How Long Do Budgies Live? Some Interesting Facts!

If you are planning to own your first feather friend, Budgie birds make an excellent start. They are the most common household pet after cats and dogs. When you start petting budgies, they play an important and fulfilling role in you and your family. You love and care for them unconditionally and may create a strong bond with them. But one fact we should consider is that the most devastating aspect of owning a pet is that it cannot live forever with you. So, knowing your pet’s lifespan is important.

Have you ever thought about how long these little budgies live? Let us have a close look at the lifespan of budgies as a pet and what we can do to ensure a good life as long as possible. Keep reading this article to know all about your beloved budgies and keep them healthy and happy.

Can A Single Budgie Survive?

It is a question that arises in the mind of every budgie parent. Everyone loves to live with their companion, even the birds. Budgies are naturally social birds that love to interact with each other and thrive in the company of other budgies. Aside from allotting a companionship or a partner, keep the budgies in pairs to allow them to preen each other and groom, which is necessary to keep them healthy and happy. 

Well, budgies can live alone even though they are folk animals and prefer the company of their same kind. But if you are planning to buy a single budgie, there are some factors you have to consider to keep them happy.  We can’t leave them alone in a cage without any communication.

As an owner, it is your responsibility to keep them interactive, so you are the one who should replace their partner. We can find those solo budgies are more affectionate to their owner, the only reason is that owners devote more attention and time to them.

The solo budgies need hours of one-on-one attention every day to keep them engaged and happy. It is not a good idea to keep them alone if you are busy all the time. Offering them a partner can make them emotionally healthy, engaged, and interactive. The important thing to remember is that they need plenty of attention, and you should be aware of abnormal behavior.

Budgies Lifespan – How long can they live?

The full name of budgies is the budgerigar, a species of parakeet. As we all know, every living organism has an end of life. Which may vary due to various reasons. If we have a pet at home, its life wholly depends upon its quality of life. Apart from this, they have a potential lifespan. It is important to know the life expectancy of your bird, so you can expect and make arrangements according to it. 

If you recently got a budgie and wondered how long these creatures can live, here is good news for you. These birds might be tiny but don’t mean that they cannot live for long. Budgies’ life span varies when they are in the wild and in captivity. In general, budgies can live up to 15 years. However, not all budgerigars are the same, everyone is different from each other.

One of the most important factors is whether budgies live in the wild or in captivity. In the domestic setting, the budgie’s lifespan depends on how much care the bird has received throughout its life.  

• The lifespan of budgies in the wild

In the wild budgies can live for 4-10 years because of the threats of predators. Budgerigar lives with folks in the forest and constantly moves from one place to another for food and secure shelter. An active lifestyle helps them stay fit and healthy, but they are not much safe in the wild. Same like other animals, budgies are also subjected to predators so they must constantly make plans to escape from them. But in captivity, they are protected by their owners and provided with more facilities to maintain long life. 

So, here you have it, the budgies can live in the wild for up to usually 4 to 10 years, but can live much longer in captivity. So be prepared for a long-term commitment if you are planning to own a budgie. 

• The lifespan of budgies in captivity

As we have discussed above, budgies won’t have to face many of the dangers in captivity. No predators or external factors, because they depend on the owners. The lifespan of budgies in captivity is in the hands of owners. Budgies are seen as the most disposable pets when compared to other animals. It is quite hard to pinpoint the lifespan of budgies in captivity. 

If they are provided with proper care and diet they can live up to 12 to 15 years. The situation may change if you optimize your care.

Factors that affect the lifespan of budgies

Budgie’s life is not very long, some factors can affect their life. Budgies can die before they reach their average lifespan. In the wild, they encounter many obstacles that decrease the bird lifespan. Which includes

👉 Predators: It is a common issue faced by every bird in the wild, including parakeets in tropical conditions, usually during the nesting season. Due to their small size, they are easily caught by large birds such as eagles, and falcons. Not only large birds but other animals such as monkeys and snakes also attack budgies. They reach out to the nest for little parakeets.

👉 Climatic change: All birds live under a certain temperature. They need warmth to survive, so they thoroughly find places that keep them warm and secure. When the climatic condition is too cold they cannot tolerate it which can lead to death. 

