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Everything You Need To Know About Budgies Cuddling!

Budgies are one of the most commonly kept species of birds and even though budgies have been one of the top three most popular birds, they have been seeing rapid growth in their popularity over the last year or two.

Due to there being so many people brand new to having a pet budgie out there, we have noticed a large number of questions about the various quirks of keeping a pet budgie with there being a particular interest in budgies cuddling other budgies and their owners recently.

Some budgies are naturally more affectionate than others meaning that they are more likely to hug other budgies or their owners without any training.

In other situations, you may have to spend some time teaching your pet budgie to cuddle your other budgies but this can be more difficult than many people initially presume.

Keep in mind that trying to teach a budgie to cuddle another budgie presents the risk of your other budgie misinterpreting the act as aggression or invasion of privacy and the budgies ending up fighting.

If you do have to teach your pet budgies to cuddle then it is usually much easier to teach them to cuddle you prior to trying to teach your budgies to cuddle each other but even then, it can be difficult to get your budgies to cuddle each other.

Can Budgies Be Cuddly?

Budgies can be surprisingly affectionate with a small number of them naturally liking to cuddle their owners as well as other budgies that they are socialized with.

Some budgies can be trained to cuddle their owners and other budgies in time but most budgies prefer to just be left to do their own thing and maintain their personal space without hugging.

Due to so many photographs and videos of budgies cuddling going viral on social media, it is common for people new to keeping budgies to want to train their pets to cuddle.

Not not only is this challenging to begin with but it is even more difficult for someone new to keeping them who has no prior experience in training their budgies to do tricks.

This usually makes it a bad idea for most people to even try to teach their budgie to do various tricks such as cuddling their keeper or other budgies.

A small number of people do end up getting lucky though and have an overly affectionate pet budgie that will naturally cuddle them and other budgies or pets in the household.

Just keep in mind that some budgies can sometimes be a little too affectionate and may attempt to cuddle pets that may not want to be cuddled or may see your pet budgie as an easy snack, think of the household cat so always be careful with your budgie if it is out of its cage and thinks that everything else will be as friendly as it is.

Do Budgies Cuddle Each Other?

Some budgies will naturally cuddle each other but it can be rare, especially if the budgies were not raised together as it tends to take time for the budgies to build up a relationship that is close enough to ignore their personal space.

If you do want your budgies to cuddle each other then it is usually best to raise them in the same environment as each other from as early as possible.

It is extremely rare that adult budgies who have recently been placed together will be close and cuddle.

Depending on the exact situation and size of the budgie cage, some budgies may have a temper tantrum if their personal space is breached by a budgie that they are not close to yet.

These temper tantrums are rarely aggressive and often just involve a lot of chirping and wing flapping rather than actual aggression.

If you do notice that your budgies are starting to bite each other’s feet or picking at each other’s feathers then it may be a good idea to separate them if possible.

This behavior is usually a sign that at least one of the budgies in the cage is not comfortable with the presence of the other and it can be a sign that things will only end up getting worse between the birds if they are not separated.

Why Are My Budgies Cuddling?

Your budgies maybe cuddle due to them being affectionate to each other but other budgies will cuddle up to feel safe prior to starting to sleep.

In rare situations, some budgies will huddle up to each other as a way to preserve heat with this often appearing as though the budgies are cuddling each other.

Other budgies may cuddle due to it simply being one of those quirks of keeping a pet budgie and have no other reason other than the budgie just liking to cuddle.

We have an article going over budgie sleeping positions that can also be strange but are also often just one of those quirks of keeping a pet budgie. There are a number of other random budgie behaviors that may take a little getting used to if you are brand new to keeping budgies.

It can be more common for male budgies to cuddle each other too and this often doesn’t mean anything other than showing that the birds are relaxed.

Female budgies, especially female budgies who are of mating age tend to be more territorial than males and although they may not be aggressive, they can have a temper tantrum if other budgies approach them to try and cuddle them or huddle with them.

Do Budgies Cuddle Their Humans?

Some budgies will cuddle their humans, especially if they have a strong bond with you and it is often more common for a budgie to cuddle their human than to cuddle each other.

It is often much easier to get a budgie to form a close bond with you than it is to get it to form a close bond with other birds so many budgie keepers will slowly try to train their bird to cuddle them.

The fact that female budgies tend to be more territorial than male budgies tends not to be an issue when forming a bond between budgie and keeper too as it is unlikely that she will see you as a threat to her territory.

Food is often a great motivator to help encourage your pet budgie to let its guard down and start to trust you too where as this trick tends not to work between two or more budgies.

Please note that some budgies may be nervous around you even if they are used to having you around the home due to your size.

This is often due to the personality of the bird and there is often nothing that you are able to do to prevent your pet budgie from acting in this way.

You usually just have to accept that you don’t have a budgie that is comfortable enough to interact with you in that way but in time you may be able to form a stronger bond with your bird.

How Do I Get My Budgie To Cuddle With Me?

It is often easy to each a budgie to cuddle with you if you already have an established bond with the bird where it will allow you to hand feed it.

Simply take your budgie out of its cage each day, rub the bird gently and affectionately and nuzzle the bird’s head with your chin for short periods of time slowly increasing the length of the nuzzling.

You can work towards using treats as a reward for your budgie but treats are not as effective with some budgies as they are with other types of pets such as dogs.

In time you may be able to let your budgie sit on your shoulder and it will naturally come in to cuddle you as it wants and over an extended period of time, you will often notice that your budgie will start to cuddle you more and more frequently.

If your pet budgie does end up showing any signs of not wanting to cuddle you or to go off and do something else then you really should just let it do as it wishes.

Forcing your budgie to try and cuddle you can often backfire and discourage the behavior due to the bird being stressed and anxious and may end up setting you back in your overall progress.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over budgies cuddling to an end and we hope that we have been able to help you better understand why budgies cuddle as well as how you are able to encourage the behavior. Some budgies will be far more likely to cuddle than others and this is just part of having a budgie, the budgies that take to cuddling quickly are definitely less common though and most budgies will either never cuddle or need extensive training.