Parakeets.

[canyon_tears]

Does anyone here keep parakeets??

I'm thinking about getting one and would like to hear about peoples various experiences.

 

[diVer]

I don't but I have a cousin who does. It seems OK but it bites and won't let me hold it It is a beautiful bird though and it was funny when it latched onto my cousins braces.

 

[William]

I used to have lovebirds which as the name might suggest sucessfully raised 2 clutches of chicks

 

[canyon_tears]

It is a beautiful bird though and it was funny when it latched onto my cousins braces.

:kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira: :kira:

 

[Doby_the_Dojo]

i have one right now, my other one, budwegie (there's no right way 2 spell his name) passed away a couple of weeks ago
make sure you don't feed them grit if you get one thats why JayJay my first parakeet died We were feeding them grit and aparently they don't need it so it just sat in his crop and turned solid as a rock, the food he ate couldn't pass through his crop to his stomach so technically he starved to death. I insisted that my mom take JoJo (changed his name to Budwegie wen i decided he couldn't speak) to the vets as he was looking sick. well he almost died, the vet had us force feed him mineral oil with a needleless syringe until the grit broke down and left his crop, poor Jojo/budwegie luckily he made it but his growth was stunted he was half the size of Lala, my new parakeet (who turned out to be a male )

 

[canyon_tears]

Generally speaking, are they a pretty hardy bird??

 

[Pointy_kitty]

glad to hear your thinking of getting a new baby

here's my advice:

*YOU MAKE YOUR PET WHAT IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!*
i despise people who purchase pets out of bordom, or those fases that we all go through when we see a cute little critter, fully tamed and for just a moment beleive (we are all guilty of thinking, but not all of us go through with it) that if we buy this critter it will magically tame itself and become just like the one we saw at our friends/families house!
DON"T GIVE IN!

keep in mind:

- do you have 2-4 hours a day (not necessarily consecutively) at least to supervise your friend as it gets its exercise out of the cage and attention from you?
- have you bought, or borrowed from the library a book on budgies and now know everything about a budgies diet, lifestyle, taming and enviroment?
- are you willing to be honest and use your judgement on when to clean the cage
- have you baby proofed wherever the bird will be (elecrical wires, household poisons and plants, other animals, infants, large open water buckets, etc.)
- and lastly can you make a comitment for as long as it takes (budgies, if taken proper care have lived to be 20!)

if you can handle all of this and you are a nonsmoker with clean living quarters (dust, smoke, and strong smells are bad for budgies breathing) then i would say
GO FOR IT!
if you put your spare time into taming a budgie(first 4-6 months are the most important as these months shape your bird into what its personality will be)
it will be a reliable, nonbiting, lovable little friend
they have even been known to fall in love with their owners!

these sites might help you start! (but still read up on them)

http/www.letstalkbirds.com/budgie.htm

http/www.nightshade.therapids.net/pets/budgies.htm