New Budgie Owner

MizzLolly

Hello folks!


I'm getting a budgie soon (well I already have him but he's staying with someone else for the moment) and I was just wondering what I should get for him! I have his cage, a little mirror, a water thingy and seed. What toys should I get him? Should I even get him stuff to play with? I don't really know much about them LOL And what treats can they have? Is it dangerous to feed them anything other than their seed?

Thanks

monty_python

the best thing you can get for him is another budgie. and millet all birds love millet.(the winged birds i mean lol)

Sigma Force

One thing that many budgies and other pet birds suffer from is malnutrition this can lead to health problems or an early death. Budgies are seed eaters however they also need a varied diet, the budgie seed you give the bird must be of high quality. Personally I find Vitakraft fine but stick to the one brand as changing their diet can upset their system badly.

Budgies also must have a little fruit or veg daily or about 3 times a week depending how their tums cope with it. Safe fruit and veg for budgies include the following (ensure they are well washed) grapes, cauliflower, broccoli, apple, untreated apple branches (great for perches to chew on to), grated carrot. If unsure wether any food is unsafe don't feed it.

There are also pre made dry foods that you can buy that you add a little water to and mcrowave they have pasta and other veggies in them.

Fresh water daily and a couple of times a week leave a bird bath attached to the cage. Ensure the room is draught free.

Vitamin suppliments are important if the bird is a fussy eater and refuses veg or fruit, although I find budgies tend to be less fussy than say cockatiels. A good vitamin suppliment to give once or twice a week on soft food eg apple or in their water is one called PRIME but follow instructions carefully for dosage.

The other important thing with budgies is space, generally cages are too small, if your budgie cannot fly properly in the cage then the cage is too small. Too small a cage leads to boredom and they can also damage their tail feathers by constantly rubbing the tail off the bars. If you cannot give a budgie free flight daily in a secure room then the bird needs an indoor aviary rather than a cage. They need to fly to keep them fit and their muscles strong. Overweight or unfit budgies can lead to health problems.

With their perches ensure all perches are of different shapes and sizes other wise the same sized perch will lead to foot cramps and possibly bumble foot which is serious. Different textured ones are good too eg one plastic one latex one natural wooden perch and an apple branch. Zooplus.ie have lots of good perches for budgies and also table top play stands.

Don't over fill the cage with toys one or two is enough, change toys around once a week to create new interest but keep a toy in there if the bird is particularly fond of it. Mirror is good for one bird but really all budgies unless the owner can spend tons of time with it is better off having a 2nd budgie for company.

Avoid sand paper or the sand paper stuff that covers perches these can be too rough on feet, if perches are thick enough so that the birds toes don't touch each other then that should be enough to wear the nails down. Plain newspaper is perfectly fine for the bottom of the cage.

Food bowl, water bowl, bird bath, various perches, a few toys, a cuttle bone, an iodine block are the basics that you need. Some people are still debating wether to feed their budgies grit. From what I have tried so far on my own birds they do need grit but not as much as was once thought. A little sprinkle once a week is more than enough in my experience.

Avoid millet seed that is musty of moldy.

If allowing the bird free flight in a room, ensure there are no open windows or doors (lock them if you need to). No dangerous gaps and put something across the window so the bird doesn't fly into it and hurt itself. Ensure the budgie as plenty of light as they don't see well in the dark.
Don't use cage covers or suddenly turn on lights and avoid having the bird near a window where there are passing car lights as budgies can be prone to night frights where they flutter around the cage, get very stressed and can injure themselves. If this happens turn on the light and leave it one for a half hour until they settle.

It is cheaper to build a mini indoor aviary than to buy larger budgie cages. Parrot24 is another website for birdy stuff. Ebay sometimes has bargains too.

Hope this helps.

bigpinkelephant

Whatever you do, don't feed them avocado, it is HIGHLY poisonous to them.
Don't let them nibble at house plants either!

