A parakeet is a social creature that is friendly and very easy to tame. Parakeets are small and colorful birds that make great pets and can bring a lot of joy to homes. Raising a parakeet can be a rewarding experience. But how can you raise a parakeet? This article will give some tips on how to raise a parakeet appropriately.
The following are eight guidelines on how to raise a parakeet:
1. Acquire a Healthy Parakeet
Find a healthy parakeet with bright eyes and clean feathers to raise.
2. Prepare a Suitable Habitat
Set up a spacious cage that allows a parakeet to be around comfortably. Place the cage in a quiet area away from drafts and direct sunlight.
The cage should have horizontal bars for climbing and enough room for flying. Line the bottom with appropriate bedding materials.
3. Provide Perches and Toys
After preparing a cage, set up a variety of perches inside the cage to offer different textures and thicknesses. This will help exercise your parakeet’s feet and keep it mentally stimulated.
Also, rotate the toys to keep your parakeet entertained and prevent boredom.
4. Offer a Balanced Diet
Ensure you feed your parakeet a balanced diet that consists of high-quality commercial seed or pellet mixes formulated for parakeets. Additionally, provide it with fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens, and give out fresh and clean water daily.
5. Socialize
A parakeet is a happy and social bird that enjoys being with its owner. Therefore, spend time with your parakeet every day to build trust and strong bonds.
You can talk to a parakeet in a calm and soothing voice to help them become familiar with your voice.
6. Maintain Cleanliness
Since a parakeet spends more time in the cage, it needs to be kept clean and hygienic at all times. Clean the entire cage, remove poop, spilled food, and water before it builds up, and replace the bedding regularly.
Additionally, regularly wash and disinfect food and water dishes.
7. Regular Exercise
A parakeet needs daily exercise and mental stimulation outside the cage. It is good to allow your parakeet to exercise outside the cage because it is an active bird, so time outside is extremely valuable.
8. Give the Parakeet Medical Needs
Parakeets need to be taken care of by ensuring you offer them medical care. Their nails and wings have to be trimmed to make the taming process easier.
Trimming is done after one to two months and performed by a vet. This is because parakeets are small in size and, therefore, have a small amount of blood in their bodies, which can easily bleed to death if trimmed close to the vein.
Is It Easy to Raise Parakeets?
Raising parakeets is relatively easy compared to raising other birds because they are less demanding and require a small space for them to fly and move around. Also, they are hardy and thus can tolerate a wider range of environments.
To raise a parakeet, you need some essential items and certain steps to ensure the bird’s well-being.
6 Requirements for Raising a Parakeet
Below are six requirements for raising a parakeet;
1. Spacious Cage
A parakeet needs adequate space made of safe materials and horizontal bars for climbing. This will allow the bird to fly around the cage and exercise.
2. High-Quality Diet
A parakeet needs feeds that provide a good balanced diet, which consists of pellets formulated for parakeets, seeds, fruits, and vegetables.
3. Toys and Perches
A parakeet is an active bird, and it needs mental stimulation to avoid boredom and stress. Therefore, you need to provide toys such as swigs, bells, and chewable toys, as well as perches of different sizes in the cage for it to rest comfortably.
4. Fresh Water
A parakeet needs fresh and clean water every day; therefore, you need to ensure it drinks fresh water at all times.
5. Proper Housing Conditions
A parakeet needs to stay in a safe area; therefore, the cage should be in a draft-free area, away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures. Additionally, regularly clean the cage to maintain the hygiene of the habitat.
Covering parakeets at night is not required, but it may provide a sense of security and privacy for your bird. This will depend on what your parakeet prefers.
6. Social Interaction
A parakeet is a social bird, and it needs regular interaction with the owner; thus, spend time with your parakeet to build a bond.
Parakeets do better in pairs than alone because keeping a parakeet alone puts it at risk of loneliness and isolation. Therefore, parakeets are social and happier creatures that need companions.
How Big of a Cage Do Parakeets Need?
A parakeet is an active bird that requires enough space for it to fly, perch, and explore. The minimum cage size for a single parakeet should be 20 inches long, 18 inches deep, and 18 inches high.
For two parakeets sharing a cage, the recommended cage size is 30 by 12 by 18 inches.
It is good to let your parakeet fly around the house because it keeps the bird healthy and happy. But this will depend on the safety of the house, the space, and the supervision provided.
The best bedding for parakeets is a suitable substrate that promotes hygiene, provides comfort, and is safe for your bird.
However, there are some other four best bedding options for parakeets:
1. Paper bedding, such as plain white paper towels and unprinted newspaper.
2. Wood-based bedding such as aspen and pine shavings.
3. Cage liners made of paper or other absorbent materials can be easily disposed of and replaced.
4. Shredded bedding, such as plain newspaper and unbleached paper.
8 Items Required in Parakeet’s Cage
The following are eight items that are necessary for a parakeet in the cage:
1. Perches
This item is important in the cage since it ensures the parakeet remains healthy and happy. This is where parakeets spend most of their time. Perches are where they sleep, eat, and drink from a dish or water container.
Additionally, perches help parakeets keep their nails trimmed. This is also where they hang out.
2. Toys
They are effective items in the cage since they keep a parakeet happy; therefore, you need to provide a variety of toys in the cage at different stages of the parakeet’s life.
3. Feeding Dishes and Water Dispensers
This will help hold food and water for the parakeet in the cage.
4. Swings
Swings are another necessary item in the cage since they act as a source of entertainment for parakeets.
They help to keep parakeets balanced, especially when female and male parakeets are mating.
5. Mirror
Placing a mirror in the cage will make a parakeet feel happy. A parakeet will make sounds and fly around, interacting with its reflection.
A mirror helps a parakeet not feel lonely since it will see another one in the reflection of the mirror, making it happy.
6. A Bird Bath
Parakeets like and enjoy bathing; therefore, it is good to provide them with bathing dishes that are shallow and wide so they can comfortably fit in and move around.
7. Cuttlebone or Mineral Block
These items provide essential calcium and minerals that help maintain the parakeet’s beak and bones. It is attached to the bars of the cage.
8. Bedding
The preferred bedding is paper bedding, such as shredded newspaper.
The ideal temperature for a parakeet is between 65 and 75 degrees because it ensures that the parakeet stays healthy and comfortable. If the temperature is higher or lower than that range, it makes the parakeet distressed, leading to health problems.
Therefore, during the cold period, you need to provide additional heat to keep the temperature within the range. Also, in the warm season, you can use fans or air conditioning to maintain a comfortable temperature.
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