Budgie · Snacks & drinks
Can budgies eat candy?
No. Sweets are just sugar and fat, chocolate candies are toxic, and sugar-free sweets and gum may contain xylitol, which is the suspected cause of death in a group of wild birds. Keep all candy away from budgies.
- Sugar
- 62.9 g / 100 g
If your budgie already ate some
If the sweet was sugar-free, contained chocolate, or you are not sure, call an avian vet or animal poison control line right away and keep the wrapper. Xylitol can lower blood sugar within minutes, so watch for weakness, wobbliness, falling from the perch or collapse. A lick of ordinary sugar candy is less serious: offer water and watch for loose droppings.
Why
Risks. Sugary sweets add empty calories to a bird prone to obesity and can upset the gut. Sugar-free products often contain xylitol, which causes dangerously low blood sugar and liver damage in dogs; it has not been studied in parrots, but 29 wild Cape sugarbirds died shortly after drinking xylitol-sweetened nectar. Chocolate sweets add theobromine and caffeine.
Questions owners ask 2
Can budgies have honey or honey sticks?
Honey sticks are seeds glued together with sugar and honey, and most avian vets do not recommend them. Honey itself is concentrated sugar that a budgie does not need.
What about sugar-free gum?
Never. Gum is a common source of xylitol and could also stick in or block a small bird's mouth or throat.
Candy: nutrition per 100 g
| Water | 1.3 g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 394 kcal |
| Sugars | 62.9 g |
| Fat | 0.2 g |
| Protein | 0 g |
| Fibre | 0 g |
| Calcium | 3 mg |
| Phosphorus | 3 mg |
| Calcium : phosphorus | 1 : 1 |
| Sodium | 38 mg |
| Vitamin A (RAE) | 0 µg |
| Vitamin C | 0 mg |
“Candies, hard”, USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC 167990). Public domain.
Sources & method 7
The sources below discuss candy for budgies (or for pet birds generally). Confidence: medium. Rated on the JOMIZOO Feeding Scale; when good sources disagree we choose the more cautious level.
- Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds — Merck Veterinary Manual
- Foods Toxic to Pet Birds — Lafeber Company (Christal Pollock, DVM, Dipl. ABVP-Avian, with Laura Doering)
- 10 Everyday Items That Are Toxic to Birds — Veterinary Center for Birds and Exotics (avian and exotic practice of Laurie Hess, DVM, DABVP Avian; practice blog, no individual byline)
- Acute, fatal, presumptive xylitol toxicosis in Cape sugarbirds (Promerops cafer) (Gardner BR, Mitchell EP. J Avian Med Surg. 2017;31(4):356-358) — Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery (PubMed record)
- Feeding Budgies — VCA Animal Hospitals
- Food Hazards — Merck Veterinary Manual (Pet Owner Version)
- People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets — ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
