Posted April 18, 200718 yr Hello! :hap: My name is Clare, I'm from Woodend in Central Victoria, I have a four year old daughter Charlotte and we have a brand new budgie called Jojo. He's about five months old. I'm not sure what kind he is, I'm new to the whole budgie world. He's blue, with white wings and a blue cere. **Edited to add - I think he's a Clearwing - white flight feathers and a white tail.** Some questions: What to use in the bottom of his cage? Shell grit? Newspaper? Sand? When we first brought him home, he sat in his cage, opening and closing his beak. He wasn't clicking it, just silently opening and closing. Is this normal? He seems fine now, chirping away and attacking his honey seed stick. I was just wondering. Exactly how big should his cage be? Is there an ideal place to put the cage? Near a window maybe? What about putting him outside? Anyway, thank you in advance and I hope I'll learn lots more about these wonderful little birds! Edited April 18, 200718 yr by SweetBirdOfParadox
April 19, 200718 yr Is no one going to say hello? Was it something I said? I am sorry....I will say hello Sometimes, as we are all from different time zones around the world, we either arent on or we occasioanlly miss some of the posts if we have our favourite section. I am really happy to have you here. and truly would love to hear more about your bird. Any questions please ask. I have over 200 budgies, some breeding and although I dont have a house budgie ( due to cats )....I would love to hear about yours. We love photos here, so if you can post some that would be great. How to post piks ...there is a link in my signature on how to do that. Cheers Karen Edited April 19, 200718 yr by Kaz
April 19, 200718 yr Hi Clare What to use in the bottom of his cage? Shell grit? Newspaper? Sand? Newspaper is fine and easy to clean When we first brought him home, he sat in his cage, opening and closing his beak. He wasn't clicking it, just silently opening and closing. Is this normal? He seems fine now, chirping away and attacking his honey seed stick. I was just wondering. Just sounds like he as a bit stressed from the move and the new environment, which is very normal. Exactly how big should his cage be? I'm bad at remembering the size a cage should be, add a picture of it here and folks can tell ya. It is better to be wide rather than tall. Is there an ideal place to put the cage? Near a window maybe? What about putting him outside? if you want him as part of the family (not sure if he is a only bird) then somewhere close to where your family spends most of the time then he can get use to you and later spend time around your guys while out, many put them near the window Welcome to the site and I hope you enjoy your time here.
April 19, 200718 yr Hello and welcome. I am new here too, but these guys are GREAT for information and the FAQ's help alot. Snip
April 19, 200718 yr Hi Clare, I said hello in your other post as well. As has already been said budgies need flight cages - wide enough for them to be able to fly from one side to the other. They don't do very well in small, tall cages - they are better suited to canaries. Here is a link to see lots of different people's cage setups and how many budgies they recommend to keep in them: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=12609 Have fun here, Feathers.
April 19, 200718 yr hi claire nerwen is a brilliant person on this forum and is very knowledgable as well quite a few others. we are a friendly bunch but we are all scatter around the globe. nerwen said newspaper at the bottom of cage, this would be the only thing i disagree with through a bad experience. i have had cages indoors and an indoor aviarys . i have put news paper at the bottom but my budgies have chewed the paper and have lost about 4 budgies from this.i have now another indoor aviary we i have a metal grid were all seed/rubbish etc drops through to the tray which holds newspaper for easy cleaning,but the gap is about an inch deep so they are unable to chew the paper. when i get to breed again in my other cages i will either use wood chips from pet store or sand.
April 19, 200718 yr Hello there and welcome!! Have had issues with connectivity problems to this site in the last day or so. Newspaper is fine, although I buy white copy paper in bulk when it is on sale. Budgies (or any other birds for that matter) can take a couple of days to settle in, just make sure their is food and waster accessible to them and if they aren't using the designated containers, add little ones on the floor until they get familar with their cage. The best advice I was given regarding cages is that budgies are NOT helicopters (my first cage was pretty and round and high but not the greatest). Do see the FAQS on training, feeding and cages on this site and enjoy!
April 20, 200718 yr Hi there and welcome. I would love to see a picture of JoJo. Sounds like a real little cutie. There is so much information here like me you will learn heaps!!
April 20, 200718 yr i have put news paper at the bottom but my budgies have chewed the paper and have lost about 4 budgies from this Are you sure this was the reason? If they were new birds they could have had an illness and the stress of the move weakened them too far. But the newpaper I said is fine as I know many here have and do use it. Myself I use nothing on the bottom of my cages (when in use) Even is I need to use a bit more elbow grease when cleaning I find the white trays easier to see change in the poop.
April 22, 200718 yr hi nerwen these budgies i had for a while, but i had been watching nibble at the paper and all 4 had done this for a while. maybe it was the ink but it could be something from the papers ie: from distrubution to shop.papers are thrown from printers to vans maybe they picked up a virus/disease that way.from working in a news agents the guys throw papers around,chuck them on the ground outside maybe ? its is possible.but i wont be letting happen again.so far my new flock are doing fine.i always use news paper at the bottom of my parrot cage again because he has a metal grid for all his mess to drop through it is easier to catch and clean up.
April 22, 200718 yr If you are going to put your budgie next to a window, don't put him in direct sunlight, put him to one side of the window, otherwise he can get heatstroke.
April 22, 200718 yr Hi! Welcome! This is a wonderful site and you will enjoy it a lot. We also use newspaper and a metal grid. But I think newspaper is safe even without the grid. Sand is good, as well as sawdust. We do put them (we have four) outside in the balcony when the weather is fine. It is very cold in Latvia now but we had a spell of nice and warm weather when I could put them out. I covered one side of the cage so that there is no draught and strong sun. They were talking to the sparrows and the latter came to visit. These guys are probably the best little parrots and if you keep one he might start talking.
April 23, 200718 yr I have heard that the coloured ink in newspaper is poisonous to birds, which might be why you had some trouble. I use black and white pages only and a grate on top and I haven't had any problems.
