Caring for a Parakeet While on Vacation

Your pet parakeet, as with any pet, relies on you for food, water, cleanliness and help when something goes wrong. If you're planning to go on vacation, you might start thinking about what to do with your pet parakeet, since taking it along on the trip could be out of the question. While your parakeet may not seem like it needs company all the time, it does still need someone to take care of it.

  1. Pet Sitter

    • Before you leave for vacation, make preparations for a pet sitter to come and check on the parakeet while you're away. Or, you might even send the parakeet to stay with the sitter so that the sitter doesn't have to come back and forth to your home. A pet sitter, which could be a relative, friend, neighbor or someone else you know, should keep a watchful eye on the bird a couple times a day to make sure the parakeet has enough food, water and that the bird hasn't gotten stuck in the cage.

    Proper Cage Placement

    • It may seem like a suitable idea to go on vacation and leave the parakeet and the cage next to a window. In theory, it could be nice for the parakeet to look outside and not feel quite as lonely. However, according to the Tri-State Budgerigar Society, placing the parakeet cage in front of a window isn't recommended, because the temperatures next to the window fluctuate more than elsewhere inside the home, which could be dangerous for the parakeet. This is especially true if you live someplace very warm or very cold.

    Cage Companionship

    • If your parakeet has lived alone in its cage up until now, going away on vacation isn't an appropriate time to introduce a new parakeet to the habitat so that the parakeet can have some cage companionship. The change in the habitat can stress the parakeets out and could result in the parakeets attempting to injure one another. Introducing a new parakeet for companionship is something that you should do when you intend on being around for a while to monitor the adjustment period.

    Planning Ahead

    • As a parakeet owner you should plan ahead for some what-ifs before you go on vacation. For instance, if you know that your bird has a habit of turning over its water dish accidentally, one thing you can do to plan ahead is set up two or three water dishes in the cage, so that in case one of them tips over the bird can still drink water from the other dishes. Another planning ahead strategy is to put more food that normal in the cage with the bird. Even if you are planning on having a pet sitter come in twice a day to feed the bird, things could come up that cause the sitter to be delayed. As such, think ahead about the types of mishaps that can occur and plan around those to keep your parakeet safe.