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Budgie / Parakeet

Birds

Beastly Facts · Updated Oct 6, 2026

The cheerful little chatterbox that picks up phrases you never taught it!

Mike has looked after neighbors’ budgies and lovebirds on and off for years.

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Did you know? The largest vocabulary Guinness World Records has credited to any bird belongs to a budgie: Puck, estimated at 1,728 words before his death in 1994.

The first week

The numbers a new owner needs in the first week, each from the article it links to. Rows with no link come from the encyclopedia.

Day one: At least 30 days, and up to 45, quarantined in a separate room with its own airspace, away from any bird you already own. A multi-bird household or aviary is safer nearer 90 days.Quarantine guide →
Enclosure: 18x18x18 inches is the figure often cited as an absolute minimum for one bird, but a wider flight-style cage serves them far better, something closer to 30x18x18 inches for a pair. Width matters more than height, since budgies fly side to side rather than climbing.Setup guide →
Bar spacing: Half an inch or less. Wider spacing risks a bird squeezing through and escaping, or getting its head caught trying.Setup guide →
Diet: Pellets should make up roughly 75 to 80% of the diet, with fruit, vegetables, and greens the remaining 20 to 25%, and seeds treated as an occasional extra. A seed-only diet is directly linked to malnutrition, obesity, and fatty liver disease.Setup guide →
Temperature: A practical ambient range is about 65 to 85°F, with 70 to 75°F ideal. Budgies have no sweat glands and are more heat-sensitive than that range might suggest.Setup guide →
Handling: Give a new bird a week or two to settle before any taming. Then work through hand-in-the-cage, millet from the fingers, and step-up training, in that order, moving on only once the bird is calm at the current step.Handling guide →
Sexing: Adult males typically show a blue to purple-blue cere, adult females a tan, brown, or pale white one. Juveniles of both sexes show pink or pale purple until it settles into adult color, usually between 6 and 12 months.Cere color guide →
Budget: $20 to $80 for the bird, $315 to $750 for a complete starter setup with it, and a bare-minimum first year, bird included, about $600. Food runs $5 to $30 a month, toys and perches $10 to $20, $25 to $60 a month with cuttlebone top-ups and the yearly exam spread out.Cost guide →
Adult size: 7 inches (18 cm); 25 to 35 g (0.9 to 1.2 oz).
Lifespan: Not well documented in the wild; typically 7 to 15 years in captivity, with the oldest documented individual living 29 years, 2 months.
Zoonotic risk: Psittacosis, caused by Chlamydia psittaci, is zoonotic, meaning it can spread to people. Signs include respiratory symptoms, diarrhea, weakness, and an enlarged liver. If your budgie shows these signs, mention the possibility to your vet directly, and keep any newly introduced bird separate from the rest of your flock while you watch for signs like these.Health guide →
Power outage: Keep feeding and watering through an outage rather than pulling food the way you would for a reptile; a budgie carries almost no fat reserve. The real danger is combustion, not cold: no candles, gas heat, or a generator run anywhere near the bird's room.Emergency plan →

Emergency card

Call the vet now if you see any of these.

Fluffed-up feathers combined with sleeping during the day
Tail-bobbing with each breath
Open-mouth breathing
Sitting on the floor of the cage instead of perching

An avian vet, found before you need one. Budgies mask illness well, so any of the above means a vet within 24 hours, not a few days of watching and waiting.

From Common Budgie Health Issues and Why Diet Drives Most of Them →

Where to go next

How Much Does a Budgie Really Cost?

$20 to $80 for the bird, $315 to $750 for a starter setup with it, and the avian vet costs most owners underestimate.

Budgie Cage Setup: Width Over Height, and a Few Rules That Actually Matter

The 18x18x18 minimum, why width beats height, bar spacing, and the pellet-first diet.

How to Handle and Tame a Budgie

Letting a new bird settle, the taming progression from hand-in-cage to step-up, and why punishing a bite backfires.

Common Budgie Health Issues and Why Diet Drives Most of Them

Fatty liver disease, the tumor that can look like a limp, egg binding, and the signs that mean a vet the same day.

Budgie Feeding: The Squeak That Means Iodine

How much of the diet is pellets, the iodine deficiency budgies are prone to and the breathing sound it makes, and why grit is a risk.

Budgie Enrichment: Foraging, Toys, and Cutting Cage Boredom

Foraging first, destructible toys, and the difference between a resting bird and a bored one.

Why Is My Budgie's Cere Changing Color? What It Actually Means

Reading the cere to sex a budgie, and when a color change means more than hormones.

What to buy

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Underlined items are paid Amazon links, at no extra cost to you.

18x18x18 inch cage or larger, wider rather than taller

Perches of varied diameter and texture

Food and water dishes

Foraging toys and puzzle feeders

Shreddable and chew toys

Cuttlebone or mineral block

Cage cover for nighttime darkness

Full-spectrum avian UV lighting and fixture

Formulated budgie pellets

Millet, for training rewards

Fresh vegetables

Prices and the reasoning behind each item are in How Much Does a Budgie Really Cost?.

Full Budgie / Parakeet gear list

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a budgie itself cost?

$20 to $80. It's the cheapest part of ownership, the cage and long-term avian vet care are where the budget goes.

Is a budgie the same thing as a parakeet?

Yes, in the way most people in the US use the word. 'Parakeet' is a broad, non-scientific term for a large group of small to medium parrots with long tail feathers, and the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), the bird this guide covers, is just one species within that group, though it's by far the most commonly kept one. So every budgie is a parakeet, but not every parakeet is a budgie, ring-necked and monk parakeets are different species entirely. When a US pet store sells a bird simply labeled 'parakeet' with no other name attached, it's almost always a budgie.

What size cage does a budgie need?

18x18x18 inches is the figure usually cited as an absolute minimum for one bird, but a wide flight-style cage serves them far better, nearer 30x18x18 for a pair. Width beats height, since budgies fly side to side rather than climbing.

What are the signs a budgie needs to see a vet the same day?

Fluffed feathers plus daytime sleeping, tail-bobbing with each breath, open-mouth breathing, or sitting on the cage floor instead of perching. Budgies mask illness well, so any of those means a vet within 24 hours, not a few days of watching.

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Budgie / Parakeet

Melopsittacus undulatus

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