👉 Stress: Even we feel down when we are stressed. The same applies to birds also, if budgies don’t feel safe in their living environment they begin to get stressed and feel unhappy. 

👉 Diet– Diet plays an important role to maintain a healthy life. Providing your budgies with healthy meals can extend their life and save them from having health issues. If the diet is poor it can be a reason for many other problems such as malnutrition, lack of sleep, and weak immune system. 

👉 Low activity: The activities of birds are of course flying. It is a part of their life. What if they are not allowed to do so? Allowing them to stretch their wings at least twice a day is essential for their health. If the activity level of budgies is low they become more prone to diseases. 

Can Cockatiels and Budgies live together?

Keeping different species of birds wholly depends upon the personality and history of each bird because every bird is not the same. If you have two different pet birds and want to keep them together, you must take care of many things. In the case of cockatiels and budgies, you can put them together in the cage but the bond between them is an important factor. 

Generally, both species possess some kind of similarities, but they are different in their personality. Without proper supervision, we cannot let them alone. There is a considerable size difference between cockatiels and budgies, cockatiels are larger than budgies, so if they become aggressive, they might cause serious injuries or even death to budgies.

The best decision is to keep each bird in its cage and let them enjoy each other in the play area. If you notice a positive bond between cockatiels and budgies, you can try to keep them together under supervision.  

Can Budgies Talk?

We are excited to hear our parakeet talk. Right? Because of their entertaining personality, everyone wants to own parrots as pets. But every parakeet can’t talk. Let’s see the case of budgies.

Budgies can surely talk, but you need to train them continuously. They can mimic a wide vocabulary of words when they are properly instructed. The talking abilities of female and male budgies are different. Males can talk and mimic human sounds more effectively than females but both possess the same vocal organs. 

Male budgies are more likely to speak while females are better at whistling. On the whole, both the budgies need training and encouragement from the owner to repeat and pick up words. Especially for female budgies because they are less eager to learn. However, whether your budgies talk or not depends upon their personality.

Budgies Food and Nutrition

Diet is really important to a budgie’s health and happiness. Poor diet is a common reason for causing different illnesses in birds. You should continually strive to improve your bird’s diet by attaining new concepts of bird nutrition, and applying them while feeding them. Budgies usually eat a variety of seeds, vegetables, berries, and fruits. You have to be extra careful while preparing a diet schedule for your budgies because they are vulnerable to obesity, iodine deficiencies, and other nutrition-related problems.

Protein plays an important role in the nutrition of budgies, especially in maintaining the health of feathers, claws, and beaks. Specific vitamins and minerals are required at various times during a bird’s life. To build a healthy and active life, they need a well-balanced diet every day. If your bird eats 75-80% of pellet food, they don’t need any other supplements.

There are several steps while feeding your budgies :

1️⃣ Select the correct food – there is a lot of pet food available in the market. When you buy pellets, make sure they don’t have any preservatives, artificial coloring added sugar, or expired.

2️⃣ Include fruits and vegetables – dark green and yellow vegetables should be provided daily. Try fruits and vegetables such as grapes, cucumber, carrots, pumpkins, parsley, broccoli, mango, sweet potato, spinach, apples, and bananas. It is always better to feed them uncooked vegetables and fruits because cooking takes away vital nutrients which are essential for your budgies. Berries contain essential vitamin C and k which provides additional support to the bird’s immune system and regulatory system.

3️⃣ Feed grains–  you can add soaked grains to the bird’s diet like quinoa, brown rice, barley, and broken wheat. The vitamins and minerals present in the grains improve the functioning of the internal organs of your budgies.

4️⃣ Avoid junk food– these foods are high in fat, salt, or sugar. So, feeding these to your bird can cause serious health issues to your bird.  Common food we eat is not suitable for budgies.

Final Thoughts – How Long Do Budgies Live?

If you are a responsible pet owner, concern about the life of your budgies is common. Because their life is in your hands.  Your pet will depend on you for every matter including food and shelter. You should have a clear idea about the requirements of your budgie so that you can provide accordingly.

When you have a pet budgie with you, consider them as your partner, not just a pet. For that, you need to dig out new things about them. Hope this article provides all the information regarding budgie. Love your pet and consider them as an asset.