Hello everyone. I had two lovely budgies until last night. Our birds were out of their cage (we usually only cage them at night). While we were out of the room, our male, Sunny, must have fell to the ground where he was met by one of our pet rats. The rat killed him and ate him. We had no idea that the rat would go after him or we never would have left them alone together. We have since found out that rats are opportunistic omnivores. It was a horrible way to learn this lesson.

Our remaining budgie, Lilly, is listless and depressed.I am very worried about her. I know that she will need another companion, but should we introduce one right away? Or do we allow her to grieve? She was the dominant bird (which I know is common in a male/female pair). She is also a little too agressive. She picked at his eye feathers until he didn't have any, but they still couldn't bear to be away from each other.

I also need to know if we should introduce another male, or a female. We do not breed, but I think a male would be better for her. Am I correct?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to e-mail me at whovanetz@mn.rr.com.

R.I.P. Sunny

Hi. By the look of this you worked out how to post.

Aw, so sorry to hear about Sunny.

Your bird is bound to be missing him.I've no experience of something like this but personally I would wait a while and let him get used to the other one being gone,but make sure you give lots of the company that he will be missing.

Take Care.

Julie

Hi Wendy, welcome to the board, although Im sorry its under such sad circumstances.

Well, first of all, I would treat Lilly for shock. Keep her calm, warm, reasonably quiet, and perhaps 3/4 cover her cage. A budgie is a very inteligent creature, and witnessing her mate killed will have been very distressing. If you can, stay near her, talk to her, reassure her, play music quietly for her as a comfort. Offer her her favourite treats as comfort food as well as her normal diet. Basically, just quietly and gently spoil her rotten for a day or two. If you get her another bird, remember to quarantine it for 30 days at least before you introduce them, just in case the new bird is carrying any underlying diseases etc. Then after quarantine put the new bird in a seperate cage in the same room as Lilly, so that Lilly can get used to another bird gradually, instead of having it thrust in her cage and her life. For both birds sake, I would let them adjust to having each other around before caging together.

I would go for another male. Without nestboxes or nesting equipment, its unlikely that they will mate and reproduce anyway (although not guaranteed, but very unlikely)

I really am sorry for you tragic loss.

Anne

Hi Wendi

 

Bad news about the bird. I have a male and female and Lucy does try and bully Bobby a bit. We tried seperating them in seperate cages and they were both miserable. They also don't want ot be apart.

 

Go for another male, if you go for another female they will fight.

 

Lynn

Sorry to hear about the loss. I agree with the others. I would also do something about the rat so that you don't have another loss.