I want to get a budgie, is this a good idea?

[Rico_Tiel]

Rico, I'm so happy that you're getting a budgie! It will be great company for Rico and you both

After reading some of the other posts, I'd like to share my experience with budgies. I've had males who were aggressive, and females who were sweethearts, and vice versa. All birds have different personalities, no matter the sex.
My females could be bullies to the males, but I've also had many males who were bullies.

I have never grabbed one and held it in my hand to see how hard they bite to try to sex it that way. Please don't do this, Rico.
Yes, there are times that we have to take them to the vet, or to transfer from the store to the carrying cage/box. These are necessities, but just to check the sex is not.
I've never heard of anyone doing this before until this thread, and am responding because I really disagree with this method.

Rico, I can't wait to see which budgie you pick! I hope you have an instant connection like you did with Rico, and if that connection is with a female then that's the one I would take.

I am super happy about this! I am gonna work my rear off for As and Bs! And I also think that the fact my mom also wanted to get a budgie played into this haha


Yeah, I had a friendly little guy and a very nippy one. The difference in personality was polar! So I know to expect nothing aside from the unexpected.


Yeah, I would NEVER grab a bird for any reason aside from an emergency situation or medical reason. Like I said previously, I find it mean and unkind.


Yup! That’s just as I plan! I hope it’s another “connection at first sight” thing that happened like with my poopy boy. I don’t care much for sex. If it’s a boy, cool! If it’s a girl, cool!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I have a very good lifelong friend and serious animal lover who used to work for PetCo in Phoenix Arizona and he disagrees about PetCo not having good birds and not taking good care of them (vet care, etc). He recalls spending a lot of time in vet waiting rooms while birds were being seen by an avian vet. He would be the first person to throw criticism at ANY business that didn't take proper care of animals- his loyalty is to animals. He used to be a marine mammal trainer and his priority has always been animal welfare FIRST! That said, I don't know if all PetCos have the same policies or the good management that his store did so it's very hard to make any generalizations. I heard horror stories, too, about chain pet stores. Unfortunately sometimes they are the only option people have. Here in Maine it's hard to even find pet stores that sell any birds, except in Portland and the largest surrounding towns. The stores near me 30 miles away won't sell any birds. Something about the local laws. I found a fantastic private budgie breeder locally via Craigslist. She's an 18 year old girl who breeds small scale out of her home and I've adopted three budgies from her. I've adopted four budgies over the past five years from our local bird rescue. I've bought a few budgies from PetCo and PetQuarters, too. I haven't bought any "bad birds" from any of these sources. Still, I wonder where these young budgies come from. How far were they shipped? I suspect most breeders for chain stores are in Florida, which isn't necessarily bad, and somehow they ship them up here and they get here alive and reasonably healthy or they wouldn't sell them at all due to shipping losses. I suspect they are colony bred, which I hate for many reasons, but it's not the budgie's fault and they deserve good homes, too.

The petco here is absolutely abhorrent. Dirty water, all seed diets, overcrowded, filthy tanks, a lot of birds sick or dying, no toys or one crappy toy, rough handling of the birds, and the employees there have 0 knowledge on the animals they sell aside from the basics of cats and dogs. They literally recommend BOWLS for GOLDFISH. The filthiest fish you can get that gets HUGE. They recommend tiny cages and unsafe toys AND mirrors. They recommend small cages for ferrets and unsafe litter. They recommend Kaytee critter trails for hamsters, mice, and gerbils. They recommend tiny cages for rabbits, Guinea pigs, and chinchillas. They sell all the wrong things for a quick buck. It’s bad. It makes me want to tear all my hair out and feed it to the manager! Most of their animals come from they Kaytee preferred programs. Petzoo does not do this thankfully. They actually care about their animals and ask you questions about your setup! It’s great! I don’t support petco at all due to their treatment of animals and how they treated Rico. They smashed him against dirty glass, shook him aggressively into a box, and tried convincing me how awful he was and to get something else. Thank god I ignored them because he is my absolute best friend! So yes, there are good petcos but they are few and far between in my experience. It’s really sad. And I don’t want to support that practice. It’s great that your friend actually cares about the animals being sold in that petco! It’s so few and far between that you generally forget that some locations are great and genuinely caring.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I think if you want a lutino, go ahead! Don't limit yourself by Male/Female or age.
When I first got budgies I wanted one day to have a recessive pied (preferably blue), and I ended up with my beautiful Snowflake. Later on a gorgeous Dominant pied fell into my lap too.
The only other colour I really wanted was grey and I had to search quite a bit before I found my Winston.
I still have a "wish list" of colours, but these days colours aren't as important to me as they used to be.

