Like everyone else, when I first brought my budgie home I didn’t have the necessary detailed knowledge about what type of perches should be kept inside their cages to make their new home look a friendly atmosphere.
I was confused initially and tried different plastic perch options. But with time, as the number of my pet birds grew along with my experience with them, now I know for sure that whether plastic perches are good or bad for my feathery friends.
So are plastic perches bad for budgies? Yes, plastic perches are bad for budgies. Though nowadays the majority of the cages come with smooth single dowel-types plastic perches, this kind of perches is not at all recommended for your budgies as the plastic perches often lead to deteriorating the condition of the feet of your budgies.
Perches play a crucial role in ensuring the good health of your budgies’ feet as well as making their world inside the cage an interesting one. Therefore, it’s important that when you bring home a pet bird, you choose the right kind of perches.
Plastic perches are surely not the ideal choice for your budgies as they fail to offer the comfort and amount of feet exercise that a budgie may require on a daily purpose. Let’s know in details about why plastic perches aren’t good for your budgies.
The Role of Perches and How Plastic Perches Fail to Fulfil the Purpose
Importance of Perches
To understand how bad plastic perches can be for your budgies, first you need to know the importance of them. Just as your budgies need a variety of foods and toys, they also need a variety of perches.
Birds being on their feet for 24/7, it’s important to pay attention to their quality of life and feet health. And that’s what perches do. They play a significant part in ensuring a better lifestyle for your feathery pet.
Perch offers great exercise to pet birds. Stretching between perches, climbing around them, maintaining their balance when the perches move, etc. not only help the pet birds utilize their energy and stay active all day long but also strengthen their muscles and ensure their health.
Remember, just like choosing the right cage, choosing the right perch shape, size, type and material is important for every bird owner. Just like toys, perches also help in allowing the pet bird to engage themselves in different play and manipulative behaviors.
And when it comes to plastic perches, then you must know certain facts.
Apart from helping the birds in standing on the perches, surveying the surroundings, sleeping or grooming themselves while on the perches, plastic perches don’t offer any health benefits; rather hamper the feet of the pet birds.
Disadvantages of Plastic Perches
It is always advised to avoid having round and smooth perches as they make it difficult for the budgies to hold on to the perches and also cause foot problems in the budgies. And plastic perches being smooth and round compared to the wooden and stone ones, cause the same issues.
Though nowadays plastic perches come in various designs, still, they fail to be the ideal perches for a healthy upbringing of pet birds. Below are the major disadvantages of plastic perches:
- Plastic perches being smooth, straight and roundish in shape, fails to offer the proper grip that the birds may need to stay active on the perches. Hence, the same type of plastic perches may lead to swelling and pain of the joints and sometimes even create bumblefoot which may then lead to an infection. Such feet conditions are extremely painful for the budgies and can even prove to be fatal if left untreated for long.
- Plastic perches being straight and long and of course being made with plastic, budgies can’t chew such perches. And even if they do, the consumed plastic may develop serious health issues over time, making the pet birds sick.
- Usually, the plastic perches that the majority of the cages come with are there primarily for the look good factor of the cage and not for the comfort and well-being of the budgies.
- Though plastic perches are very popular due to their durability and easy to clean factor, being made with acrylic or PVC material, they don’t offer the required comfort to the bird’s feet and also pose a threat to their health if chewed.
- Plastic perches tend to be slippery. Hence, in case you have a large bird, it fails to offer the needed traction to the bird’s feet for it to grip tightly to the perch.
- Many PVC perches have come up these days that are hard to scratch off. But there’s still the biggest drawback present which is the bird may literally fall or slip of the plastic perches.
Things to Consider When Opting for Perches
Things to Consider When Opting for PerchesChoosing the wrong perches can hurt your bird’s feet as well as impact adversely on their overall health. Hence, depending on your budgies’ size, opt for big or small cages with different perching options and choose perches based on their material, size, placement, etc.
Irrespective of whether it’s a plastic perch or a wooden perch or a natural one, any perch that is too small or too large for the birds to grip can result in arthritis. Avoid opting for perch materials that are too rough or abrasive or too smooth and contains toxic materials such as plastic.
After all, uncomfortable budgies are unhappy birds. And as a bird owner, the last thing you want is to have unhappy birds facing discomforts under your watch.
Remember, all budgies are naturally very curious creatures. They need different comfortable and safe vantage points to keep an eye on what’s happening around and also for sleeping and resting.
Perches turn out to be such comfy yet safe vantage points for birds that not only help them to enjoy the best views but also encourage them to exercise and indulge in activities, which are necessary factors for the well-being and good health of budgies.
Hence, when buying a perch, it’s best to avoid opting for the plastic ones and consider the wooden ones or the ones made with ropes or simply the natural perches. Even the perches made with stones or sands have their own drawbacks.
We recommend reading the following articles. We show you which perches you can get, and which perches you should avoid there:
Related Questions
Are swings good for budgies? The majority of budgies enjoy hanging out and swinging on a play swing. Budgies love swings that come with bells as they like to ring bells. Swings made with non-toxic rubber-like material are believed to be great for budgies as they are not only soft for their feet but fun to chew on or bite.
Are square wooden perches bad for budgies? Compared to plastic perches, wooden perches are always better and a wiser choice. But, square wooden perches are not as best as wooden perches which are round with uneven surface. Despite being made of wood, the square shape of the perches may hurt the feet and causes difficulty with gripping.
What kind of perches is ideal for budgies? Now there being available a variety of perches, it’s hard to say which one is ideal for budgies. But still, wooden perches that satisfy their chewing instincts, natural branches and rope perches that offer a completely different feel serve the purpose of a perch very well without causing any harm.
