- Apr 20, 2015
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I want to share a story of what happened today while I was cleaning a cage housing 4 young male buttons..
Their cage is in what used to be a home-made greenhouse, but has since lost most windows and thus become a covered 'area'. So when one of them slipped by my arm and landed on the floor about a foot from a cat, I didn't know what to fear most - the cat catching it or the button taking flight again and leaving the 'area'.
Luckily for the quail, the cat was only 4 months old and very slow to decide whether it should run or attack. So while continuously telling the cat "The quail is mine!", I grabbed a box and tried to slip it over the quail. Unfortunately, the button was having none of that and flew of, through the none-existing windows. I stood still and watched to see where it landed, then ran off to find it - as did about 5 cats that had seen it fly.
I took a picture (afterwards) through the not-window it flew through, showing the area where it landed - I'd estimate the distance to be about 10 meters long, and it probably flew in a height of 2-3 meters:
I was so fascinated by how hard it was to spot, that I did stop to grab a picture when I finally found it. Luckily, the cats couldn't find him:
A clue if you can't see it:
look at the center of the picture.
Anyway, I couldn't very well catch it with my hands, so I ran off to find a couple of nets and a wire cage with no bottom (note to self - make sure you have at least one net on hand when cleaning cages with 40 cm. doors).
When I came back, the button went under the 'boat' (they're not technically boats, but that's what we call them) to the right, making it somewhat hard to catch. And while I was making my way through the nettles to find it - guess what?
He took to the sky.
This time, flying 5-6 meters in the air, passing the roof of the house and disappearing on the other side. Ouch.
(forgot to take a picture of the trip he made, sorry ^^)
I grabbed my nets and my cage and ran to the other side of the house, while working out where to look for him.
I had noticed him loosing height as soon as he had passed the roof, so I assumed he'd be very close to the house. And I noticed that he passed to roof just beside the chimney, so those two together gave me a good clue of where to look.
Even though the clue was good and there was only about 1x1 meters of cover in that area, he was hard to spot - but he was there.
I pitched my cage against some woodwork beside the cover, leaving room for him to get under the cage in one end. Then I went to the other side of his cover and pushed one of the nets towards him - which immediately caused him to enter the cage. Almost too easy.. And so, when I went to make the open end of the cage fall to the ground to catch him, it was stuck and he left the cage before I could get it loose. But the 2. time it worked - I got my button back!
Took a picture (after catching him) showing the roof he flew over and the place I caught him:
So, here I was, thinking buttons didn't fly too well and probably couldn't get more than 2-3 meters up. Wrong! They can fly distances of about 20 meters and heights of about 6 meters, even when living in a cage that is just 60 cm high and 80 cm long, it's not like he had any training to do that.
Anyway, the little escape artist is now back with his brothers - he is the one facing the camera:
He spent a while pacing back and forth along the back of the cage, guess he was quite stressed by his experience - or just scared to death of me after I'd caught him - but he seemed to settle down a little after a while.
Enough excitement for one day, for both of us!
Their cage is in what used to be a home-made greenhouse, but has since lost most windows and thus become a covered 'area'. So when one of them slipped by my arm and landed on the floor about a foot from a cat, I didn't know what to fear most - the cat catching it or the button taking flight again and leaving the 'area'.
Luckily for the quail, the cat was only 4 months old and very slow to decide whether it should run or attack. So while continuously telling the cat "The quail is mine!", I grabbed a box and tried to slip it over the quail. Unfortunately, the button was having none of that and flew of, through the none-existing windows. I stood still and watched to see where it landed, then ran off to find it - as did about 5 cats that had seen it fly.
I took a picture (afterwards) through the not-window it flew through, showing the area where it landed - I'd estimate the distance to be about 10 meters long, and it probably flew in a height of 2-3 meters:
I was so fascinated by how hard it was to spot, that I did stop to grab a picture when I finally found it. Luckily, the cats couldn't find him:
A clue if you can't see it:
look at the center of the picture.
Anyway, I couldn't very well catch it with my hands, so I ran off to find a couple of nets and a wire cage with no bottom (note to self - make sure you have at least one net on hand when cleaning cages with 40 cm. doors).
When I came back, the button went under the 'boat' (they're not technically boats, but that's what we call them) to the right, making it somewhat hard to catch. And while I was making my way through the nettles to find it - guess what?
He took to the sky.
This time, flying 5-6 meters in the air, passing the roof of the house and disappearing on the other side. Ouch.
(forgot to take a picture of the trip he made, sorry ^^)
I grabbed my nets and my cage and ran to the other side of the house, while working out where to look for him.
I had noticed him loosing height as soon as he had passed the roof, so I assumed he'd be very close to the house. And I noticed that he passed to roof just beside the chimney, so those two together gave me a good clue of where to look.
Even though the clue was good and there was only about 1x1 meters of cover in that area, he was hard to spot - but he was there.
I pitched my cage against some woodwork beside the cover, leaving room for him to get under the cage in one end. Then I went to the other side of his cover and pushed one of the nets towards him - which immediately caused him to enter the cage. Almost too easy.. And so, when I went to make the open end of the cage fall to the ground to catch him, it was stuck and he left the cage before I could get it loose. But the 2. time it worked - I got my button back!
Took a picture (after catching him) showing the roof he flew over and the place I caught him:
So, here I was, thinking buttons didn't fly too well and probably couldn't get more than 2-3 meters up. Wrong! They can fly distances of about 20 meters and heights of about 6 meters, even when living in a cage that is just 60 cm high and 80 cm long, it's not like he had any training to do that.
Anyway, the little escape artist is now back with his brothers - he is the one facing the camera:
He spent a while pacing back and forth along the back of the cage, guess he was quite stressed by his experience - or just scared to death of me after I'd caught him - but he seemed to settle down a little after a while.
Enough excitement for one day, for both of us!
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