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They need to be in a cage with ventalation. I raise quail and they are a lot of fun. We keep the babies in an aquarium until they are full grown (5-6 weeks) and then move them to a cage. Small animal cages such as for a hamster works great. the height should not be more than 12-14 as they can fly up and break their necks. They need to be on beding and not wire floor. You feed them a wild game bird feed and you can mix finch seed with it.
Keep in mind that these little birds are very fun to watch and listen to but usually can not be tamed. If you want to have one you can hold and tame, you would only want to get one bird as in pairs they are mates and they do not usually tame. You could have 3 or 4 button quail in a small hamster cage. (not the critter trail type cages) I am talking about the ones that have a plastic bottom and a cage top with 1 or two doors to open. For a water bottle we bought the pop bottle water kit. It is just a small plastic piece that fits on a 16-20oz pop or water bottle and it has a spring that helps secure it to the cage. We like these because the birds don't get in the water and make it all dirty. For feeders we bought just the plain little replacement feeders for a bird cage, they are not expensive and the quail seem to like them. You can also use a small rabit cage or guinea pig cage. You just need to make sure that the space between the bars is not more than 1 inch. The birds are very small and can get out pretty easy if the cage bars are two bit. My cage is a small rabbit cage and the bars are 1 in apart. That is all you really need. They do not perch as they are ground dwellers. I do put a little plastic box with bedding in mine, they sometimes lay their eggs in it and sometimes they sleep in it. But is is not necessary.
You really don't want to keep them in an aquarium for good as it does not get enough ventalation and the heat and moisture that builds up in it makes a perfect home for bacteria and other things that can be harmful to the birds.
Hope this helps.
I am planning on getting some that are young. They are supposed to have the same temperature as chicks right? I wanted to know what you guys think i should use for them for food water cage bedding and everything else. I am going to keep them inside as pets. What other things do you think i should put in their cage? Also i wanted to know how much space each of them need. Thanks!
