trying to find the right pet 4 me

Question
Hi im trying to pickk the best small animal for me and i wanted to know if it would hurt the bird of shorten his/ her lifetime at all if i only got one budgie and no mirrors. i read once that if you have a budgie alone with no mirrors the bird will bond with you. but i also read that the bird's natural behavior is different when put back in the cage. Please help me!

Answer
Hi Danielle,

I have been trying to answer you for several days but could not get the answer to go through here. It must have been a problem with this website. Sorry for the delay.

  Before you decide to get a budgie I would suggest that you do MUCH more reading about the proper care of companion birds. Many people assume that a bird is the easiest pet to care for but the truth is that for a bird to live a long happy life, they require a lot of time, attention, and work.

 It will not shorten your birds life if you don't have a mirror in the cage. I am not sure where you got that information but it is wrong. I do agree that until a budgie has established a bond with you, that mirrors probably are not a good idea in the cage as the bird will think he has another bird for a companion and pay more attention to the mirror than you. But your budgie will need lots of safe toys to play with in a BIG roomy cage. Most of the cages sold at pet shops for budgies are much too small. I would never use anything smaller than a cockatiel sized cage for a budgie. And toys need to be checked to make sure they are safe.

 Do you know all about proper diet? How about wing trimming? Do you know that you have to be very careful what you use in cleaning the cage, etc????  There is a lot to learn. I suggest that you go to the website Birdnways.com
and read some of the online articles there. That site is full of good information about caging, feeding, toys and toys safety, different types of birds, etc.... and it is one that I trust to have correct information.

 Having a first small animal is wonderful and can be the start of years of happiness sharing your life with animals of all kinds but please for your sake and for the sake of the animal you decide on, make sure you do as much research and learning BEFORE you make your decision.

Good luck to you!

Jan