subdued button quail
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:32 am
Hullo all,
I'm new to the forum and don't currently own finches (have in the past), but I do keep button quail. I've seen a bit posted on them here, but I just wanted to see if anyone would have some good advice or recommendations about what I can do for one of my males.
For the past few days he has been acting slightly ill, hunkering down and closing his eyes while the other four go about their usual running, pecking, and exploring. I know that the fact he's showing any signs at all can mean he's worse off than I think, but he doesn't seem to have gotten visibly worse since I first noticed anything was up. On the second day I put a 60W heat lamp over one corner of the enclosure and covered that half of the enclosure with towels. The light stays on day and night, since the others are not perturbed by it and I'd rather keep the temp a bit raised for my male.
I considered trying to quarantine him, but there's nowhere I can put him that will be out of earshot of his companions, and he will call for them (and vice versa). I tried it out briefly and he went nuts, bopping all over the place trying to fly out of the quarantine box. Besides that, they do seem to be providing some comfort/warmth for him...I've seen them huddling over him a number of times, all dozing.
So...all that being said, is there anything else I could be doing to help this little guy out?
I'm new to the forum and don't currently own finches (have in the past), but I do keep button quail. I've seen a bit posted on them here, but I just wanted to see if anyone would have some good advice or recommendations about what I can do for one of my males.
For the past few days he has been acting slightly ill, hunkering down and closing his eyes while the other four go about their usual running, pecking, and exploring. I know that the fact he's showing any signs at all can mean he's worse off than I think, but he doesn't seem to have gotten visibly worse since I first noticed anything was up. On the second day I put a 60W heat lamp over one corner of the enclosure and covered that half of the enclosure with towels. The light stays on day and night, since the others are not perturbed by it and I'd rather keep the temp a bit raised for my male.
I considered trying to quarantine him, but there's nowhere I can put him that will be out of earshot of his companions, and he will call for them (and vice versa). I tried it out briefly and he went nuts, bopping all over the place trying to fly out of the quarantine box. Besides that, they do seem to be providing some comfort/warmth for him...I've seen them huddling over him a number of times, all dozing.
So...all that being said, is there anything else I could be doing to help this little guy out?
He never got any worse than what I described and just yesterday was starting to run around more with the others.