TheCatSite.com › Forums › General Forums › Cats and Other Animals › Pet Pics › Pip The Zebra Finch
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Pip The Zebra Finch

post #1 of 21
7/15/08 at 2:37am
Thread Starter 
This is my little zebra finch, Pip! We bought him from a pet store at least 6 years ago, and he's still going strong at the age of 7. He did have two friends, Zippy and Squeak, but unfortunately he preffered to live on his own, so took matters into his own wings!
He also had a run-in with Mitzi the first day we got her. So now he's living at my nans house, out of harms way. I've been meaning to show him off earlier, but my Photobucket account went weird and wouldn't let me upload anything




Reply
post #2 of 21
7/15/08 at 3:17am
Awwww he's so cute!.

My sister has two of those and if were talking on the phone i can hear their squeeky little chirrups in the background.

She calls hers Sage and Onion
Reply
post #3 of 21
7/15/08 at 3:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosiemac View Post

She calls hers Sage and Onion
lol
Reply
post #4 of 21
7/15/08 at 5:56am
I miss happy little Beep Beeps.

When I was doing bird rescue, someone dumped an over crowded cage full of Zebras and Societies on my step.
A tall parakeet cage with over 20 birds in it and 5 babies and a handful of eggs.

The babies were no longer being fed from the stress of it all, so I seperated males from females and zebras from societies and hand raised the babies myself.
It's really cute when you have hand raised zebras in the bird room.
I'd go in to feed and have 5 fledglings fly at me beeping their little heads off.
Shame they don't stay that tame after they wean.

Your boy reminds me of one of those babies, with the white on him.
They are just the cutest, happiest little birds.
Reply
post #5 of 21
7/16/08 at 1:23am
Thread Starter 
Pip does always seem happy, especially if you give him a little bit of lettuce

He tends to fall off his perch a lot, so I don't know whether it's because he's old or the perch covers are slippy, so I've took them off and he seems fine
Reply
post #6 of 21
7/16/08 at 8:07am
He's so chubby its CUTE! OK I'm not sayin he's fat, they probably all look like that I don't quite like the idea of keeping pet birds though... deprives them of too much. I mean, sky versus cage or room or house no matter how big... its never gonna measure up. No offence! Just personal opinion He IS a cutie though
Reply
post #7 of 21
7/16/08 at 9:16am
My mother in law has TONS of zebra finches in lots of different cages... she needs to seperate them

Pip is Stunning
Reply
post #8 of 21
7/16/08 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyWukong View Post
He's so chubby its CUTE! OK I'm not sayin he's fat, they probably all look like that


It's weird because when he 'fluffs himself up' like that he tends to look really chubby, but other times he looks as skinny as a rake!

I guess that was just a puffy day
Reply
post #9 of 21
7/16/08 at 5:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauracatlover View Post


It's weird because when he 'fluffs himself up' like that he tends to look really chubby, but other times he looks as skinny as a rake!

