need help on baby zebra finches

[newbie]

Hello! As you can guess by oh so clever name, I'm a newbie. We got our two zebra fimch from a guy who wanted to release them and never intended to keep them ourselves. But then they laid three eggs. The parents are a normal (male) and a CFW (female). The two babies are now 14 days and the other is 12. I wanted to tame them so would handle them for short amounts of time when I cleaned their nest. The parents aren't tame but don't freak out like crazy either. They just don't like to be held.

Anyway I have heard that unless the babies get fed by you they'll still grow up wild regardless. However on occasions when the babies would open their mouth and me and squawk I would let them "eat" from my pinkie. Because of this they do show food response towards me and will always come and huddle next to me now that I occasionally take them out. I usually hold them twice a day for an hour, letting them explore and sleep on me with a tissue underneath them to catch poo. So despite me psuedo-feeding them, will they still inevitably go wild?

Could I possibly occasionally feed them bird formula so they also associate me with food? Or should I just see what happens?

[Babs _Owner]

newbie

Being fed by their parents, they will probably revert to being wild and mimic mom & dad's response. You could get lucky. If the parents are feeding them properly I wouldnt risk a yeast infection by giving them formula.

I helped formula feed a large clutch of societies with two of my adult males feeding and the kids all went wild.

[newbie]

Ok thanks. I intend on housing the babies separately once they start feeding on their own. Would that help them not mimic the parents? Or would it be too late by then? I want what's best for them but find it a shame that they go wild. It seems strange since they initially don't mind human contact.

[Babs _Owner]

newbie

Once they wean that is the exact time they go wild. As I mentioned, you may get lucky and one may decide to go tame. Formula feeding is no guarantee they will be tame, even if you house them separately.

I have handfed a bunch of babies, and only one is hand tame, My gouldian Hammy (her brothers I handfed with her went wild). Its kind of fluke when it happens.

Finches are hard to tame. Like I said you may get lucky

[Sally]

newbie As Babs has said, it is difficult to tame finches, though some species are easier than others. Java Rice finches seem the most likely to be tamed, but I have also seen Zebra finches that have been tame. Here is a link to a topic about a tame Zebra finch owned by a former member.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... tame+Zebra

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier for other members to answer locale-specific questions later on.

[Zebrafincher]

Hi There,

I have 3 finches, 2 Zebbies (Beaky and Itchy) and a star finch (Merl). None of them of what you could call really tame, however I can get within 10cm of them. They fly away from time to time , but will sit and Beep and Meep back to me. It depends on their ages, their personalities, and how gentle you are with them. Good luck

Kind Regards
Zebrafincher
Proud Owner of

*”Merl” Merlin – Starfinch – Very old starfinch, can’t fly, has deep relationship with own reflection!
*Beaky “Beakster” – Gray Zebbie, Bossy Boots, into everything. Naughty little Boy!
*Itchy – “The Flying Golfball” – White Zebbie, Sweet little Boy!

[newbie]

Hi sorry for the inactivity! The babies are going strong. We had a rather traumatic experience which involved the neighbors little daughter leaving the cage door open, resulting in one of our recently fledging babies flying and falling behind the heater in the room. He/she was wedged between the wall and the heater and we all freaked about trying to get it out asap since the heater was on. Anyway I managed to calmy get him out with a cocktail stick tied to my headphones (improv at its finest...) and he grabbed on when I beeped at him several times and the fella was pulled up no problemo. We cover the heaters now... Aside from that incident the babies are healthy and getting time outside the cage to improve on their flying. The babies will often come to me when I call and it seems the parents are slowly trusting me too since they no longer freak out when I put my hand in the cage to let the babies go back in. Maybe they realise I give the babies back in one piece so I must be harmless?