Sleeping

[Roonil Wazlib]

So, for the three nights we've had him, when we've put him to bed he usually chitters a bit and makes soft noises, i can only assume he is asleep. But tonight, its raining quite heavily out, and hes been chit-chattering and whistling for almost an hour, nothing too loud and he doesn't sound stressed, but has not quietened down like before - could he be worried because of the rain, and is calling us to make sure we are alright, and wants us to respond back? If he continues, should i get him out, and lay quietly with him, or will this just make him want to play/expect it every night, or might he still be hungry?

[Wolf]

How much light is therein the room he is in? Is he covered or not? Many birds will hear rain and want baths or showers, but don/t give him one at night. Soft chittering and soft whistles, to me just mean that he is awake and probably talking to himself. The real issue to me is that he is awake. If it is quiet and dark he should be sleeping.

[Roonil Wazlib]

he stopped now, about an hour or so after putting him to bed. Hes covered, and the only light in the room is coming from two computers. Nights before we've had the tv on, and tonight we've just have earphones in. I don't know anything about his routeen in his previous home, so maybe the television noise calmed/soothed him to sleep?

its been raining all day, this morning we had some water play time in the sink, which i think he enjoyed, and let me know when he had enough, but didn't seem to know what was going on. Didn't dunk his head in the bowl, and wouldn't go near the running water of the tap, though he was interested in drinking from it, and i let the water droplets run off my hand over his head, which, i think he was unsure on weather he like it or not

I think he might have had a twenty minuet nap about four hours ago, as it was getting dark, and i was watching a movie before my partner came home and we turned lights on and got dinner ready. (This was about 6:30) his bed time is any time between 7:30 and 8:30 - last night it was bang on 7:30, but tonight was 8:15 - should i try and be more vigilant to be at the exact same time every night? and keep the lights when it gets dark at around six?

[Wolf]

I don't know, but what I would borrow his cage cover to see how much light goes through it. The light from TV's and computer screens is quite blue and affects the pituitary gland in their brain much more than normal light. Birds are like us in that they will get used to a small amount of noise when they sleep, so just make sure that it is kept to a minimum and he will be fine with that. The only thing that I use to time my birds bedtime is when it gets dark. The way that I do this is to put them in their cage about an hour to an hour and a half before dark with their dinner let them eat and turn of the lights when they go in the cage and they put them selves to bed by the time it is full dark and this is when you would cover them for the night.

[Pajarita]

Exactly! The trick is to turn off the artificial lights when the sun is halfway down to the horizon and cover their cage with an opaque material when it's already night and they are fast asleep. Putting a bird in a cage and covering it without the dusk transition is what keeps them awake. Birds are like humans in that they need dusk to start producing melatonin (the hormone that makes you drowsy). We know that humans take from 20 to 30 minutes to produce enough for a restful sleep but there aren't any studies done with parrots so sticking to nature's ways is the best option we have. And this is not only so they can get a restful sleep and a healthy endocrine system, production of melatonin is directly related to the health of their immune system. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 800500273X - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3645767/ - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1 ... 0600902652