Can budgies and rats live in the same household?

A couple of days ago, one of my collegues asked me if I could babysit her two rats while she's on holidays. I told her that it shouldn't be a problem. However, I read some scary stuff online about rats attacking, killing and eating budgies. What?!

No matter how tame some pet rats are, they will always act on their instinct. Apparently there have been quite a few incidents where rats bite budgies through the cage bars. Their nose and teeth are narrow enough to bite off toes, etc. This kind of wound causes serious infections and might result in death. It is also said that rats will attack pretty much any small critters. Other sources claim that rats aren't known for killing birds, just for eating their eggs.

Photo © World in my eyes

A few people claim that it's safe, as long as you don't leave them alone, or if you just keep the rats in the cage. The picture above is really sweet, but it's naive to think that rats will not attack the budgies. So if the rats and the budgies are out together that week, it will be under strict supervision by me and Erlend.

Answer: sadly no, unless you are there to keep an eye on the rats while they are out of the cage.

Other posts in this series:
Can budgerigars and cats live together?
Can budgerigars and canaries live together?
Can budgerigars and lovebirds live together?
Can budgerigars and cockatiels love together?

Happy Birthday Erlend!

Photo © Cooper's Corner

Happy 24th Birthday to Erlend Alvestad, my love, and proofreader of this blog. Our budgies were saying Happy Birthday too, in their own, adorable way :) Once Frodo starts talking, he is never going to stop!!!

Budgie Wolf Couple (Art)

Cute! Note the budgie feathers on the yellow wolf :)
(click on the image to see full size)

Picture © mangakasan on Deviantart

"Under my thumb" (video)

Do budgies get seasick?

Photo © parrot - heaven on tumblr

I started wondering about this after we bought our budgies a swing. Frodo is having a lot of fun with it and he keeps rocking back and forth, sometimes while he's hanging upside down. I know that if it was me, I would get seasick very quickly, as I'm very sensitive to motion. But is it the same for budgies? Here's the answer.

Like humans, budgies can experience motion sickness and they can throw up when it gets too bad. A budgie's brain can receive conflicting messages - from his eyes and the rest of his body - about whether he is in motion or not. There are certain factors adding to this problem, like stress and exhaustion or a lack of oxygen. Never feed your budgie right before you're taking him on a car trip.

If you need to travel somewhere, you'd better start with short distance trips to determine whether motion sickness is a problem for your budgie. Make sure to provide enough oxygen throughout the whole ride. It also helps to cover the cage and play some soothing music, so your budgie can relax more easily.