Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I am new to this board. I have a pet Rouen Duck named Squeaker--he is 1 1/2 years old. He is an only child. My questions are:
1) What is the lifespan of this type of duck?
2) Why would he be losing his green head( brown and white feathers
are coming in)?
3) He seems to be getting mean--he will snip at me when I let him
out of the cage, and chase everybody. Why is he doing this?

Thanks for any help you can give me. He is a big part of the family

Hi Aimee, and a big helo to Squeakers as well

answer for q.1: Im not sure for the lifespan of a Rouen specifically, but generally a ducks' lifepsan ranges from 10-20 years on average.

q.2: This is normal, he is molting into eclispe plumage he will get those feathers back next year, around january.

q.3: ducks are more territorial during mating season, so that is what he is showing. This behavior will most likely end when he's finished molting, marking the "end" of mating season.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for your answers. It helps alot. I have been wanting to get another female for him but when I think about getting it I am not sure due to the fact that he is so mucher older. When I had gotten him he was a baby and he had a friend. We lucked out with getting a male and female. She was killed by a dog nearly a year ago. Should I get him a mate? If so how old or big should she be before I can leave her in the same cage as him? Also should she be the same breed or will ducks mate with any type of duck? I don't really want baby ducks but I want him to be happy. Can I get him cliped so he doesn't make babies but everything else functions right?

You could get him a mate if you would like, in may make him less agressive toward territory, etc.

If you do decide on getting a female then don't introduce her to him until she is fullgrown. I must also advise you,however, that his recations are indefinete. He may still be suffering from the loss of his former mate, if he preceived her that way, and attack the new female. My sister had a budgie that did this once we introduced a new friend to her.

I'm not sure about which breeds. I own a mallard who is mateless, but i have heard that Rouens will mate with pekins and some otehr large breeds, though i am not sure how true this always is. If I were you I would get another Rouen, just to be sure.

No, you canNOT get him nuetered. These organs in birds, of both genders, are much different than in mammals and removing them will cause many problems.

getting ducks clipped is commonly done when they have a prolapsed penis, most people just snip it off, give the bird some meds for a few days and thats that, if you dont want babies dont get another duck, get a goose, he'll probly mate with anything at this point.

1) What is the lifespan of this type of duck?

max lifespan is about 17 yrs.

2) Why would he be losing his green head( brown and white feathers are coming in)?

thats his eclipse feathering, if he's a production type rouen he'll never get the bold colors he once had, he may looks a bit similar though, depends on his genes.

3) He seems to be getting mean--he will snip at me when I let him
out of the cage, and chase everybody. Why is he doing this?

thats a common problem in people raised ducks, he'll continue to do that untill you either put him in his place, kill him, or be submissive and put up with his beatings.. it's a dominance thing.

hi aimee
i have 3 rouens . 2 males and 1 female. one of the males is starting to do the nipping chasing thing . i myself was wondering why he was doing this all of a sudden.it seems they do do this during mating season. i havent had any real aggressive behavior though just playful nipping. as far as i have heard it should go away once it gets a little cooler. before i got my female we had 2 males and this charateristic was worse. you may want to look into getting a female.