Your Budgie died? How to prevent it? What is the cause? One of the worst things you can do to your budgie is exposing him to stress.
With most budgie owners, they feel more obligated to providing food, a healthy environment, and anything that would make their buddy comfortable. While doing so is one of the requirements, the bird’s mindfulness is pushed to the back seat, making it nearly impossible for it to have a long life it deserves. You might be having a knack for distressing your bird without you knowing. If guilty of assuming your budgie’s mental affairs, don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ve got you. Knowing how much the parakeet means to you, we’ll help you keep your bird stress-free, making it have a longer and healthier life. Sometimes it’s challenging to keep up with your bird, especially on your hectic days. Birds are not like children who will show their distress by crying or shouting back at your hard actions and raised voice. You’ll need to know your budgie’s best, his worst, and anything in between to uncover the hard-to-see signs of discomfort. Keeping your budgie satisfied, happy, and stress-free at all times is not a smooth road, but it can be an epic success if you give your all. Scroll to find out how stress can finish off your bird. We’ll also provide in-depth information on other untold ways that risks its life.
Let’s face it-you were also skeptical when you heard stress can kill a bird. I did too. In fact, it’s one of the most ridiculous information I’ve ever received. It’s more than ordinary for humans to get stressed out. It’s like a second feeling, which is felt uncountable times. Believe it or not, birds too can get depressed and eventually lose their lives. One of the worst things you can do to your budgie is exposing him to stress. Birds are the worst creatures when it comes to stress-this condition is not for them! Once a budgie is subjected to uncertainties, it gets corticosterone, a hormone released when a bird is stressed. It’s easy for humans to get rid of tension. Sadly, for birds, it’s experienceable throughout its life if not solved on time. The feelings will continue building up and eventually become too much for the bird to handle, making it unfit to live.
Ideally, stress alters the expected behavior and physiology. Early exposure to the parakeet can significantly affect the responses to stressful events in the bird’s later life. Meaning that you can be preparing your bird’s adulthood death while it’s still in its babyhood. To overcome such an ugly situation, you need to avoid anything that can make your buddy feel insecure or unwanted. He needs an assurance that he’s safe and at no risk. It’s difficult, almost impossible, to calm down a scared bird. Even if you succeed in making it relax, the unhealthy stress hormone will cause irreversible damage once it’s released.
As a loving and responsible budgie keeper, you are obligated to know what makes your buddy feel unsafe. The process is never easy. But once you get into the journey, it’ll be the most rewarding experience in your entire existence. Here is what causes stress to your bird:
There is no way anyone, not even birds, would be at ease with their enemies at sight. Snakes, owls, hawks, and cats are the biggest predators for budgies. Let’s be real, which budgie, no matter how courageous it is, will be calm knowing they can be preyed on anytime soon? They’ll keep on worrying how they’ll get attacked on. The process of hoping secretly that the predator goes away without attacking them is way too stressful for them.
It’s simple. Remove the anxiety. The best way is ensuring the predator is out of sight. But that only applies to your pets. As for snakes, owls, and hawks that are not in your home, it’s out of your control to prevent them from your bird’s location entirely. Make reliable security on your bird’s cage. At least it’ll make him feel safe and untouchable after sighting an enemy. The outdoor enclosure is the main concern because you’ll be not there when your buddy spots a threat. Each corner should be well fixed and tightly attached. Budgies have excellent eyesight.
Therefore, it’s not recommendable to use glass cages, even though they’re essential in helping your bird have a better view. While you may think a clear cage makes the bird busy and entertained with what’s happening in its surrounding, it only increases anxiety. It’ll be spotting enemies miles away, and get scared even if the predator is not planning to feed on it.
Don’t underestimate the power of your clothes. Budgies are great observers and quick in pointing out distinctive clothing. Weird clothing will alert the bird something is not right. As a result, it’ll tense for nothing.
Avoid wearing an outfit that can make him feel threatened in any way. Let you wear be simple. Unusual or bulky garments like heavy jackets, hats, or boots are a big No. If possible, have a specific type of clothing when going to your budgie. This way, it’ll get used to you and know everything is normal. On the other hand, when you put on something it’s not used to, it’ll sense abnormality, causing him to fear.
Sometimes the things you give him might be secretly damaging him without your knowledge. While you may think you’re pleasing your bird with a new toy, your budgie will have an idea that you have introduced an enemy in its cage. In return, it’ll be at unease wondering if the thing brought will attack him.
Avoid placing new toys in the cage immediately. Allow the bird to get used to it first. Start by hanging it outside the cage. Soon, you’ll see your budgie trying to play with the toy through the bars. That’s a signal it’s time to take it inside.
