Zebra & Society Finch Compatible Companions?

[forestfox]

Hi Everyone,

So I have been up to Raleigh to meet with @Atomiklan and I am back at home now with little Atticus
He's such a sweetie! He and Boo are situated in separate cages next to each other and they serenade one another all day long.
I'm not seeing any aggression at this point, just a lot of curiosity. So we'll see how things go, I'm sure they'll be happy for quarantine to be over.
I've attached a couple photos of my aviaries that I mentioned previously. @finchly I was wondering where you found your fake hanging plants that you mentioned in your initial response? Craft store? For some reason I thought you said real plants, but I've read many can be toxic to finches.
Thanks

 

[finchly]

Ohhh nice! I get them at Michaels, A.C. Moore, and Dollar Tree. You can go online and order a whole box of them from dollar tree.
You can usereal plants, they eat them up pretty quickly LOL. Maybe two birds wouldn’t do as much damage. When I was doing that I would keep one plant in the cage and another one recovering outdoors.
Now I don’t use live plants but I do use bamboo branches in their cage for them to perch on.

 

[forestfox]

It's been a little while since my last post, life has been busy. The boys are doing well, but unfortunately are not what I would define as "Best Buds". They do get territorial and peck at each other a bit if one invades the other's space, but luckily I haven't noticed any violent or concerning behavior. These photos are from a rare occasion where they were perching next to one another. Any other suggestions to help them bond more would be welcome.

Boo (Right) Atticus (Left)

 

[finchly]

Have you tried fake plants? Just drape them around in the cage. It gives a visual barrier to keep them from picking at each other.

Also, the dowel perch isn’t great for their feet— you’ll want to add a wacky wood perch or some branches from outdoors.

They’re cute!

 

[EagleClem]

Your finches are adorable and thank you for taking them in! Zebra finches can be little bullies to society finches. I had a pair in similar scenario as you had, I upgraded to a larger cage and gave them lots of out of cage time and they became good friends! People were always surprised and asked how I got them to return to their cage but at dusk they always put them selves to bed

 

[Atomiklan]

Aww darn, I was hoping they would eventually warm up to each other. It is good to see them perching together occasional though and I am glad to hear at least there is not massive fighting, just some slight disagreement. I agree with @finchly, try fake plants to help create some hiding places. Don't be surprised if they try to tear them apart though for nesting material ie make sure they are secured well as they will inevitably start tugging at them for nesting material. I also agree big time on perches too. They need a lot more than just dowel perches. Personally, I prefer the Manzanita dark colored perches. You can get them at the pet stores and they are in my opinion actually pretty nice quality. I like these in particular because they have a smoother exterior which makes for very easy cleaning with a rag, they can be put in the dishwasher safely, and they are also very strong and flexible. Too many perches out there are brittle and can break if you jab yourself with it in the cage while cleaning. The Manzanita branches will just flex and return to their original shape. Also HIGHLY recommended are the small diameter flexible rope perches. I use these exclusively now in C&E's main cage. Same situation with these, easy to clean, can be put in dishwasher to really sanitize, and C&E love them.

As for Boo and Atticus, I'm sure things will get better with time and will also probably go in cycles depending on the time of year. C&E for example have been doing better lately. I still occasionally keep the cage separator in place, but for the last few weeks, I have had the separator pulled out and they have been getting along great again. No aggression from Charlie as of late. Now I am not foolish enough to think that all the aggression is gone, its just out of his system for the time being so there is a little peace in the kitchen at the moment. I have just come to accept that C&E have had a little bit of a falling out and they occasionally need a little bit of time to themselves. One cute note though. When the separator is in place, sometimes they still want to snuggle up together. They will sit on the floor and snuggle up together through the cage bars. Too funny!

Glad to hear Boo and Atticus are doing well otherwise. Its always going to be a bit of a roller coaster with them. They have taught me so much over the years. They each have their own little personalities and peculiarities. We just have to adapt with them as we go. So much has changed from the day I brought C&E home. Keep us in the loop, and remember, you know you can reach me anytime.

PS. Just got some new family property down in Myrtle so I may be down that way a lot more frequently now. We'll have to get the family back together at some point.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Atomiklan]

People were always surprised and asked how I got them to return to their cage but at dusk they always put them selves to bed.

This is so true

 

[forestfox]

@finchly Thanks! I have not put the fake plants in there yet, but that's something I had planned to do. There are a mixture of perches in the cage, the dowel perches came as part of the cage itself, and they like to perch in different areas. I have both natural perches from outside and perches from the pet store that are like natural tree branches.