I guess that was just a puffy day
Guess that was just his "bad feather day". He's such a sweetie, how does he interact with you, if at all?
Reply
post #10 of 21
7/17/08 at 12:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyWukong View Post
Guess that was just his "bad feather day". He's such a sweetie, how does he interact with you, if at all?
He does often talk to me If I say 'Pippy' in a high-pitched voice he'll have a beeping fit and won't shut up It's the same for whatever you say to him in a high voice, but that's about it really. If I could I'd get him out and see if he'll sit on my finger, but after the episodes we had with him when we first got him and when Mitzi attacked him (he escaped, flew round the room and alltogether took 45 minutes to catch him) I don't want to risk it. He also gets scared quite easily so I don't wanna pile on the stress.
Reply
post #11 of 21
7/17/08 at 7:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauracatlover View Post
He does often talk to me If I say 'Pippy' in a high-pitched voice he'll have a beeping fit and won't shut up It's the same for whatever you say to him in a high voice, but that's about it really. If I could I'd get him out and see if he'll sit on my finger, but after the episodes we had with him when we first got him and when Mitzi attacked him (he escaped, flew round the room and alltogether took 45 minutes to catch him) I don't want to risk it. He also gets scared quite easily so I don't wanna pile on the stress.
Awww that's sweet how he responds to your tone of voice Perhaps you could try again now that he's not staying with Mitzi.
Reply
post #12 of 21
7/17/08 at 10:52pm
Aww, Pip is a little cutie.
Reply
post #13 of 21
7/18/08 at 1:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyWukong View Post
Awww that's sweet how he responds to your tone of voice Perhaps you could try again now that he's not staying with Mitzi.
I think if I tried getting him out he wouldn't sit there, he'd just fly and fly and fly all around the house, and my nans' house is pretty big, there are tonnes of places he could get to, and he might get too stressed. On the day Mitzi tried to attack him he was really stressed, he flew behind the sofa and froze, so automatically, me being a softie, I burst into tears, thinking he was dead. He does tend to have a little fly about in his cage, but spends most of the time beeping and grooming himself He just seems happy doing that. This sounds a bit mean but he hasn't known any different so I can't imagine that he's thinking "I wish I was free!"

He hasn't really had much human contact, when we clean out his cage, fill up his water etc he has a right flap and gets so stressed out. Mind you, he should be used to us by now, we've been doing it for long enough!
Reply
post #14 of 21
7/18/08 at 5:23am
Oh dear! Are all zebra finches like that or is that just his unique personality to be scared out of his feathers when you tend to his cage?
Reply
post #15 of 21
7/18/08 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
You know I haven't got a clue. We didn't really have the others long enough to figure that out. I guess he's a bit of a wimp!
Reply
post #16 of 21
7/18/08 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauracatlover View Post
You know I haven't got a clue. We didn't really have the others long enough to figure that out. I guess he's a bit of a wimp!
He's handsome, wimpy or not
Reply
post #17 of 21
7/18/08 at 6:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauracatlover View Post


It's weird because when he 'fluffs himself up' like that he tends to look really chubby, but other times he looks as skinny as a rake!

I guess that was just a puffy day
It's amazing how their appearance can change. If they really puff up bigtime it can be a sign that they are feeling unwell or cold, using their feathers to trap air near their body and warm it. Or they are just relaxed, if their posture is otherwise comfortable - sick or cold birds tend to have a bit of a hunched posture. If startled they lay their feathers flat and can look really scrawny. Baby birds before they get their feathers are really startling if you've never seen a nekked bird, all eyes and beak and a long scrawny neck! Most of what you see is feathers, finches have very little in the way of flesh and bone underneath all those feathers (several thousand feathers!!) bless them, they are tiny little creatures. But their peeping noises make them seem bigger than they are in the flesh, they can be quite noisy when the mood takes them! Lovely birdie
Reply
post #18 of 21
7/21/08 at 1:07am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the nice comments peeps! I'll upload the pics of the horses tonight and make a thread on them
Reply
post #19 of 21
4/8/09 at 7:59pm
Lauracatlover, when you said pip had two friends and took matters into her own wings, what does that mean? I am sorry it didn't work out with Mitzi? Do any cats live in your house now and if so, how is that working out? I love finches and pip is very cute.
Reply
post #20 of 21
8/28/09 at 7:06am
Thread Starter 
sorry this is such a late reply!!

by taking matters into his own wings, to cut a long story short, he murdered squeak and zippy!!

pip died a few months ago now, and little mitzi is the only kitty living in our home
Reply
post #21 of 21
8/30/09 at 2:07pm
I love the Zebra Finches. i had a big cage of 5 back when. Your pix make me want them again. They are so beautiful.

Yikes, just saw your last post. Sorry for your loss.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Pet Pics
TheCatSite.com › Forums › General Forums › Cats and Other Animals › Pet Pics › Pip The Zebra Finch