What we know as a common parakeet can also be called an Australian parakeet, Australian parrot or Australian tasting. In Latin, the melopsittacus undulatus is an endemic bird of Australia very popular as a pet around the world. They live perfectly alone indoors or outdoors, although they are very sociable birds that will love to have a companion with whom to share food or games.
Origin
- Oceania
- Australia
Physical appearance
The parakeet measures about 18 centimetres and weighs approximately 35 grams. They have a greenish-gray curved bill and powerful legs that allow them to climb without difficulty. Its plumage is smooth in some areas, such as on the belly, and mottled on the neck, wings and tail. Each specimen has a unique drawing.
Wild ones are noticeably smaller and have a range of colors that does not come out of green, on the contrary, genetic selection in captivity results in blue, gray, violet, white and yellow parakeets (and even mixtures between colors).
Age is also determined by the lines on the forehead, young people have it covered with lines and adults have it smooth and clear. The young also have a plumage of less intense tones. A young parakeet also differs because it has a completely black eye, and as it grows the iris becomes lighter, leaving a white ring around the black pupil (except in the recessive pia variety that does not develop this iris color).
Behavior
The parakeet, as we have said before, is a social bird that loves to communicate by imitating sounds that, although not as developed as in the case of parrots, allows them to emit different songs to communicate their feelings or sensations in every moment. The male tends to sing while the female tends to make short sounds.
They are funny and curious, somewhat noisy if they are happy, because they love to convey what they feel. In addition, in optimal physical condition, the parakeet will be active and peaceful. During the hottest hours such as noon, the parakeet is usually calmer. He can also get angry, an attitude that we will identify if we see him in an uproar as he opens his beak and flutters.
In the wild they live in colonies for that reason they learn how they should behave by observing other nearby parakeets.
Care
Many people decide to adopt a parakeet since its care is very simple, although we must have some basic notions such as the use of a horizontal cage, at least 50 centimetres, so that our parakeet can fly. Add drinkers, a feeder, a cuttlefish bone or calcium, and a toy.
It is also important that in addition to your usual diet based on millet and birdseed, you occasionally receive fruit (apple or pear) and vegetables (chickpeas or spinach), as well as alfalfa. The more varied the diet of your parakeet, the healthier it will look.
Let him fly from time to time (as long as you start training first) and buy a bird pool. In addition to enchanting them, the pool prevents the appearance of many diseases.
Health
The parakeet can suffer from various diseases, many of which you can prevent if you carefully read this section on health:
Fractures: It can happen that your parakeet fractures trying to fly or when it gets bad grip on some point of the cage. Try to form a splint coated with a small adhesive and wait a week, it will already be cured.
Melancholy: It appears before the death or lack of a loved one. If you have a male, put him next to another male or female, on the contrary, if he is female you can only join him with a male.
Obesity: It is not fatal but it seriously affects your health. Vary the nutrition and reduce the alfalfa.
Cold: Generally happens due to currents or sudden temperature changes, it does not take more than 2 or 3 days to disappear. You can add type B vitamins to help you recover quickly.
Scabies mites: We can realize that our parakeet has parasites as scabs appear on the beak or legs. Simply adding oil to the affected areas usually goes away although we recommend buying an antiparasitário for sale in pet stores. Use a spray.
Asthma: It is chronic and we can identify it by the respiratory distress of the parakeet. Although it does not cause death, we must follow some quiet behavior guidelines from the diagnosis.
Constipation: When we observe them trying to evacuate but nothing comes out, we can speak of constipation, offer lettuce
