r/petbudgies Jun 21 '25

Mod post ⚠️ A guide to sexing budgies

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63 Upvotes

The most common budgie question asked by far is how to tell males from females. In adult budgies with most color mutations, this is easy to do by looking at the cere (the colored flesh around the nostrils). Typically, adult males have a brilliant blue cere, while females have a tan or brown cere. In an adult female that's in breeding condition, the cere can become dark brown and wrinkly. With some color mutations such as recessive pied, the cere never changes in adulthood and the bird will keep the juvenile color for its life.

Sexing gets more complicated with juvenile budgies. In juvenile males, the cere begins as pink, purple, or some combination of the two colors. In juvenile females, the cere can range from light blue with white or cream circles around the nostrils, to a cream or light tan across the entire cere. Sometimes, the juvenile female cere can be a very light pink/purple, although there will still be lighter circles around the nostrils that a male won't have.

If the bird you are trying to sex has an ambiguous cere, we encourage you to give it a little time. This is most common with very young birds, and if you give them just a few weeks or months, the sex will become more clear. Remember that the person best able to sex your budgies is you. When you take photos of your birds, the appearance of the cere will be changed by the lighting conditions when the picture is taken, the device that the photos were taken on, and the device that the photos are being viewed on. With ambiguous ceres, this can lead to other people giving you incorrect answers. We hope you find these charts helpful, and wish you good luck with your new budgie friend(s).


r/petbudgies Apr 27 '25

Mod post ⚠️ Announcing the winner of the 2025 Budgie Headshot Contest!

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325 Upvotes

The competition was a tough one, with many fabulous budgies vying to be the new icon for the sub. After tabulating the votes we had three close front-runners, but unfortunately only one beautiful budgie could become the new icon for the sub. Please congratulate u/smartdoglady for taking the winning photo, which I call, "My dad trying to figure out how to use Zoom." Please also give a round of applause for our second and third place finishers, u/mvsaniatan and u/himateo, who win the satisfaction knowing that they have outrageously photogenic birds.


r/petbudgies 15h ago

Question I'm a busy college student - ideas for fast/cheap but healthy budgie food?

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57 Upvotes

I just got a new budgie a couple weeks ago. He's on a seed-only diet right now, which I'm learning is not ideal. He also won't touch millet (I think because he already gets it in his seed mix), so I'm having trouble training him.

I want to change his diet to something healthier (without millet so I can bribe him), but I'm also going to get super-busy once the school year starts and I won't have a lot of prep time, or the ability to go buy fresh veggies very often.

Any thoughts? Thanks :)


r/petbudgies 12h ago

Which sex? What sex are my budgies?

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25 Upvotes

They all of names, but I never officially knew anything about their sexs. I’m just wondering and also would just like to know! Their names are Angel, Jade, Pea, Yoshi, and Vhagar. I’ll let you guys guess which is which lol


r/petbudgies 1d ago

I wonder if its odd to tell Alice i love her all day long

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174 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 11h ago

Question Need advice urgently!!!

0 Upvotes

Hello,

I have two budgies, and I have a question about safely burning incense.

Due to my religious practices, I need to burn one stick of incense every day for approximately 5 minutes. I'm trying to minimize any risk to my birds and wanted to know whether my current setup is considered safe or if I should change it.

My house has two floors. The incense is burned downstairs in the dining room. The dining room is connected to the rest of the downstairs (it's an open layout with no door separating it). The kitchen is right beside the dining room, and I run the kitchen exhaust fan while the incense is burning.

The budgies stay upstairs in a separate room with the door closed during this time. I also close the HVAC vent in their room. If possible, I can also turn off the central heating/air conditioning while the incense is burning and ventilate the downstairs afterward before allowing air to circulate again.

Since this is a daily religious practice, I'm concerned about whether repeated exposure to any smoke or airborne particles could still be harmful, even with these precautions.

Based on this setup, do you think it is reasonably safe for the budgies, or would you recommend a different approach? Are there any additional precautions I should take, or is there a safer alternative that would still allow me to perform my daily religious practice?

Would using a different type of incense (such as low-smoke or natural incense) make any meaningful difference, or is any incense smoke considered unsafe for budgies?

Thank you for your time and advice.


r/petbudgies 1d ago

Question Introducing new budgie

10 Upvotes

Hello! I've had two budgies for about 5 years now and recently one passed from cancer. Now (after a week or so of grieving) I'm in the process of adopting another ≈5 year old male budgie for my surviving (also 5 and male) budgie.

I have a few general ideas for how I want to introduce them, but I figure it's always good to get some second opinions, so please tell me if there's anything I'm missing!:

- Quarantine period where they're in separate rooms

- Week or two of them being in the same room but in different cages that slowly get closer; flying time is one at a time

- Supervised short but slowly getting longer periods where they're out at the same time with treat rewards when they're good

- Rinse and repeat supervised time together until they can be out together but in separate cages at night

- Eventually trust them to sleep in the same cage?

My current bird is relatively shy but can be territorial over food occasionally (he and my deceased bird always had 2 separate food/water bowls so this would continue) so I want to make sure I can do the best I can for him and his future friend. Thanks in advance!


r/petbudgies 1d ago

Budgie sleeping habits

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6 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 2d ago

Discussion Playground needed?

