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baby mousebird needs help

tammie

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I hope your little mousebird does well for you. Sounds like you are getting great advice from the members here and now Solie. Good luck and please let us know how he progresses.
 

Babybreau

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Yay for help!!!!
I hope this little one thrives and grows to be big and strong!!
 

fielies

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The baby mousebird is doing great. Its on better food know and gained a bit of weight today. Hope this will continue for the rest of the week.
 

srtiels

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Hey...thanks for the update. can you detail what you are feeding it to help it gain some weight? it would be great info for even us domestic mousebird people.
 

fielies

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I'm feeding AV plus parrot handrearing formula and also some banana and paw-paw in between. Feeding the handrearing formula every hour and the fruits in between. Baby is already stronger. flapping the little wings. It is so great!!
 

waterfaller1

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Yay..that is great news!!:dancing:
 

srtiels

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I'm feeding AV plus parrot handrearing formula and also some banana and paw-paw in between.
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Is the fruit mashed, or are you offerring small pieces of it?

That is good news that it is doing good :)
 

fielies

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I'm feeding the fruit mashed up. It looked today as if he tried to clean feathers with his beak.
 

srtiels

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Thanks for the updates :) You'll have to post some pix's. It will be interesting to watch him grow, and also how he weans. My little blue-naped fledged from the nest today and I had to help him back.
 

fielies

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I just went through the thread to see your little one growing up. I guess mine is about 9 days old if I compare your pics with him. It so sweet to see the parents caring for the baby. Its a bit hectic between classes but will post pics as soon as I have time.
I'm also keeping a eye out for some wild ones to take pics of but haven't seen any lately.
 

Anne & Gang

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Narissa how wonderful of you and you will have a lovely pet birdie at the end of it...please do keep the birdie away from your kitty tho...I am so glad that people from around the world were able to help someone in South Africa...Susanne you ROCK
 

srtiels

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I think...but not positive, but the growth rates of the red-faced and blue-naped should be similar...

What does the temeratures get down to? My mousebirds are handling down to the 30's farenheit, which is abnormal for this time of year. Our average winters are in the 50-60 dgrees.
 

E137

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Hi I came across your thread and couldn’t help but respond...
My name is Ehrhard and I’m also from SA, Pretoria in fact.

This is my mousebird Lucky. I found him/her on 1 January. I think he/she fell out of the nest the previous day during a massive storm.
I got some advice from a bird breeder and fed Lucky 50/50 AV+ for parakeets and Purity baby food (fruit mix) I also give squished banana, peaches and plums.

Something really cool about mousebirds I have noticed is that they love attention, especially being scratched and petted. Lucky usually reverts to biting at my fingers if I don’t get round to scratching behind his head fast enough, then he’ll turn around and expose his back for a scratch by lifting is wings. As soon as I start scratching he closes his eyes and goes all puffy...sometimes one of his feet will even tighten up J
I suspect Lucky is either a speckled or white back species, but would like some clarity on this.
Also if anyone could possibly enlighten me about Lucky’s age? Initially I thought that he was about 6/7 days when I found him, but judging by the pics you guys posted I was seriously mistaken. Also how do you tell the sex of a mousebird? And finally how long should I worry about the temperature?

The photo's on the red towel is Lucky today, the other 2 are from the 1st of Jan when I found him. I've noticed that his tail looks quite tethered and that he has some damage on all of his wing feathers (hope you can see on the pics)... could this possibly be from the night he spent outside?
 

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southernbirds

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So cute. I'm sure the expert Mousebird keeper will respond to help you shortly. Looks like you are doing a great job. What other birds do you have?
 

srtiels

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Hi Ehrhard, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your baby.

In looking at the tail length now, I'd say Lucky is a little over 2.5 weeks old.
I have a 16 day blue-naped mousebird, and it's tail and wings are not grown out as far, yet today it was doing short flights in the cage. By the length of your tail I'd say your baby is approx 18-20 days old now. It still has the baby coloration to the beak. In another few weeks the black lower beak will lighten up to a pale blue-grey, and the upper beak will darken, and be black at the tip, and the black fills in the color of the upper beak as it matures. It should weigh approx 40-50 grams in weight at this age.

It appears that it might be a speckled mousebird. A white-backerd will have a very prominant white stripe between 2 black stripes down the center of it's back.

I've not worked with Speckled mousebirds. I work with blue-naped and white-backed. There is no visual clues as to sexes when young. You would need to have them sexed. With blue-naped you can determine sexes as they mature (about a year or more) by the eye color.

Yes...they do love attention :) They will puff up and many times make soft chittering sounds.

Now that Lucky is feathered the temperature is not as critical. If you have had him on heat you should gradually over the next week acclimate him to normal room temperature by lowering the temp a degree or so a day.

Please visit the forum often and keep us updated on how Lucky is doing :) From the looks of your pix's you have done a wonderful job :)
 

E137

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Hi, no this is the only one... I'm not realy a bird person, got a cat so... but Lucky definitly won me over :)
Thanks for the advice!
 

waterfaller1

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He's beautiful! We are jealous that you have a speckled...aren't we Susanne?:D So good of you to do research on him, even though as you say you are not a bird person. Maybe Lucky will persuade you to become one. Well..actually...now you are.:lol: Good luck with him and please keep us updated.:hug8:
 

srtiels

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He's beautiful! We are jealous that you have a speckled...aren't we Susanne?
---------------------------------
Yes, in the US the captive bred Speckled are getting old and no longer reproductive, so it is hard to find any. I had heard that they tend to make the nicest pets of the mousebirds.
 

E137

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I'll definitely keep u guys updated, no worries!
You have a blue nape!... they are the rare ones this side... :)
 

waterfaller1

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You have a blue nape!... they are the rare ones this side... :)
Yes, thanks to Susanne I am the proud new parront of Gryphon!:) He is awesome.:swoon:
 
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