If you go with a lutino, I recommend you learn to correctly identify them so you don't accidentally get a DEC or DF spangle.

DF spangle? What’s that?

Anyway, there no guarantee I’m going with a lutino but it would be nice if I connected with one. But I don’t care much for color. As long as it doesn’t look like my past budgies, it’ll go well. I like all colors to be honest! I find them all so interesting and cute!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The petco here is absolutely abhorrent. Dirty water, all seed diets, overcrowded, filthy tanks, a lot of birds sick or dying, no toys or one crappy toy, rough handling of the birds, and the employees there have 0 knowledge on the animals they sell aside from the basics of cats and dogs. They literally recommend BOWLS for GOLDFISH. The filthiest fish you can get that gets HUGE. They recommend tiny cages and unsafe toys AND mirrors. They recommend small cages for ferrets and unsafe litter. They recommend Kaytee critter trails for hamsters, mice, and gerbils. They recommend tiny cages for rabbits, Guinea pigs, and chinchillas. They sell all the wrong things for a quick buck. It’s bad. It makes me want to tear all my hair out and feed it to the manager! Most of their animals come from they Kaytee preferred programs. Petzoo does not do this thankfully. They actually care about their animals and ask you questions about your setup! It’s great! I don’t support petco at all due to their treatment of animals and how they treated Rico. They smashed him against dirty glass, shook him aggressively into a box, and tried convincing me how awful he was and to get something else. Thank god I ignored them because he is my absolute best friend! So yes, there are good petcos but they are few and far between in my experience. It’s really sad. And I don’t want to support that practice. It’s great that your friend actually cares about the animals being sold in that petco! It’s so few and far between that you generally forget that some locations are great and genuinely caring.

It was a long time ago that he worked there and things likely changed or have never been good in most stores. I used to keep and breed tropical fish and I never bought a fish from any chain pet store because they treat their fish like they're disposable, they are very unhealthy and I've never talked to an employee that knew anything about tropical fish and their care. I only bought from independent shops and I was very picky about them, too.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

DF spangle? What’s that?

Double Factor Spangle.
A budgie that has received two copies of the spangle gene. Results in an all white or all yellow budgie (depending on base colour).

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Double Factor Spangle.
A budgie that has received two copies of the spangle gene. Results in an all white or all yellow budgie (depending on base colour).

Ah, okay I figured that was the name but wasn’t sure. DFS budgies look like the inos then? Is there a way to tell a DFS from an ino?

 

[Keet_Krazy]

Ah, okay I figured that was the name but wasn’t sure. DFS budgies look like the inos then? Is there a way to tell a DFS from an ino?

It all about the eyes.
Inos have red eyes, and when the correct age an iris ring.
DEC, completely black, always.
DF Spangles have black eyes, and when correct age an iris ring.
Also got to be aware sometimes red eyes can look black.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

It all about the eyes.
Inos have red eyes, and when the correct age an iris ring.
DEC, completely black, always.
DF Spangles have black eyes, and when correct age an iris ring.
Also got to be aware sometimes red eyes can look black.

Ohhh this makes a lot more sense! I thought it was they eyes and cere! Okay, so do lutinos get a pink eye ring and have dark red eyes as babies? Also, are there any significant differences between DEC yellows, yellow DFSs and Lutinos? Aside from the eyes ofc. Sorry, im not too well versed in budgie mutations! I just know some like lutino, the shades of blue, a lot of shades of green, violet, clear wing, half sider, blackface, greywing, cinnamon, etc. I am just learning about DECs and DFSs so im not super knowledgeable on them but I do really appreciate the information you are providing! Thank you!

 

[Keet_Krazy]

Ohhh this makes a lot more sense! I thought it was they eyes and cere! Okay, so do lutinos get a pink eye ring and have dark red eyes as babies? Also, are there any significant differences between DEC yellows, yellow DFSs and Lutinos? Aside from the eyes ofc. Sorry, im not too well versed in budgie mutations! I just know some like lutino, the shades of blue, a lot of shades of green, violet, clear wing, half sider, blackface, greywing, cinnamon, etc. I am just learning about DECs and DFSs so im not super knowledgeable on them but I do really appreciate the information you are providing! Thank you!

As far as I am aware the eyes and ceres are the only distinguishing things (Unless you know parentage). Though I do believe I have read that DF spangle can sometimes have a green (or blue) "hue".

