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

[Rico_Tiel]

Hello, I am looking into getting a budgie and know the ins and outs of budgies and their care. Rico is a friendly bird and I’m sure would take to a budgie very well and we have the space but would this be a good idea? My mom is a hard NO on green cheeks but I’m not sure about budgies since we have had them in the past. I feel like I am ready to take on a budgie and care for one again since I have healed. I even formulated a note to bring up the topic to my mom. Take a read:

Why we should get a budgie





This is why I think we should get a budgie





Care:



The care of budgies is incredibly similar to that of a cockatiel’s. They live in the same region, eat the same things, need the same amount of space, and they are generally compatible with cockatiels. I have past experience with budgerigars and am ready to have another. It would also be a good companion choice for Rico considering they are small, docile, and friendly. Bird cages now are much cheaper than they were then and we could snag a good one - second hand or brand spanking new, for a great price. Perches are also cheaper now as you can get 4 for 15$ rather than 1 for 14$. The pellet options available to them is relatively inexpensive and relatively easy to obtain, it’s even something Rico could eat!





Cost:



Getting a budgie would be expensive at first but buying toys and food would be easier as a single budgie destroys toys slower than a cockatiel. Budgie toys are also not too expensive depending on the seller. If we get a 125$ cage, buy 8 natural wood perches at 15$ for 4, buy a few toy packs at 15$ a pack, 25-50$ for a budgie, and buy some smaller pellets and transition Rico onto those as well, it’d be more cost effective. Buying pellets in bulk would also last a LONG time as well. So, if we add up the cost for this all, it’d come out around 235$ or 228$ all together which is about half of the price of Rico just by himself. Things can also vary in price like birds, cages, food, perches, etc. so it’s best to get the cage setup before anything else. Then, search for a budgie.







Space:



The space may be a bit tight but I will be able to fit a 2nd cage if I clear out my closet. or we could buy a stacked cage and sell Rico’s old cages to make up the cost, however, this would be very costly and most likely not possible. I do believe that we could sell Rico’s dome top cage and use that money to buy a budgie cage or help buy a budgie cage.





Where to buy a budgie:



Local breeders, petzoo, birdbreeders.com



Avoid petco and petsmart like the plague. Rescues have issues that I am not sure I can handle and they tend to be older and therefore have less time with me to tame and bond but I’m still willing to take a shot! You might be able to find breeders on Craigslist, Facebook, AlaskaLists. You may also be able to find budgies going for good prices.









Benefits:



When I am out of the room, Rico would be able to have a companion to sing and chatter to through the bars. He would also have a friend to play with when he doesn’t want to play with me and it would be better for his mental health overall. It would also be an animal that I would take care of and love as much as Rico. A budgie would also add some enrichment to both mine and Rico’s lives and we could provide the same for the budgie.





This year, for my birthday I could save my money to buy the supplies for the budgie and on Christmas, we could go down to petzoo or look for local breeders to get a budgie!





So, I think we should get a budgie! And that’s why! I have already thought this through


Anything I should add or remove?


Anyway, I could feed the budgie the things Rico eats or I could buy smaller pellets that Rico could eat, I have a few cages I’m looking at, I have some toys and perches I’m looking at, and over all I think we would be ready. My mom doesn’t want a gcc due to the price so maybe she will give in with a budgie if I do the big to small method (ask for something really expensive and then switch it up to something less expensive) it might just work. I feel like I am ready and I feel like I would do great and would be able to give a budgie a great life with Rico and I. What do you guys think?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hello, I am looking into getting a budgie and know the ins and outs of budgies and their care. Rico is a friendly bird and I’m sure would take to a budgie very well and we have the space but would this be a good idea? My mom is a hard NO on green cheeks but I’m not sure about budgies since we have had them in the past. I feel like I am ready to take on a budgie and care for one again since I have healed. I even formulated a note to bring up the topic to my mom. Take a read:

Why we should get a budgie





This is why I think we should get a budgie





Care:



The care of budgies is incredibly similar to that of a cockatiel’s. They live in the same region, eat the same things, need the same amount of space, and they are generally compatible with cockatiels. I have past experience with budgerigars and am ready to have another. It would also be a good companion choice for Rico considering they are small, docile, and friendly. Bird cages now are much cheaper than they were then and we could snag a good one - second hand or brand spanking new, for a great price. Perches are also cheaper now as you can get 4 for 15$ rather than 1 for 14$. The pellet options available to them is relatively inexpensive and relatively easy to obtain, it’s even something Rico could eat!





