FINCHforum

Hi all,
This is definitely not a very good moment for me. I lost a zebra finch today
I guess it was sick since I bought it. I have also posted asking for advice on falling feathers, but then it was looking to be half-active. Last 2 days it was not moving nor eating well. It was ok in the morning, sitting on the end of the perch in the top most corner of the cage. Afternoon, we saw it dead.

I cleaned and washed the cage bottom and half of the sides with water, changed the news paper, washed the water bath well with running water, replaced my seed box and washed all removable perches. This was to make sure that the cage doesnt have anything left over from the dead finch, like poop, feathers etc.

But I have 5 others in the cage, looking very active till yesterday. Today, after the death of one of them, they all look sad (or may be its an illusion). They aren't flying that often, nor are they fighting anymore.

One thing i see in all birds, more today, is that they keep pecking their body, as if they were scratching. they dont seem to pluck feathers, but just scratch, under the wings, under body and side. They scratch a lot today. Is it normal for a zebra to keep its head behind its neck (not udner wing, but above the wing and sleep)? One of my zebras does it sometimes.

Do I need to give them nests to sleep in?

Is there something I need to do? Something I must give them?

Im a member ONLY in this forum and I request someone to PLEASE help me saving others.

Thanks very much.

I'm sorry for the loss of your Zebra finch - it's always hard to loose one.

If you disinfected the cage and all it's contents with bleach/water when you were cleaning it and then rinsed well - it should be fine.

No they do not need a nest to be happy. Sleeping with their heads turned backwards is perfectly normal as is scratching/preening but the amount of each - only you can decide if they are doing more than 'normal' for them.

If they are not as active as usual and if they are fluffed - then I would be concerned. Please keep us posted.

It sounds as if they may have some sort of mites. Can you purchase a medicaiton for this? If so I would suggest you do so. You can order it or go to a pet store that is near you.

Hi Liz and dfcauley,
Thanks for your replies. My wife was so upset with this and we want to do all we can to save the others. I have no clue of it is mites or not ! I just called up the only 2 pet shops around for mite medicine and they do not have a clue of what Im asking for

Can I use a sprayer and mix 1 tspoon vinegar+1 litre water and spray over the birds to give them a bath?

Im wondering if Im leaving them in the cold in the night, without a nest ! The temperature here gets to about 20C (68F). I do cover the cage and there arent any drafts there though.

I keep praying that they all should be fine. Hope there arent any mites and its just their habit.

Thanks

I think you could put some kind of lamp close to the cage to give them a little more heat,just put it at one end so they can get close or move away if they want.Heat is good when they don't feel well, as for the possibilities of mites I don't know,maybe someone will give suggestion soon good luck

I am no expert, but I can offer some things I have learned from reading lots and lots. Most of it has been mentioned already.

First of all, temperatures at night at just fine. I run 71-72 F for my finches and at night it probably reaches 68-69 F. They should be able to handle much much much colder temps before its an issue.

Next, sleeping during the day is not uncommon, but it should only be once or twice for a quick 10-15 minute nap. If its excessive sleepiness, if its tired, if it tucks its head back or is fluffing up, you most likely have finches who are getting or are sick.

Read this...
http://www.finchniche.com/f-sick.mgi

Make sure you are cleaning the water dish out daily and rubbing the inside of it with a paper towel to prevent any bacteria build up. It may seem a bit slimy or slick if its there.

Add heat immediatly too all the birds. Get them up to 80 F.. 85F Read that link, it will say a good T. But do this right away. Also, offer some humidity to the room. Maybe throw a warm wet damp towel over half of the cage and have the heating source on the other side.

Also, if you have any vitamins, put them in the water. Make sure you are providing lots of protein (egg food etc) and a varied diet, seeds, millit spray, lettuce/carrot shavings etc.

It sounds like you may have gotten sick finches if you have not owned them for long and the stress of the move from the pet shop to your home has triggered the illness.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Just thought of something else. Was the finch that died male or female? If its female, do a search for egg bound or egg binding. Read up on symptoms and methods to cure it. Its typical of females who are in breeding season. (the link in my last post is good for info on this as well as the FIC link to the left)

Also, not sure for mites. I know at local pet shops and basically anywhere that sells pet supplies, one of the most common things they sell is a mite killer. It does not treat the birds, but its a little pod or something that attaches to the back of the cage, when the mites retire during the daytime to sleep, they will head inside of this little plastic pod which is filled with stuff to kill them. It kills the mites, its more preventitive. Consider this if you find mites to be the cause.

