A segue to educating people about budgies!

FaeryBee said:

I love those earrings!

Your efforts to help educate others regarding the importance of making an informed and educated decision before bringing a budgie into their life is exemplary.

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Awe, thank you FaeryBee! There are still a huge number of people, who like me grew up in the 60s and 70s. I remember well, the succession of budgies and canaries who's dismally small cage hung from a hook in the ceiling. And while my parents were always ready to bring the dogs and cats to the vet, that practice didn't extend to any of the birds we had. As for the points in birdy instruction, which point is most important? ALL of them! Like the rock, scissors, paper game 🪨 ✂📃. Each aspect of care interweaves to form a tapestry of best practices! Because the pictures and videos I share shows LoVey willingly interacting with me, I'm emphatic about letting people know that this is the exception rather than the rule regarding normal bird behavior. I explain that a prey animal sees us as a predator looking to eat them and will do everything they can to avoid getting within "striking distance." ➡ Like my coworker, who about a year ago, got two budgies, expecting them to be like my sweet Vern, and rehomed them less than a month after getting them. When I ring out produce, I tell customers that, while I buy conventional for myself, I only get organic for my girl. The look of surprise when I tell people that parrots need fresh veggies is priceless lol. Sharing what I've learned about these precious babies is a pleasure, and honestly, a responsibility, similar to warning someone of a dangerous situation that may be lurking ahead. From my perspective, remaining silent when I see or read about someone acting irresponsibly in their practices is letting LoVey down.

PS- Thank you for catching my mispelling. Needless to say, I never won any spelling bee trophies lol!

Sweety's mom said:

I don’t typically end up having conversations with anyone who is talking about pet birds so I don’t have any moments to educate anyone but I certainly would if someone brought the topic up! Birds are not “easy” pets is the most important thing I would say!! They require so much more attention than is commonly understood. I feed so sad for the poor little ones who are alone and sad all day with owners who don’t realize how unhappy it makes them.

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I think the opportunities can be looked for. Hmm! It might be interesting to share ideas as to ways we can educate people about birds?!? For me, I talk about LoVey all the time! I'm talking the bird version of the crazy cat lady 😹. Of course, a picture of my girl is the wallpaper on my phone. I keep my phone in my back pocket and pull my phone out to show people at least a dozen times a day. Actually, I'm surprised my department manager hasn't told me to tone it down lol.

But there are opportunities out there. For instance, if I'm shopping at a different store and see someone in line with I huge bag of dog food, I might say to them: "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you have a dog. My dog is a parakeet (many arent familiar with the word budgie)." Of course out comes my phone 😉! Other more proactive ways to educate is to offer to help teach a class at a local animal shelter. The small pet shop where I got LoVey from told me they were considering offering a class on large parrot care and I told them that if they would like, I could do or help with one about budgies. You can go on Amazon and if for instance you see a cute small cage you can comment on what a great travel/hospital cage it would make. This would clear the path for a brief comment about adequate cage size and set up. You can comment about how dangerous those fuzzy snuggle huts are. Be sure to give it a positive spin so you don't get called "a Karen," which is a trend I hate. I won't deny, my mind works in mysterious ways 🤪😂! You could take nearly any subject and I could steer the conversation to birds. I agree that the thought of the many budgies who spend their lives in a tiny cage, never having the opportunity for free flight, living on a diet of $1.99/lb seed is absolutely heart breaking! Last but not least, there are forums like this, run by people who are not afraid to tell the truth about best practices (even if the truth stings), where we can share our experiences.