 

[Rico_Tiel]

As far as I am aware the eyes and ceres are the only distinguishing things (Unless you know parentage). Though I do believe I have read that DF spangle can sometimes have a green (or blue) "hue".

Ohh okay, thank you! I really appreciate this!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

UPDATE: My grades are looking great! My math is at a B rather than a C, and my other classes are at As and Bs! If I maintain these grades for about 5
Ish weeks, I get to bring home a new birby! I’m excited!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

UPDATE: My grades are looking great! My math is at a B rather than a C, and my other classes are at As and Bs! If I maintain these grades for about 5
Ish weeks, I get to bring home a new birby! I’m excited!

You can do it! I didn't like math so much either, but if I did all the assignments daily it wasn't as hard. If I didn't do them I would get completely lost and get lousy grades.
When are you going to start looking for your new Budgie BFF?

 

[Rico_Tiel]

You can do it! I didn't like math so much either, but if I did all the assignments daily it wasn't as hard. If I didn't do them I would get completely lost and get lousy grades.
When are you going to start looking for your new Budgie BFF?

Thank you! I feel super confident and motivated to get my stuff done!

Doing it daily surprisingly doesn’t work for me lol I just do all my stuff Thursday then all my quizzes and tests! But hey, it gets done and my grades are good!

Once all my school is done, and my grades are final, if I pass I get to pick out my budgie! So I would assume may 25th is about that time

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Update: we are 1/4th of a way there! I have finished science class at a B! The other classes are Bs or an A-! We are grinding to get there and every test and assignment I’m getting done and doing right, the closer I get to bringing home a new budgie!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Update: I got my shelf cleaned off because it was bad and It was not hygienic to have it that way or safe for any animal. Before:

And after:

I am proud of myself for this!

In other news, I absolutely crushed 27 assignments in 2.5 days and am almost done with my other three classes (math, language, and history)! I am absolutely proud of myself and am feeling better and happier and I also really want to get a budgie!


In other other news, I also set up the budgie cage! It’s not perfect but it’s something. I plan on getting 2 or 3 more toys on the day we might get the budgie (no guarantee of course but with my grades and progress, I have pretty good chances) so, here it is!

The plastic toy in there has never been used and was washed thoroughly and neither has the twine toy but it began to come apart in the water when I was soaking it.

That’s the update as of right now!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Well, next week is the make it or break it. I have to finish my last two classes. I’ve got two exams to do. Both are 50 questions, and I’m honestly very nervous. After a month of hard work and dedication, I have finally ended up here. Nervous and excited. If I get a C, well, no budgie then. If I remain at a B, I can get a budgie. If I don’t get a budgie, that’s okay with me. It may spare Rico and I some stress. If I do get a budgie, it may do Rico and I some good. Either way, there’s an interesting future ahead!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Well, next week is the make it or break it. I have to finish my last two classes. I’ve got two exams to do. Both are 50 questions, and I’m honestly very nervous. After a month of hard work and dedication, I have finally ended up here. Nervous and excited. If I get a C, well, no budgie then. If I remain at a B, I can get a budgie. If I don’t get a budgie, that’s okay with me. It may spare Rico and I some stress. If I do get a budgie, it may do Rico and I some good. Either way, there’s an interesting future ahead!

Whatever you do, don't try to get a C just to spare you from having to make the decision on whether to get a budgie. You don't HAVE to get a budgie if you get a B (or better). You need to trust yourself to make the decision based on what's best for you and Rico. Personally, I like to see you ace the test and say maybe later to getting a budgie. Good luck!

 

[clark_conure]

So this is the thread I relized in other threads I was talking to a teenager.......I think I even took advice from rico_teil before..... (sigh)

Good game rico_tiel

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Whatever you do, don't try to get a C just to spare you from having to make the decision on whether to get a budgie. You don't HAVE to get a budgie if you get a B (or better). You need to trust yourself to make the decision based on what's best for you and Rico. Personally, I like to see you ace the test and say maybe later to getting a budgie. Good luck!

I do believe that a budgie is what could be very good for us, it’s just my nerves that I always get before a test. I’m fairly confident I’ll pass the test. Just nervous haha

 

[Rico_Tiel]

So this is the thread I relized in other threads I was talking to a teenager.......I think I even took advice from rico_teil before..... (sigh)

Good game rico_tiel

Oopsies, accidental deception 🤠

8/10 though people think I’m not a teen so… sorry! Haha