About 6 months ago I happened upon a little parakeet in a parking lot. He looked really frumpled when we got him (the picture above is a recent one) I haven't socialized him to me yet- he doesn't seem to like people all that much. I'm also assuming he is male because of his cere, but I heard that it can be difficult to gender them! As you can tell I am new to this. Recently I have decided to purchase a bigger cage and maybe potentially purchase him a friend so he's not so lonely. I heard that when purchasing another bird there is a quarantine period of about a month- can anyone give me advice on how to go about giving Neptune a happy life and how to introduce him to a new bird (if that's a good idea.) I'm all for constructive criticism/helpful tips! Thank you.
I am a new parakeet owner, any advice?
- Thread starter kgrube
- Start date
About 6 months ago I happened upon a little parakeet in a parking lot. He looked really frumpled when we got him (the picture above is a recent one) I haven't socialized him to me yet- he doesn't seem to like people all that much. I'm also assuming he is male because of his cere, but I heard that it can be difficult to gender them! As you can tell I am new to this. Recently I have decided to purchase a bigger cage and maybe potentially purchase him a friend so he's not so lonely. I heard that when purchasing another bird there is a quarantine period of about a month- can anyone give me advice on how to go about giving Neptune a happy life and how to introduce him to a new bird (if that's a good idea.) I'm all for constructive criticism/helpful tips! Thank you.
Your bird is definitely a male! And a very pretty boy!
Only get him a friend if you feel like YOU want one, not to get him a friend. If he seems lonely and you want another bird then absolutely go for it.
As far as quarantine goes, it’s essentially useless, so I’ve heard, if you don’t have a separate building to put the new bird in, but most people don’t have the luxury of doing so.
At the least, keep the new bird in a different room and wash your hands between birds.
Once the quarantine period is over, you can introduce them, from experience, budgies tend to become fast friends.
Two males are more likely to get along but if you end up with a female, it can still work.
I have 3 males and 1 female living together and they never seriously fight, though bickering is to be expected, even among males.
When introducing them, maybe bring the new bird into the room your current budgie is in and let them see each other, they’ll probably start chirping to each other.
You could let your bird out and he may go investigate the new bird.
If he positively goes up to the cage and the new bird happily chirps back, you can let them out together.
Will your bird eat treat from your hand like millet?
Also, good thing you decided to rescue him!
Only get him a friend if you feel like YOU want one, not to get him a friend. If he seems lonely and you want another bird then absolutely go for it.
As far as quarantine goes, it’s essentially useless, so I’ve heard, if you don’t have a separate building to put the new bird in, but most people don’t have the luxury of doing so.
At the least, keep the new bird in a different room and wash your hands between birds.
Once the quarantine period is over, you can introduce them, from experience, budgies tend to become fast friends.
Two males are more likely to get along but if you end up with a female, it can still work.
I have 3 males and 1 female living together and they never seriously fight, though bickering is to be expected, even among males.
When introducing them, maybe bring the new bird into the room your current budgie is in and let them see each other, they’ll probably start chirping to each other.
You could let your bird out and he may go investigate the new bird.
If he positively goes up to the cage and the new bird happily chirps back, you can let them out together.
Will your bird eat treat from your hand like millet?
Also, good thing you decided to rescue him!
Neptune is definitely a beautiful mature male because only males have bright blue ceres (the flesh around the nostrils). Females are sometimes more challenging to sex.
I would try to socialize him to you rather than getting him a cagemate. Once you get him a bird buddy it will be much more challenging to get him to see you as his best friend. If you just want Neptune to be happy and don't have the time or energy to devote to socializing him, then getting him a friend and a larger cage would be a very good idea. Another male budgie would be best because males generally get along very well with other males. He may get along well with a female but if she's mature she may be very bossy and territorial. She wouldn't be likely to hurt him (she would more likely hurt another female) but they may squabble. Plus, a male and a female may like each other TOO much and try to start a family and you don't want that! If you want to get him a buddy, try to get another mature male from a rescue. Plenty of budgies need good homes! Craigslist is also a good source for mature budgies that people are looking to re-home.
A big cage is ALWAYS good. A cage shared by two budgies should be at least 32x18x24- larger (36x24x24 so they can fly some) if you don't plan on giving them lots of out of cage time. How big is is current cage? Photos?
Quarantine for a month is very important. Put the two cages in separate rooms and be sure to wash your hand after handling either birds' "stuff" so you keep their germs separate. After the quarantine period is up you should take both birds to an avian vet for well bird exams before you put them together. If they are both determined to be healthy, then slowly introduced them to each other by putting their cages next to each other for a while and let them interact between the bars. The best way to get them to live in the same cage is to have a new larger cage ready to introduce them into at the same time so Neptune doesn't have the chance to claim the new cage as his own. That will mean you will have two smaller cages to use if you need to transport or separate them and their new shared home. I'm just going by personal experience and common sense but others on this forum may have different, better, ideas and I'm eager to hear their input.
100% agree that trying to socialize a single budgie is going to be much easier then if you get a second one. With a second budgie, they have no reason to want to be with you, without a huge amount of effort on your part. Just be patient with him, curiosity will prevail!
clark_conure
Well-known member
I'm in a divided opion about this.... if you want your budgie to be a shoulder bird....I'd hold off. And create the human bond first, then again it's healthy for the budgie to have a buddy. I have some budgies that are like oh lemme land on shoulder and some are like ew humans are gross. I don't think it's evil either way. But I'd forge a bond first IMO. There is no right answer. But birds learn from other birds, so if you forge the bond first you might just have two shoulder birds. I'm not right, I'm not wrong. I'd recommend a friendship first. On here they say never buy a bird for another bird.... I'm going with that...................
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