The importance of budgie care cannot be overemphasized.
Many people often attempt to make budgies part of their homes because budgies can be pretty fun pets to have.
Taking care of budgies can be rather demanding and may be overwhelming in the end.
It would be good to be aware of the many demands of budgie care to keep your budgie healthy and happy.
Table of Contents
How to Take Care of a Budgie?
Budgies need some special care and attention because they’re pretty delicate. You should follow some general guidelines to prevent your pet from developing any complications.
What Care Do Budgies Need in General?
Budgies, like any other pet, need the basics: food, water, space to live in as well as room to move in. You will need to figure out how to size a birdcage for budgies to provide your budgie with the space it needs.
Along with this is the need to keep your budgie’s surroundings as clean as possible.
These may all look quite simple and not much to tackle. How long do budgies live, after all, depends on how well they are taken care of.
If you take a closer look at it, you will realize that things aren’t as simple as they seem.
Here’s a quick look on how to take care of your budgie
Are Budgies Easy to Take Care Of?
Budgies, like any other pet, have their basic needs.
However, taking care of a budgie may entail some effort, time, and money.
Feeding your budgie, cleaning cages, and taking time out to interact with your budgie are just some of the many things you’ll have to think of before getting a budgie to add to your home.
To say whether or not a budgie is easy to take care of depends on how much effort and time you are willing to give for your budgie.
One thing that you have to remember is that budgies are social birds. They don’t appreciate being alone and are used to being flock birds.
Keeping that in mind, it might just be more challenging to take care of a single budgie compared to taking care of a group of budgies.
A single bird will probably want to socialize and play with you most of the day, which might be a problem when it comes to someone with a busy schedule.
On the other hand, having a group of birds means having more to take care of. That may eat into a lot of your time as well.
Feeding a Budgie
Feeding a budgie is not rocket science. The most important thing to remember when feeding a budgie is to make sure that the food you provide is healthy and nutritious.
Your pet bird will not only enjoy consuming the food, but it will also help him develop into a healthy adult bird.
Here is what you should keep in mind to feed your healthy budgie.
READ MORE: When Do Baby Budgies Leave the Nest?
Nutritional Requirements
You can not overlook the importance of feeding your budgie the proper diet.
A wild budgie will forge for a wide choice of food that it deems necessary for his nutritional upkeep.
In captivity, though, things can be quite different.
Remember that a bird’s food intake, especially those in captivity, dramatically contributes to its health, and it lessens the chance of your budgie developing the disease [4].
There have been minor studies, though, as to what birds in captivity need since there are many factors that may affect the dietary needs [1] of your pet budgie.
For this reason, an all-seed diet does not fare well for budgies.
Fruit Seed mixes often lack the needed mineral, vitamins, and amino acids required by your budgie.
Added to this is that birds tend to remove the seed hulls that have high fiber content.
In doing so, they remove the most crucial part of the seed.
Having a Mixed Diet
To make sure that your budgie is fed a balanced diet, you need to provide him with a diet of bird seeds and fresh food.
Feeding your budgie with leafy greens and fresh fruit should be an excellent way to meet your pet budgie’s daily nutritional needs.
Including pellets in your budgie diet is highly recommended, too, since pellets provide more balance than plain bird seeds.
Feeding your budgie with a bit of cuttlebone may also help provide your budgie with additional calcium that he may need.
Alternately, you may look into buying a mineral block in case you feel that your budgie is missing out on certain minerals in his diet.
Here’s a list of fruits budgies can eat.
Fresh Water
Like any other pet, fresh water is integral to budgie care. But how much water will your budgie need daily?
@birbybirby Don’t forget to drink water today! 💛💦🐤 #water #drinkwater #bird #birb #budgie #parakeet #birbsoftiktok #birbmemes #cute #cutebird ♬ drink water. – dylan jay
Don’t let your budgie forget to drink her water!
Water Intake Needs
There is no accurate recommendation as to how much water a budgie needs since there are many things that may dictate the actual needs of your budgie when it comes to hydration.
Budgies can even do without water for a day or two. This doesn’t mean that they can do without water for days on end.
A teaspoonful of water a day is enough to keep your budgie hydrated.
The anatomy of animals keeps them equipped to survive under normal circumstances.
In the case of budgies, their beaks are designed to crack seeds and eat food from which they can get hold of the fluids they need.
Keeping Your Budgie Hydrated
There are many things to remember regarding your budgie’s fluid intake.
You have to remember that you should always provide your budgie with clean water daily.
Make sure that the water bowl is kept clean every day too.
Another way to encourage your budgie to keep hydrated is to add a bit of honey to the water. You can do this once a week if you notice your budgie’s water intake going down.
It wouldn’t be good to do this regularly, though, since honey is still mostly sugar, which isn’t suitable for your budgie.
One more way to keep your budgie hydrated is to add fruits and leafy vegetables to his diet. Click here to know more about what fruits budgies can eat.
Budgie Grooming
Grooming is part of budgie care too. Keeping clean is essential to keep your budgie healthy and keep you away from any diseases [2] that may arise from your budgie.
How Often Should Budgies Bath?
Budgies are very neat creatures that love to groom.