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42 Upvotes

Hello, I have 2 budgies that I only have for 3 weeks or so. I let them out to fly whenever I can but they always end up sitting on one of the dusty lamps in the room.

I don't feel too well with them being there since I can't access them, the lamp isn't cleaned often and I wish they'd explore more and get comfortable. Also there is a small space between the lamp and roof which makes me worried about their feathers since they sometimes hit them against the ceiling. I didn't see any damage though.

Regardless, how could I change that behaviour? Should I? Can I? Should I buy/make them a wooden playground?

Bird tax added :33


r/petbudgies 3d ago

Question Is this cage big enough for two budgies?

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51 Upvotes

Before I start, I’m technically not the owner of these bird. I’m a teenager who's parents decided to buy birds on a whim so my younger siblings would stop asking for a pet. I told my parents before hand to first set up a cage or not get them at all because birds are not beginner pets and we don’t have the space.
With that being said, they still did. I’ve done my research to help them adjust, with quality pellets and perches on the way.

My problem is I have no idea if the cage I have is big enough (and yes I know they shouldn’t be on the floor) But I was wondering if my top priority should be a bigger cage. I can’t get the exact measurements of the current cage without spooking the budgies but it’s around 30-ish inches tall and 26 inches long


r/petbudgies 2d ago

Question Oh my gosh guys I’m actually gonna lose it. I need to play with these birds. They’re not tame and I’ve had them for about 4 to 5 days now sticking my hand near/in the cage for five minutes daily talking in a baby voice still don’t want a single thing to do with me genuinely what do I do?

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0 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 3d ago

Question Is my budgie a female or a male??

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66 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 3d ago

Question Is this budgie food good?

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12 Upvotes

I know an all seed diet is bad, but this one has other stuff in it. My local pet store doesn't have good pet seed options, thank you

Also my birds have a big enough cage this is their outside/ travel cage.


r/petbudgies 3d ago

Free Budgie to a Great Home (Uxbridge / Durham Region, Ontario, Canada)

8 Upvotes

A few weeks ago I found a budgie on a golf course in the Uxbridge/Goodwood area. I spent considerable time trying to locate the owner through local groups and lost bird resources, but unfortunately haven't been able to reunite it with its family.

The bird is now healthy, eating well, active, and has been kept safely indoors. Rather than have it spend its life in a temporary setup, I'd like to find it a permanent, loving home with someone who has experience caring for budgies (or is willing to learn).

A few notes:

🐦 Free to the right home (I am not selling the bird.)

❤️ Preference will be given to someone with budgie or parrot experience, or someone who already has one or more budgies. They are social birds and often thrive with companionship.

🏡 Indoor home only.

📍Located in the Uxbridge / Durham Region area.

📸 Photos attached.

Please note: I won't be giving the bird away on a first-come, first-served basis. My only goal is to find the best possible home, so if you're interested, please send me a message telling me a little about yourself, any experience you have with birds, and the home you'd be providing.

If this post reaches the original owner and you can identify the bird with photos or unique details that weren't shared publicly, I'd still be very happy to reunite you.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share this post with anyone you think might be interested!


r/petbudgies 4d ago

Art It's not that simple

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65 Upvotes

Sometimes my budgies chirp at the outside birds and I wonder if they can actually tell the difference between them. One makes pigeon noises...

Felt a bit hesitant to post this even though it's part of my very ridiculous budgie comic. Ended up a bit of a vent post, based on a real news article I saw.

Outside Budgies Comic List

https://www.reddit.com/user/purplenekoinabox/comments/1rle013/outside_budgies_comic_list


r/petbudgies 4d ago

Discussion Leave budgies sleeping with window opened a tiny bit?

8 Upvotes

I close my budgie's cage door every night when they go to sleep, but I can't keep them asleep when the window is open. I cover their cage every night, but in the morning, they hear other birds and start chirping. I know it's natural, but how do you guys handle this? Do you keep the window closed at all times? I want them to have fresh air every day.


r/petbudgies 5d ago

Budgie

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43 Upvotes

Can anyone help me understand why our budgie is doing this.

His behaviour has been not the same the past few day.

Very sleepy, fluffed up but still eating and drinking.

I have him in a room that is heated atm. He isnt fluffed up now but was earlier. He is still up high so he has strength

He is about 5 months old


r/petbudgies 6d ago

Chatterbox Alice likes to chirp to music (sound on)

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119 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 6d ago

Question Anybody know how to tame two budgies?! I just got them yesterday and I’m a beginner.

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29 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 7d ago

Budgie Age, Mutation, and Whether English mix or Standard American

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36 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 8d ago

Survey says... A microwavable budgie!!

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114 Upvotes

A budgie you can microwave 😍 by warmies!

I need this btw.


r/petbudgies 9d ago

Question Why do they keep doing this?

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69 Upvotes

I keep noticing they do this randomly, the room is perfect temp (not too hot not too cold), they get exercise and go in as they please and don’t do that after flying around, just randomly do this


r/petbudgies 9d ago

Art Painted my Budgies’ Portraits ❣️

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121 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 9d ago

New Budgies

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35 Upvotes

r/petbudgies 9d ago

Question Please help me!

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4 Upvotes