If you want a budgie, it is best to have two as budgies like having company. The noisier, the better for them! You must be able to take care of it, too. Prepare for feeding it, cleeaning... etc! Picking the Budgie Do you want a male? Or female? Blue? Yellow? Green? Gray? These are the things to consider. The gender of the bird, and the colour. Males are more chatty, and have either a bluish or purpulish cere. The cere is the lump over the beak. Females are more quiet, and have either a brown, off-white or pinkish cere. The colours are: Blue body with white head, green body with yellow head, green body with white head, yellow, gray body with white, blue body with yellow head, mixed colours, and white. Make sure the budgie has no diseases - see Diseases. Diseases Enteritia - If your bird has diarreoa, has its head down, feathers are fluffed out and looks seedy and dejected, then your bird has enteritia. It will not be intrested in anything, and becomes unnaturallly tame. To treat your bird, rest the bird and do not make it fly around. Put a sheet over 3 sides, or for cylinder-like cages, leave 1 third open, and place the cage in a warm spot - preferrebly by a fireside. The heat will briten up the bird, but you should put powdered bismurth carbonate sprinkled in the food. Fits - In hot weather, common when birds are in sunlight and cannot escape into the shade, they have fits and are best put in the shade. Put a dark towel on the cage and let the bird calm down. Scaly Face - Mites, called Cnemodocoptes mites, cause scales to appear on affected areas, mainly the face,feet,cere,eylids, and can cause beak deformaties. Tail Rot - Rot of the tail. The tail is wet and raggy looking, and the bird can not manuever the tail properly. No cure, I think.. I haven't found out yet! To stop bleeding, wet a towel and stanch bleeding area, or get a cyptic pencil. Wings When you clip the birds wings, clip them so that the bird can fly a little, enough so that if it falls of the cage it dosen't hurt itself. Use a screen door to tell your budgie that there's a window there so it will not get hurt. If you do not have a sceen door, cover the windows with a bit of seethrough cloth. Do not cut the 2 main longest feathers at the end of your birds wings, but trim the next 6-8 feathers. Cut a little, maybe about a centimeter, and then, after let it fly for a little. If it can still fly some, then clip about half a centimeter or less. If you buy it at a petstore, you can get someone to help clip them for you. They can give you info on how to cut, too. Do not pull out the feathers, as it will cause pain. Clipping them won't.