Argh

rose-of-pollux:

Finch!Napoleon is giving me my first pet parent worry.  He and Illya have been enjoying the nest basket I got for them a week ago, but I’d been noticing that, over the last couple of days, Napoleon had been having feathers in his beak, which he was putting in the basket.  I’d been wondering where he’d been getting the feathers from… and today I noticed the bald spot on his back.  He’s been plucking his own feathers to line the nest.  *headdesk*  This isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this; back in the lab, Napoleon’s father would prefer to line the nest with feathers (not necessarily his own feathers, but that is a problem long solved), and it seems that Napoleon is taking after dear old dad.

I immediately put a whole bunch of burlap in the cage to use for nesting material, and both he and Illya happily went at it.  But I’m still a little bit nervous because he seems to keep on pecking at his back still, and I have no way of knowing if it’s because he’s feeling weird or if there’s something else bothering him.  He’s singing, which is a good sign–if he was sick, he wouldn’t be–and yesterday, he was playing with the toys I’d put in the cage.  But he should not be plucking feathers, and this is the first time he’s done it.  The exposed skin seems clean, so there don’t seem to be any other issues, but I’ll keep a close eye on him.

I only noticed him with feathers in his beak after I got the basket a week ago; he hadn’t been doing it before that.  I’d hate to have to remove the basket, since they both love cuddling in it, but if that’s what will get him to stop, I’ll do it.  But if the problem can be stopped by just supplying more burlap or other nest material, then I’d like to do that.

If birblr can give me any advice, I’d really appreciate it.  For background, I adopted these two finches from my lab about two and a half weeks ago.