Your parakeet can live just as long as your other pets! With proper nutrition and veterinary care, the parakeet life span can exceed 15 years with reports of the oldest parakeet being 20 years old!
Just like any other pet, the length of the life span of parakeets depends on how you feed and care for him. First of all, make sure you get a veterinarian that specializes in birds. That way you know he will be up to date on all the latest treatments and know what to look for. Have your bird checked once a year and bring him in quickly if he shows any changes in behavior.
Food
Parakeet life span can be greatly affected by what you feed him, in fact, most captive birds die very early due to improper nutrition.
In order to see the longest life span of parakeets, make sure he is getting all the nutrients he needs. The bulk of his diet should be seed mixes or pellets. Pellets are probably the best nutritionally if you can get your parakeet to eat them. Most prefer seeds, however, and you can get a high quality mix that contains canary grass seed, pats, millet, groats and panicum. The better quality seeds might also contain thistle, safflower, anise and sesame.
And don’t forget to feed him vitamins and minerals recommended by his vet – this alone can greatly improve the life span of parakeets.
In addition to the seeds and pellets, your bird will enjoy and benefit from fresh fruits and vegetables. But be careful what you feed him as the life span of parakeets can be suddenly cut short by seemingly benign foods that are poison to your little bird. Foods that are safe are peas, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, pineapples, apples, banana. Leafy greens are a must and you can clip them right to the side of his cage with a clip. You can even include sprouted grasses as an added treat.
Foods that you must avoid include dairy products, avocados, fruit seeds, cabbage, potatoes, green beans, rhubarb, lemons, grapefruit, plums and, of course, chocolate, caffeine and alchohol.
Care
Of course you must make sure your parakeets environment is safe and that he is not bored. The life span of parakeets that have lots of playthings and have a lot of attention from their owners is much longer than those that are neglected.
Your bird is a social creature and needs your attention daily. For when you can’t play with your feathered friend, make sure he has lots of mirrors and play toys in his cage to keep from getting bored. Some safety around the house is paramount to insuring your parakeet life span is a long one.
Make sure you get rid of all your non stick pans – the fumes are toxic to birds! Also, don’t place his cage in a drafty area or near a window where the sun will beat in on him all day. Make sure there’s no little places he could hide in and get closed in and keep his wings clipped so he can’t hurt himself by flying in to unusual places.
Making sure your pets cage and food dishes are clean will help increase his parakeet life span. Parakeets are very susceptible to bacteria so his cage must be cleaned every day and food and water dishes washed after every meal!