Budgerigar Breeders | Caring for pet budgies - Kerry Griffin - January 2007

Caring for pet budgies - Kerry Griffin - January 2007

The views expressed in these articles are solely the views of the article author and may not necessarily be views shared by the owners of this web site.

I have kept budgies for fourteen years. The key to looking after them is: attention. It helps if you have plenty of spare time to give them plenty of attention, to sit, talk and play with them. This builds up trust between you and your budgie.

If you want your budgie to talk, it is best to have just the one budgie, and dedicate plenty of time and attention to it. It also takes patience. Although if you are going to go out and about for the majority of the time, it may be worth considering having two budgies to keep each other company. This would prevent boredom, as they will not be lonely. I often leave the radio on so there is some background noise on for the bird.

Treating your budgie for good behaviour with millet, seed rings, lettuce, bread and apple for example, is a good idea. They only tend to bite if they are scared and or panicking, or in pain. Therefore, if they bite at any other time, put them in their cage for a while, and try bringing them out again a bit later. Always keep your budgie below eye level when they are perched on your finger, as this confirms to the bird that you are in control.

Budgies, as a rule, like having a bath. I use an old jelly sweets container that is large but shallow, and transparent. Every month I will put a little warm water (not too hot) in the container and place it on the floor next to his cage. He will often just help himself to a bath; and the large container allows him to move around. Alternatively, after you have built up trust with your budgie, and they are sat on your finger, you could use a damp cotton ball and wipe their feathers from the top of the wings down towards the tail.

With regards to cage cleaning, a weak solution o dettol in warm water should clean the cage thoroughly, and should be done every two days. There are also similar antibacterial cleaners that can be used on cages, in most pet stores. Thoroughly dry the base and put sandpaper in the bottom, and cover in a little sand and grit. I tend to buy the sandpaper sheets a size to big for the cage, just to make sure it is a good fit, as I would rather cut the sheet down to size rather than have it too small.

Food-wise, there are several seeds you could buy from the pet store. On a Wednesday, I tend to mix red rape seed in with his regular every day seed, as this has oils in that are good for the feathers. On a Friday, I will use a superior budgie mix that has dried peppers, tonic and regular everyday seed mixed together, as this provides a little variation to his diet. On a Sunday, I use tonic seed, as this provides all the vitamins your budgie requires. Every other day he gets regular seed e.g. trill; on these days, you could treat your bird to lettuce or millet, for example. Seed and water needs to be changed every day, and the food and drink containers need to be cleaned regularly.

To entertain your budgie, there are several toys available in the pet stores. I find that a budgie can never have enough mirrors! They tend to be a little vain! I also buy cat toys for my budgie, the little packs of plastic balls with bells in. My bird loves to play football with them, because they make a noise and are brightly coloured. They also have little gaps in the plastic so he can pick the ball up with his beak.

Mineral sticks and cuttlefish help keep your bird’s beak sharp, as well as providing vitamins.

Never cut your budgies nails, as they have a little vain that runs from their toe into their nail, and you could quite easily cut into that. Generally, your budgie will look after their own nails, but if they grow exceptionally long, take them to the vets to have a manicure.


K Griffin