Companion for budgie??

[nels2985]

Hello all~

Here I am again with my budgie questions! (If you need help with your macaw, just let me know! LOL!) I am the very proud mommy of 4 beautiful fids of all sizes: Ellie is a harlequin macaw, Huey is a sun conure, Zebers is an Indain Ringneck, and Suzie is a budgie, and it is with her that my questions lie.

Suzie seems a bit, well I'm not sure if lonely is the word, but looking like she wants a companion. She tries to spend time with the other three birds during 'cage free-time' (monitored of course) but they have no interest in spending anytime with her. Actually they usually try and chase her away if she gets too close to them. I feel bad for her because the other three can interact (for the most part) just fine...It's like watching one of your kids consistenly being left out! So I got the brilliant idea of getting a second budgie as a companion for Suzie. Here are a few of my questions though:

First off, Suzie is about 8 months old, so she is still fairly young. Would I be better off getting another female or a male for her? I hear that two females tend to not get along very well (and little Suzie is...can we say, fiesty for her size!!). If I do get a male, is there a way to keep them from breeding? (ie, light/dark cycles, foods, no nesting site, etc) Any bird that I bring home is quarantined for a minimum of 30 days but after that what is the best way to introduce them? How would you know that it is "safe" to cage them together to ensure that they will not hurt one another?

Any other info would also be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance for your help!!

Angela

[KrytterKrys]

well your best bet would be to go with a male as the females do tend to be more aggressive with one another. you should have any problems with them nesting as long as you dont provide a nestbox for them. it would be best to introduce them to each other by placing their cages next to each other, and see how well they interact. when you do put them together if your putting them both in say he females cage then be sure to re-arrange toys and such to avoid some territory disputes. and just make sure they have enough space to get away from another if they want to. they might have little spats every now and then but thats normal and they'll probably spend most of the day chattering with and preenin each other. i had a bossy female before that was like that...hope i could help :)