It goes without saying. Getting used to new places is a new beginning, which comes with some stress. You’ll admit, even for humans, it’s never easy. Taking your budgie to another cage is a sudden move that’ll trigger fear.
It’s possible to transfer your buddy to another cage without stressing him out. The trick is placing the new cage beside its old one. Once in a while, let him out of its current home, and allow him go to explore the new one. If he appears uninterested in going, put his favorite food inside to tempt it. Eventually, he’ll get comfortable with his new home, and that’s when to switch him to his new cage permanently.
Yeah, that’s a hard-to-swallow truth. Boredom is a great cause for stress in birds, especially for super active budgies. If it’s used to jumping all over around, showing off its mischievousness, it’ll have a hard time when its freedom is limited.
You know your bird better than I do. What you have to do is allowing him do what it loves. If it likes flying around in every corner of your home, let it be. As long as it’s not exposed to any sort of danger. If toys are his life, give him as much as possible. If it likes perching on your hand, sacrifice your time and let it enjoy playing with your fingers.
Darkness is frightening to humans, so do to budgies. It’s the worst scenario for your bird to stay in the dark during the day and still experience it the whole night. It blocks it from making good use of their powerful eyesight.
Moving your bird from a dark box to open space is tiring. The solution is as simple as covering a portion of the cage with a white sheet. It’ll reflect sufficient light to the cage, and that’ll be a goodbye to your problem. Alternatively, you can move the cage near a window. But don’t place it anywhere that’ll expose him to danger.
Ideally, any creature will feel down when one of its body organs has a problem. Birds get pride from their feathers. Expect your budgie to get worried if an essential part like that gets damaged.
If you notice any part of the bird is hurt, act immediately. Call a vet to treat it; otherwise, your friend will remain stressed. If it’s a minor injury, you can do the treatment yourself. However, if the bird continues being dull even after treating the illness, get deeper into it. There might be an underlying reason which you’ll have to find out.
As much as budgies love it when they’re kept as a group, doing so might be the worst approach for a shy bird. Examine yours to know its behavior. Examine if it’s comfortable with loud and super jumpy birds or not. It’ll be stressful for your bird to try to fit in a noisy group, yet he loves a quiet and alone-company.
You already know what is needed of you. Keep your quiet bird away from the hyper budgies. You may have to spend a little more in creating another cage, but if that’s what it takes to save your bird, go for it!
Understandably, you may not have time to give proper cleanliness the bird deserves. However, untidiness can risk the life of your bird. Birds don’t like disorganized places. They want a well-organized environment where their movement is not blocked in any way. If you think it can tolerate when its cage messy, the way you can stay happy in your clothes-everywhere-room, you’re so wrong.
Do you really need the answer? Well, let me just say what you already know. Clean the place! Remove the meal dish immediately the bird finishes eating, and clean the leftings. Don’t overfill the cage with toys; it’s not a written rule they should be stored in there. Maintaining cleanliness will not only make your bird relaxed, but it’ll be a great proof that you’re a responsible budgie keeper. Nothing is greater than having a title of a ‘good pet owner’! Trust me, you’ll enjoy having that recognition.
What your budgie eats matters a lot. There are problematic food you should be aware of. The obvious on the say-no-to-this list is acidic fruits. Don’t trust your budgie’s judgment on food. In fact, most of the things they like eating is a huge threat to their body. You rather make them sad by denying them their desired food than guaranteeing their wish and kill them in the process.
Avoid feeding your buddy what you have put in your mouth. Human’s saliva is dangerous to them. Anything harmful to it shouldn’t be in your meal plan. The list to be avoided is long, but some of the big areas to avoid are seafood, dairy products, salt, sugar, sweets, avocado, onion, mushroom, grapefruit, and so on.
Budgies get stressed too! If stress becomes overwhelming, the internal system of the bird gets exhausted, causing risky results. While stress is entirely harmful, it makes the budgie alert and more reactive to an emergency. It’s your duty to look up for the bird and take action whenever you recognize a sign of distress from your bird. As we conclude, we’ll leave you with the following checklist that’ll help you know what’s a miss in your promoting a stress-free budgie project:
What to remember-stress is a great killer for your bird! Do your best to protect your bird from it.
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Most Saturdays and Sundays I take my budgies in their cage out on the front porch while I read and drink my coffee. We're out there for 2-3 hours at a time. They seem to like to talk to the wild finches and sparrows, and the fresh air, and they don't make the typical behaviors I'm used to seeing when they get spooked. But, is it probably that they are scared when they are under our covered front porch?