New owner, opposite sex budgies. Please help!!

[Crash_Test]

Hey there, new to AA, but currently need help! I'm a college student that has wanted budgies my whole life. I got one for Christmas, a male blue budgie named Gumball. Before the start of this spring semester, I decided to get a second budgie to be a companion for Gumball. I had thought I had gotten a male, but upon closer inspection, I think she's a female! She is a white budgie aptly named Marshmallow. I think both of these budgies are very young, no more than 5 months. I don't feel very comfortable with the idea of returning Marshmallow to the pet store in exchange for a male budgie, seeing as she has been a part of the family for nearly two weeks now! I also don't feel confident in my ability to care for a pair of opposite-sex budgies. These are my first pair of opposite-sex pets, let alone budgies. They seem to take to each other well. Neither are hand tamed. I'm just not sure how to move forward with them. If anyone has any advice, resources, or experience on how to tame, raise and care for two opposite-sex budgies please please please let me know! Or because of my inexperience with budgies, am I better off swapping out Marshmallow? I feel like that may be traumatizing for both of these little birds. I also feel it makes me a bad person to just "swap" her out like she's just a thing and not an animal. I've really grown attached to these two and I want to give them the best home I possibly can. Please help me!

 

[AussieBird]

I wouldn't panic! If you want to make absolutely sure you have a boy and girl posts some pictures and we can help you with that
Girl budgies are little bundle of personality and sass! I love them
If they live in the same cage just make sure it's a nice big size, add an extra food and water bowl if you notice your sweetie being a bit of a bully. Provide her with plenty of destructive toys, because in my experiance they're little beavers.
Do not allow nesting behaviour, mating is fine! No nestboxes, no coconut toys, or happy huts, etc. Keep her away from dark enclosed spaces.
If something happens and you end up with an egg, simply remove it and throw out. Watch to see if she keeps laying. Some, but not all, budgies will need you to replace the egg/s with fake ones.
If you have any more specific questions don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Lady Jane]

@AussieBirb good advice. They can be best buds but not mate. I had a male, female pair that were together but never interested in mating. As for training it was easy to do with them together. They actually watch each other and can learn that way. Hope you have a large cage with several food and water dishes, natural perches and platforms. Swings are fun too. Keep us informed as to how things develop.

 

[Sparkles99]

I would keep both Gumball & Marshmallow!

Please post pictures!

 

[Jxdeeyy]

I have had a female and male for 3 years and I absolutely adore them. They are both quite tame - the female more so but both of them will sit on my hands and talk to me, but the female will sit on my shoulder/head much more. (I think that this is unusual and usually it’s the other way around )

But I would recommend just talking and playing with them everyday. I originally just started hand feeding them seeds and pellets when they were young, and would use treats when getting them back in their cage/on to my finger. Eventually they started to do so on their own accord - and now they will even fly up to me/on to me to get my attention. Now I hand feed them veggies which they get excited over, pellets and the odd few seeds here and there.

An important note is to make sure there is nothing in your cage that can make your birds hormonal, which includes anything ‘nest like’. I have flat perches in my cage which I know can be perceived as so by some birds, but as one of my birds doesn’t have the greatest feet they are great from her and she doesn’t exhibit any very hormonal behaviours.

Other than that, I would say having my 2 I wouldn’t change for the world. I absolutely adore them, and they love each other - it’s so sweet to see them spending their time together and their little relationship. I’d definitely say to keep them both

 

[Olliebirb]

Post pics! My white budgie is a male but gets mistaken for a young female sometimes. He’s 4 years old and it’s just a mutation
Here’s a pic of him from today:

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue!

I think you should keep Marshmallow The other members left great comments above for you to read.

 

[Dalrymple]

Same as above comments - don’t worry - keep them, just don’t give them anything that might be construed as a nest (and just be careful, some wicker toys will elicit nesting behaviour).