New to finches and some questions about zebras

[madoi]

Hello! About a year ago, I adopted a white zebra finch from a friend of mine who couldn't keep him anymore. I am in love with these little birds now!
I got a mate for him in January from a breeder, and since then they have had two clutches of eggs!
I sold 3 out of 4 of the first clutch back to the breeder and kept one girl that I named Rose. As soon as the second clutch hatched, I knew I was keeping another one, because I had never seen that coloration before! I decided to name her Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

My question is this: I know that two male zebra finches can live in the same cage rather happily. Can the same be said for females?

[delray]

Welcome to the forum! The finch information center on the too left corner is very helpful, as along with the awesome members! Your finches are great! I am a newbie as well and learning so much! I will let some experts answer you questions.

[Sally]

Love the names! I'm not a Zebra expert, but I would think that two females in one cage could get along. You always have the possibility with any birds that they don't follow the rules, but most of the time it should be OK.

Welcome to the forum! As delray said, there's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, where you will find many articles on diet, housing, and the Zebra finch.

[Corkysgirl]

Yes welcome! Yes as Sally said, most of the time two females together do fine. It's also true, if anyone is going to throw away the rule book, it will be a zebra finch. So be prepared for anything, but will most likely have no problem. Cute names!

[madoi]

Okay, thank you!
I had looked around the forum while waiting to join and didn't see anything mentioning it before, so I thought I'd ask to be safe. They have been getting into a lot of arguments lately, so I'm not sure if they are right for each other. They also, uh, keep trying to mate with each other which is a bit puzzling.

[MiaCarter]

madoi -- Welcome!

I'm sorry to hear they're getting into it. There's a good chance it's territorial-related spatting, so if you haven't done so already, I recommend rearranging the perches and other structures inside the cage.

When you have one (or more) resident birds and then add a new one, you can have troubles when the resident bird views the new bird as a trespasser. Squabbling is the result.

So for that reason, you should always rearrange the cage when adding a new bird. That destroys existing property lines so there's no feuding over property.

If you have a nest in there, I'd remove it for now. Nests always trigger aggression.

In all species, mounting another can be an act of dominance. It's possible that's what that's about. Or perhaps she has a crush on her. That's possible too. Same gender pairs are quite common.

I'd just give them some time, as long as nobody is at risk of getting hurt. While there are rare couples who seem to be instantly compatible, most go through some getting-to-know-you awkwardness.

[madoi]

MiaCarter - thank you very much! I will try rearranging their cage tomorrow, and see how that works out.
I'm thankful to everyone for all of the info so far.