Cost:



Getting a budgie would be expensive at first but buying toys and food would be easier as a single budgie destroys toys slower than a cockatiel. Budgie toys are also not too expensive depending on the seller. If we get a 125$ cage, buy 8 natural wood perches at 15$ for 4, buy a few toy packs at 15$ a pack, 25-50$ for a budgie, and buy some smaller pellets and transition Rico onto those as well, it’d be more cost effective. Buying pellets in bulk would also last a LONG time as well. So, if we add up the cost for this all, it’d come out around 235$ or 228$ all together which is about half of the price of Rico just by himself. Things can also vary in price like birds, cages, food, perches, etc. so it’s best to get the cage setup before anything else. Then, search for a budgie.







Space:



The space may be a bit tight but I will be able to fit a 2nd cage if I clear out my closet. or we could buy a stacked cage and sell Rico’s old cages to make up the cost, however, this would be very costly and most likely not possible. I do believe that we could sell Rico’s dome top cage and use that money to buy a budgie cage or help buy a budgie cage.





Where to buy a budgie:



Local breeders, petzoo, birdbreeders.com



Avoid petco and petsmart like the plague. Rescues have issues that I am not sure I can handle and they tend to be older and therefore have less time with me to tame and bond but I’m still willing to take a shot! You might be able to find breeders on Craigslist, Facebook, AlaskaLists. You may also be able to find budgies going for good prices.









Benefits:



When I am out of the room, Rico would be able to have a companion to sing and chatter to through the bars. He would also have a friend to play with when he doesn’t want to play with me and it would be better for his mental health overall. It would also be an animal that I would take care of and love as much as Rico. A budgie would also add some enrichment to both mine and Rico’s lives and we could provide the same for the budgie.





This year, for my birthday I could save my money to buy the supplies for the budgie and on Christmas, we could go down to petzoo or look for local breeders to get a budgie!





So, I think we should get a budgie! And that’s why! I have already thought this through


Anything I should add or remove?


Anyway, I could feed the budgie the things Rico eats or I could buy smaller pellets that Rico could eat, I have a few cages I’m looking at, I have some toys and perches I’m looking at, and over all I think we would be ready. My mom doesn’t want a gcc due to the price so maybe she will give in with a budgie if I do the big to small method (ask for something really expensive and then switch it up to something less expensive) it might just work. I feel like I am ready and I feel like I would do great and would be able to give a budgie a great life with Rico and I. What do you guys think?

I think a budgie would be a nice friend for Rico and for you, too. I would try very hard to get a very young male budgie since they are easiest to tame and have easier going dispositions than females. Don't get me wrong- I adore by girl Rocky but she can be pretty nippy and I've never had a male that was a biter. In my experience taming a budgie, even a young male, takes time and patience. You need to spend a lot of time with them one on one. Ideally you should try to get one from a good breeder that was hand fed and handled a lo when it was 3-6 weeks old. If not that, you should try to get a young male that was parent raised but handled by the breeder frequently while it was still him the nest. I have no idea where you live or whether you have any budgie breeders in your area so I don't know if this plan is feasible for you. If you can do this the way I describe you will have the easiest time with a new budgie and will ultimately have a delightful little companion and friend for Rico without the disappointment of having a budgie that is scared, wild acting and cage bound. I realize I may get some push back because I'm making some strong perhaps unpopular recommendations about gender and hand fed status but I really believe it will be a much smoother transition this way especially since you already have a tiel, which in my experience are easier to tame than a wild acting budgie.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I think a budgie would be a nice friend for Rico and for you, too. I would try very hard to get a very young male budgie since they are easiest to tame and have easier going dispositions than females. Don't get me wrong- I adore by girl Rocky but she can be pretty nippy and I've never had a male that was a biter. In my experience taming a budgie, even a young male, takes time and patience. You need to spend a lot of time with them one on one. Ideally you should try to get one from a good breeder that was hand fed and handled a lo when it was 3-6 weeks old. If not that, you should try to get a young male that was parent raised but handled by the breeder frequently while it was still him the nest. I have no idea where you live or whether you have any budgie breeders in your area so I don't know if this plan is feasible for you. If you can do this the way I describe you will have the easiest time with a new budgie and will ultimately have a delightful little companion and friend for Rico without the disappointment of having a budgie that is scared, wild acting and cage bound. I realize I may get some push back because I'm making some strong perhaps unpopular recommendations about gender and hand fed status but I really believe it will be a much smoother transition this way especially since you already have a tiel, which in my experience are easier to tame than a wild acting budgie.

