Parrot Sleep

[Rujvir_G]

Hi guys, ive heard that birds need proper 12h sleep to be healthy. Im little worried about my senegal because he doesn't quite sleeps untill 1, when ever I check him he's just sitting they're with his eyes wide open. I cover him, I try my best to make him sleep by 9, anyone could help me for getting a better sleep plan for him?

[Wolf]

The best sleep plan that I know of for a bird is found in nature and it is up with the sun and to sleep with the sun. Unless you live in the more extreme north in the northern hemisphere, in which case you have to mimic the sun from a lower latitude.

[Pajarita]

Yep, just what Wolf said. If you expose a bird to the sunset (no artificial lights on) and keep the room quiet, the bird will fall asleep on its own. There aren't any insomniac birds, it's always the conditions that prevent them from falling asleep. And it's not 12 hours either (we no longer follow this, it's an old-fashioned notion), tropical and semi-tropical birds will go into condition with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, you need to follow the sun.

[Hookturn]

I have a few questions about getting our little guy on a solar schedule. One issue I have is that we are up past sunset most of the year. I am considering a sleeping cage for him in the basement. So what should a sleeping cage comprise?! My guess is that it that it would be relatively small and without toys. It's just for sleep right?

Also, is it important that our bird actually be exposed to the light from the sunrise or set? If so can I wait until just after sunset to take him to his sleeping cage and wake him up at sunrise and take him back to his daytime cage near the window? Thanks for your input!

[Wolf]

Hi Hookturn;

Ideally your bird should be exposed to the twilight at both ends of the day, however, the information that I have states that the wavelengths of light at dusk, that's just before dark in the evening, is the more important of the two for reseting and maintaining a parrots endocrine system, which regulates the majority of the birds bodily systems.
I also keep running into the 12 hour of sleep thing, but there appears to be a conflict as to whether your bird should get 12 hours of sleep or not as the major issue with it seems to be the regulation of breeding behavior. due to this, I am and my birds appear to be happy with them getting 10 hours of sleep at night and they like to nap for an hour or so in the middle of the day.
The amount of space available for cages in my house is pretty limited so I can't help you with sleep cage information as I don't have them.

[Hookturn]

We'll my problem is that the bird's cage is located in the portion of the house where people are around most of the day. I assume that it isn't acceptable to simply cover the cage at sunset when we still have lights on and often a tv on in that room. If that is a solution then problem solved. I'll just cover the cage. But I would think the lights and noise would still keep him up even with a cover.

It seems like from the posts I've read here, including yours, that this sleep issue is another one of these issues where there are two separate and distinct points of view (I.e. 12 hours vs sunrise/sunset). The 12 hours would be much easier to deal with but I want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks for your input, I guess I will continue to research this.

[Hookturn]

We'll after reading some more articles on the sleep issue I understand where the 12 hour rule comes from. This is clearly an attempt to mimic what happens in the wild. Many parrots come from areas close to the equator where there is a consistent 12 hour day.

So if we are going to mimic their natural sleep cycle in terms of length of sleep, 12 hours makes sense. Of course the question becomes whether the important factor in their natural sleep cycle is the amount of sleep or their exposure to sunrise and sunset. I have not yet come across any articles suggesting that this sort of exposure is important. Does anyone have a citation to any such articles or studies?

To muddy the sleep issue even more, I came across this 2012 article on the subject


http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-magazin ... sleep.aspx

After reading this I'm totally confused. Ahhh the joys of bird ownership. Lol

[Wolf]

Based on your description of your household and its habits your bird would probably derive a lot of benefit from you setting up a sleep cage for it.
I think that you will find several links to the subject of lighting and its effects on parrots scattered throughout this topic;

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12386

This link is to a topic right here on this forum and should provide an interesting read on the subject of lighting all by itself. This should either help you find enough answers to make up your own mind or it could totally confuse you or both.

[Hookturn]

Lol I'll give it a read. And I am easily confused these days especially when it comes to parrots. Thanks for the link wolf.

[Wolf]

Me too ! There is a lot of conflicting information out there.