Before You Buy
ASK YOURSELF THESE BASIC QUESTIONS
- Did you know that budgies can live for more than 10 years when taken care of appropriately?
- Are you or your family members allergic to animals?
- Do you have the time to care for and play with your budgie?
- Are you financially stable? Budgies and Vet Bills can get expensive.
- Do you have other pets? If so, are they compatible?
- Will you be keeping more than one budgie?
- Have you done your research?
DO NOT BUY BIRD ON IMPULSE!!!! PLEASE!!!! – I made this mistake when I first got budgies. My parents bought me a pair and we didn’t know anything about it. The sales associate of the pet store was just getting my dad to buy useless things. He ended up selling us the wrong feed and the wrong type of cage. I only realized this when I went to my local library to research on the care of budgies.
RESEARCH
The Internet even a bookstore is full of information on Budgies- Parakeets. It is in your best interest that you research as much as possible about these birds.
Recommended Books:
PREPARE
Before you think about buying your budgies it is a great idea to prepare yourself by purchasing the essential supplies you will need for your budgie. The list is as follows;
Bird Cage
A good sized cage is recommended when you decide that a budgie is right for you. A flight cage is best suited if you plan on keeping your budgie enclosed for most of the day. The space of a flight cage will allow your budgie to fly around within its confined space. Also, if you plan on having more than one budgie it is advisable to purchase a flight cage that has a center divider. Having a 2 in 1 with a center divider will help separate and accommodate budgies that are not compatible. This can happen, it is more common if you have two female budgies as they can become territorial.
Disclaimer: Avoid purchasing rounded cages as they are not suitable for parakeets.
Recommended Cages:
Good & Balanced Feed
Here at All About Budgies we prefer feeding our budgies with the best seed diet as possible. We had never had true success with a pelleted diet, but there are those who prefer it as it keeps from waste and hulled seed husks. Whether you decide on a seed diet or a pelleted diet, make sure the feed you decided on has all the essential nutrients.
Sturdy Perches
Budgies need perches that are textured, natural, rounded, and not too large. We have seen a lot of awful products like sand perches. Perches that are made sand can cause bumble foot and can potentially cause an infection.
Calcium and Iodine Blocks or Supplement
Calcium can help keep the bones of your budgies in top shape. We love to use cuttlebones as a calcium supplement. We also like powdered calcium supplements as well. If you are planning on breeding your budgies, calcium is a must for proper egg production and bone density.
A lot of budgies and caged birds suffer from iodine and vitamin D deficiency as they are kept indoors for most of the time. We cant stress enough how important a multi-vitamin like the oasys vita drops (link below) is for proper health and nutrition of your budgie. An iodine and mineral block supplement is also recommended as iodine helps keep your budgie looking beautiful.
Recommended Feed & Supplements:
BUY FROM BREEDER
We recommend that you adopt your new budgies from experienced breeders near your area if possible. From our own experience we have had stronger and healthier budgies from local breeders than local or chain pet stores. We are not saying that all pet stores are bad because some pet stores do take good care of the pets they sell, especially the mom and pop ones that still are run and own by the original owners. Budgies that are purchased through chain pet stores usually come from a mill and therefore not the healthiest. Any animal that comes from mills are kept and bread in the most questionable type of environment.
If you do buy from a pet store make sure that the cages that the budgies or parakeets are housed in are clean. Some pet stores here in California pack their tiny breeding cages with over 10 birds, we believe this is a cruel practice, therefore they should not be able to profit from these marvelous little birds. Please make sure that all birds seem happy, healthy, and active before you make your selection. We know this may seem very unlikely, but there had been a couple of pet stores that have been up to par, they are basically diamonds in the rough you just need to find them.
FIRST VET VISIT
Always take your newly purchased budgie to the Vet to make sure is nice and healthy. It is best that you find an Avian Vet that is closest to you as they are a little harder to find. If you absolutely cannot find an Avian Vet in your area, just make sure that the vet you will be visiting has extensive knowledge and experience with budgies or birds in general. Budgies tend to mask sickness very well, we have seen budgies look very cheerful and active but all of a sudden they get sick and might die.
Conclusion:
Hopefully you found this brief introduction helpful. Keep checking back for more content and do not forget to follow us on all our social media platforms. Check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/allaboutbudgies Finally, please take care of your new pet budgie the same way you would take care of a dear family member.