Sadly no breeders I know of except for a a few who got babies due to a lack of bird knowledge so all we have is petzoo, Alaska lists, and Craigslist since petco and petsmart are the devil to me. So babies aren’t exactly an option. Birdbreeders.com would only be an option in the summer. So petzoo would be my absolute best shot. They have a mix of ages and I would be able to pick my budgie. Their budgies are all healthy and they even are used to humans. i have good experience with male budgies and they were very friendly with me from the get go (they were tamed prior though) but yeah, I think itd be nice to have a budgie. Also, are you familiar with lutinos? It’s a color I’ve been looking into and have taken a liking to along with yellow pied clearwings and blue pieds. I also like grey and violet budgies but I like lutinos most. Are you familiar with them? Are they easy to sex and tell the age of or no? I’m not super familiar with them and I apologize if this isn’t exactly in your experience or knowledge.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

Also, are you familiar with lutinos? It’s a color I’ve been looking into and have taken a liking to along with yellow pied clearwings and blue pieds. I also like grey and violet budgies but I like lutinos most. Are you familiar with them? Are they easy to sex and tell the age of or no?

They would be harder to tell the age of as they don't have baring. Sexing is about as easy as with any other budgie, the Males will just a pink cere only, not blue.

How much do you know about budgie care? They're diets are pretty similar to that of a tiel I believe. Pellets, seeds and veggies. Never only pellets or only seeds!

Also side note I agree with the fact that your mother won't let you get GCC, it's really never a good idea to mix old world and new world parrots.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

They would be harder to tell the age of as they don't have baring. Sexing is about as easy as with any other budgie, the Males will just a pink cere only, not blue.

How much do you know about budgie care? They're diets are pretty similar to that of a tiel I believe. Pellets, seeds and veggies. Never only pellets or only seeds!

Also side note I agree with the fact that your mother won't let you get GCC, it's really never a good idea to mix old world and new world parrots.

I did a bit of research and if it isn’t a dark eyed (I think that’s what it’s called) it should be easy enough to tell baby apart from adult. Same with the cere and yeah, it’s just as you said.


I have done about 2.5 to 3 years of research before I got my budgies but I never really looked into color mutations much aside from the blue. So I do know quite a lot about care.


She didn’t agree only because of price. I had no clue about old and new world classing! But I have a feeling she will allow me to get a budgie. Just a little convincing is all.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

but I never really looked into color mutations much aside from the blue.

Care is the same regardless of colour

I had no clue about old and new world classing!

Because you own a tiel, one of the dustiest species, and are interested in owning more birds I highly recommend you research pulmonary hypersensitivity syndrome. It's the reason I will never own a macaw or conure as long as I have my galah (and my budgies for that matter).

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Care is the same regardless of colour


Because you own a tiel, one of the dustiest species, and are interested in owning more birds I highly recommend you research pulmonary hypersensitivity syndrome. It's the reason I will never own a macaw or conure as long as I have my galah (and my budgies for that matter).

I figured haha


Oh yikes! It’s kinda scary but I think will be okay. My window is open often and my fan usually circulates a lot of the stuff in my air, out the window. No issues so far

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Sadly no breeders I know of except for a a few who got babies due to a lack of bird knowledge so all we have is petzoo, Alaska lists, and Craigslist since petco and petsmart are the devil to me. So babies aren’t exactly an option. Birdbreeders.com would only be an option in the summer. So petzoo would be my absolute best shot. They have a mix of ages and I would be able to pick my budgie. Their budgies are all healthy and they even are used to humans. i have good experience with male budgies and they were very friendly with me from the get go (they were tamed prior though) but yeah, I think itd be nice to have a budgie. Also, are you familiar with lutinos? It’s a color I’ve been looking into and have taken a liking to along with yellow pied clearwings and blue pieds. I also like grey and violet budgies but I like lutinos most. Are you familiar with them? Are they easy to sex and tell the age of or no? I’m not super familiar with them and I apologize if this isn’t exactly in your experience or knowledge.

