Care Sheet Project: Budgerigars

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:26 am

Feel free to add!CARESHEET FOR BUDGERIGARSANIMAL NAME: Budgerigars / Parakeets /Australian Parrots / Shell Parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus)DESCRIPTION: A small parrot from Australia, originally coloured dark green with yellow face. Breeding has produced for example blue, yellow, turquoise and albino forms. Budgies have black, wave-shaped markings on their head and on the wings and black or at least dark tail feathers.LIFESPAN / SIZE: They can reach an age of ten to twelve years, sometimes more. Including the tail they are about 5 inches long.SEX DIFFERENCES / SUITABILITY: Males have a blue nose, females a pink/brown one. Young budgies have black eyes, while older individuals have white rings around their eyes. The wave-shaped markings on their head reach the nose when they are young and recede when they get older.You can keep any constellation of these birds together, as long as you keep at least two of them, they are very sociable.REPRODUCTION: You can keep a pair of budgies together and they won�t breed until you give them a nesting box to lay their eggs. They produce 5 to 8 eggs that are hatched by the female, the male will feed her during this time. I have never bred budgies and don't know much about this, maybe someone else can add info on this topic.WASTE: You will need to clean the cage at least once or twice a week. The birds will excrete every 15 or 20 minutes because of their rapid metabolism. And they�ll loose feathers all over the place, especially when they moult.SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: It�s a myth that budgies can be kept alone. Of course they will get tame very fast if alone, but only because they are so lonely for a partner. A mirror or a plastic bird cannot substitute another budgie and a human is only a makeshift solution. So please buy at least two birds.You can tame them by speaking to them and offering them food on your hand. Eventually one of them will hop on your hand to eat or just to have a closer look at your hand. Budgies are very curious and what one budgie does, they others will imitate. You will usually need some time and very much patience. They are very nice to watch even if they are not tame (my two aren�t and I still have very much fun with them).Some birds need to have their beak and their claws shortened by a vet. You can shorten the claws yourself, but let a vet show it to you before you try.CARE TIME: for two birds and a medium sized cage: Feeding the birds every day: about 5 minutes / Cleaning the cage and its surroundings twice a week: 15/20 minutes / Cleaning the toys and the whole cage about once a month: 40 minutes FOOD: You can buy budgie food in every pet shop. They need about two teaspoons for each bird every day. Test whether the food is fresh: put some of it in a bowl with water for 6,7 hours and then rinse the grains every twelve hours. After one or two days the grains should begin to germinate. If not, the food is not fresh and not fit for the birds to eat. They like to eat the germinated grains! Apart from that, feed them carrot, apple, pear, salad, cucumber, zuccini, dandelion, daisies, grass (preferably with seeds), twigs with leaves, corn, cat grass, banana, grapes, strawberry... Avocado is poisonous for them!WATER: Give them fresh water every day. Supply them with a possibility to bathe, there are bathing houses for birds or you can use a shallow bowl. Some birds like it better to take a shower (under the tap, with a mister or take the whole cage to the bathroom and use the shower there) or bathe in wet salad.VITAMINS / SUPPLEMETS: If you feed them fresh vegetables and fruits, they�ll get all the vitamins they need.TEMPERATURE: Room temperature is sufficient.HOUSING: You can buy all types of birds cages. For two birds, it should be at least 20 inches long and high and 15 inches wide and you have to let the birds fly in the room every day.The cage shouldn�t be round (the birds like to sit on top of the cage) and the bars should have a dark colour, because white bars impair the vision of the birds (and yours as well if you want to watch them in the cage). Budgies can be kept outdoors but I have no experience with that, maybe someone else can write something on that topic?SUBSTRATE: You�ll need sand for parakeets as substrate. It contains grinded shells which the birds swallow to crush their food in their stomach (just like ostrichs do, that why ostrichs will sometimes swallow strange things). You can buy sheets of paper with sand glued to it but this is rubbish, don�t buy it. Sometimes paper or even newspaper is recommended, this does not fulfill the requirements of the birds and can even be harmful to them.LIGHTING: Usually not needed. They like their cage to stand near a window and watch what�s happening outside (make sure there's no draft).HEATING / COOLING: Usually not needed.FURNITURE: They need perches to sit on. It�s best to gather some sticks from outside and put them into the cage. Oak, beech, fruit trees (except plum) or birch can be used. That way the perches have different sizes and the budgies shorten their claws. They will skin the sticks and after a few weeks you�ll have to replace them. If you buy perches from a shop, choose those made from wood, not plastic. Place the perches in the cage on different heights. TOYS: They like swings, rope to climb on, a branched out bough, little plastic toys they can carry around (and throw on the floor for their owner to pick up), bells... Red is a favourite colour. My birds have for example: two little teddy bears made out of plastic, a small locomotive, a plane on a string to push around, a string with wooden beads and a bell and a tumbler.HABITS AND BEHAVIOUR: When you like it quiet, don't buy budgerigars. They always � let's call it "talk" because they definitely don't sing. At times it can be very loud, especially when music or the TV plays or people talk. They are most active in the morning and towards evening. I cover the cage of my birds with a cloth in the evening, so that I can watch TV or read and they can sleep.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:14 am

