Cockatiel and English Budgie?

[alcmene]

Disclaimer: I am NOT doing this, but as a hypothetical I was just wondering-

I've seen lots of people say that budgies and cockatiels shouldn't be housed together because of the size difference. But English budgies and cockatiels are pretty similar in size. Would they make good cage mates?

 

[MikeyTN]

I've housed budgies and cockatiels together for years BUT only in a large enough cage such as a aviary! Budgies can be little pests. They can pester a cockatiel pretty good so you should keep an eye on them. A momma tiel will not hesitate to kill a Budgie if they get too close to her babies or nest box.

 

[Rockford]

I don't think it's uncommon at all for people to house 'tiels and budgies together.
Years ago, I had a roommates that had a 'tiel and two budgies living in the same cage without any problems. It wasn't a big cage either. It was probably about 18x18x24"

 

[Rockford]

One more thing.
By weight, cockatiels are about twice the size of an english budgie.

 

[alcmene]

I was curious because i stumbled upon a thread in another forum where someone said they wanted to get a companion for their cockatiel because they thought she was lonely while the owner was at work all day, but she didn't want them to breed or bond to each other instead of her. So she was thinking of getting a budgie.

Everybody jumped on her and said they couldn't be kept together because budgies are too spazzy and little. The budgie would pester the cockatiel until it snapped and hurt the budgie.

Which got me wondering if an English budgie would be a good choice because they are more similar in size?

I guess I'm curious because i have a single cockatiel. He isn't lonely at all, but it would be useful info to file away in the old memory bank just in case.

Is there a species that would be a good cage mate companion for a cockatiel (with an adequately sized cage of course)?

 

[aether-drifter]

A Bourke parakeet, probably. I think cockatiels and budgies can be just fine together in an aviary, but I personally wouldn't house them in the same cage. Most of the time, tiels just ignore budgies, but budgies do tend to harass tiels. Oh, and even in an aviary, I would have multiples of each species so they could flock together. The tiels are more likely to be left in peace.

 

[lisascannell]

I had cockatiels housed together with a budgie in a large cage with no problems. But yes, budgies are very annoying to cockatiels because they are hyper so I would not recommend it for long term

 

[MonicaMc]

When I think about a budgie and a cockatiel, I often think of a laid back golden retriever vs a hyper active chihuahua. The larger creature often finds the smaller one annoying!


Yes, it can work, but generally speaking, I don't recommend it. Saying that, I have been able to successfully mix species. (but that wasn't always so, nor is it now)