Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need to ask a few questions. Any advice would be much apprecitated, thanks in advance.
First I was wondering if my cockatiels can have mealworms, they freak out when they see anything flying near their cage, I actually breed mealworms for my reptiles so I always keep them on hand.
Ok, on to the major stuff.
My female makes a squawking sound sometimes when she is preening herself, is that normal? Maybe she's molting? Does it hurt them when they molt?
My male has white funny looking spots (like when you get paint in your hair) on his feathers near his head/neck, pic enclosed.. if you can't see it, I can email it to you at full size.
Lastly, yesterday I put them in separate cages and they seem to be ok with it, but when I let them out today they both went into the same cage and acted like they were fine with that. So I combined the two cages so they now have access to both cages and can come and go as they please. Now I wonder if I can just get a huge cage (36 inch flight cage?) and let them stay together. Like I said.. help! lol

I wouldn't have a clue about the mealworms. They do eat bugs in the wild but it's VERY few. In captivity this can usually be substituted by giving cooked chciken & fish. I couldn't say about meal worms.

It can be painful when moulting. It's like having pins piercing through your skin, ouch. Regular baths will relieve it quite a bit. Also light mists with 100% aloe/water mixes, not too much aloe. It sooths but can also dry the skin.

It's possible she is a little sore if she's been neglected she may have never been bathed & the skin gone dry & tender. Try saucers, tub with minimal water, spray bottle or shower. See which one she prefers or which she finds the lest offensive. All mine shower with me (no soap shampoo) they just enjoy being under the shower.

The white bits on your male are pin feathers, new feathers coming through. They are moulting. A scratch & bath (if they allow) helps to relieve moulting & will help to break the pins.

Your suggestion for a larger cage will suit them & is a great idea because they won't get in each others space. If either need to get away, they can. You do need to be careful they don't start breeding though. You have 1 male, 1 female. They may have never bred before because of the conditions they were in but now they're in better conditions, this may be favourable for them to breed. So, you need to ask yourself if you want to risk them breeding or not? If you do think abut it, research tiel breeding first & get as much knowlege as you possibly can off the net, then prepare cages etc for breeding, then put the 2 together after everything you need to know & do is known & done.

If you don't want to risk the breeding, they will need to stay in 2 seperate cages & be together only supervised.