Cockatiels are unique, adorable, affectionate, loving, faithful, and intelligent birds. They bond closely with homeowners and require special attention from their owners. A cockatiel’s lifespan results from its living conditions. With a healthy diet and excellent living conditions, they will undoubtedly live long.
How long do cockatiels live?
The lifespan for cockatiels depends on its living environment. Wild cockatiels live anywhere, ranging from ten to fourteen years. It is due to the outdoor weather that significantly affects the bird’s longevity. Alternatively, tamed cockatiels live between 20-29 years.
Furthermore, pet cockatiels live as long as 35 years under proper health and nutritional needs. For extending your cockatiel’s lifespan, an adequate diet is essential. Additionally, it would help if you made your cockatiel environment fun and enjoyable with a suitable cage containing varied cockatiel toys. Too, the pet needs at least eight hours of rest at night and several daytime naps. They easily suffer depression if not given enough to do. The bird is a friendly species that enjoys watching TV and sharing time with family members.
For maintaining your pet’s feet’ health, you need a mixture of perches. It is because the cockatiel relies on its feet in everything. If using natural perches, then you need to protect your pet from untreated wood and trees. Additionally, chewing is their favorite hobby. Providing them with varied toys which they can shred into pieces would be pleasing.
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Factors for maximizing the lifespan of cockatiels
Proper cleanliness
As a cockatiel owner, you need to ensure proper cleanliness in the cage from perches, toys, water bowls. Additionally, the cage should not have decaying food to ensure your cockatiel’s happy and healthy life. Cleanliness will keep bacteria levels down, giving your pet a pleasant environment for playing and obtaining valuable exercise required.
Veterinary care
Pets’ cockatiels need specialized medical care from veterinarians to ensure an appropriate healthy life.
Avoid accidents
Commonly, cockatiels are involved in accidents that may result in their death. For example, when a cockatiel flies out through a window and disappears, it fights with a cat.
It would help if you did not leave the bird along with dogs and cats. The reason is that a dog can easily hurt a bird due to its fragile small size. It may result in the death of the cockatiel, reducing its lifespan. Notably, don’t overfeed your birds since they could become extra fat after feeding bad diets.
Cockatiel cage
A Cockatiel’s cage should include everything the bird needs for its survival. Notably, you should set up the cage correctly by gathering the right supplies and putting the cage at the right place to fulfill the cockatiel’s needs. Additionally, the cage should have a large space.
An individual cockatiel will need a cage that is 24 inches tall, 24” wide, and 24 inches deep. Moreover, ensure the cage bars’ space is less than 5/8” to ensure your birds’ heads don’t get stuck between them. Notably, cockatiels need various enrichment items to have their brain’s health and keep them happy. The item combinations should be, shredding toys, mineral bones, swings, and wooden toys.
Additionally, ensure the cage has 3 to 4 perches that your bird will be sitting. With grooming perches, your cockatiel will keep their nails rounded, thus reducing the frequency of trimming your bird’s nails. Alternatively, with natural wood perches, your bird will be happy to stand and chew on.
You should include water and food dishes in your cockatiel cage. Accordingly, food dishes should be from easy to clean materials, such as stainless steel and plastic. Additionally, ensure the dishes have a wide opening to enable the bird to see the food quickly. Furthermore, the quantity of the dishes will depend on the various foods you feed your cockatiel.
Since cockatiels are pets who need to be a part of the family, you should not place them in busy and hectic areas. It is good to place your birdcage in the room where your family members spend most of their time. The bird will be happy to see you most of the time. Putting the cage near a window or a door would be advantageous as the bird requires sunlight during survival. However, don’t place the cage in the kitchen as the fumes from pans are toxic to the bird.
For easy cleaning of the cage, cover the bottom of the cage with a substance easily removed. Newspapers are recommendable since they aren’t toxic to your bird and are cheap. Shape the paper in a shape which will fit the bottom side of the cage.
Foods for cockatiel
Naturally, all birds need healthy foods for their survival. The diet list for your cockatiel should include cereals, weeds, and greens, nuts, grains, edible blossoms and flowers, fruits, legumes, and vegetables. Additionally, berries constitute vitamins like K, E, B2, B1, C, and B1 essential in fighting various infections like eye problems for your bird.
However, cockatiels have their favorite foods, including dehydrated veggies, but still healthy. Additionally, they require calcium, minerals, and proteins. Edible chalk and mineral blocks are essential for your cockatiel since they contain nutrients. The pet likes eggs with shells. Feed vegetables and fruits in small pieces for motivating your bird to grab and eat more food.
Your cockatiel’s healthy vegetables include cucumber, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, asparagus, beet, and carrots. Additionally, it would be best if you consisted of cooked pasta, steamed rice, corn, and beans. However, don’t add fat or butter to the diet. Moreover, for proteins, fish, eggs, and chicken are recommendable. Furthermore, hard cheese in small amounts is acceptable.
Notably, like other birds, cockatiels require water for their health. Accordingly, you should ensure your bird has drinking water changeable at least two times a day. Clean greens and legumes well to avoid your bird’s consumption of pesticides. It would help if you avoided seed toxics and plants for your bird. Additionally, avoid feeding your cockatiel with fresh mushrooms, potatoes, uncooked beans, and onions.
Other ingredients and foodstuffs not recommended for cockatiel for being toxic include alcohol, honey, candies, garlic, caffeine, and chocolate. Accordingly, avoid all sugar-free, high-sodium, and high-fat foodstuffs.
Conclusion
A cockatiel is a unique bird pet that every homeowner needs to rear. They live longer provided with proper nutrition and a clean cage. Additionally, the pets require exercise and toys for playing while obtaining the necessary valuable training. Therefore, customers should visit our website and study safely the proper ways of caring for your pet to avoid later inconveniences.