FINCHforum

While checking out birds in locally owned pet shop today, noticed a lovely young female budgie in a bin with about 15 others. (definitely not a fan of this sort of arrangement). One of the other budgies was breathing very hard: fast breaths with half open beak. Poor little things whole body moved with every breath. Perhaps air sac mites? My question is: should I avoid buying a bird from same bin? Are others likely to be infected?

PS. Also looked at a beautiful Zebe male in what looked like Birdie Time Out. He had a whole cage to himself....HMMMM.

FinchLady

Were there other Zebras in the same shop?
If the answer is yes, and he's housed alone, then I would be concerned that he is either super aggressive, or has been ill.

Regarding the Budgies... I would be hesitant to buy a bird from a bin (or a store) where the birds appear to be unwell.

Also, I would get out of there quickly, launder my clothes and wash my hands very carefully. Who knows what those birds are down with.

Lovezebs:
Yes, there were other finches at the same shop (PetSmart) as lone male Zebe. There were 2 other glass-front enclosures: one with 2 female Zebes; one enclosure with 5-6 Societies. I wondered if the beautiful male Zebe was aggressive; hadn't thought of him being quarantined for illness. So, what do you do with Zebra finches that are aggressive? Can he still be kept as caged bird by himself?
The open-topped Budgie bins are at a different store. I hadn't thought about contacting nasty germs/diseases from contact with their Budgies. Anyone can reach into the bins- even children (bad idea all around). Perhaps I'll strike this pet shop from my rounds.

FinchLady

Ah, must be Petland, it's the same everywhere, isn't it ?
I don't particularly care for the way their poor birds can get manhandled by just anyone who walks in, without any supervision.

In regards to the Zebra in the other store, you could always ask them why he's housed alone and find out the reasoning behind it.

Are you interested in getting some Zebras?

Oh, and to answer your question, no Zebras don't usually do very well on their own. They are an extremely social species.

I have had zebras that I had to put into solitary confinement, because they were so aggressive. Two of them would ATTACK the other bird in the cage when I put them into a cage with another bird. When I could not find another bird that they could get along with, they went into solitary.

Maybe in a BIG cage/aviary with more space, their behavior would be different, but I did not have a BIG cage for them.

You also do NOT want to have an odd number 3 or 5 zebras in a cage. They will pair up, and then pick on the odd bird out. I lost 2 hens this way. The other 2 birds paired up and then started PLUCKING the 3rd bird, and PLUCKED her badly. This happened twice. In both cases, the PLUCKED 3rd bird died. By the time I discovered the PLUCKING and removed the bird, it was too late, she did not recover

Having said that, I have also had a pair of zebras that were buddies. Then one day, the dominate bird SUDDENLY turn on the other bird and killed it. Lucky for him I was on a trip. If I was at home, I would have sent him down the toilet. He had killed my main penguin zebra breeding male