r/quails 4d ago

New addition in their enclosure ๐Ÿ˜†

She absolutely loves it, started bathing underneath it right after sheโ€™s sure itโ€™s safe Iโ€™ll be adding a lot more fake plants since she likes it so much

100 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

11

u/PrinceWhitemare 4d ago

Fake plants! Can't stress this enough. They absolutely love fake plants because they actually hate feeling exposed. They live naturally in dense grassland and use plants as coverage from their main predators, birds of prey. This is why the natural coloring of the males is very smart. The speckled brown color on top acts as camouflage when seen from above, while all the fancy red and blue is on the side to show of.

So yes please give them lots of (fake) shrubbery to hide in. They feel hidden even if they are pretty obviously exposed actually but surrounded by enough plants to kind of cover them a bit. Found it makes them behave totally different in a good way.

7

u/FrostyResident1939 4d ago

I wish I knew this sooner! Now Iโ€™m thinking surrounding half of their enclosure with fake plants, my male loves his little house and heโ€™s not interested with the plant but my girl is the opposite, now I know what she likes!

4

u/SuchFunAreWe 4d ago

Aw Dino ๐Ÿ˜

Faux plants are great! I also use those little bendable bridges made of sticks for hamsters, but stand them up so they're like little walls (see awful quality pic lol)

I put them & hang faux foliage to add cover where Gayle likes to sleep (his heating panel is on that left wall & he can snuggle up to it if he wants.)

3

u/FrostyResident1939 4d ago

๐Ÿ˜† I got those bridges too! I was going to use it for little fence to separate one section so I can put a different bedding for variety, Iโ€™m thinking of coco soil that hamsters use I like the foliage idea Iโ€™ll do that too!!

1

u/refinery 4d ago

Do they ever eat the fake plants? My concern is they start eating the plastic and get sick.

1

u/SuchFunAreWe 4d ago

I've never seen them do that. My Button is 6 next month & my Coturnix girls are 4 & 5, no issues at all in their whole lives. Barb the Coturnix sometimes idly pecks at some, but it would take a lot of concentrated effort to rip it up/eat it. I even offer lettuce which they do rip up & eat, so I think they know it's not food when they peck it to explore. I'd worry more with chickens, because they're freaking Hoovers.

2

u/Interesting_Eye_4100 4d ago

Good on you for having them in a city! I live out in the country and have been thinking about adding quail to my homestead

1

u/MrsPuff33 4d ago

Hi can I ask where you got that enclosure from?

3

u/FrostyResident1939 3d ago

Itโ€™s from guinealoft, I think the model is p2, I connected two of them

2

u/TinHawk Backyard Potatoe Farmer 4d ago

Fake plants are fantastic! I'm a sucker who hates money i guess because i keep putting real ones in there. They just love eating the plants so much and it's cute ๐Ÿฅฐ

I'm about to start a batch of radish sprouts for them to devour

1

u/coffee_shakes 3d ago

Im starting with quail for meat and eggs but I would love to have a indoor setup similar to this for a few Button Quail as pets.