Nest building and aggression

[darwin]

Hi there

Our two new Zebras are brothers. We've had them a month now and they are in a large cage approx 70x60x40 cm. After a while the two males started to build a nest in the top corner of the cage in which they sleep side by side. For the first time this weekend we are seeing some aggression between them - when we put nest lining material out, one male will chase the other off with a soft buzzing call that I have not heard before. Am concerned lest this aggression escalates leading to having to put a divider down the middle of the cage .... do we need to be concerned?

What do to? Add a second nest platform so they can each build their own nest?

(And I gave them some grated carrot as a special treat and they used it to add to the nest lining! )

Thanks! Rachel & Jeff

[lovezebs]

darwin

Hello,

You could try offering two nests.... however, knowing Zebras as I do, they will probably fight over one nest, and ignore the second one , lol.

One very simple solution, would be to simply remove the nest altogether. Although Zebras enjoy having nests, they really don't need them for sleeping , and having one around may very well trigger territorial squabbling.

[darwin]

Thank you Elana for your helpful suggestion. We will have to remove the nest at some point anyway for reasons of hygiene, too.

You have a very large number of birds 73 all different colors!
Sounds delightful!

Many thanks again
Rachel and Jeff