearranging it in his crop. Sometimes they can overdo it and eat a bit much if they haven't had access to grit but the excess should pass through his system just fine. Just make sure he's eating his normal food as a loss of appetite could indicate his crop isn't emptying properly. But if he's dust bathing and happy I don't think you have anything to worry about.