Hi Amy,
Thanks for the reply.
I'm so sorry to hear about your little birdie. It's so sad when they don't make it. They are the cutest things with the sweetest ways of doing things and communicating. Right at this moment as I'm typing my Muis is cleaning his feathers on top of my keyboard, making it a little hard for me to type. He loves the heat that comes from my laptop. They do like to be stroked a lot! I was really surprised to see how much a wild bird can crave attention. He would sometimes rub his little head against my hand to be stroked or put his head on one of my fingers and close his eyes to show that he wants to be stroked on his crop area.
Thanks very much
My little mousebird was exactly the same! And my adult female is also SO cuddly. This is how I'm trying to type right now:
She's sitting inside my jacket, getting some warmth on this cold day
They do definitely love attention, mine also loves having her head scratched and will sit by my fingers while I type to show me that she needs more loves
Also, when he is hungry and I don't react fast enough, he would nibble on my fingers or jump up onto my hand and make such a racket as if he's trying really hard to get my attention. He is so funny - when he's had enough to eat he would literally hop away from the spoon as if running away from it. Do you need to feed your bird about every half an hour too? Mine is constantly hungry and poops more than he eats, it seems
He is also not really eating by himself yet. He would bite off bits and pieces from flower petals (sometimes after a mighty struggle
) but still wants to try and swallow a fruit whole when I hold it for him to eat from. I'm guessing that this gets better with weaning (8-10 weeks)? The guy at our local pet store said he raised a couple of red faced mousebirds and his birds were usually completely weaned at twelve weeks.
Don't worry if he isn't eating on his own yet, he will get the hang of it
They tend to act as though they are more incapable than they really are, and the fact that he ate the berry when you were out just goes to show it
My baby used to do the same, he would try take a big piece of fruit instead of smaller bites. He would also sit by big slices of fruit and put his wings out and "beg" the fruit as though it was going to hop into his mouth on its own
I was at my wit's end trying to wean my little guy, but I had to learn that it was necessary for him to do it in his own time, and also that I had to try and "harden" myself in order to ignore his begging
So don't worry, it will happen eventually
At the moment I am feeding him Purity (Four Fruits flavour) and also tiny pieces of fruit, flowers and berries that I can find, like:
Peaches
Apples
Banana
Tomato
Grapes
Rose petals
Hibiscus
Waterberries
He absolutely loves the waterberries, Purity, peaches and tomato. He would show me very quickly if I'm feeding him something he doesn't like or feel like eating at that moment (like banana). I also realised that pureed fruit and fruit pieces aren't enough. That is why I tried Purity - it seems as though it has enough nourishment, but I'm trying to feed him other foodstuffs in between. Mine also flourished after eating Purity for about a day, it's as if he suddenly got all his life and energy back
I also want to baby mine and feed him all the time. My boyfriend says I'm spoiling him too much
but honestly I'm looking forward to seeing him discover the fruit on his own and bite pieces from it. I left half a berry in his basket with him when we had to go to the store and when we got back he had eaten it... So I think he gets it when I leave it with him and don't respond when he begs for food. It's really hard, like you said. I even want to take him with me to the store.
The wide variety sounds great
I found that with mine banana, paw paw and kiwi fruit are a favourite. Food with a lot of iron and vitamin C should be avoided, as it can lead to iron storage disease. I don't feed citrus except for the odd occasion. My female gets banana, paw paw and kiwi everyday, and then other fruits that are in season such as mango, pear, nectarine, peach, grapes etc. I always peel the skin of my fruits, as I have read that with some softbills, the skins can cause blockages. I'm not sure how prevalent this is in mousies, but I would rather just be safe
Is your little one pooping on his own? When my baby was very young I had to stimulate him, and he would stick his little tail straight up in the air when it was time to go
They learn to do it on their own pretty soon though, I probably only had to do it for a week or so.
I need to know something else - how do you know when it is a male or female? I read that the male and female of the red faced species both look the same. So I'm not sure how to tell
I'm having the same problem with my little guy - his current makeshift cage is a plastic basket and his tail feathers are almost always dirty. I'm planning on getting him a nice cage on Friday, already got my eye on one.
Thanks for the info, it really helped me! Right now he is about 4 weeks old, at the most (the photos were taken last week). So now I have a better idea of when he will be weaned and what to feed him. Thanks again!
Unfortunately Mousebird's are not sexually dimorphic, so you can't tell whether they are male or female by looking at them. I have had my female for nearly a year now, and for 9 months I thought she was a male
then one day I found she had laid an egg! She does get quite hormonal though. If I place my hand over her and squeeze her gently, she "spazzes out" and shakes madly, making a "trrrrr" noise as she does. I think this is female behavior, but I can't be certain! She also has a hanging material nest in her cage, which she sleeps in at night, and sometimes if I'm in the room during the day she'll hop in their and making little "trr" noises when I come look at her.
Cleaning their tails can be a real pain at times
Especially when they don't want to be bathed. Watch out for nits too, both my mousebirds had them and it took me months to get rid of my female's. Eventually I was having to sit and pick them out by hand (not a pleasant task!). Someone gave me parasite powder which is non-toxic and acts as a dewormer if eaten. I put that in her bathing sand every now and then and I think it also helped a lot. I would suggest not using outdoor sand for your little guy to bath in. I buy budgie sand from the shops and my mousebird loves that. Safe for them to eat and you don't have to worry about parasites!
Here's a pic of my two specials together
They got along so well. They both have their heads down and eyes closed because they were both waiting for the other to preen them