The Zebra finch is, understandably, among the most popular breed available as a pet today. Originally hailing from the open grasslands and dry savannas of northeastern Queensland and the southeastern and southwestern costal lands of Australia, these brash, tiny birds are accustomed to captivity. Finches native to Australia have been prohibited from exportation by the government since the 1960's. The effect of the exportation ban is that Zebra finches, like all Australian finches, are entirely bred in captivity outside of Australia.

In the wild, Zebra finches live in societal groups all year long. Their chief diet relies on seeds they pick up off the ground but they are not averse to a tasty morsel of insect protein or grasses as well. They construct their nests on the ground during the dry season, shifting to the interior of stocky, thorny bushes in the rainy season.

Both parents incubate the eggs and participate in the care of the nestlings, feeding them a diet rich in insect protein and fresh green seeds.

Zebra Finches in Captivity

In captivity Zebra finches are among the more popular of the caged exotic finches predominately because they are the easiest of the finches to care for. Your Zebra finches need you to provide seeds to eat, water for drinking, a birdbath for splashing, some branches to perch on and, when mating, a nesting box to lay eggs; after you make provisions to accommodate the needs of your birds, they will simply take care of themselves.

Housing for Zebra Finches

Keeping finches in small cages is savage; they need extensive room to fly, to unfold their wings and exercise so flight cages or aviaries are fitting for housing them. If you keep your birds in an aviary and you want to commingle species, check to see if the new finches are compatible in a population with Zebra finches.

Finches in captivity generally eat a diet of seeds supplemented with mealworms. Diets heavy to seeds call for a supplement of vitamins and minerals for the finches to remain healthy. Additionally, a cuttlebone should be provided to give finches, principally females, supplemental calcium year round, albeit, the cuttlebone is more important during the breeding season to insure strong eggs.

Breeding Zebra Finches

Small cages are wrong for any finches; Zebras will breed in a flight cage that is a minimum of 36 inches in length. They tend to establish their nests in enclosed or semi-open nesting boxes or rattan nesting boxes that can be purchased at any pet store selling finches. Provide coconut fibers and soft dry grasses for them to line the inside of their nests. Infrequently will a Zebra finch build a nest on the ground from available nesting material as it might do in the wild.

Nestlings will begin hatching in from 12 to 14 days of incubation. Zebra fledglings are helpless creatures, totally dependent on their parents for a appropriate diet to develop into independent birds able to sustain themselves in their community. The parent birds share the care for their young but, on rare occasions, may abandon their nestlings to engage in additional mating behaviors. IF that is the case then you should remove nests from the cage and hand feed the young birds in quarantine cages until they are able to live on their own.

Young Zebra finches mature and may make an effort to mate as early as 11 to 12 weeks of age. It is not a good idea to let them breed until they are around nine months old because early coupling weakens the female birds and produces docile young.