The importance of clean budgie drinking water

Ensuring access to clean water:
Budgies need access to clean water, which can be a challenge, since like larger parrot they enjoy throwing food in their water bowl, or bathing in it, or pooping in it. All of these activities, while super fun for your parakeet, can impact their ability to access clean water when they need it, and you don’t have to be an avian vet to know that budgie drinking water with poop in it is a bad idea.

There are some things you can do to help make sure your budgie has the clean water he needs. First, I recommend putting a flat perch above the water bowl to block a lot of stuff falling into the water. We currently have this clam-shaped perch doing the job, but you could also use something like a lava ledge. These are both good types of perches to have anyway, so strategic placement is a great way to get double the benefits.

You should provide your budgie with fresh water at least once a day, or more if needed. I refresh first thing when I get up (at the same time as feeding) and also when I get home from work. Additionally, if I see they’ve made a mess of it, I will switch out the water as needed when I’m home.

Another way to ensure a clean source of water is to use a Lixit Bird Waterer – which our parakeets like drinking from anyway. These remove the danger of water becoming contaminated with poop, but you do need to wash them on a regular schedule, AND it’s vital that you check them every day to ensure they are functioning properly. If the little ball gets stuck they can be completely full of water but inaccessible. Because of the risk of “mechanical” failure I do not recommend abandoning the bowl of water completely. We have two Bird Waterers in the cage, so there’s no waiting in line (in theory) and the bowl of water that’s being refreshed a couple times per day. So, access to water should never be an issue for our parakeets.

Is tap water safe for budgies?
If you can provide a filtered source of water that would be best. Most municipal water is “clean” and tested routinely for human safety, but where I live it is still fairly hard water, which means it has a high content of minerals. I don’t believe that just because the water is deemed safe for human consumption means it’s safe for a parakeet, considering our relative size differences and the rate at which we process things. If simply being near a lit candle or ingesting avocado can kill a parakeet, then why take the risk for potential impact of long-range exposure to what’s in tap water?

If your family is like mine you’re not drinking tap water yourselves anyhow. We have the ubiquitous Brita Pitcher in our refrigerator. We also have a Faucet Mounted Water Filter attached right to our kitchen sink, this is the water that the budgies typically drink. Each filter is good for 200 gallons, so they don’t have to be replaced too frequently and it’s very easy to switch back and forth from filtered to tap. The downside is that you cannot run hot water through the filter.

We also wash the parakeet’s fruits and vegetables in the filtered tap water, and when I wipe down the cage or scrub toys and perches I use filtered as well. We had the filter on the tap before the budgies, but I do think it’s a useful piece of our parakeet gear and it makes it very easy to water and clean up after them without taking extra steps.

Access to clean water is just as essential to budgie health as it is to a human’s, so making sure that your budgies don’t have to worry about where their next drink is coming from is a key part of responsible budgie parenthood.

Important note: Never give your budgies distilled water to drink. Distilled water has no minerals in it. Although that might sound like the purest and best thing it is actually very dangerous to your parakeet’s health and very acidic. It’s not recommended that humans drink distilled water frequently either.