Please read the following closely, it is important to the health of your new pet:
• Sulphadim should be placed in your bird's water for the first four days, to prevent diarrhoea and stress (essential for new birds). It should then be used once a month as a preventative.
• Bird Wormer every three months to prevent your bird getting internal worm parasites.
• Mite and Lice Spray should be used every 2 weeks because your bird gets mites like dogs and cats get fleas. Spray the back of the bird (from about 30cm), as well as the cage and wooden perches, every fortnight.
• Multivitamin supplements are used the drinking water every few days to ensure your bird is not lacking any essential vitamins and minerals. This is excellent if no fruit and veg are provided regularly.
• Cage Cleaner Spray cleans, disinfects, and deodorizes your cage, perches and equipment. We recommend you clean your cage every week. Keeping the cage clean, keeps the birds healthy. Household cleaners are harmful to pets so you need to make sure you get a bird safe cleaner without chemicals.
• Wooden and plastic toys are essential to the mental and physical wellbeing of your pet, these are important for chewing, keep your bird entertained, and helping them replicate important behaviours they would otherwise do in the wild. Provide a variety of toys and make sure to rotate these once a month so your bird does not get bored.
• Waterers and Feeders should be refreshed every day to ensure proper hygiene.
• Calcium perches and sandpaper perches or sheets: can help your birds nails and beak stayed properly trimmed. These will grow constantly, if your birds beak or nails are overgrown it is important to take them to a vet to get this trimmed. Overgrown beaks and nails can ultimately make your bird sick if not taken care of.
• Birdbaths should be used to keep bird cool, clean and healthy, and stimulate feather growth. Alternatively, during the summer months spray your bird with a spray bottle daily.
• Tame birds should be handled as much as possible. Clipped wings will grow back after 1-2 months. Once your bird is tame you may choose if you want to keep clipping your birds wings, keeping in mind they can fly very well. If you want to keep your birds wings clipped, bring the bird to your local vet for clipping.
• Make sure you position your bird's cage inside out of any drafts. If cold, lightly cover the cage at night. Unless your bird is housed in a well-protected aviary with other birds, it’s generally best to keep your bird inside.
DIET:
• Because many birds will not dig for seed, the old seed and husks should be blown off or removed, and fresh seed added daily.
• You can also add bird pellets into your pets diet to provide a more complete diet. if your budgie is solely fed on seed this can negatively impact their health. A variety of seed, pellets and vegetables and some fruit is best.
• Variety is the key to a healthy bird's diet. Small amounts of: mouse muesli, millet sprays, carrots, apples, pears, rock melon, bok-choy, chicory, endive (both high in vitamins and minerals), pasta, tomato, apricot, peach, orange, celery, cos lettuce, butternut pumpkin, cucumber, peas, broccoli, beans, baked or mashed potato (not raw), corn, nuts, muesli, oats, rice, pasta, grass, dandelions, clover and crackers should be added. Bottle Brush, Grevillia and Wattle can be given, but do not leave in the cage for too long as they can ferment and birds can become intoxicated.
• Do not give iceberg lettuce (no nutritional value), avocado or rhubarb (they can kill birds). Seed bars and cans can be mixed with regular seed, or the bars simply hung in the cage. These are a tasty alternative to powdered vitamins.
• Cuttlefish and calcium bells are essential, as they are your bird's main source of calcium and are also used to file down the beak. Iodine bells are useful to avoid Goiter, which is a disease some birds can get.
• Shell grit and grit sheets must be used at the bottom of the cage to collect the droppings, and are very important as an aid in digestion. You can alternatively keep a bowl of shell grit on the floor of your cage for foraging.
The above information is only meant as a guide, and you should not hesitate to contact our helpful staff if you have any problems or concerns. Birds are amazing pets so enjoy and look after your feathered friend.