Also when feeding them- budgies only eat the inside of the seed and leave the shell in the dish. So it can look like they have a full dish of food when they actually only have a full dish of empty shells that are no good to them!

Get him the biggest cage you can afford- mine lives with a cockatiel in a cage about 4 feet long- and keep him in a room with lots of human activity.
Not the kitchen though, if you have any appliances with a Teflon coating- like a frying pan- as Teflon fumes can kill a budgie.

Guineapigrescue makes a good point about night frights- it happened my cockatiel once and in the middle of it all he hurt his foot- he broke one of his claws down to the vein- there was blood EVERYWHERE. My dad had to go to I don't know how many shops at 11pm at night to get him some Iodine to stop the bleeding, lucky we live near a 24 hour Tesco.

Sigma Force

Meant to mention the Teflon thing people have a habit of keeping birds in kitchens which is not a good idea. Also don't smoke or spray stuff around budgies and avoid those plug in scented things, scented candles etc.

Ensure the bars have small gaps between them in the larger cages some larger cages are fine but some the gap is almost an inch and that's way too wide. Can't remember the size of a standar budgie cage bar gap but sure it will be the same as what's on the cage it has already. Also avoid round cages like the plague.

I usually blow the seed husks off the top of the budgie seed but sometimes it's easier to use a hoover or a wee hand held hoover is a handy thing to have.
Avoid shop bought treats they have too much junk in them usually. Millet is fine and zooplus.ie do a chinese millet seed as well one is yellow one is red so don't be alarmed if they poop these colours after eating them.

MizzLolly

Guineapigrescue your post has been more than helpful. Thank you for taking the time to give such an in depth reply. I have an iodine block for him too. Are honey-bells really safe to give them as a treat?


His cage isn't big enough to let him fly around freely but I will leave him out as much as I can. I hate the thought of them being stuck in a little cage. They're so sweet. Lovely personalities.



Bigpinkelephant thanks for that post. I never knew that about Avocados and Teflon. Weird?!


So is a little slice of apple safe to give him as a treat? It wouldn't make him sick or anything?

bigpinkelephant

MizzLolly wrote: »

Guineapigrescue your post has been more than helpful. Thank you for taking the time to give such an in depth reply. I have an iodine block for him too. Are honey-bells really safe to give them as a treat?


His cage isn't big enough to let him fly around freely but I will leave him out as much as I can. I hate the thought of them being stuck in a little cage. They're so sweet. Lovely personalities.



Bigpinkelephant thanks for that post. I never knew that about Avocados and Teflon. Weird?!


So is a little slice of apple safe to give him as a treat? It wouldn't make him sick or anything?

Yeah apple is safe, mine also love grass and dandelion leaves (make sure they have no pesticides on them), a bit of carrot also goes down well. My budgie goes nuts for mashed potato also but he only gets it every few weeks as a treat. He always has huge interest in anything I eat!!!!

What is great for budgies is if you leave the radio on for them. Budgies don't like the quiet, a happy budgie will chatter and sing away with the radio or if there are people talking in the room. It sounds mad but tune the radio into a pop station- my birds are afraid of heavy metal music and anyting like that. They sing loads when there is pop music on the radio- especially a female voice because it is a higher pitch. Kylie Minogue has a couple of big fans in my house

MizzLolly

My grandparents used to have a budgie called barney and he used to talk. How common is this?

LOL he was so funny. My aunts and uncles taught him to say funny things, like using the F-word and all. He used to fly around and sit up on your shoulder. Very clever.

I know it's rare for them to talk and I don't expect mine to do that but I do want to make sure he is happy enough to chatter away to himself and to be at ease when I come over to his cage. I just wanted advice so I could look after him the best way possible.


I'll post back in a few weeks with an update on how he's getting on. Can't wait to move him up here


Thanks again!!:)

bigpinkelephant

My little lad never managed to say a human word clearly, he will babble away alright but the actual words are mumbled. He learned my text message alert though!!! He knew that when I heard it I would come into the room

He also will imitate my finches, and the birds outside.