They will want to take a bath now and then. Don’t be surprised if you see your budgie taking a bath in his water dishes.
Check out this video of a budgie bathing in its drinking water.
You can provide a birdbath by filling a plate with around 0.5 to 1-inch water. You should set the deepest depth at 2 inches.
If he’s enjoying it, you should let him take a dip often since it is his way of keeping himself clean.
Alternately, you can also get a sprayer and mist your budgie. This should encourage him to preen himself, which is an excellent thing.
Do remember to use warm water when bathing your budgie, whether it’s in a bath or through a water sprayer.
Baths During Molting
Molting [3] happens when old feathers are shed, and new ones come up.
When molting occurs, the protective layer around the feathers begins to flake, and they might give your budgie a bit of an itch.
It would be best to bathe your budgie daily to keep him flake-free during molting.
Check out this video on how to bathe your bird.
Other Things on the Grooming List
Aside from bathing, you’ll also have to clip your budgie’s claws regularly to make sure that he doesn’t end up hurting himself.
Budgie claws can grow to be long and extremely sharp. These may get him into trouble in case those claws get stuck in between the cage wires or some other object in your home.
Since trimming those claws require just the right length, it will be best to bring your budgie to a vet and have the vet do the trimming himself.
Bird Cages and Play
Budgies in the wild have all the space they have to fly in. For domestic budgies, space is an issue. Therefore, having the right size birdcage is a must for your budgie.
Budgies need budgie cages that are wide enough for them to fly and be mobile. The cage must also come with various perches for them to get onto.
This may also mean that you will have to release them from their cages often for them to move around.
Be sure to keep your home bird-safe if you intend to release your budgie often.
Remove all items you feel will cause your budgie harm since budgies have the habit of gnawing into stuff. (Yes, that means your furniture and house decors too!)
Play is also another thing that budgies like to do. You will have to provide your budgie with various toys to keep him engaged and increase mental stimulation.
Budgie toys satisfy their curiosity and keep them from getting bored.
While all of these may seem pretty standard, keep in mind that having cages and toys means that you will have to clean them regularly. Check our guide about the proper way of cleaning bird cages.
Budgie Time
I did mention that budgies are highly sociable animals. This means that they need to have a constant companion most of the day.
A single budgie will want to cling to you most of the day, so it may be quite a difficult situation for your to balance your work and budgie life if you are out of the house on most days.
If you can devote limited time to your budgie, it will be best to get him some budgie companions to accompany him.
That should lessen his loneliness and stress. Budgie care, after all, does not only revolve around basic physiological needs. It also has to address emotional needs that keep your budgie happy.
FAQs
Does caring for a budgie take a lot of time?
Not really. They don’t need much grooming, unlike other pets. Apart from cage maintenance, budgies don’t require as much maintenance.
Is it expensive to care for a budgie?
Compared to other pets, caring for a budgie doesn’t cost much. However, you still have items like birds cages, toys, and food that will still eat into a part of your budget.
Do you need to bathe a budgie?
Yes. But the procedure isn’t as complicated as bathing other pets like cats and dogs.
So is it easy to care for a budgie?
The answer to this question all depends on you and how much money, care, and time you are willing to give. Like all animals, a budgie needs to be cared for. You will have to provide fundamental needs like food and proper housing.
In Conclusion
All pets need attention and love. Budgies are no exception. Added to this is the fact that budgies love to socialize.
They thrive in groups, and if left alone, just like any other pet, they can end up heartbroken. Add the fact that budgies have to be kept in cages.
Therefore, it isn’t surprising that, if left unattended, budgies will end up stressed without any interaction.
Caring for a budgie takes a certain sense of responsibility. If done correctly, they can serve as excellent companions for many years.
Do you have more tips on how to take care of a budgie? Please share below!
Resources
- 1. CUT OPERATING COSTS PA YS FOR ITSELF IN A FEW WEEKS! + TO VACUUM CLEAN SEED [Internet]. Available from: https://journals.tdl.org/watchbird/index.php/watchbird/article/download/2642/2612/0
- 2. Evans EE. Zoonotic Diseases of Common Pet Birds: Psittacine, Passerine, and Columbiform Species. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice. 2011;14:457–76.
- 3. Kurtdede A, Börkü MK, Keski̇nN, Karacan N. Feather Loss in a Budgie. Journal of Advances in VetBio Science and Techniques [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2022 Jan 31];3:41–3. Available from: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/vetbio/article/388798
- 4. How to access research remotely [Internet]. www.cabdirect.org. [cited 2022 Jan 31]. Available from: https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20073208605
Alina Hartley is a small-town girl with a ginormous love of bearded dragons. It all started with Winchester, a baby bearded who was abandoned at the shelter by his former owners because of a birth defect that caused one front leg to be shorter than the other. Alina originally went to the shelter looking for a guinea pig, but one look at Winchester and it was love at first sight. From that day on, Alina has dedicated her life to learning everything she can about bearded dragons. She loves helping new beardie parents start their incredible journey with these magnificent reptiles.
Follow her on:
LINKEDIN
TWITTER.
Read her latest articles HERE
Learn more about her HERE.