Introduction
The budgie, often known as a budgerigar, is an Australian native parrot species. The budgie can mimic human speech, thanks to its high level of intelligence. The species forms flocks of hundreds of birds in the wild that feed and migrate together, demonstrating how wonderfully sociable it is. The budgie is sometimes referred to as the shell parakeet in American English.
Budgies have evolved to survive in some of the harshest regions in Australia, where drought and extreme heat are frequently seen. As a result, budgie flocks are always moving. For millennia, Aboriginal Australians used the birds to get over the challenging terrain and locate fresh water and food supplies.
Can budgies be kept as pets?
You need to devote a lot of time and energy to taking care of a budgie, and you also need to set aside money for it. The process of learning how to care for parakeets is likewise a learning curve. Getting a pair of budgies is a long-term commitment since, in case you didn’t know, they can live for up to ten years and, occasionally, up to 15 years. Occasional visits to the veterinarian are also a must-do in addition to making sure they have food and a place to live. In the lines that follow, we’ll impart our knowledge on how to properly care for your budgies if you’re willing to accept this obligation.
How can budgies be tamed?
A budgie must be trained for at least four weeks. Not every budgie is the same. Some take little time to tame, while others, essentially the wild ones, require more effort. It is claimed that male budgies are easier to train and bond with than female budgies, making them easier to tame. Human hands scare birds because they intrude into their personal space, which is uncomfortable for them. However, giving them a gift or a toy would put them at ease and help them build some trust. As long as budgies have toys and other things to play with in their cage, they are among the easiest pets to care for since they can keep themselves busy and amused. You won’t need to worry about leaving your budgie alone if you’re working throughout the day because it will be content to stay in its cage. Leaving them out of their cage for at least two hours each day is advised. This will give them a chance to fly and freely explore their surroundings.
How can you tell which one is a female and which is a male?
The colour of a budgie’s nose can be used to distinguish males from females. When a budgie is an adult bird, it has a light colour. While sometimes a female is white, sometimes a male is light blue. A youthful budgie’s skin tone is typically dark, yet it occasionally shifts to blue, white, or pink as it ages.
How can budgies talk like humans?
Although budgies can communicate, they usually only do so with other birds. You might not be able to train your budgie to speak – that is, to use human words – if you didn’t receive it when it was younger than a year old. This occurs as a result of budgies having an imprinting mechanism in place when they are young that wears off as they age. Male budgies are more vocal than females, and males are more likely to learn to talk than females.
Conclusion
Due to their size, friendliness, and ease of handling, budgies are a great first pet. If you’re thinking about adopting a pet budgie, you should be aware of both the advantages of owning birds and the more difficult elements of growing one. Because they are clever, gregarious, affectionate, entertaining, adorable, simple to care for, and capable of learning tricks, budgies make excellent pets. Unfortunately, budgies have untidy eating habits, are noisy, are physically weak, poop a lot, and require company, enrichment, and some time outside of their cage. The most common bird species kept as pets worldwide is the parakeet, or budgie. Although budgies are cute little birds, you should consider other factors before deciding whether to keep one.
Reference
Buckley, G. (2020). Budgie – Facts and Beyond. [online] Biology Dictionary. Available at: https://biologydictionary.net/budgie/ [Accessed 8 September 2022].
Clifford, G.C. (2020). Parakeet Care: Everything You Need to Know (2022). [online] World Birds. Available at: https://worldbirds.com/parakeet-care/.[Accessed 8 September 2022].
Clifford, G.C. (2020a). Can Parakeets Talk? (+How to Teach ’em). [online] World Birds. Available at: https://worldbirds.com/can-parakeets-talk/# [Accessed 10 Sep. 2022].
Unusualpetvets and Haberfield, J. (2020a). How to Properly Care for Pet Budgies – Unusual Pet Vets. [online] The Unusual Pet Vets. Available at: https://www.unusualpetvets.com.au/caring-for-pet-budgies/#:~:text=Budgerigars%20(Melopsittacus%20undulatus)%2C%20commonly [Accessed 8 Sep. 2022].
