cockatiel naps

Question
Hello, I have what I believe to be a female cockatiel. I just got her a few weeks ago from someone who told me she was a male, but she is pretty quiet, so I think she's a female. She's a pearl colored. They said she was under a year old, but she's not very small so I'm guessing she's almost a year or so. I don't know a whole lot about birds, and I bought a young male cockatiel from a flea market to keep her company. I didn't know about the quarentine until they had already been together for about a week. Well for the past couple of days, the female has been sleepier than normal. Their droppings look normal according to what I've read. They're white in the middle with really dark green around them. They eat a mixture of Zupreem pellets and 8 in 1 seed mix from walmart. My female used to be a lot more active, and always wanted out of the cage. Now sometimes she comes out and acts normal, but a lot of the time, she won't come out even with the door wide open for an hour. The male has gotten pretty quiet also. My boyfriend and I often stay up late and watch movies, and I'm wondering if this could be affecting them, or if they might be ill. They are eating and drinking normally. Is it too late to seperate and quarentine? All I have is a medium sized finch type cage. Will he be okay in this if I must seperate them? Sorry about all the questions, and thank you so much for your time.

Answer
Unfortunately, it is too late to quarantine them... and it does sound like one or both of them could be ill.  ANY slight change in behavior can indicate illness.  Birds that come from marts or flea markets are often ill (sorry), that's why they are sold cheaply in places like that.  Birds hide illness for as long as possible so when you start to see changes in behavior and condition - it's very serious.  

If you want my honest answer here - you need to get both of these birds to an AVIAN vet (be sure the doctor has at least 7 years experience with birds.  There could be any number of things going on but it does sound like both could be ill.  Whatever you do, get them to the doctor within the next 24 hours.  If you cannot afford to take both, call the vet ahead and talk to them about the situation.  You may be able to work something out where you can bring them both in, but be charged one exam fee (you'll need fecal test and a basic blood test (called cbc/chem panel) as well) and then end up treating both of the birds for the same thing.  If you do anything at all hon... get them to a bird vet asap - or you risk losing them both fairly quickly if they are ill.

Zupreme pellets are ok - (be careful with fruity pellets as they have artificial flavors/coloring in them... natural pellets are best) however I would change the seed mixture if you can.  Any bird product from walmart is the absolute lowest grade out there.  If you want the absolute best pellet and seed on the market - then I would go with Roudybush pellets (crumble size) and Volkman Cockatiel w/Sun seed mixture.  Both of which you'll likely have to buy online unless you have a bird specialty store near you.  Otherwise - you can get the Zupreem natural/fruity pellets from most chain pet stores... and a "decent" seed mixture as well (recommend: nutriphase or fusion).  the pellet to seed ratio should be about 50% pellets to 50% seed.  You should also offer fresh veggies and some fruits.  Orange and dark green veggies are the best - broccoli, diced carrots, kale, etc... fruits such as diced grape, apple (no apple seed-toxic), etc.  Also give them some millet as a treat... one spray every 4 - 5 days is good.

Never keep your babies in a finch cage separate or together UNLESS it's to take them to the vet or something.  Their cage should be minimum 18 by 20 and of course the bigger the better.  :-)  I am horrified at petsmart or petco when I see labling on cages labeled for a conure when it's barely fit for a budgie!!  

There is lots more info I could give you but would like to direct you to the following website.  Everything you'd ever need to know you can find here:  http://www.cockatielcottage.net/ .  

Good luck and I hope your babies turn out to be ok.