Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Budgies and their love for Eucalypt Trees

Eucalypt trees - also referred to as "gum trees" - have a special place in the life of the budgerigar.

The wild budgerigars in Australia have evolved alongside the Eucalypt tree and over all these thousands of years, they have developped an intimate bond with the tree and its leaves. Wet eucalypt leaves excite and invigorate both the wild and aviary budgerigar into a frenzy of joy. Does this sound familiar? Yes, budgerigars also start to sing when it's raining outside! It's an ancient instinct that tells them that the tide has turned in their favour.

How does Eucalypt help budgies?

Budgies love to bathe in wet Eucalypt leaves. It's healthy and refreshing for the little birds. Females in breeding mood chew the bark in search for trace elements and lysine, the breeding protein. Wild budgies also prefer the branches and trunks of Eucalypt trees to build their nests in. On top of that, the Eucalyptus oil from the leaves has some good medicinal properties that stimulate the immune system and promote a strong natural resistance to disease. The Eucalypt branches are also a personal favourite of the budgies for stripping and gnawing. And they love doing that!
This is why you should give the branches and the leaves to your budgie sometimes, it's their natural food and it's full of good things.

Important sidenote about your budgerigar's diet: Budgerigars are vegetarian and should not be supplied with meat, milk or other animal proteins. The birds' digestive systems are not able to properly digest such food, and these proteins tend to go off quickly.


Millet combined with fresh Eucalypt leaves: your budgie's dream dinner. Image ©budgierisa.webs.com

Images above (c) Wikipedia & The Telegraph

Information is copyright © 2000 Rob Marshall.

14 comments:

  1. Yum! Am I going to see budgies bathing in eucalyptus leaves soon? ;)

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  2. Excellent article :)

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  3. Thanks. Your article protected me from a big mistake. And my decision to buy eucalyptus confirms. Many greetingses from Germany.

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  4. I have eucalypustus branches in my cage it's like a mini aviary indoors they have been set as a climbing facility and have dried is this ok some leaves are still on and occasionally the birds nibble them

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  5. Hi,
    One of y budgies is suffering from redmites. She is a baby and thats why I dont want to take risk by using any chemical from the pet shop. I do keep her cage clean. even other budgies don't have red mites. I have read on a few websites that eucalyptus leaves are poison for budgies and on websites it says, they are best to get rid to red mites, lice, or any infection... I am so confused.. please help :(

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    1. Dried eucalyptus leaves would be toxic since they're used for decoration but natural leaves and branches are from there natural habitat.

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  6. Great now how can those of us who don't live in Australia purchase these leaves and or branches?

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  7. Hey is there a specific type of gum tree to use

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  8. Hi, wondering what species of gum tree this is? Greenville, SC, USA

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  9. Thank you so much, best advice I’ve gotten all week 👍🏽

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    Replies
    1. I live in Australia so I’m surrounded by gum tree, my little ones will be happy 😊

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  10. I live in Chile and am also surrounded by eucalypts. My aviary resembles a eucalypt forest and I find they prefer nibbling the leaves once they have dried out. Fresh leaves dobt seem to interest them

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