Maybe he thinks of paper towels or paper as "roughage" because he wasn't offered grit instead ... who really knows why they chew paper, but they do. I'm not entirely sure they actually eat it ... some might, some might not. My Budgies will chew on the corners of paper but they are mainly shredding it, probably as something to play with or chew on as we all know Budgies like to chew on almost everything they come across. I highly doubt eating grit is a "playing" or "chewing" reaction for them.

If you think about it, a Budgie's brain is innately programmed to do certain things since they are not taught to do anything by their parents in the wild. Once they leave the nest at an early age they are 100% on their own and never see their parents again. The are solely doing what their innate programmed brain tells them to do.

If anyone else tries this experiment of offering grit to their Budgie when they have never seen it before I'd be really interested in hearing how they reacted. All I know is that Pogo and Ziggy reacted like they've known what grit is all their life ... there was zero hesitation to eat it. I firmly believe there innate programming was showing.

I have seen discussions about grit on some forums that have become quite heated. Some talk about gravel grit which is something I've never seen. I give my birds access to fine oyster shell grit all the time. At breeding time they eat quite a lot of it but the rest of the year very little. Oyster shell grit is very high in calcium which the birds need when they're breeding. They also get cuttle fish and mineral block. Most breeders in this country give their birds grit.

The grit I'm talking about basically looks about the size of sand particles. It's clean and has a slight tan color. The grit I bought was many years ago, and frankly I haven't looked for it in the pet stores lately. I'll make it a point to look for it next time I go to the pet store to see what they sell these days.

Maybe oyster shell grit would be better since it gives them calcium and probably some gizzard grinding ability if required.

I've been searching around, and yes it's a very controversial topic. Here's some other discussions, and you can see people are all over the place -- from none to some once and a while to always having it in the cage. Can't hurt to do some research and make your own conclusions on this one ... since there is no clear consensus.

Gravel (Grit?) - Talk Budgies Forums

Here's a couple of articles worth looking at too.
Providing Grit to Pet Birds as an Aid to Digestion

Grit – What Is It and Who Needs It?

I thought this was an interesting quote in the link below:

"Contrary to popular belief, budgies do not need grit, but they will eat it. If they are in good health, grit will not harm them. If, however, they don't feel well they may overeat, which can result in an impaction."

Feeding Your Budgie

This ties in with my observation of the innate desire to eat gravel. Apparently, if the Budgie isn't feeling well it must believe that grit is something it needs for proper digestive function, and will over eat the grit. But the basic fact remains that Budgies know they need grit ... at least in the wild.

I can see the argument that pet Budgies probably don't need any grit depending on their diet. It's also a fact that depending on what's in their cage they may chew and eat other things too, like wood or bark off tree branches in the cage, etc (paper towels ) which may require them to crave grit to help digest some of these non-food items. Just some thoughts.

I will get some grit and ask my budgies if they would like to eat some.

I was going to buy grit for the pigeons. I know they look for fine stones around here but in the winter [this thought is for next winter] they can't get any. Oyster shell might be better all year. We used to give that to the chickens of course so I'm familiar with that stuff. I don't think Grit has changed much as I saw it at the pet store.

So you do think it might be a natural 'cleansing' ingredient/remedie for them to be using Grit?

I'm grateful that no one got carried away with this discussion.

I used to think it was wrong for Budgies to have a mirror. The only reason was because I'd read it in many articles, that it wasn't healthy for them mentally. When I got Laker I got rid of his mirror pal. But in the end I realised that he [& now Rio] love to talk to the mirror Budgie - it entertains them. I also used his desire to be close to the mirror Budgie & tricked him into stepping onto my hand.

I'm open for change or rethinking.

All the vets I've been to (all specialised on birds) told me that budgies definitely need grit. They need it for their muscle stomach to digest the seeds. So I do give grit to my budgies, but it's a bit bigger than grains of sand (it's rather like tiny stones).
If budgies don't feel well thay may eat lots of sand, that's not healthy, so mine do not get any sand at all. But they don't do that with grit (at least mine don't).
But I stopped feeding cuttlebones since that may lead to for the female budgies to be eggbound from what I've seen on the internet.

What do you mean about the cuttlebone leading to eggbound females - I thought that cuttlebone was a source of calcium? I'm just curious as I've never heard of that possibility before.

Cuttlebone is a source of calcium. The problem with all these mineral supplements like cuttlebone, oyster shell and mineral blocks is that they are a double-edge sword because if the bird does not produce Vit D3, it cannot absorb the calcium and people grow complacent thinking that giving the bird these is enough when, in reality, they are not meeting the calcium requirements. And the consequence of this is hypocalcium which leads to eggbinding in females.

If the bird is exposed to 20 minutes of direct sunlight early in the morning or in the afternoon (never at noon) daily, cuttlebone is more than enough but this is very impractical for companion birds so the solution is to supplement them with avian liquid calcium which already has the right proportion of vit D3, calcium and magnesium for birds. I use Calciboost.