Zebra pair behavior

[Kate&Bean]

Hello again everyone !

I have a question about behavior. I’ve noticed my female zebra, Maude, seems to be wanting space from her obnoxious male friend Frankie. I’m not sure if it’s spring or what but he seems to be trying to mate more often than he did before and I think she’s over it. The other night she slept in their food dish. It’s a silo type with not much of a bowl area and I thought she was feeling nesty since there’s no where else for her to do that in their cage. Then I noticed today she was perched on an empty millet clip and now she’s sleeping on a different millet clip. She seems to be in spaces that are just big enough for her.
they seem to get along fine, she looks like she holds her own and squaks when she’s annoyed and vice versa. No injuries or anything. She calls for him when they’re out for exercise and he’s not near.
I was just curious if one knew - Is this a normal bird thing ? The spring annoyance while he’s in boy bird mode ? Are they getting along but not an ideal match ?
just kind of curious. They have a lot of room so maybe he’s too happy ? Lol

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[Kate&Bean]

Yeah she definitely is rejecting him. They don’t sleep on the same perch anymore. He tries to mate and she squaks him away. There’s no violence she just seems to have stopped liking him. I wonder if I should give her some time to herself in a cage next to him.

 

[.........]

I found this issue with my two males back when I only had two. One was desperate to mate, build nests ect and the other just wasn't having it. It took a long time for him to understand that he was rejected. I eventually just let the problem resolve on it's own, in this case the male 'paired' with a budgie in the aviary and they feed each other and build nests, but this was also in an aviary with other birds so I understand if it would be a problem in cages. I really don't have any advice to give you, I just thought I'd share my experience if that helps.

 

[fashionfobie]

My two finches who generally get along had a bout of sever squabbling. I rearranged all the perches and the issue resolved. I think for my birds one was becoming overly possessive of the little knot in a branch. After rearranging the cage the issue didn't re-emerge. I can't know if this will help your birds, but it may be worth trying to rearrange the cage pretty radically to see if it helps.