Oct 30, 2013 9:15:14 GMT
andi
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 19
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Post by andi on Oct 30, 2013 10:13:11 GMT
Hello all, I thought I should introduce myself and my family, as we are looking to soon get a budgie to add to our family. We live in England and have 2 kids, aged 4 and 6. The 6, nearly 7 year old, is very keen and excited about getting our first family pet. I know it's going to be me who ends up doing most of the work involved with the bird, but then, I will also probably get the best bonding too I hope! I've been reading a fair amount as research, on this forum and elsewhere. I have a couple of initial questions.
Are most budgies here in the UK of the exhibition sort, or are there pet ones too? Just curious, because when doing my research, it seems that North America has more of the pet variety and the UK more exhibition variety. I don't know if that's just coincidence or a general truth.
I'm looking at cages and have a question about placement. We will probably keep the budgie in our relatively large front room, which is the most used room in the house. We have some deep in-built bookshelves which could hold a cage and I was wondering about the suitability of using that? Would the fact that the cage (and birds) will be relatively enclosed on 5 out of 6 sides be an issue? Or would somewhere more open be more appropriate? It can be done, it'll just take a bit more organisation and equipment to do it.
Thanks for your help in advance, I look forward to your replies!
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Post by samwiseg on Oct 30, 2013 11:21:56 GMT
Hi Andi and family and welcome to the forum! In answer to your first question, you can get pet birds as well as exhibition type as there are different sorts of breeders around the UK. There is a lot of controversy about where you get your bird from as pets shops don't look after their birds as well as a breeder would. However, some people do like to rescue them but be aware that you do not necessarily know what you are buying and what health issues the bird may have that haven't shown yet. I would advise speaking to a local breeder and asking him for any advice that may be able to help you with your decision. But usually exhibition type breeders are reluctant to sell a solitary bird as they believe in flock mentality. As for cages, the best thing is to purchase the biggest you can afford to your budget. And a tip is to purchase a cage with greater width rather than height as birds fly to and fro, not necessarily up As for where to site your cage, its common sense really but important points to consider are to make sure that it is not right next to a radiator, in direct sunlight and not in any way near where it could suffer from draughty areas. And not obviously on the floor. Not sure about placing in a bookshelf as I would have thought to encourage air to circulate around the cage. Maybe another member might be able to help you with that? I shall go and find a list of the breeders on a website that we have and shall post it here shortly. But for now welcome and make yourself at home and if you have any more questions please dont hesitate to ask!
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Oct 30, 2013 9:15:14 GMT
andi
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 19
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Post by andi on Oct 30, 2013 19:23:37 GMT
Hi samwiseg, thank you for taking the time to reply. To be honest, I would prefer a pet budgie, rather than exhibition one, but that's just a minor preference. Let's see what the breeder near me sells and is willing to sell me. I found the list linked here on the forum, thanks.
The space on the bookshelf is about 90cm wide, 40cm high and 30 cm deep. I think the width is plenty, but the height may be a little close to fit some cages, so a spot more out in the room may end up working better, but I just thought I should ask. I'm not sure if the bird would like nothing to surprise it on several sides but plenty to see on the one side facing the room or if it would prefer to see around more.
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Post by mizloco on Oct 30, 2013 19:54:07 GMT
Hi andi and family and welcome. I have pet budgies which I got from a local breeder. Your children will love having a pet especially a little bud they are so lovely. My cage, which is a Hagen Vision L01, was fairly cheap from www.zooplus.co.uk and they have a good selection at good prices. This is placed on the table, as they seem to have taken over the house, by the window which they like to look out.
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Post by samwiseg on Oct 30, 2013 20:03:44 GMT
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Post by Hezz on Oct 31, 2013 1:07:45 GMT
Hi and welcome, Andi. I don't like the idea of putting the cage in a bookshelf - budgies love to see what is going on around them and this isn't going to happen in the bookcase, and the air circulating around the bird ....... we all need clean fresh air as much as possible. So if a slight rearrangement of the main room is required, so be it, and quite often the budgie becomes the focal point of the room ..... they are hard wee little beggars to ignore once you have become smitten. When we say bigger is better regarding cage size, we really do mean it. A cage cannot be too big, even if you do have problems finding him once you have added the necessary and plenty of unnecessary items to the cage, and plenty of room to flit from perch to perch is a must. There are a few other necessities to have on hand when your new friend is found. A good quality bird seed, such as Trill, cuttlebone, iodine block, a couple of toys possibly one being a swing, some natural branches from budgie-safe trees or sourced from one of the reputable bird supplies. Don't be talked into sand sheets or sand/cement perches - very bad for budgies' feet and a complete waste of money. Once you have your bird, you will probably want to spend a bit more and get him some quality accessories, but that's the fun part. For starters he will just need the basics. Oh, and no silly little snuggle-huts for sleeping. The budgie will sleep on his perch unless he is sick or very young. That's enough for starters.
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Oct 30, 2013 9:15:14 GMT
andi
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 19
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Post by andi on Oct 31, 2013 7:59:10 GMT
I like the look of the Vision cages, and it's nice to see mizloco also likes them. They would be too tall for the bookshelf, so it will be out in the room. Thanks for your thoughts on it Hezz, I see your point.
For those of you in England, where do you get most of your supplies? Online, a local independent shop or a chain? There's a Pets At Home store near me, but I don't know how their selection is yet.
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Post by ffiscool on Oct 31, 2013 8:22:31 GMT
Welcome
I get most of my ordinary bits in Pets at Home, although I do order stuff online through them and just pick it up there as I find the stock in the actual shop otherwise, not that great
it depends on whether you mean food wise, toys etc? There are a few good toy places where all the items are made with natural things, i.e. woods, non stained leathers, stainless steel fittings.. - Natural Bird company. Although there is also a site where you can order the bits to make your toys yourself. I have done a mix of both. Karen at Natural Bird Co is very helpful and you can design what you want too, as in give her your thoughts on what you want, tweak what has been done. I had a lovely swing made with beads, leather, nice perch part to my specs size wise
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Post by Hezz on Oct 31, 2013 9:37:24 GMT
There are a number of lovely on-line sites that do great stuff, but I'll leave it to the UK members to promote their own favourites .........
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Post by kikkinu on Oct 31, 2013 9:40:39 GMT
As much as i agree with Hezz on the circulating air issue with the cage being in the bookshelf. I think its easier to train your budgie since the cage is covered from 5 sides. I find budgies are alot less fidgety when they feel safe that they can retreat to the other side of the cage. Especially if the cage will have a big door.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using proboards
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Post by Hezz on Oct 31, 2013 9:57:53 GMT
The space is not big enough for a decent sized cage, kikkinu. Better to move the cage into a small room with no distractions when it is training time than have it live its life to fit a book shelf! And if the distractions are an issue and the cage can't be moved, use a sheet, blanket, tablecloth .... anything big enough to cover up some of the sides. Vacanteyes came up with the solution of going under the sheet to her bird to do her training, rather than the other way round ....... rather than have five solid walls around the poor thing.
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on Oct 31, 2013 10:13:02 GMT
Hi and welcome to forum
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