Lutinos and Albinos are much harder to determine age because they have no head bars. They are usually females because the trait is sex linked recessive so males require two genes to look lutino or albino and females only require one. Same with opaline budgies- more females than males appear opaline, but opalines are easier to age determine than lutinos and Albinos, however, their head barring is so light it's almost hard to see how far the bars go down to the cere.
Lutinos, Albinos and recessive pieds are three mutations in which adult males have ceres that look like baby males' ceres- a light lavender pink color vs adult bright blue. Females' ceres in these three mutations look like any other female budgie's ceres- light bluish white, tan or brown when in breeding condition. When females are babies their ceres are almost the same a baby male ceres with very subtle differences like slight whitish rings around the nostrils in females and less pinkish and more pale bluish. As I said it's subtle. I thought Rocky was male until SHE was about six weeks and it became clear that her cere was becoming more pale bluish than pinkish. If you want to be sure of getting a young male I would stay away from Lutinos and Albinos. Approach opalines with caution too because many more are female. Another good thing to do is to hold the baby you're I tested in your "fist" and see if it bites you really hard- if so in my experience it's more likely a male if it bites very lightly or not at all. If it bites hard, put it back and try another. I know it sounds silly but it's always worked for me when trying to pick a young male. I would also LIGHTLY trim the wings so the baby doesn't get injured flying fast and scared around a strange room. I just trim the long ends of the flight feathers so they are even with the secondary flight feathers without even stretching out the birds' wings. They can still fly.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Lutinos and Albinos are much harder to determine age because they have no head bars. They are usually females because the trait is sex linked recessive so males require two genes to look lutino or albino and females only require one. Same with opaline budgies- more females than males appear opaline, but opalines are easier to age determine than lutinos and Albinos, however, their head barring is so light it's almost hard to see how far the bars go down to the cere.
Lutinos, Albinos and recessive pieds are three mutations in which adult males have ceres that look like baby males' ceres- a light lavender pink color vs adult bright blue. Females' ceres in these three mutations look like any other female budgie's ceres- light bluish white, tan or brown when in breeding condition. When females are babies their ceres are almost the same a baby male ceres with very subtle differences like slight whitish rings around the nostrils in females and less pinkish and more pale bluish. As I said it's subtle. I thought Rocky was male until SHE was about six weeks and it became clear that her cere was becoming more pale bluish than pinkish. If you want to be sure of getting a young male I would stay away from Lutinos and Albinos. Approach opalines with caution too because many more are female. Another good thing to do is to hold the baby you're I tested in your "fist" and see if it bites you really hard- if so in my experience it's more likely a male if it bites very lightly or not at all. If it bites hard, put it back and try another. I know it sounds silly but it's always worked for me when trying to pick a young male. I would also LIGHTLY trim the wings so the baby doesn't get injured flying fast and scared around a strange room. I just trim the long ends of the flight feathers so they are even with the secondary flight feathers without even stretching out the birds' wings. They can still fly.

Wow what?

 

[Keet_Krazy]

Wow what?

Another good thing to do is to hold the baby you're I tested in your "fist" and see if it bites you really hard- if so in my experience it's more likely a male if it bites very lightly or not at all. If it bites hard, put it back and try another.

Why on earth would you recommend traumatising a budgie/s (sending them backwards in bonding) for something as simple as sexing?? If you can't accurately sex a budgie get someone more knowledgeable to help!

Again I stress the point why is this ok to do to a budgie?! No one would ever consider doing that to a mac!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Why on earth would you recommend traumatising a budgie/s (sending them backwards in bonding) for something as simple as sexing?? If you can't accurately sex a budgie get someone more knowledgeable to help!

Again I stress the point why is this ok to do to a budgie?! No one would ever consider doing that to a mac!

We can disagree. I'm not talking about a Mac. I'm talking about a young budgie. I don't think holding a budgie gently in your hand is traumatizing it. It's done all the time. In fact, the pet store staff must hold the budgie this way to get it out of the display cage and into the transport cage when the customer buys it. This is the perfect time to do this little screening test. It's done all the time. I hold my budgies like that when I need to. Vets do too. Sexing a six week old budgie is very difficult sometimes even by experts. This holding test just helps try to select a non-biter. It's not a sex test per se. It's more of a biting tendency test that often helps select a young male.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

We can disagree. I'm not talking about a Mac. I'm talking about a young budgie. I don't think holding a budgie gently in your hand is traumatizing it. It's done all the time. In fact, the pet store staff must hold the budgie this way to get it out of the display cage and into the transport cage when the customer buys it. This is the perfect time to do this little screening test. It's done all the time. I hold my budgies like that when I need to. Vets do too. Sexing a six week old budgie is very difficult sometimes even by experts. This holding test just helps try to select a non-biter. It's not a sex test per se. It's more of a biting tendency test that often helps select a young male.

