Skims

Hi Emmy, Sorry only just seen this as not been too well. I your birds!!! Some of the colours are lovely!!! I couldn't work out how to comment on the pictures as I seem to have problems opening new pages at the moment, but I'll try again later. I love the whiter coloured ones, what are those please? My two are doing great. I bought them a bath with a lid and what fun they have in that!!! They also have a game they play with the millet, which is so amusing to watch. They seem to really like having the bigger cage and are all over the place in it. They're very active little birds. I was surprised at how much they drink compared to the budgie and they go through millet like there's no tomorrow, but I love their little noises and they are such a joy to watch. I'm SO glad I got them.

I hope you are sitting down when I tell you this-- Apart from the Texan White quails the others are all indoor birds and at the end of April I'm getting a cockatiel (for my grandson -good excuse) but it will be staying here with me. Wow, that sounds great!! I just love the sounds of birds. I'd have more, but my husband isn't as keen on having pets as me. lol I laughed at the 'good excuse' of getting a cockatiel for your grandson!! I've always said to hubby that this pet or that one is good to get for my sons, but now they're older even they join him in saying it's only for me really!! Cockatiels are wonderful birds. I considered one before getting Derric, our budgie, but I thought it might be more than hubby could cope with, haha. I'd love to see pictures of all your birds, I hope you can post some soon. I'm really enjoying looking through the gallery on here.

I'm just really laughing at my two tonight. I pushed the little plastic swing flat against the side of the cage, because it's such a small cage, to make like a better flight path for them. They've got the swing pulled out at angle, so sort of diagonal, and are squashed at one end together as if they've slid down it. Such little characters!!! Love the names of your birds Emmy!! Must get my two named soon.

Oh thanks for that. I'll be able to look through all the pictures now. I'll gradually find my way round the forum. Wow, that's LOTS of birds in my book, but I can well understand not wanting to let any go. So you obviously have an avairy, which must be beautiful to watch and lovely for the birds as well. Do you have any indoor birds as well??

How many do you have Emmy? I can't seem to find pictures of everyones birds. I only found the photo competition photo's. lol

Yes, we want to name them, but at the moment everyone has a different idea, so nothing definite yet. The problem with getting the other pair is that they look exactly the same, so I'd never know the difference!!! LOL I never even realised that there were different colours for zebra finches before joining here. If we do get another pair at some point, it would probably be better to try and get ones that were another colour, so we'd know who was who!! They're so active, all over the cage, it's very distracting, I can't help watching them. I brought the budgies cage in here today to see if he reacted to them at all, the noises but he doesn't seem to listen to them at all!!

Ok, I'm not sure where to put the pictures, so I'll just keep them here for now. Hope that's ok? Finches: The temporary cage: The yellow card round it is to save the rest of the room when they have their bath!! Not that it helps that much, haha. The new cage will fit nicely on that cupboard, it's appx 3 times the size of the one they're in now.

Thanks Kerry. I'll have a look for the millet and egg food when I go back to the pet shop Emmy, thanks for that. Hopefully I'll be able to hold back from bring the other pair that were there as well, home with me!! I have got a couple of quick pictures on my phone of them and a short video, but I need to go look at the picture posting rules first and see where I need to post them. I haven't had a good look round the forum yet. Colourwise, I think they're 'normals'??? I feel pretty bad they're in this small cage still at the moment, but I got the email today to say the new cage and accessories are being dispatched, so I'm hopeful they'll be here tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Can't wait to see them in it. It'll be so much nicer for them.

Thanks so much for the warm welcomes and to you for all the helpful info Emmy. I wish I had seen this earlier as I would have waited but I couldn't get on the forum today and then I was speaking to a friend and she has a pair of finches as well!!! So after Emmy's info last night and speaking to my friend today, I felt much more confident to get them. So this afternoon we went and bought a beautiful male and female. He has lots of birds in the shop and had other small birds there but he said they were avairy birds and not suitable for a cage. Very pretty though. Anyhow I bought these two home and they are in a temporary small cage for a couple of days until the new one arrives. I went by what you said and bought the larger of the two. I gave them a dish of water ... And we all had a bath!!! LOL How can something so small spray so much water???!!! I got them the foreign finch mix (I think) a mineral block, cuttlebone, millet and oyster grit. Is there anything I've forgotten please??

Hello, thought I should say hi and introduce myself. My name is Kim, I'm a mum of 2 and I'm totally new to finches, I have none at the moment and have never had any. I've joined the forum because we've been considering getting some and really I want to find out as much as I can and be sure, that they're the right birds for us, before just jumping in and getting them. I've had/got budgies but am told these are lower maintenance birds generally. That they aren't birds that like much human contact and are really more for watching. There are some zebra finches in a pet shop near to me and they're pretty cute. If we do go ahead, I was thinking of a cage either 74.9 x 38.1 x 54.6 cm (L x W x H) or 61 x 38 x 52 cm (L x W x H). I'm leaning towards the larger one, but I think either would be ok size wise for maybe two birds? Now I spoke to the owner of the shop and he told me that they need to go in pairs, don't get odd numbers and I asked if I could get two males as I don't want to breed, but he says they'll most likely end up fighting so better to get a male and a female. He says just don't put a nest in. I'm happy to do that as long as they don't breed, but I really only want them as pets. I don't at this stage at anyrate, know enough to breed and I don't think I'll want to. So please can you advise if what he's telling me is correct and also anything else you think it might be helpful for a complete beginner to know. I'd really appreciate that. Thanks!!!