A parakeet...?

[2198lindsey]

I often have friends who have an animal that they'd like to rehome, and since I'm a highschool kid and I do a lot of work with several different rescues, I get Facebook messages often. Usually it's for a rodent, or a dog, but today I got one about a parakeet.
I used to have a cockatiel and a parakeet when I was like 10, but as you can imagine I didn't know the proper care for it, like my first pig.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to take in this little guy and I was wondering if any of you guys knew about parakeets and basic care? I'm down with the basics, I'd just like to hear from some people with expirience.

 

[YourSoJelly]

My mom had one. Her name was Hollywood. She was ALWAYS out of her cage. She has a lot of free roaming time. She also had 3 mirrors, a bazillion and one toys, and lots of ladders.

 

[2198lindsey]

I actually had a teacher in middle school that had a couple birds, she had a one legged parakeet that she brought in for a day, and she said that they shouldn't have mirrors because it makes them very unsociable, and not want to bond with you. Definitely doing research on that subject since loads of bird toys seem to have mirrors on them.QUOTE=YourSoJelly;719316]My mom had one. Her name was Hollywood. She was ALWAYS out of her cage. She has a lot of free roaming time. She also had 3 mirrors, a bazillion and one toys, and lots of ladders.[/QUOTE]

 

[YourSoJelly]

The morrors never seemed to phase her. She would come when called, did little tricks and stuff. Hollywood never had issues with the mirror. There was another bird named Hailey that the owner of my arn had. She had a mirror and they never phased her either. She cam when called and could "dance". Now that was funny!

 

[foggycreekcavy]

What type of parakeet? Is it a budgie? All Budgies are parakeets, but not all parakeets are budgies.

 

[YourSoJelly]

Hailey was an African Grey Parrot, and Hollywood was a Quaker Parrot.

 

[2198lindsey]

I'm 99% positive it's a Budgie.

What type of parakeet? Is it a budgie? All Budgies are parakeets, but not all parakeets are budgies.

 

[YourSoJelly]

Ahh... sorry. I can't help in that area of expertise...

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I used to know of a really good bird forum. I'll see if I can dig it up.

I've had budgies for most of my life. We've been without one for a couple of years now, and I really miss having them around.

 

[MochaAndMoo]

If you put a mirror in the birds cage it will never learn to speak, so if you want to teach your bird to speak don't put mirrors in the cage.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

I use to have budgies. They always had mirrors. Some spoke, most didn't, some were friendly, some were not. Mirrors seemed to have less to do with it than individual personality and speaking seemed to have to do with the age we got them at than anything else. One thing about my birds is they were rarely in their cages when someone was home.

 

[couchon]

I am am pretty sure they shouldn't live alone...

 

[soopermum62]

If you put a mirror in the birds cage it will never learn to speak, so if you want to teach your bird to speak don't put mirrors in the cage.

I have to beg to differ with this statement. I had Budgies and Cockatiels in the past and they all had mirrors. All of them Talked LOTS! I have a Goffin's Cockatoo now, and he Talks also. The only reason he does not have a mirror is because of the fact I cannot find one that he can't destroy. He actually talks less than my Cockatiels did, but Gizmo actually tries to carry on a conversation with you and answer simple questions.

 

[MochaAndMoo]

@soopermum62 @Inle_Rabbit I was told this by a friend with experience with birds, I guess she was wrong.