Output Stream of Consciousness

We added to our menagerie this weekend with a pair of button quails. We've been enamoured of these little critters for probably a couple of years. I've only ever seen them at Pisces Pet Emporium in town (they have some great store pets as well, including marmosets and goodly-sized koi, and they're a great source for different aquarium plants).

They have a very staccato walk, they could easily fit in your hand, and they make very subtle peep-peep noises most of the time. Our environment we have set up for them is better than the store had, and they seem to be enjoying themselves ruffling and digging in the cage.

The male "crows" on rare occasions, which sends the dogs running. Gaman, our yorkshire terrier, has been driven to utter distraction running under the cage, behind the television, and on the arm of the chair near their cage.

Hopefully, the birds will calm down a little bit more in our presence. They will flap straight up in the air if a hand comes into the cage right now (we did only get them on Sunday), and apparently the mailwoman frightens the male. They seem pretty curious about what goes on outside the cage, and will stick their heads up in the air or even out of the cage to check out what we're doing.

We've tentatively named them Xerxes and Amestris (screw the Greek historians!).

We saw a quail egg in the cage we bought them from, so they might be fertile. Quails are not always supposed to have the "knack" for motherhood, but you never know what a better environment may bring. If no mothering happens, I hear they make good eating :) (Err, the eggs, that is)

UPDATE: Well, the two quails are getting quite settled in, really. Amestris has laid two eggs already, and from what I've been reading, she'll lay 6-8 before sitting on them. Something to do with making them hatch at the same time? Seems pretty strange to have the eggs just sitting there and yet be viable when she chooses to sit on them.

We brought them home some mealworms today. I scattered them all about the bottom of the cage, and Xerxes would occasionally find them, and pick them up in his beak and twitter some kind of victory twitter parading his find around.

They've calmed down a lot since a few days ago; they'd fly up near the top of the cage in panic before, now they just get out of the way and watch what's going on when I do stuff in their cage.