nesting... again!

[Crow]

hi guys,

Soooooo Pearl is about 1 and a half years old, and she made a nest (her second) in March this year (her first was in Jan). As with the first nest, i replaced each egg with a fake one and she eventually lost interest and moved on. But now she is showing signs of wanting to make YET ANOTHER nest! (ie; eating cuttle bone, and shredding) - is it normal for them to nest this often!? (every 3 months so far!) It seems too frequent to be normal to me, but then i don't know...Shall i just take away all paper to stop her? And the cuttle bone? I have actually tried taking and hiding all paper in the house, but its hard - she is so adamant and stubborn and her instincts are so strong to build a nest when she gets going i just give in!

Help Please! we are going away tomorrow on holiday so any answers before then are appreciated :)

Thanks,

Jane

[Gill]

My female Bobble did the same, two clutches this year already, abandonned the second and went straight back into nesty mode! Last year she had one clutch!

So, as hard as it was I pulled EVERYTHING out of the cage that she could make a nest with, all toys are acrylic, no topes, nothing and she is allowed no paper at all! A few weeks of this she lost interest in nesting in the cage although she still shows nesty behaviour when out by wanting to be in my top, under the duvet etc!

I accidentally put her back into nesty mode the other week by putting a dish of millet in there which she treated as a nest so took that right out and she spent about a week under her ladder (she does this when in nesty mode but not being able to build a nest) then after about a week of this behaviour she goes back to normal! Its tough to see her want to nest but I dont want her to have a third clutch, so far what im doing is working, itll be a good 2 weeks before you see her getting back to normal but it did work for me! :D

Just dont give in and give her paper if she wants it! :D

[Gill]

p.s, just saw, I keep the cuttlebone in their cage but theyve never really been interested in it, she will be desperate for paper for about 2 weeks ish but will start to give up, Bobble is a paper monster! :D

[personatus]

If she's got appropriate nesting material (the paper), long enough days and a plenty supply of food, still will insitinctively want to nest.