Any advise Sleepy society female, is she I'll???

[Liz]

Please any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've had a female society for a little over a week now and yesterday I noticed she is quite sleepy.

She is sitting on the perch sleeping quite a lot, she does still eat and drink plenty but I'm worried she may be I'll.

She's been absolutely fine since I got her but all of a sudden she's really sleepy.

She sleeps on her own on the perch every night as she won't get in the nest with my male zebra. (They do get on just fine, he sits next to her through the day and preens her)

I think she may only be young as she is not really afraid if I put my hand in the cage.

I hope someone can give me some advise as I'm really worried about her.

I don't have an extra cage to put her in seperate from my zebra.

Elizabeth x

[lovezebs]

Liz

Hi Elizabeth,

I wouldn't seperate the two, if they're getting along fine. I would place a warm lamp close to the perch where she's sitting (a goose neck lamp with a 60 or 40 bulb, to give her extra warmth). Most birds respond very well to the extra light and heat when they are a bit under the weather.

The fact that she's sleeping a lot and not afraid of your hands, is not normal behaviour for a finch, so I would keep a very close eye on this little girl.

[Liz]

There's no change from my little society.

She's still very sleepy, she just sits on the main perch and sleeps all day. She occasionally wakes for food and water but then immediately goes back to sleep.

She does hop away from my hand if I put it near her inside the cage but if I sit near she just goes to sleep.

She's tucking her head into her wing like at night time and she doesn't have mess around her vent. She looks fine except for all the sleeping.

My male zebra sometimes sits next to her and preens her neck which she seems to like as she lifts her head upwards as if enjoying it.

I'm really worried about her and I haven't got a clue what the problem could be.

If she was ill would she still eat?? When she wakes she beeps and hops around like there's no problem but then goes straight back to sleep.

Please any ideas what could be wrong. She's not weak or loosing feathers or scratching or anything. It's just the constant sleeping.

[lovezebs]

Liz

Grab her and hold her next to your ear in a quiet room.

What do you hear?

You should hear her heart booming away very fast, but no other sounds.

Is there any clicking (like a tsik tsik tsik sound)?

And by the way, do you know how old she is?

[Liz]

Hi, I've held her close and I can't hear anything strange. She's just really tired and I've noticed she's shivering very slightly.
I think she may have a cold, she's used to sleeping in a group of other finches all snug and warm and now she's sleeping on her own on a perch. She won't sleep in the nest with my other finch.
I'm terrified she'll die, I'll be absolutely heart broken
My friend (who's dad used to breed finches) said she looks young. But I don't know. Xx

[lovezebs]

Liz

Did you give her a warm light?
I can't emphasize it strongly enough how important that is for sickly finches. Sometimes the difference between life and death.

If she's fluffed and shivering, she is cold and that lowers her chances. Instead of using her energy to get better, she's using her energy to try and keep warm.

If she was very old, I would say that sleeping a lot might be normal, but if she's young, this is simply not normal behavior. She's not tired per say, she's sick, but we don't know with what, and that's the problem

[Liz]

I'm going to buy a heat lamp tomorrow and fingers crossed it will help her. I think she is young because I don't think she understands how to use the nest. I put another small nest in and she hasn't even explored it or paid any attention to it. My little male is sitting close to her and is hopefully keeping her warm for now. I'll cover the cage tonight and tomorrow try the heat lamp. Also a little thing to add, she seems to perk up a little when it's starting to darken?? Around 8pm she seems to get a bit of life? Any ideas why this could be? Thank you so much for your help xx

[andiok]

Liz
sorry to hear about the little birdy!
Keep in mind that sometimes birds, especially young will sleep more than the avarage birds.
My javas like to nap from time to time during the day and there is nothing wrong with them!

Now if you can afford a vet, talk to them and you get all the help you need.

If you cant afford vets then first stem put a white paper on the end of the cage to check how its droppings look like.
Anything loosy or very greenesh means diarrhoea, which means a lot of stuff (parasites, infection, viruses etc)
In the same time you need to grab her and look carefully in her abdomen. Signs like skinny chest with a sharp bone sticking out or dark colors in the abdomen will confirm the issues i mentioned above.

Now unfortunately because you can not have a sure diagnose you will have to narrow down the issue by paying attention to the bird for other signs. Example if there is any other signs around her eyes or beak would mean parasites Air Sack Mites or Conjuctivis or other.
Black signs in their abdomen means the liver is not functioning well and that could mean parasites as well (coccidiosis) or some sort of infection in their digestive sistem.
So you have a look close to your little birdy and let us know what you see

[Liz]

Thank you so much for your replies! This forum is amazing. I will have another check of her tomorrow, I don't like to hold her too much because I don't want to upset her. I held her today and didn't see any think abnormal on her body. Her vent was clean etc. She doesn't have any other symptoms other than lethargy. Otherwise she's fine, eating, drinking, beeping to my male finch, chomping treats. It's just that she is sleeping quite a lot and she slightly shivers.
I will update tomorrow on how we are getting on. Thank you again for all your help, I really appreciate it Xxxx ❤

[lovezebs]

Liz

Hi Liz,

What's the temperature like in the room they're in?
Can you hike it up a bit?

[Liz]

It's just usual room temp here in Britain, around 19 degrees Celsius. I've covered the cage and they are both sleeping now.

I really believe she may have a cold and I am absolutely kicking myself for not putting a cover over the cage at night until now. I hope the lamp will help her improve.

Xx

[wildbird]

Could she be depressed, missing the other finches she was with?

[lovezebs]

Liz

I really hope that the extra heat will improve things for your little girlie.

Keep us updated.

[Liz]

Hi all,

She's still very sleepy. She's now started sleeping in the nest with my male which is promising (I hope?)

But she's still sleeping all day, only waking to feed and drink.

She was shivering a few days ago I noticed but she seems to have stopped now.
Could it be depression? What do depressed finches do?

Elizabeth x

[wildbird]

They sleep a lot. Maybe if she raises some chicks things will change.