I thought their life expectancy was closer to twenty years. I have had five. Three was when I was very little though. I don't remember much and I think you covered all I knew anyway. AS far as substrate though. I think all the cages I have ever owned for birds had bars that separated the bottom tray from the rest of the cage. We always used paper to cover the bottom and placed a dish with sand in it inside the cage.I would also recommend a water bottle with a tilted spout. Birds can learn to drink from water bottles just like small mammals can and it keeps the water supply cleaner. Oc course bathing water should still be offered.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:45 pm

And I saw that you can buy UV neon lamps. Neon lamps give birds a headache because they don't see a steady light, but a flicker like strobe light in a club. Not a good idea.

Snapfish · Post by **Snapfish** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 4:26 am

I am glad you said they need a friend, because alot of people keep keets alone and that is sad.I have found that the absolute most important thing for keeping a keet healthy, is to wash his water dish out once a day, as if it was your own dish. By that I mean hot hot water, and soap-scrub well... and then rinse it over and over, until you are satisfied it is no longer soapy.They say in many of the old keet books not to use soap on their dishes, but it's important to get the water and food dish very clean. Fresh water in a very clean dish can extend the life of your keet by half a decade. IF you can get them past 5 years old, they have a good chance of a long life. Dietary problems(usually lack of fresh fruit/veggies) can cause them to get cancer before the age of 5.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 7:46 am

Any of you budgie owners have problems with over grown beak? Fred stopped using his cuttle bone and never touched it again. I've tried all different kinds but he won't go near them. Now, I have to take him and get it cut about once a month (I can't do it myself). Also, I was told sandpaper perch covers are unhealthy, but he REALLY likes them. I got Fred in 1995 when he was 6 mos old so I must be doing something right. Anyone know if the sand paper perchs really are bad or is it a myth??????CM

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:26 am

My parents had a parakeet that's beak was overgrown. They had to cut it about once every other month for the rest of his life. That's what the vet told them to do because, for some reason, he didn't want to file it down himself. That bird lived about 12 years.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:32 am

CM-does your bird have a favorite treat? Maybe you could smear some of it on a cuttlebone. My birds never had that problem but I have heard that it isn't uncommon. What about branches. I know Mazzy (my missing ****atiel) loved to chew on branches. I would think that that would help wear down the beak. How much does it cost to go in once a month and get the beak cut?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:36 am

@Aviate: I'm from Germany. I didn't plan to send my caresheets to petstores, because I don't think they'll care. When I see a pet store where the animals are treated badly, I call the offical vet, but most times nothing happens... I try not to buy animals from shops, since i visited an animal shelter and saw about 60 budgies (it was shortly after Christmas) and I don't know how many hamsters, rats, chinchillas, degus, rabbits - whatever.On of my budgies has a overgrown beak. He loves his cuttlebone and in my old flat the two birds ate a rather big hole in the wall, but his beak still grows and grows. The vet says he's perfectly healthy, I guess he's just a freak.

Snapfish · Post by **Snapfish** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 2:06 am

Re: sandpaper covers...I've had parakeets get sores on their feet from the sandpaper covers. It seems that if you had it on only one of numerous perches, it would give him the option of getting away from it. Yes, alive since 1995 is very good. I don't give my parakeets grit/gravel at all, because I have read that they don't need it and I have a 10 year old keet who is still going strong.I have found that this brand is good birdseed-[even though everyone says that birdseed is bad to feed them]-"VOLKMAN Parakeet Seed". Volkman has fruits veggies in it too, and has to be refrigerated, after the bag is opened. Also I feed them the pelleted food, but they are too fussy to break it up, so I have to smash it to powder for them. I figure it's worth it, if they will just eat it.When they get fussy and won't eat veggies I give them a small treat cup full of organic carrot juice, which they love. Have to take it out after 1/2 hour though, as it spoils quickly. Also they start trying to take a bath in it. Ugh.

Do you guys use those mineral blocks? My keets just tear those things up, and I think that is good for their beaks. They especially destroy the blocks before/during a molt, since the feather production requires extra calcium. I once read that the feathers are made of calcium, but don't know if that is true. The problem with parakeets is that some of them are super inbred, in order to get the unique colors. I remember my first parakeet, purchased in the 1960's. He was tough as nails. Nowdays you just look at them wrong and they get sick. I've started just buying the blues, because I've decided the greens (that I thought were more sturdy) are often the side effect of someone's breeding experiment. They were the "failures" that came out "normal colored". Still the birds that appear to have "normal coloring" can have funky genetics, since it seems lately that alot of breeders don't intentionally come up with normal greens. You buy a green bird, and all of his brothers/sisters were yellow crested lacewings, and you never know why he spends his life with a nervous tic.