New member with first budgie

Hello to all.
Yesterday I brought home a green male I'm calling Harry. I read a lot before buying him and am being patient with him. He's mostly sitting in one spot. At least he's eating some millet. Haven't seen him at the food dish yet.
I talk to him a lot letting him adapt for a good time before I work on introducing my hand.

I read all about Teflon. I assume I have the coating on my coffee maker burner. So now I'm brewing and then shutting it off and using the microwave for hot coffee.

I'm not to happy with the cage I got at Pet Smart where I bought Harry. It's 18x14x25 high. I'm looking at the Prevue 30x18x18 at Amazon. Is the quality ok on that one?


Thanks.

Hi welcome!!!!!

Hello and welcome! Is it possible for you to supply the link to that cage from Amazon? I tried doing a search on their site and I got 62,000 hits!

Hello, and welcome!

Here is some wonderful reading from one of our foremost budgie-whisperers.
Thanks, reebsie, as always!

http://www.parrotforums.com/budgies-parakeets/72068-taming-bonding-budgerigars-tips-beginners.html

Welcome to the community! Congrats on your first Budgie! I have lived with and bred Budgies since I was a little 6 year-old kid, and I currently have a 8 of them that were the last clutch I bred and hand-raised...I love Budgies, they are so intelligent and loving little parrots....And they can live quite a long time with proper care and diet, my first Budgie lived to be 19 years old!

There are so many different Prevue cages out there that we can't guess which one you are looking at, but judging from the dimensions of the cage you have you certainly need a much larger one, even though you only have one Budgie they love to play, climb, swing, etc. So you need enough room not only for him to be able to fully open his wings and not have them touch the bars or with his tail either, but for plenty of different toys, foraging activities, different types of perches, a swing (Budgies absolutely LOVE swings, so make sure you get him one!), a Mineral Block and/or a Cuttlebone, etc.

So the best thing to do is to buy the largest cage you can afford; the dimensions of the Prevue cage you listed are a bit small, I'd look for a minimum width of 32" and the same depth of 32", and then a bit taller..."Flight" cages are great for Budgies, Cockatiels, etc., and I know Amazon has a very large, nice one they sell for $99 with free shipping, but if you post a photo or a link to the exact cage you're looking at we'll take a look at it...Prevue makes nice cages, no problem there...

I highly suggest buying several different of the cheap, plastic bird-toys for your Budgie, as they love them! You can buy them at any Petco or PetSmart, there are tons of different plastic bird-toys that have bells and things that spin around, etc. I've had the best luck with Budgies liking these cheaper plastic toys that cost $2-$3 a piece rather than the expensive toys that cost a lot more...They love anything with a bell, spinning things, mirrors, etc. And again, make sure you get him a Swing, because they love to swing!

Also, I forgot something important...What food brand/type is he eating? I'm sure you're probably feeding him whatever Petsmart was feeding him, but that probably isn't the best choice. Like I said, he does need a Mineral Block and a Cuttlebone, both are very cheap and available at any pet shop (you can get a Cuttlebone at any grocery store or Walmart even, the Mineral Block you may find at Walmart, depends on the store, otherwise they are available at any Petco or Petsmart)...But you also need to make sure you're feeding him a healthy seed-mix to start-off with (I'm assuming he's eating a seed-mix and not pellets if he came from Petsmart), and then you'll want to think about transitioning him over from an all seed-mix diet to a healthy Budgie pellet diet with a healthy seed-mix to supplement the pellets. And then of course you need to feed him fresh veggies and/or dark, leafy greens every day as well...Budgies usually LOVE dark, leafy greens such as Bok Choy, Kale, Mustard Greens, Turnip Greens, Collard Greens, etc. I usually just hang large pieces of the dark, leafy greens from their cage-bars, right at the end of a perch he likes to sit on, with some type of clip or just a regular old clothespin. They'll usually devour the dark, leafy greens...just stay away from any "watery" lettuces like Iceberg lettuce, they have no nutritional value at all.

Hello and welcome.
I am new to owning birds too. My hubby brought me one for my birthday late November last yr. They are great.
When we first got her she would sit in the same spot til she was more comfortable with the new surroundings and settled in. I am sure your new little guy will show more personality and stuff once more settled in.
Plus this forum is great with great friendly very helpful people.

Hello there, a warm welcome to you and Harry!

The cage I was referring to is the flight cage. 30x18 base and 18 tall. I live in a small apt so this is the biggest I can fit. Another cage I'm looking at is 26x14 base and 20 tall. This would be better as the only space I have left is a 36' wide hall hallway. No hurry on this. I'm mentally rearranging the living room for a possible large cage.

He eats the same seed and pellet mixture they fed him at the store. He wasn't eating the first day so I put in a millet spray and he chowed down on that. Now he's eating out of his seed dish. I hung a spinach leaf by a perch yesterday and he wouldn't touch that. Today I put grated carrot on top of his seeds. We'll see if he likes that.

He has a cuttlebone and toys but he's not doing anything but eating. I have never seen him at the water dish. Maybe he drinks at night. All in time.