Stubborn budgie!

[liz]

You seemed to be serving a good diet but you have it a little backwards. Morning and all day long he should have his veggies and a "gloop" to eat. If seed is given first they will fill up on that which is too high in protein. Seed should be given about an hour before bed time. Take the seed away at bedtime so he won't eat his leftovers before you give him breakfast.

To me it is like a person on a healthy diet who ate such good food all day that they reward themselves with a big but healthy desert before bedtime. Mine is a banana with the sugar free strawberry jell and a little whip cream.

[Pajarita]

Banana with strawberry jam and whipped cream, eh? Yummy! Mine is whole milk French Vanilla Stonyfield yogurt (I could LIVE on it, I love it!).

But, going back to the subject, yes, you do have it backward, you need to feed the healthy food all day long and the seed at night. Liz is correct that it's better this way because they will fill up on protein and nothing else if given half a chance (which is not good for them) but it's also because protein takes longer to be digested so you want to keep them full longer when they are not going to be having constant access to food -which would happen at night. Some people do the protein in the morning and the veggies at night but that makes them super hungry in the morning so they end up eating more protein than they should. As to perches, I don't like dowels. I like real tree branches with the bark on. They are uneven (great for exercising their toes and feet), they are crooked (excellent for their legs), they are bouncy (no impact on their joints), they have bark (rough enough to keep their nails 'filed' and, as a bonus, chewing entertainment -they like to peel it off) and they are free!

Budgies don't use or need a sleeping hut and you need to be very careful about providing anything that resembles a cavity because they are super opportunistic breeders. As to toys, there is NOTHING a budgie likes better than the dried yucca thingies - they adore chewing them!