Cockatiels are one of the smallest and notable species that make intelligent and lovable pets. Accordingly, they are social pets in mimicking your voice and ride around your shoulder and finger happily. Besides, it is necessary to be prepared and take on all the health problems and potential behaviour accompanying your bird. Therefore reading through this article is essential and can provide you with useful tips on how to take care of your healthy and happy pet cockatiel.
How to take care of cockatiels?
Cockatiel cages
As a responsible bird owner, investing in the largest cage is the best thing you can afford. A pen with large floor space can be a perfect decision since cockatiels are ground feeders by nature. The small cage is acceptable if your cockatiel spends much of its time out of its cage.
Accordingly, you should install a grate bottom of the cage to prevent pet birds from feeding their droppings. Safety is another aspect to consider when purchasing a cockatiel cage since it is going to keep your pet bird for an extended period. Therefore, it is a significant expense to invest in a pen of superb quality to make your cockatiel feel comfortable.
The cage with adequate size will help to accommodate the cockatiel and its beak sufficiently without destroying the plastic-coated and flimsy wire bars. It will be helpful if you purchase a cage with either powder coated or high-quality stainless steel for strength enhancement. The approximate size for a single cockatiel cage usually has a dimension of 24’x24’’x24’’ with a bar spacing of fewer than 5/8 inches.
Perches for Your Cockatiel
Providing your pet bird with a mixture of perches is one of the best ways of improving its care. Ensure that its foot is in good health since it relies on it for everything it does, including sleeping. The construction of different materials comes in various diameters and choosing the cage with the modest diameter is essential for better feet exercise of your cockatiel.
It is crucial to ensure that cage wood is safe and free from untreated trees. Having a favourite sleeping perch for your cockatiel is essential to care for your cockatiel. For this reason, you should be able to make a distinction from the many models available on the market using dropping pile underneath. The opposite side of the cage should have partial perches without toys nearby to tangle in with your bird.
Toys
Cockatiels have potent beaks that they love using when chewing. It will be helpful to feed the cage with plenty of toys that birds can shred into pieces as a way of pleasing themselves. There are numerous toys constructed from different components including twig balls, raffia strips and tanned leather vegetable strips.
Choosing toys made from ice lolly and wood sticks as well as those with balsa wood for more giant bird breeds is necessary for the healthy exercise of your cockatiel. Accordingly, you should provide your cockatiel with the opportunity to forage whether inside or outside the cage since they are expert foragers.
Foraging is the best exercise source for your birds that will keep them mentally stimulated. Therefore it is necessary to rotate toys to help to keep your cockatiels’ mind active as they get pleased with anything they can climb on, swing on gnaw to smithereens.
Cockatiel Diet
It is the responsibility for cockatiel owners to provide them with for rich in a balanced diet for their excellent health. It is possible since birds eat everything, including leaves, barks, seeds, grubs and insects. Indeed, cockatiel requires less energy than their world counterparts, but you should feed them with a varied diet to keep them healthy and free from diseases.
There are many controversies amongst bird owners in which a large group support feeding cockatiels with pelleted diets as others support the seed-based feeding. Generally, the consensus is that both feeding systems are acceptable provided your pet bird gets a varied diet. Feeding cockatiels with a varied diet is crucial not only for their excellent health but also is a way of making them friendlier.
Besides pellet and seed diet, there are other food materials you can feed you cockatiel for good health improvement, including fruits proteins and vegetables. However, you need to avoid feeding birds with extremely toxic foods since they are dangerous to their health system. The food materials that you should avoid giving serving your birds include chocolate, avocado, garlic, mushrooms, alcohol, honey, caffeine, onions salt, among other diets rich in toxic substances.
Cockatiel Health and Safety
Keeping your pet bird safe and healthy is the next aspect of care provision. It is important to note that cockatiel owners are the major causes of common illnesses in the species. Accordingly, lack of exercise, unclean cage and poor diet are all the responsibility of bird owners. Therefore, it is crucial to put a preventive measure in place to help to keep cockatiel healthy and happy.
There is need for cockatiel owners to encourage active interaction and play to these species. This involves cleaning the cage and all its components regularly making them free from decaying food materials. Proper cleaning will minimize the levels of bacteria and illness in the cage. Accordingly, it will create a conducive environment for pet cockatiel to play live and get valuable exercise required.
Intelligent birds enjoy exploring home and usually make way to the floor due to tendencies of ground forging. Therefore you need to be alert when cockatiels are out since the floor is the source of electrical cords which is dangerous to your pet birds. Accordingly, it is essential to keep an eye and remember closing doors and windows if you intend to have your birds out in most cases.
Final Thought
Providing good care to cockatiels is vital for its good health and safety. You need to get prepared in valuing and loving these birds as part of your family since they can live for more than 25 years. Make them have a happy life and remain healthy by giving them the right nutrition, care and living environment. Besides, it is helpful to make an appointment immediately with your veterinary if you doubt the behaviour and health of your cockatiel. More importantly, we welcome esteemed customers to visit our website for more information on how to take care of their cockatiel to avoid future regrets.