Do Budgies Need Sunlight? Is Sunshine Good For Parakeets?

You have probably come across the question, do budgies need sunlight? After all, sunshine is essential for the overall health of humans as it helps strengthen our immune system.

Do Budgies Need Sunlight? Yes, Pet budgies need sunlight at least every day to stay healthy, whether direct from the sun or indirect from UV lights. These pet birds get most of their vitamin D from the light. Vitamin D helps maintain strong bones in budgies and ensures their overall health.

But do budgies like direct sunlight? Below you can find everything there is to know about budgies needing sunlight.

Do Budgies Need Sunlight?

Yes, they do. Sunlight is essential for the health and well-being of your pet budgies. This is because the sun’s ultraviolet B rays (UVB) help produce vitamin D in birds and humans.

Without access to ultraviolet light, your birds would suffer from vitamin D deficiency. As a result, your budgies may experience weak, soft, and pliable bones. Other reasons why budgies need sunlight to include:

Enhanced immune function

Besides promoting healthy bones, access to sunlight may help protect your parakeets from the risk of autoimmune diseases like diabetes. Exposing your birds to direct sunlight may also help kill bacteria and germs on their skin and feathers

Better behavior and mood

Your budgies are likely to suffer from depression due to a deficiency in vitamin D3. The birds may also exhibit lousy behavior like biting and intolerance when they don’t get access to sunlight.

Stronger beaks

Vitamin D, which your parakeets get from sunshine, helps with calcium absorption. Consequently, this mineral helps strengthen the beaks of your pet birds.

Improves feather growth

The best way to ensure your pet birds grow healthy feathers is by getting plenty of sunbeam. This could be from direct sunlight or artificial UV light.

But how do budgies get sunlight? The best way to ensure your pet birds get optimal sunlight is to place their cage outdoors. This is only if the temperatures are ideal. But what outdoor temperatures are safe to put budgies outside? The optimal parakeets’ temperature range is between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

You could also put a harness on your budgies to help you safely take them outside for a walk. Alternatively, you can use a light fixture to mimic natural sunlight, especially during the winter.

Is Sunlight Good For Budgies?

Absolutely. Too little or no exposure to sunlight has been linked to various health problems in pet budgies. This is because sunlight helps with the production of vitamin D3. On the other hand, vitamin D3 helps with the absorption of calcium and phosphorus minerals into your birds’ bodies.

In other words, without access to sunlight, your budgies’ may suffer from calcium and phosphorus deficiency. These two minerals are essential for the proper function of parakeets’ nerves, muscles, and brain. They also play a critical role in your budgies’ ability to lay healthy eggs while ensuring the development of strong bones. In addition, sunlight is suitable for your pet birds because it ensures:

• Healthy appetite
• Improved quality of feathers
• Stimulation of natural molting cycle
• Reduced hormone imbalances
• Happy and cheerful birds

How Many Hours of Sunlight Do Budgies Need?

Budgies require 12 hours of light daily and 12 hours of darkness to stay healthy. Typically, your pet birds could have a mixture of direct and indirect sunlight.

In the case of direct sunlight, your budgies can have it for a minimum of 30 minutes. But do parakeets require natural sunlight every day to be healthy? You can let your birds get natural sunlight daily or every 2-3 days a week.

However, you mustn’t overexpose your budgies to the sunlight for many hours. This could lead to hypervitaminosis D or simply too much vitamin D in their bodies. As a result, your parakeets may experience:

• Hypercalcemia (build-up of calcium)
• Bone pain
• Kidney problems due to calcium stones
• General weakness
• Frequent urination and increased thirst
• Diarrhea and vomiting

Additionally, your parakeets may suffer heat stroke by exposing them to direct sunlight for long hours. And if this condition is not treated as soon as possible, your budgies may experience fever and convulsions and die.

How Much Sunshine Do Parakeets Need From UV Lights?

Budgies need 1 to 3 hours of UV light exposure at least 2-3 times weekly. Unlike the sun, these lights provide indirect sunlight instead of direct. Therefore, you must expose your pet birds to UV bulbs longer than you would under the sun.

However, to ensure your budgies get adequate sunshine from the UV lights, you must invest in UV-A and UV-B lamps. The lamps should have not less than a 300-400 nm wavelength. This is because bulbs with short wavelengths can harm your companion birds at close distances.

That said, budgies don’t need UV lights at night. This is because keeping your parakeets under the lights can harm their health. For instance, your pet birds may overheat. Also, excessive exposure to the rays could lead to eye damage.

Do Parakeets Like Light Or Dark?

Parakeets love both light and darkness as they mimic their natural environment. During the day, budgies like having access to as much light as possible. They love being in the sun since sunlight provides them with a full spectrum of light. Therefore, you should ensure these birds get natural light every day. And during the days when your parakeets cannot get natural sunshine, you must create artificial sunlight for them. You simply invest in a lamp that can emit UVA and UVB light.

However, during the night, budgies prefer darkness to light. This is because darkness helps them sleep comfortably throughout the night.

FAQs

Without further ado, let’s quickly respond to commonly asked questions about budgies needing sunlight.

Conclusion

If you want your budgies to be happy and stay healthy, you must provide them with adequate sunlight daily. Sunbeam is good for budgies as it helps with vitamin D production and calcium absorption. Your pet birds should get at least 30 minutes of direct sunlight and up to 3 hours of UV light.