Getting budgies in the mood for love?

[starkodama]

Hi. We have two budgies, a boy and a girl. They're about a year old. They live in separate cages but they spend a good part of their day out of the cages, frolicking together around the house (under human supervision, of course

Comments

[zandperl]

A few things to think about before you attempt to mate them

[bloolark]

In addition to all of this (which is completely true!), you also need to consider what happens when they grow up.

How will you handle them? If you want tame pets, are you willing to handfeed or co-parent? Will you let them fledge? Will you let them interact with their parents?

Can you afford vet care for however many new parrots there may be?

What happens if you can't rehome all of them? Will you keep them? If you do rehome them, how will you find people to take them in? Will you charge money? Will you not?

Lots and lots and lots of things to think about before breeding.

[mimimanderly]

Barry White music and a bottle of nice red wine? ...Oh, wait... that would be ME! No idea what works for budgies! ;)

[canineatheart]

There are like, 10+ pages of budgies on petfinder, plus all the people giving unwanted budgies away for free on craigslist and you want to breed more? :c Why?

Even if you breed and keep the babies - they are taking up spots that could have belonged to birds that are currently awaiting a home.

Adopt!

[ravem00n]

I couldn't agree more with all of this.

It's an expensive and often heartbreaking experience to breed. Would you be able to cope with losing your female due to complications?

There are SO many budgies that need homes right now, I high suggest adoption :)

[stainedfeathers]

I strongly third this. In my opinion it's much better to adopt and give homes to birds that need it than breed more birds (and possibly end up injuring the mother bird in the process or having new babies die.)

[starkodama]

I live in Japan. The last I looked, there wasn't a single person giving budgies away on Tokyo Craigslist, and I doubt those 10+ pages of people on petfinder would be able to ship internationally.

Look, as an animal lover I would be happy to adopt if I could find a place that does adoptions in my area. I have not been able to find such a place yet.

[bloolark]

However, to answer your actual question, if you've really considered all the problems and complications of breeding AND you have taken your budgies in for vet care recently and had full bloodwork done on both of them to make sure they're healthy AND that you're absolutely certain they're on a fantastic diet ( http://www.rationalparrot.com/diet.html ) , to encourage breeding, you need to do the following:

1) House them together in one large cage.
2) Put a species appropriate nest box on the side.
3) Make certain they're getting tons and tons of fresh food in their diet, and bathe them daily.

For budgies, that's probably all you'll need. I don't know what the species appropriate type of nest box is though, you'll have to research that.

Elaboration on Nestboxes...

[jamijo]

This would be the smallest nest box I would get for budgies... a cockatiel-size box would also work.

Nesting material should be provided -- bird-safe paper is my recommended option. Nesting material should be changed regularly to prevent mold from any moisture. Generally the birds shouldn't eliminate in the box, but some do anyway. Once the chicks hatch, the substrate needs to be changed more frequently (naturally). Make sure you have a way to keep the chicks warm while cleaning the box & replacing the nesting material. (for example, a plastic container on a warm towel on a heating pad set to low). I found while working with breeder birds that boxes that have a sliding side opening instead of a hinged top are easier to check on and clean out.

[jamijo]

I would also have to recommend looking to find an animal rescue or pet adoption agency in your area. I'm sure that Japan is very different from the US when it comes to buying or adopting pets, but I would hope there would be some sort of option for rescuing instead of breeding or buying

[ltdead]

In Japan, there's almost no pet rescue or adoption. The Japanese have a stigma against things that're 'used.' This, unfortunately, applies to companion animals.