Budgies, budgerigars, or parakeets are the common names for these lovely birds that are native to Australia. Parakeet is a term used for smaller species of parrots that are usually slim birds with long, pointed tails. They are called budgies or budgerigars in Australia. They are also known by some other uncommon names like shell parakeet or warbling grass parakeet. In America, they are mostly known as parakeets. Life Span When you are buying any pet, one of the most important questions to ask is what will be its average life span. Similarly, when you bring a budgie home, you should be aware of its life expectancy. The average life span of budgies is around 10 to 12 years, when kept under ideal conditions. However, many of them do not complete this average life span. Thus, the normal life expectancy can be narrowed down to a healthy 2 to 7 years. However, one cannot predict the life expectancy of a budgie until you bring home. The American budgie's life span is longer than the English variety's. It has been also found that the life span of breeding budgies is less than those that never raise chicks. Also, these birds are prone to tumors, thus lowering their life expectancy. Many also die due to accidents and freak mishaps. Thus, never let your little bird out of your sight. Make your home bird-proof. Make sure you do not have any poisonous plants around, or electrical wiring or strings tied in the house that can lead to unfortunate accidents. Budgies love to climb and chew, thus, take extra precautions. This will help in increasing their life span. It is seen that in order to prevent the budgies from escaping, owners often clip their wings. This prevents them from flying off. Flying is the best exercise for budgies, and when they do not receive enough of it, they tend to become fat. While giving them treats, choose non-fattening ones like sprey millet or assorted seed treats. If your budgie does not get enough exercises, limit the treats to once in 15 days. If the internal organs of the bird become fat, it may lead to organ failure. Many times, there is a sudden organ failure without any prior symptoms. The most common tumor in these birds is lipoma, which is a kind of fatty tumor. It develops and grows between the skin and muscles, thus making it the cause of death in 50% of the cases. It is very important that you give a proper diet to your budgies. A nutritious and healthy diet helps in increasing their life span. You can feed them fruits and vegetables everyday. Like little children, they too may avoid their greens, but you must be a little strict. You can feed them different fruits, vegetables, and seed mix every day, so that you maintain a variety in flavor. You may try giving some vitamin supplements available at pet shops. However, read the instructions carefully before feeding it to your budgies. They should be given fresh water daily, and avoid placing the tray below the seed pan or bird feeder to avoid floating seeds. If you wish to increase the life expectancy of your budgies, make sure you give them a healthy diet. Encourage them to fly and treat them with a little firmness and love. Some Interesting Facts Budgies are amazing creatures, and the following facts will prove the point.

• Astonishingly, humans can register 16 images per second, whereas budgies register 150 images per second.
• Budgies see everything in color.
• They can store sound sequences in their memory and are able to hear sounds from 400 to 20,000 Hz.
• Budgies are smart enough to count up to three!
• They can rotate their heads up to 180 degrees.
• They poop every 12 to 15 minutes!
• One of the most interesting budgies facts is their high sense of feeling. A female budgie can feel the embryo moving inside the egg. This allows the mother to know when her chick will be ready to hatch!
• Wild budgies are found in the primary green color with black stripes and a yellow head. There are a number of color mutations, thus you find many domestic budgies in a varied range of colors like green, sky blue, yellow (lutino), white (albino), gray, violet, cinnamon, opline, lacewing, spangle, crested, mauve, cobalt, laurel, Danish pied Saddleback, Australian Dominat Pied, and Dutch Dominant Pied.
• Budgies have survived in the Inlands of Australia for over 5 million years.

There are many other factors like the type of cage, food, ideal environment, etc., that need to be understood and followed when bringing them home. Make sure you understand their personality traits and behavior. Ask any questions regarding care for budgies to the pet store attendants. This will help you when you bring your pets home.