My parrot HATES his sleep cage

[sighthoundlover]

I recently (May 5th) got a 7 year old Maximillain Pionus (obviously re-homing) after my 10 month old Blueheaded Pionus, Kukla, died from a tumor. I have been placing him in the same sleep cage I used for my Blue-headed Pionus (it's a large cockatiel cage) and he absolutely hates it. He had previously belonged to a stewardess that was away for extended periods of time and she had a HUGE cage for him (large enough to house 2 Macaws). He slept in that cage and was pretty much able to come and go as he pleased I think. Unfortunately, I get up every morning at 5 AM to go exercise on the treadmill in the garage and then come back in to get ready to go to work - I also might wake up in the middle of the night and come out to the kitchen to get a drink. His cage is in the sun room which is open to the living area and main rooms of the house so most likely, he will hear me. If I wanted to be sure he went into a room where I would not disturb him when I got up in the morning it would require me moving his cage to a bedroom and the cage actually does not fit down my hallway or into the bedroom doors. I am afraid that without putting him in the sleep cage he might not get the required rest. On the other hand, it is the one thing I make him do that he clearly does not want to do. He gets really angry, puffs up, fans his tail, bites at the cage bars and wants to bite me. The rest of the day and when I come home from work he's great and there is no real problem with step ups etc., it's only when he knows he's going to his sleep cage. I'd love advice and opinions on the trade off of maybe less sleep versus parrot anger.

[liz]

I personally don't go along with the idea that you have to make your parrot have 8 to 10 hours sleep time. Rambo gets up to eat in the middle of the night. He makes up for it with a nap in the afternoon.

Mine are in the sunroom. Or I should say their cage and sleep area are in there. When I get up in the morning they are already eating and playing. We have lights on in the house when the sun goes down so they don't have to go back to the sunroom and sleep until they are ready.

Take him with you when you go to exersize. Let him keep your schedule. He can get plenty of naps while you are at work.

[Bobioden]

Why not just cover his main cage at night?

[Khaiqha]

I like the idea of sleep cages, if only because I am very activite at night. You know best whether your routine is disruptive for your bird. My advice to get him to like the sleep cage is as follows:

Give him his favorite treat only in the cage at night and in the morning.

When you go to put him up, don't immediately put him in it and walk away. Play with him for a few minutes next to the cage, or do a training exercise on it. You want his mood to be happy, not angry when he's in the cage.

Take the sleeping cage around the house during the day, and have him play on it, be in it with the door open, etc.


Basically, you want him to look at the cage like it's a roosting site (bedroom), and not a prison. My bird will actually let me know that she wants to be put up as the sun sets, and if I'm too slow she'll climb the stairs and put herself up.

[Wayne361]

Time feeding time with night time. He will WANT to go to his cage for the rewarding experience of having his meal. Make this a pattern and you shouldnt have a problem. Dont feed the bird out of the cage......

Wayne

[Grey_Moon]

Like Liz I do not necessarily subscribe to the whole 10-12 hours of sleep a night thing.
Jacko (my TAG) sleeps when we do, and I feel this is more natural as they rise with the flock and sleep with the flock.

If you try and lock him away for the night he knows darn well that 15 minutes ago all the lights were on, the flock was awake and that you walked away into the lit up and awake household, shut the door and left him in the dark. So I would wager that he is not actually sleeping as much as you think he is, and it is unnatural and stressful for him to be shut away in the dark when his flock is awake. I know that my birds slept poorly if at all when put to bed early, and they did not really get to sleep untill it was 10-11 pm anyway, regardless of all the curtains and how dark I tried to make the room.

So really, honestly, I would not stress about him sleeping in a sleep cage when you put him to bed at the "appropriate" hour. My advice would be to relocate a small cage or stand to your bedroom, and let him roost when you do, and get up when you do. If anything he might get a total kick out of watching you run on the treadmill and listening to music, and its extra hang-out and playtime.

Plus, he will be ready to snooze most of the day when the house is quiet and every one is gone, waking up before everyone gets home. Sounds good to me.