Water is important to the health of your budgie. Why? It regulates your bird’s body temperature, helps your bird’s organs function properly, transports nutrients, and eliminates wastes. I did some digging to know what kind of water do budgies drink, and I’m going to share everything in this article.
Just know that if your budgie does not drink water, it becomes weak and lethargic.
What Kind of Water Do Budgies Drink?
The kind of water budgies drink is clean, fresh, and safe drinking water, including bottled water, spring water, or tap water. So, you must have access to clean, fresh, and safe water for your budgie.
Luckily, budgies drink a small amount of water every day. A single budgie can drink a spoonful of water every day. Budgies can survive on small amounts of water because birds retain their own moisture.
Budgies do not drink dirty water, but they can bath and poop or drop food on their drinking water, making the water unclean. Then, they avoid drinking that water.
That is why you MUST keep cleaning and refilling your budgie’s water bowl. If you have several budgies, change their drinking water several times a day.
By the way, all birds need clean, fresh, and safe drinking water.
Is Tap Water Safe for Budgies?
If your tap water is tested and safe for drinking, it is safe for your budgies. However, the quality of tap water is not the same in all states and countries due to the way they regulate and test their tap water. It is your responsibility to find out if your tap water is safe for your pet birds.
If you know other bird owners in your local area, ask them if they give their budgies tap water, especially if you get the water from the same source. For the safety of your budgies, talk to your local avian vet. Avian vets meet several bird owners, so the vet knows if the tap water you have is safe for your birds.
Do Baby Budgies Drink water?
Baby budgies usually drink water after a few weeks. The parent of your baby budgie will decide when the baby budgie will drink water. So, do not try to force your baby budgie to drink water. You might even see the parent signaling the chick to drink water. You just have to provide fresh and water for your budgies. Budgie baby will drink when it is ready.
Do Budgies Need Water?
Every living thing needs water, so your budgies need water. Water is essential to the health of your budgie. Also, budgies need water for bathing. Budgies use water to keep their feathers clean. Therefore, provide your budgies with water for drinking and bathing.
Budgies need water to:
1. Remain Hydrated
Budgies need water because they lose water in their droppings and through respiration. So, budgies can drink water twice a day to replace the lost water. If you are not feeding your budgies any fruits or vegetables, your budgies will drink a lot of water. It drinks too much water to remain hydrated.
2. Clean their Feathers
Budgies are clean birds. They preen all the time, so they take proper care of their feathers. Budgies dampen their feathers on the water, which makes it easier to clean their feathers. Budgies also clean their feathers when they want to mate. Cleaning the feathers helps them attract a partner.
3. Keep Themselves Cool
During summer months, your budgies become uncomfortable due to the high temperatures. Providing them with water can help them cool. They will swim when they feel hot. By the way, budgies can die of heat stroke. If you see some of the signs in this article, give your budgies water for bathing.
4. Stay Healthy
Budgies can die due to lack of water, especially if you are only feeding them seeds. Water ensures your bird’s organs are functioning properly and it helps transport nutrients and eliminate wastes. All these contribute to the health of your bird.
Do Budgies Drink Much Water?
Normally, budgies drink a small amount of water. Budgies drink less water because they do not have sweat glands.
However, budgies can drink too much water after exercise, during hot summer months, if you change their diet, or if they are sick. Monitor your budgie to know why it is drinking too much water.
Exercise
It is normal for both human beings and animals to get thirsty after long exercises. As bird owners, we love playing with our birds and we sometimes let our birds fly around. So, your budgie might get tired and thirsty and it will drink too much water. Budgie also drinks water to cool down after long exercises.
Hot Days
Budgies usually drink more water during hot days or if you put them in direct sunlight for several hours. (I do not recommend you leave your budgies in direct sunlight.) Budgies can overheat and they can die from heat stroke.
If the day is very hot, put your budgies in a cool place and clean and refill their water bowls several times during the day. This helps your budgies keep cool.