Gavin "shels"

MizzLolly wrote: »

My grandparents used to have a budgie called barney and he used to talk. How common is this?

My budgie can say a few words. My last budgie could say it's name and everything.:D

If you can try letting him out of the cage after about a week in the same room, make sure the room has curtains (close them over windows) and make sure all doors are closed, etc...
My last budgie was nearly 3 years old before he got let out of the cage (my nan owned him before us, she died and we got him), eventually after a year we had him trained so him could fly around the house, we'd let him out in the kitchen and he'd go mad so we'd whistle and he'd find us.:D

Sigma Force

With any new foods introduce them to him gradually.
Honey bells and other similar treats are fine on the rare occasion but many contain additives so pick the most natural treats you can. Restrict honey bells etc for days when you have to be away for the whole day or days when you know he may get a bit bored.

Budgies love swings as well, the movement of the swing is good to keep their leg muscles toned. Dozens of diff toys you can get.

My two are 5 rooms away and I can hear them from here, the noisier the house the noiser they get, they love to sing over the hoover or radio as said.

Budgies are great, they are so cheery unlike my two tiels who can get so sulky and demanding.

Whispered

If a budgie chattering is a sign of happiness I can safely say that lollys budgie is a very, very happy (read noisey) little fella.

Sigma Force

Male budgies tend to be easier to train to talk, it also depends on their bond with their owner. With a strong bond they will listen to everything you say and want to repeat it. You start by picking a short simple word sometimes words that end with an ee sound is easier for them. Or if their name is short you can teach them that. Repeating that word and that word only over and over again every day until they learn it, some budgies are quicker than others some take an absolute age some just mumble it some speak clearer. I find the larger the bird the clearer they speak but this isn't a rule mynah birds are excellent talkers.

If you have more than one they budgie will most likely bond with the other bird but it depends how long you have had one before you get the other. Depends on a few things really.

Budgies take a while to get used to new situations and a new home, but they eventually adapt they thrive on routine.

MizzLolly

Hey guys.

I decided to call him Oscar!

He's absolutely brilliant. I love him. He's still only a little baby so there's not too much chattering outta him. He'll give out a few little chirps if you're ignoring him though! Hehehe.. he's sooo cute.

I started petting his little claws tonight and he let me rub his belly. After about ten mins he hopped up onto my finger and allowed me to pet him more. I was very surprised by how quickly he came around to trusting me. He's the cutest little guy in the world!! Awww...

bigpinkelephant

MizzLolly wrote: »

Hey guys.

I decided to call him Oscar!

He's absolutely brilliant. I love him. He's still only a little baby so there's not too much chattering outta him. He'll give out a few little chirps if you're ignoring him though! Hehehe.. he's sooo cute.

I started petting his little claws tonight and he let me rub his belly. After about ten mins he hopped up onto my finger and allowed me to pet him more. I was very surprised by how quickly he came around to trusting me. He's the cutest little guy in the world!! Awww...

I'm really happy for you missus... Budgies are like the terrier of the bird world- they are small but they have huge personalies! Fantastic little pets... If I am eating a sandwich mine will fly over onto my hand and start trying to peck at it... if I am wearing my glasses he will fly over and sit on them... They are great little birds.

Sigma Force

Sounds like he's going to be great fun, doing well for him to already feel comfortable with you he'll be following you around in no time. Just be careful when opening and closing doors as they tend to perch on the top of them.

My first budgie yeaaaars ago had one of those mini dolls where they're hands clip on to things, she loved it. Used to put it in a wee dolls press and the budgie used to open up the door and take the doll out.

Rory123

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

My first budgie yeaaaars ago had one of those mini dolls where they're hands clip on to things, she loved it. Used to put it in a wee dolls press and the budgie used to open up the door and take the doll out.

... Mon chi chi???? :eek:

Sigma Force

lol no it was a really small cabbage patch kid doll about the size of a budgie. But did have mon chi chis too love them! Still have them somewhere prob in the attic. Never see them in toy shops they should bring them back