 

[forestfox]

Your finches are adorable and thank you for taking them in! Zebra finches can be little bullies to society finches. I had a pair in similar scenario as you had, I upgraded to a larger cage and gave them lots of out of cage time and they became good friends! People were always surprised and asked how I got them to return to their cage but at dusk they always put them selves to bed

Aww, that's really neat that you had a similar situation with your finches! The cage I have is plenty big and they have lots of room in there to either be apart or together. They should be used to each other by now, but you're right about Zebras being the bullies - mine is definitely more pushy towards my society finch, who actually was adopted from @Atomiklan, even though he's bigger than my zebra lol

 

[forestfox]

Aww darn, I was hoping they would eventually warm up to each other. It is good to see them perching together occasional though and I am glad to hear at least there is not massive fighting, just some slight disagreement. I agree with @finchly, try fake plants to help create some hiding places. Don't be surprised if they try to tear them apart though for nesting material ie make sure they are secured well as they will inevitably start tugging at them for nesting material. I also agree big time on perches too. They need a lot more than just dowel perches. Personally, I prefer the Manzanita dark colored perches. You can get them at the pet stores and they are in my opinion actually pretty nice quality. I like these in particular because they have a smoother exterior which makes for very easy cleaning with a rag, they can be put in the dishwasher safely, and they are also very strong and flexible. Too many perches out there are brittle and can break if you jab yourself with it in the cage while cleaning. The Manzanita branches will just flex and return to their original shape. Also HIGHLY recommended are the small diameter flexible rope perches. I use these exclusively now in C&E's main cage. Same situation with these, easy to clean, can be put in dishwasher to really sanitize, and C&E love them.

As for Boo and Atticus, I'm sure things will get better with time and will also probably go in cycles depending on the time of year. C&E for example have been doing better lately. I still occasionally keep the cage separator in place, but for the last few weeks, I have had the separator pulled out and they have been getting along great again. No aggression from Charlie as of late. Now I am not foolish enough to think that all the aggression is gone, its just out of his system for the time being so there is a little peace in the kitchen at the moment. I have just come to accept that C&E have had a little bit of a falling out and they occasionally need a little bit of time to themselves. One cute note though. When the separator is in place, sometimes they still want to snuggle up together. They will sit on the floor and snuggle up together through the cage bars. Too funny!

Glad to hear Boo and Atticus are doing well otherwise. Its always going to be a bit of a roller coaster with them. They have taught me so much over the years. They each have their own little personalities and peculiarities. We just have to adapt with them as we go. So much has changed from the day I brought C&E home. Keep us in the loop, and remember, you know you can reach me anytime.

PS. Just got some new family property down in Myrtle so I may be down that way a lot more frequently now. We'll have to get the family back together at some point.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hey there! Good to hear from you! Sorry I've been a little out of the loop - been really busy!
So with the perches - I have many different kinds in the cage the dowel perches are just part of the cage, but there are a variety of different ones in there, including the Manzanita perches you were talking about. In the photos I posted they are both sitting at the very top of the cage, and there are only the dowels up there. I left room at the top of the cage for them to fly around more, but there are many different perches down below for them.

Funny enough, I came home tonight and checked on Atticus & Boo and to my absolute shock - they were snuggling! (Photo below!)
I couldn't believe it! They never do this! Maybe this is the beginning of a closeness forming, finally! So cute!

I'm glad that Charlie & Emma are doing better - they are so cute! Would love to get together whenever you're back down this way! Let me know and we can have a little family reunion / bird party

 

[Atomiklan]

Awwwwwwwwwwww! Love it! Such a cute pic!

 

[Atomiklan]

Mom (left) and dad hanging out with me on the couch the other night.

 

[forestfox]

Mom (left) and dad hanging out with me on the couch the other night.

View attachment 353024

Awwww, they are so cute and fluffy!!

 

[forestfox]

@Atomiklan I find it funny that just as soon as I told you they weren't really buddies, they proved me wrong! They've been snuggling like this every night when I check on them. Sooo cute

 

[forestfox]

Also here is their home, I've tried to give them a mixture of perches while still leaving enough room for flight. I know the dowel perches aren't the greatest, and they are removable actually (I didn't think they were). The boys really like to sit on that top perch a lot, so perhaps there is a branch I could find that would sit in the same spot as that top dowel perch in it's place. I did happen to finally find a really cool fake plant the other day at world market, just need to hang it.

 

[Atomiklan]

Aww they are so cute together. Happy to hear they are starting to get along. I have no doubt they will still have some future "disagreements", but this is great to see. Their home is looking really good too. Such a cute design. Looking forward to some future videos of them being goofballs.