Changing their Foods
Your budgies can drink more water once you change their foods. For instance, budgies eating lots of fruits and vegetables do not drink too much, but budgies eating seeds only usually drink too much. Budgies usually get the water they need from fruits and vegetables. However, seeds are dry, so budgies drink more water.
How Long Can Budgies Go Without Water?
It is really hard to know how long budgies can go without water because this depends on what you are feeding your budgies. If you feed your budgies lots of vegetables and fruits, they can go for several weeks without drinking water. They get the water they need from vegetables and fruits.
However, if you feed your budgies seeds only, your budgies can go for just a few days without water. Seeds do not contain the water that can keep your budgies hydrated.
Offer your budgies a lot of drinking water if you are only feeding them seeds.
Even though budgies can go for several weeks without water if you feed them vegetables and fruits, it does not mean you stop offering them fresh and clean drinking water.
Budgies need water to stay healthy, so give them drinking water twice a day.
How to Tell If Your Budgie is Drinking Water?
It is hard to tell if budgies are drinking water because some budgies do not drink water in front of their owners. I have heard and read some bird owners saying they have never seen their budgies drinking water but their budgies are healthy.
This means budgies may drink water when you are not around, especially if you have never seen them drinking water.
If you find the water bowl empty, it does not mean your budgies drank all the water.
Why?
Firstly, your budgies can knock down the water bowl and knock it back up again while you are not watching. Secondly, some water in the water bowl can evaporate, so you may think your budgie drank the water.
Here is how to tell if your budgie is drinking water:
Monitor Your Budgie
Nowadays, it is easy to monitor everything in our homes. Because there are so many portable video cameras that can record hours and hours of videos. Use them to monitor your budgie if you want to know if your budgie drinks water when you are not around. Video cameras are perfect if you have never seen your budgie drinking water in front of you.
Offer Them Water After Playing with Them
Budgies do get tired and thirsty, so they drink water immediately after an exercise. If your budgies have been playing and flying for a few hours, they will want to drink lots of water, especially if they have not eaten anything. If you offer them water, they will drink the water first before bathing in the water. They usually do this during hot days.
Why is My Budgie Not Drinking Water?
If you have been monitoring your budgies for a few days and you have tried to get them to drink water and they still refuse to drink water, it is time to call an avian vet. Your budgies might not be drinking water due to underlying medical conditions. An avian vet can help diagnose the problem.
Budgies can hide their diseases, so it can be hard to know if your budgie is sick. A sick budgie usually changes their behavior, e.g. it stops drinking water. If you can detect the disease early, the avian vet will recommend proper treatment. This increases the chances of a quick recovery.
How Do I Get My Budgie to Drink Water?
It is hard to force a budgie to drink water, which I do not recommend by the way. It is possible to get your budgie to drink water. You should do whatever it takes to get your bird to drink water, especially during hot summer months.
I highly encourage you to try some of the following methods:
Offer Clean Water
What kind of water do budgies drink? Offer your budgies clean, fresh, and safe drinking water. Your budgies may stop drinking your water because the water is dirty. Budgies can know dirty water.
In fact, budgies usually refuse medicated water. If your budgie does not want to drink tap water, offer them bottled water. You just change the type of water you offer your budgies, and you will see them drinking water again.
Clean Your Water Bowl
How long has the water bowl been in the cage? If you just refill the water bowl without cleaning it, you are making a big mistake. Clean the water bowl before refilling it. If you can keep the water bowl clean all the time, your budgie will never stop drinking water as long as they are healthy.
Use a Syringe
If you have tried everything and your budgies cannot drink water, use a syringe. However, this should be done by someone with enough experience or a professional. If you are new to this, you might cause injuries to your budgie.
Final Thoughts
Budgies need water to stay healthy, so it is important to know what kind of water do budgies drink before offering your budgies water. I encourage you to offer your budgies fresh, clean, and safe water. It is good for your budgies, and your budgies will never stop drinking it.
