Budgies with obesity / how to make food a challenge

Photo © Internationale Zentrale Tierregistrierung

Budgies that are kept inside a cage are getting too fat too soon. This was mentioned in an article on the website of the Internationale Zentrale Tierregistrierung®. Owners should give their budgies the opportunity to have some movement, without putting any pressure on the bird but instead by making a fun game out of it. One example is to hide little food tidbits in a ball or an egg carton. This way your budgie can get more fun and more movement out of the whole eating process.

The magazine "Ein Herz für Tiere" (A heart for animals) points out that budgies enjoy having a little challenge to get to their food, as long as it's just a game and not a matter of life and death as it is for them in the wild. According to the magazine, more than half of the budgies in Germany are overweight. An incorrect way of feeding is the main cause for this problem. Many owners give their budgies too much high-energy food, while two teaspoons of grains are usually enough for a budgie.

Radical diets on the other side, are dangerous to budgies, because the small birds can starve to death very quickly. As you may know, budgies can only go 46 hours without food. You have to keep this in mind before you decide to leave them alone for a few days! A better way to deal with your budgie's obesity is to remove the oil-bearing seeds (like sunflower seeds) from its diet and provide the chance of free flight outside of the cage every day.