I don’t want to come of as rude but I would never do that to any bird unless absolutely necessary. I don’t think it’s very kind to the bird and it is very scary to them. I mean this in the most respectful way possible but you should not grab any bird unless necessary like a medical reason or if the bird is in danger.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I don’t want to come of as rude but I would never do that to any bird unless absolutely necessary. I don’t think it’s very kind to the bird and it is very scary to them. I mean this in the most respectful way possible but you should not grab any bird unless necessary like a medical reason or if the bird is in danger.

What about when the bird is being purchased and has to be put into a transport cage? This is the only moment I'm discussing.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

What about when the bird is being purchased and has to be put into a transport cage? This is the only moment I'm discussing.

Yes that could be necessary but I don’t think having your bird fear your hands before even going home is a great idea, which is why someone else does it.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Yes that could be necessary but I don’t think having your bird fear your hands before even going home is a great idea, which is why someone else does it.

That's why I have the pet store employee do it. I never do it myself.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

I'm not talking about a Mac. I'm talking about a young budgie.

Why does one parrot species get more respect then another? Is it because one can do serious physical damage and the other can't? I'd say yes.

I don't think holding a budgie gently in your hand is traumatizing it. It's done all the time. In fact, the pet store staff must hold the budgie this way to get it out of the display cage and into the transport cage when the customer buys it. This is the perfect time to do this little screening test. It's done all the time.

Then why suggest to do it multiple times? Not only are you causing necessary stress to the bird you plan to purchase if you then reject it you do it to another one.

If it bites hard, put it back and try another.

I hold my budgies like that when I need to. Vets do too.

We are not in anyway talking about medical necessity. I do catch and hold my "un tame" budgies for medical stuff. In fact I catch my poor English guy daily for medical issues now. He hates every moment but for his health it is required.
I have also caught my budgies when we were all in the middle of a very dangerous emergency. Did the same with my petrified quail.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Why does one parrot species get more respect then another? Is it because one can do serious physical damage and the other can't? I'd say yes.


Then why suggest to do it multiple times? Not only are you causing necessary stress to the bird you plan to purchase if you then reject it you do it to another one.



We are not in anyway talking about medical necessity. I do catch and hold my "un tame" budgies for medical stuff. In fact I catch my poor English guy daily for medical issues now. He hates every moment but for his health it is required.
I have also caught my budgies when we were all in the middle of a very dangerous emergency. Did the same with my petrified quail.

You are totally misunderstanding what I'm talking about. I ask the pet store employee to hold the bird I want. If it bites hard I ask for it to hold another one I like until they get one I like that doesn't bite hard. That's it. Nothing more. Then when I get home I need to put the budgie into it's cage and need to hold it to do that. When I take an untamed budgie to the avian vet I need to take it out of it's cage and put it into a travel cage or backpack and that requires handling it in a matter neither of us like but it's necessary. Sometimes I need to hold my budgies like that to administer medications when the vet prescribed them. I hate doing it but I need to sometimes.
These are the only times I ever hold a budgie like that. I've never had one of tame budgies hold it against me because I'm very gentle and loving toward all my beloved budgies. I've been keeping budgies very successfully for 50 years now. I know what I'm doing. Really.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

UPDATE:

MY MOM AGREED!!! WE ARE GETTING A BUDGIE IN ABOUT TWO MONTHS! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I THINK I MIGHT VOMIT!!!!!!!!! IF MY GRADES ARE AT As AND Bs I CAN GET A BUDGIE! I AM ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOOM RN MY TWITCHES ARE SO FREQUENT RN AND I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA VOMIT AND CRY AND TAKE A CRAP AT THE SAME TIME AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

 

[DonnaBudgie]

UPDATE:

MY MOM AGREED!!! WE ARE GETTING A BUDGIE IN ABOUT TWO MONTHS! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I THINK I MIGHT VOMIT!!!!!!!!! IF MY GRADES ARE AT As AND Bs I CAN GET A BUDGIE! I AM ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOOM RN MY TWITCHES ARE SO FREQUENT RN AND I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA VOMIT AND CRY AND TAKE A CRAP AT THE SAME TIME AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! Happiness is a new budgie for you and Rico!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! Happiness is a new budgie for you and Rico!

I AM SO HAPPY RN OMGGMGGGG