#let alone the effect the pet industry has on wild budgies

[flock-talk]

hi, ive searched your blog for budgie related asks and it did not bring up my question, sorry if it has already been answered & i just didnt see it - but re: parrots should not be in the pet trade at all. does your definition of parrots in this context include budgies or are their needs more easily met in a domestic setup?

Budgies definitely fall under that category.

Budgies are one of the most widely spread parrots you can buy. They’re super cheap and often purchased as toys for children who don’t have the knowledge necessary to provide what these birds need. Most often they are kept in unsuitable cramped cages that look like doll houses to appeal to kids which prevent the budgie from being able to flap or move around a whole lot. Let alone there be space for an actual toy.

Because of how cheap budgies are they often don’t receive proper medical care. Most folks see spending 300$ on a vet trip ridiculous and unnecessary for a 20-50$ bird. “Just get another one, it’s cheaper.” X

On the enrichment end because these birds are so widely available without any requirement for baseline knowledge any toys they are provided with are not suitable. Budgies are most commonly found with mirrors, bells, and plain plastic toys. Again they’re cheap, easy to find in a store, and they’ll last a while so you don’t have to spend money on any other toys.Mirrors will cause a plethora of issues since parrots cannot recognize themselves in a mirror, budgies especially can become obsessed with the reflection believing it is a flock member. Some become so depressed or distraught that they begin to pluck or refuse to eat. They of course run in to the same issues as all other parrots here, often times no matter how many toys, foraging opportunities and toy rotations you provide it simply may not be enough for some birds. X

Which brings me to the next section. Budgies are parrots. Plain and simple. They have major social requirements, massive mental capacities, fly thousands of miles every day. These birds are small but their needs are far from that.

A budgie flock can have somewhere around 100 to even 1000 birds in some cases. Budgies often struggle most when it comes to living in a solitary setting. They’re extremely social birds with a massive need to be around other birds for preening, safety, communication. Human interaction can help with some of that social need but quite often for a lot of budgies it’s not enough and they do become severely depressed. The average home simply cannot provide the amount of social needs these birds can require. Are there some that do okay living with just a person? Of course. Are there some people who are really dedicated to having a happy healthy budgie? Of course. But in the grande scheme of things here they are not the majority. A lot of budgies suffer. X

Another side effect of being sold for cheap is that almost no one will spend more on a bag of food than they did on the bird’s life. Budgies are notorious for being given nothing but plain seeds, if they’re really lucky they might get a piece of lettuce once a week slipped through their cage bars. Couple that with being confined to a tiny cage and inadequate enrichment and you’ve got a breeding ground for a whole heck load of health issues. Budgies need vegetables as a main portion of their diet, they can have seeds but without adequate exercise they’ll quickly develop liver disease or other fat-related health problems. Pellets can be expensive though and hard to find without ordering online, shipping? “More expensive than the bird! Not worth it!”

Is it possible for budgies to be kept in captivity and live a decent life? Ehh maybe?

For the general public? No. If massive rules for pet care changed, if people were required to be educated prior to pet ownership, if there were inspections and routine evaluations…… maybe.

Could we meet their exercise requirements? It’s possible that the small size of a budgie would make adequate exercise more likely than many other large parrot species.

Could we meet their social needs? Probably not. There’s some birds that do well and plenty that don’t. At this point budgies aren’t domesticated and that massive need for bird socialization is still a huge part of their psychology. At this time the answer is likely no.

Could we meet their mental enrichment needs? Probably not. Daily foraging, toy rotation, ample toy variety are all great and again some birds do decently well. But that’s not the case for a lot of them. And when looking at how captivity as a whole can affect a bird you need to look at the majority of people. Does the average person get adequate toys? No. Does the average person rotate enrichment? No. Does the average person provide foraging outlets? No.

At this point in time with the way the pet industry works, with how easily accessible these small parrots are, and how ill informed the general public is, I’d say budgies are just as much suffering in a captive environment as any other parrot.

#let alone the effect the pet industry has on wild budgies #that’s a whole other can of worms that ethics needs to consider #tagging all these as #ethics #so block that if you don’t want these text heavy posts #they can be quite saddening to read sometimes