Budgies Life Span

Budgies, budgerigars or parakeets is the common name for the lovely little birds native to Australia. Parakeet is a term used to call smaller species of parrots that are usually slim birds with long pointed tails. They are called budgies or budgerigars in Australia. They are also known by some other uncommon names like shell parakeet or warbling grass parakeet, thus end up being called parakeets or budgies. In America, they are mostly known as parakeets.

Life Span of Budgies

When you are buying any pet, one of the most important questions to ask is what will be the average life span of your pet. Similarly, when you bring a budgie home, you should be aware of the life expectancy of budgies. Before we get to the budgies facts, let us know more on the life span of budgies.

The average life span of budgies is around 10 to 12 years, when kept under ideal conditions. But, many of them do not complete the average life span of budgies. Thus, the normal life expectancy of budgies can be narrowed down to a healthy 2 to 7 years. I have a distant aunt, who owned a budgie. One of her budgie life span went up to almost a ripe old age of 13 years and the other one died within a year. So one cannot predict the life expectancy of a budgie you bring home, just hope it will be your friend and company for many years to come.

The American budgie life span is longer than the English budgie life span. It has been also found that breeding budgies life span is less than those that never raise chicks. Also, budgies are prone to tumors thus, lowering the life expectancy of budgies. Many budgies also die due to accidents and freak mishaps that could have been prevented. Thus, never let your little birdie out of sight, even if it's out of the cage. Make your home bird proof and the favorite areas of the budgie where it lights or perches. Make sure you do not have any poisonous plants around or electrical wiring or strings tied in the house that can lead to unfortunate accidents. Budgies love to climb and chew thus, take extra precautions. This will help in increasing the life span of budgies.

It is found, in order to prevent the budgies from escaping, owners often clip their wings. This prevents them from flying off. Flying is the best exercise for budgies, and when they do not receive enough of it, they tend to become fat. You will love to give your budgies treat, thus choose non-belly increasing treats like sprey millet or assorted seed treats. If your budgie does not get enough exercises, limit the treats to once in 15 days. If the internal organs of the budgie becomes fat, it may lead to organ failure. Many times, there is a sudden organ failure without any prior symptoms. The most common tumor in budgies is lipoma, that is kind of fatty tumor. It develops and grows between the skin and muscles, therefore, making it the cause of death in 50% of the budgies.

It is very important that you give a proper diet to your budgies. A nutritious and healthy diet helps in increasing the budgies life span. You can feed them fruits and vegetables everyday. Like little children, they too may avoid their greens, but like a strict mother make them finish their greens. You may feed them different fruits, vegetables and seed mix everyday, so that you maintain a variety of flavor. You may try giving some vitamin supplements available at the pet shops to your budgies. But, read the instructions carefully before feeding it to your budgies. The budgies should be given freshwater daily and avoid placing the tray below the seed pan or bird feeder to avoid floating seeds. If you wish to increase the life expectancy of budgies, make sure you give them a healthy diet. Encourage them to take their daily exercises and treat them with a little firmness and love, just like young fussy children.

Budgies Facts

Budgies are amazing creatures, and the following amazing budgies facts will surely leave you surprised and astonished.

• Did you know that humans can register 16 images per second, whereas budgies register 150 images per second?
• Budgies see the world in color.
• Budgies can store sound sequences in their memory and be able to hear sounds from 400 to 20, 000 Hz.
• Budgies are smart enough to count up to three!
• Budgies can rotate their heads up to 180 degrees.
• Budgies can be called 'master poopers' as they poop every 12 to 15 minutes.
• One of the most interesting budgies facts is their high sense of feeling. A female budgie can feel when the embryo is moving inside the egg. This allows the mother to know when her chick will be ready to hatch!
• Wild budgies are found in the primary green color with black stripes and yellow head. There are number of color mutations, thus you find many domestic budgies in varied range of colors like green, sky blue, yellow (lutino), white (albino), gray, violet, cinnamon, opline, lacewing, spangle, crested, mauve, cobalt, laurel, Danish pied Saddleback, Australian Dominat Pied, Dutch Dominant Pied.
• Budgies have survived in the inlands of Australia for over 5 million years.

This was some information on budgies life span and budgies facts. There are many other factors like type of cage, food, ideal environment, etc., that need to be understood and followed when bringing them home. Make sure you understand about their personality traits and behavior of the budgies. Ask any questions regarding the pet care of budgies to the pet store attendants. This will help you when caring for your budgies as pets. Follow the basic rules of budgie care and gain a friend that will love you forever.