In today’s episode Lauren talks about Parakeets! She shares some funny stories from friends and clients and covers care for these birds. Lauren also thinks that Parakeets make great first time pets!
Are you in need of Pet Care? Are you located in Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard or Naperville, IL? If you answered yes, contact The Pet Lady to set up a meet and greet with a professional pet sitter!
Looking for Pet PawCast Merchandise? Visit petpawcast.threadless.com
If you have questions you would like to hear answered or ideas for topic you would like Lauren to dive into, email us podcast@petpawcast.com
Visit us at www.petpawcast.com
Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/petpawcast
Follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/petpawcast (@PetPawCast)
Parakeets
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Pet PawCast. Today we are going to talk a bit about our avian friends and focus on Parakeets. Parakeets are quite a popular pet in North America and Europe. Most people I am sure think of small, brightly colored birds when I say parakeet, but they are in the parrot family. They are smaller, thin and have long tail feathers and are also called “Budgies” Like Parrots they can mimic human speech. I had a parakeet client, Corno, who every time I would visit him, I would walk in and say “Hi Corno” and his response “Moron!” He was a funny guy. Not only are parakeets able to mimic speech, they can understand speech as well. Corno loved to play and when you would say “New Years!” to Corno, he would run to his bell and put it on his head like a hat and stand proud and tall. It was one of the cutest things!
Budgies are gentle and docile birds. They are also very easy to tame, especially if acquired at a young age. Pairs of birds make good company for each other, but when in living pairs and entertaining one another, they may not bond as well with their owners or mimic speech as fluently.
Parakeets can be a variety of colors such as violet, blue, yellow and the classic neon green that I think most people associate with Parakeets. While it is best to get pets from breeders or rescues, Parakeets can be found in most pet stores. My suggestion is double checking with a vet or breeder to ensure the sex of the bird. With parakeets it can sometimes be hard to tell, Typically mature females have a tan or beige cere (the fleshy part around the nostrils), and the males have a bluish cere. I have a friend, who I was talking to about this episode and he told me a story of how they had a Parakeet growing up named Buddy, who for 7 years they thought he was male and one day they woke up to 3 eggs in the cage! Buddy was in fact a female. This is good to know if you are going to have pairs of Parakeets, while a female can lay an unfertilized egg, if you have a male and female, you may end up with baby birds.
Parakeets, like other pets, need the right nutrition and enrichment. Having toys with different textures, sounds and perches at different levels will give your parakeet lots of places to play, perch and explore. Making sure you are feeding your bird correctly is a must. They are prey creatures, so they tend to hide their illness until it may be too late. You should have a good mix of seed, fruits, and vegetables for your bird and consult a veterinarian or breeder for detailed feeding instructions. We care for many types of birds in our pet sitting business. Each one has very specific feeding instructions, based on each breed of birds needs.
Parakeets love to fly, if you are able to give your pet a safe place to fly, I highly encourage you to give your bird room to soar, obviously you must be aware of open doors and windows as they may not come back. If you do not have the space or do not want them to fly free, you can always get their feathers trimmed to decrease their ability to fly. Always seek a professional, and please never pluck your bird feathers.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Pet PawCast. Have a Paw-rific day!