Have you decided to buy a new budgie? Are you worried that your new budgie will be lonely all by itself? In this article, I will explain all you need to know about raising budgies alone.
Can You Keep A Budgie Alone? Yes, you can keep a single budgie on its own as long as they have plenty of things to keep them occupied such as toys, frequent interaction with you, let out the cage.
Budgies are not solitary species, and keeping them alone will most likely get lonely; thus they might become depressed over time.
Is It Ok To Keep A Budgie Alone?
Budgies are a social species and thrive better when they have a partner, so it is not acceptable to keep them alone. Keeping budgies alone will make them feel lonely, and they could slip into depression.
If your budgies are not happy, they will end up having a poor quality of life. If you have to leave your budgies alone, ensure it’s not for too long.
Although there is no hard and fast rule as to how long your budgies can stay alone, typically, they will be fine if you leave them alone for eight to twenty-four hours.
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Some budgies can even go a whole weekend alone and still be fine. However, any solo time longer than that will affect your budgies drastically. They could develop strange behaviors like plucking their feathers and could even die from sadness or depression.
If you ever need to leave your budgies alone due to a medical emergency or any other reason, ensure you continuously engage your birds. You could spend some time playing with them and keeping them company, or get them toys to play with.
How Long Can You Keep A Budgie Alone?
There’s no defined rule of how long you can keep your budgies alone; however, they will be fine if left alone between eight to twenty-four hours. Leaving your budgies alone for any duration above two days is not advisable.
Having your budgies left alone for an extended period exposes them to significant risk. Your budgies could become lonely when left alone and could develop health issues.
They could slip into depression and even die from it. Therefore, if you leave your budgies for more than two days, ensure you have someone looking after them.
If you don’t have someone to take care of your budgies while away, you can get them toys to play with.
This is because many budgies can still be happy alone if they don’t feel lonely or have something to interact with. If possible, you could just get your bird a partner, as this will be better appreciated.
Tips for Keeping Budgies Alone
To keep your budgies alone, you should keep things around its cage to prevent loneliness. Such things include hooking it up with new toys, putting a mirror in its cage, and leaving the radio or TV on.
If you have a single budgie that you keep alone most of the day, you can still manage to keep the bird happy. Some tips you can use to keep your budgie happy even when it alone includes:
- Hook it up with new toys
- Schedule daily together time with your budgie
- Keep its cage clean
- Leave the radio or TV on
- Put a mirror in its cage
- Teach your budgie new and easy tricks
1. Hook It Up With New Toys
Budgies are birds that are smart and enjoy ample interaction. When they are alone, they can get bored and become sad. To keep them lively, you can get them fake toys to play with. To keep your bird busy and happy. However, ensure that you change its toys regularly, as they can get bored with old toys.
2. Schedule Daily Together Time With Your Budgies
One way to keep your budgies happy even if they are alone is to spend some time with them. Therefore, it is essential to schedule a time together with your budgies daily.
3. Keep Its Cage Clean
Pets generally thrive better in a clean environment. If your budgie lives in a dirty cage, it would affect its health and make it depressed quickly and easily.
4. Leave The Radio Or TV On
When you leave your budgie alone at home, putting the TV or radio on will help it stay distracted. Your bird will pay attention to the sounds from the radio or TV and be entertained by them.
5. Put a Mirror in Its Cage
Another great tip to keep your budgie happy even when it’s all alone is to put a mirror in its cage. This will keep you bird excited, busy, and distracted.
6. Teach Your Budgie New and Easy Tricks
You can also teach your budgie new tricks to help it entertain itself when alone and stay busy. You could install a swing or other plaything in its cage to help it learn new tricks.
Is it Better to Have 1 Budgie or 2?
If you are planning to get budgies as pets, then it’s best to get two budgies than getting just one. Two budgies will be happier living together compared to a single budgie living alone.
The reason for this is that budgies are very social birds that thrive in the company of a partner. In fact, by nature, budgies live together as a flock in the wild. They will get lonely if they are alone, leading to depression or even death if not appropriately managed. When budgies are lonely, they develop certain strange and problematic behaviors. Some of the peculiar behaviors include:
- Fervent chirping and shouting
- Talking to themselves
- Plucking out their feathers
- Getting violent
- Being inactive
- Loss of appetite
These strange behaviors are disturbing because it is an indication that the bird is depressed and also that it could hurt itself at any point. If this is not managed, the bird could have feeble health and eventually die.
To manage the situation, all your budgie needs is simply companionship. Once it gets a companion, its needs to socialize will be met, and it will be happy again. If you don’t want to get another budgie, you could still get another small domesticated bird as a companion for your budgie. It may take a while for your budgie and the new bird to bond; however, the presence of this bird will be a needed distraction for your budgie. When they eventually bond, you can rest assured that your budgie will be happy.
When picking out a companion for your budgies, you must know that the female bird is more dominant in its social interactions. Therefore, you should make your selection based on the companion you are getting on gender.
