Star Gazing ?

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solo_birdlover
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Star Gazing ?

Post by solo_birdlover » Tue May 05, 2009 6:27 pm

My Strawberry male keeps looking up as if it's looking at something at the top of the cage. He's doing that throughout the day but he's doing all the normal things like eating and flying.... He doesn't seem dizzy or anything. He's been doing this since yesterday and for a while he kept sitting at the bottom of the cage -not looking sick though- but now he uses the perches and acting normal (except for the gazing). Is that twirling or the beginning of it ? If it is, is there anything that can be done ? Will he eventually die if he has it ?

BTW, there's nothing out of the ordinary on top of the cage. Same things (some plants) from before.

Thanks.

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B CAMP
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Post by B CAMP » Tue May 05, 2009 6:35 pm

Bill

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dfcauley
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Post by dfcauley » Tue May 05, 2009 7:10 pm

I don't think you have to worry about it being twirling. Especially with Strawberry finches. That is more common in gouldians.

I have finches that will at times look up as if looking at something I don't know why they do it, but I think it isn't a big problem. It should stop soon doing that..... if not, then maybe a problem.
Donna

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nixity
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Post by nixity » Tue May 05, 2009 11:15 pm

Was he recently moved from a larger cage to a smaller one?

Stargazing differs from Twirling, for me, in that I categorize most Stargazing as a neurotic behavior. I usually see it in birds placed in too-small cages, or sometimes a bird accustomed to a small cage being put in an overly large cage does it. I am not sure if it's a matter of getting a bearing on their surroundings, or what, but usually they stop doing it after a few days.

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Post by CandoAviary » Wed May 06, 2009 12:24 pm

I agree with Nixity.... I have seen just about every species that came through the paet shop I worked at stargaze to different degrees. The smaller the bird the more common.
It usually is a reaction to coming from a large cage to a smaller.... or sometimes vice a versa.
It also can hapen when the bird is accustomed to stacked cages, having a solid cover over top of him then put in the top cage with no cover.
Usually the bird will adjust. If it is from stacked cages or breeding boxes where the top is solid you can cover like 3/4 of the cage with something and gradually slide the covering off as the bird acclimates. :D

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Post by solo_birdlover » Wed May 06, 2009 11:30 pm

Thank you all for the replies.
No. I haven't recently moved it to a different cage. It's been in the same cage since I got it about 4 months ago. The cage is a flight one. Nothing has changed at all in the set-up. I dont know. This is the third day and he's still doing the same thing. Other than that he is acting normal but the gazing thing doesn't look normal at all.

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Post by CandoAviary » Wed May 06, 2009 11:51 pm

Could be an ear infection. You could try antbiotic if that is the case.

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Post by Shasta_man » Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:17 pm

My experience indicated that it can be related to nutrition.

Despite our good intentions, our Gouldian was only eating seed and lettuce. We're still working on that.

Anyway, the Gouldian was looking up and then upside down quite a bit. Looking all around his cage but it wasn't apparent that he was looking at something.

At the same time I felt his diet was abviously lacking so I bought the Morning Bird Hearty Bird and give a light dusting on his food every other day.

Within a few days, he stopped doing it.

We have to realize that unless we are getting them to eat seed, fruit, greens, insects, etc, we are not covering the diet that would give them the nutrition they would be getting in the wild and it's vital we compensate for that.

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