Thanks very very much FinchFry. I have had a long turkey wet towel on the top of the cage which I believe should keep the area moist. I have a 40W bulb on one end to increase temperature during day time. I have seen that website finchniche by Myra Markley. thanks for that too.

My pathetic situation is that all ept shops here are having great stuff for dogs and cags and fishes, but with birds they are SO BAD. they dont have anything for mites. I have contacted another pet shop from delhi asking to send me some medicine for mites, which they are yet to mail me!

Yes, you were right, I bought these finches, 6 of them on 12th or 15th Jan 2009. I could tell that one was sick after 1 week of buying it.

the one that dies was a half-white MALE zebra. Now I have another normal male zebra which is LOSING feathers. A LOT OF FEATHERS.

Hope for the best, keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks very very much for all your advice and help, hope it makes my finches better.

So sorry for the loss of your Zebra, aero. Sometimes, just the stress of moving can make pet birds sick, though finches usually don't stay sick for weeks. It will be harder for you to treat your birds for anything, since you don't have meds, etc. available. If you have organic apple cider vinegar, not pastuerized, you could add some of that to the bath water, say 1/4 tsp. to 1 quart of water--this might help with feather condition. Be sure and give them a dish of bath water every day--Zebras really like to bathe. It isn't unusual for them to scratch, they will do it often.

One problem with all Zebras is that they like to feather-pluck. When you have a number like 5 in a cage, with both males and females, you will have some squabbles. There are some articles at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, about feather plucking and also about reducing aggression.

I don't know what you have available in your country as far as feeding the birds. A good finch seed mix, plus some fresh veggies, plus eggfood will do for Zebras. There is another article at the FIC, at left, about diet for finches that will give you suggestions for veggies, you can select from what is available for you.

At night if you can cover the cage area where they sleep with a white t-shirt in the morning check the t-shirt for little spots,these would be mites,tom.

Hi Sally, tom, Finchfry, and all friends,
Thanks very much for all your continous help. While we are trying to cope with the loss of the first male finch, we are praying for the wellness of the others.

The others now seem to be better. Though they are scratching themselves a bit too much. There is a lot of feather loss from them. Hope they get better sooner than later.

Sally, I keep them in a 3ftx3ftx4ft cage. So, aggressiveness may not be an issue. I have a few bamboo perches in there with some natural tree branches too. They play around and have given them a couple of artifical plants with which they play a lot. There is not too much of feather plucking, one here and there is what I have seen so far.

I feed them my own seed mix (millets and seeds) and egg food (1 teaspoon per bird per day). Both recipes I got from finch forum threads only. I feed them corriander leaves and carrot in alternate days. I have read a lot in finchniche and efinch about sickness and diets and try to follow them at my best.

Thanks tom for the white cloth idea - I will definitely wrap one around the cage tonight, or by evening. I still have a lamp around there and a wet cloth over the cage.

As for water, I have my bird bath scrubbed and cleaned everyday. I add a few drops of vitamin supplement - called VEROL (by Ranbaxy company I guess) twice/thrice a week. Now I am cahgning water twice a day and am keeping 2 baths in there, so force them to bathe. But they dont bath in water so much, dont know why.

I have been adding vinegar only for the last 2-3 days after i read about it. Im keeping my fingers crossed that the mites runaway by vinegar action !

I think they may need more iodine - its not there in the vitamin drops. Im trying to get KELP here, let me see if i can.

I am also going to buy a powder called 'notics' for removing mites from them. the pet shop guy suggests spraying a small amount on the bird once a day. lets see if it works.

But one thing I must remember is that both NOTICS & VEROL are used for canines here. But no limitations since the composiiton sounds good. Am I right?

I wish all are ok. They were playing today morning and the males were singing, but scratching often though.

Wish all goes well. Once again, Im so lucky to be in a forum !!! Will keep you all posted.

I wouldn't worry too much about the iodine. Zebra's don't need as much as Gouldians do. If they get a good diet otherwise, that should not be a problem. But if you can get kelp for them, they may enjoy it and it wouldn't hurt. If you can't get the liquid, try the flakes. If they have it in your pet stores it will be in with the reptile or fish food. If not, then you may find kelp flakes in a health food store/vitamin store. Or if you can find a mineral block that has iodine listed, then you could grind it down and sprinkle on the eggfood.

Hi franny,
Its nice to know that iodine is not as important to zebras as to gouldians. But my worry is by any small chance if it matters. I couldnt find kelp so far, but am going to try in the city today, with the help of a pharmacist.

Well, they all seem to be far better now, especially after a few baths with vinegar water !!!

Hope they get well soon.