Jade sleeping strange?

[Megnutt]

What a strange bird I have! I had just looked at the time and thought about putting Jade's bedtime blanket over his cage when I look over and see... well, just look at this picture:


His little eyes are even closed!

That is one of the toys that the breeder provided, which I think is adorable that he is cuddling with it.
The thing is... He has a perfectly good Snuggle Hut (which I have seen him explore so I know he isn't scared of it) and he seems to prefer sleeping this way! Is this strange? I've never seen a bird prefer to sleep attached to the cage bars rather than on a perch.

Update: I hear him moving around and it sounds like he has rearranged himself to sleep somewhere else, but this was just adorable to see!

[Wolf]

Why not try placing a perch right there next to the toy?

[Megnutt]

I bought a couple rope perches today, and I plan on doing just that tomorrow!

I'm so happy with how things are progressing with Jade. He really does have a lot of energy! The first day or two he was so quiet and preferred to stay in two or three places in the cage. Today he was hopping around, chattering (or should I say, quacking) to me, flying from perch to perch, even hanging upside down on the top of the cage! I am also super excited about the fact he ate almost all of the egg I gave him today! (And a blueberry i think. I didnt see him eat it it's just MIA).

I feel like I am going to be gushing about him a lot, I'm just so excited to see him so happy!

[Wolf]

Jade is a nice looking boy, and I am glad that he is recovering from his ordeal and beginning to acclimate to his new home. I am glad that you are thinking of his comfort and bought him some new perches. That is a good thing to do ,but if I may, I would really like it if for Jade's benefit if you would return the perches that you bought and traded them in for different ones. I know that you took your time in making your choice, but I am sure that you were not aware that Jade can get his toe nails caught in a rope perch and get hurt because of that. Also you have to be careful because sometimes when chewing on things such as rope they will ingest some of the fibers which can get stuck in his crop or stomach, or even in his intestines and cause a full or partial blockage resulting in needing surgery to try to save his life. There are some very good perches that have a kind of sandpapery surface on 2 sides with a smooth space down the middle that will help him to trim his nails and his beak. I would trade the rope ones in on one of those and on a good wooden one, but not the manzanita ones as they are too hard and smooth.
I really like the pictures of him ,but looking at them ,I noticed the cage, first it caught my eyes because it is constructed differently than most all of the others that I have seen and when looking at the bar spacing and comparing that to Jade, the cage began to look like it is a bit small for him. Now that could be right or it could be an optical illusion and since I don't know, may I ask what size is his cage? You know the height, width and length.
I know that eggs are on the safe food list and even good food list as well, but it is high in protein. So please limit his intake of them. I like to boil my eggs that are for my birds and then remove the yolk as it is high in cholesterol, then slice the egg lengthwise and then in half. This makes portion control very easy for me. I then feed my Senegal I half slice of the egg and my CAG and Amazon each two half slices of the egg. I then freeze the remainder and give them the same amount in three weeks. Or I don't freeze any of it and eat the remainder myself. they really don't require a lot of protein in their diet.
I do like the pictures and Jade looks very cute trying to sleep on the side of the cage with his toy. thank you so much for sharing it with us. Blue berries are a great food for them, but mine won't touch them except to throw them at me unless I peel at least half of each one that I give to them.

[Pajarita]

Mmmmm, I don't think he was cuddling next to the toy, I think he did not feel safe (at least, my birds only hang on to the bars like that when they are not feeling 100% safe). Does he have his cage against a wall or has one side of it covered with a cloth or something? Because birds don't like to be 100% exposed all around, they need to have one solid wall behind them to feel safe (they know a predator will not come from that side so they usually sleep on the highest perch on that side -I like to cover one side and a bit more so the 'sleeping corner' has two solid sides). Also, I don't know about the size of the cage but the bars seem to be too separated -it looks as if he could put his head through and that's dangerous (if he puts his head through, it gets stuck and he pulls hard, he could break his neck).

[Wolf]

I am guessing of course but based on the size of my Senegal, a little larger than Jade I believe, the bar spacing would be about 1 inch by 2 inch in size. There are 5 spaces on the one side and if each of these is 2 inches long that is only 10 inches wide on that side. And this is the basis of my thinking that this cage is way too small for this bird. I can't make any estimate for the height of the cage or for how long the side closest to us, is.

[Megnutt]

Thank you all for the concern!

Okay, I will take your advice and take the rope ones back. I have seen pictures and videos of people who have these types of perches in their cages because they say it gives them more texture than hard wood or sandpaper. I already have a nice sandpaper perch that he loves, as well a few standard wood ones.

I feed him a quarter (to a half) of an egg. And that's only in the morning. I mix in some berries and fruit in with it, too! He is getting much better at trying different foods.

When I took the picture, I was looking at it from the side (so the smaller side of the rectangle). What you are seeing in the background is the opposite side (so the other smaller side). Here is a picture of the cage from the front:



And yes, he does have a wall on the one side.

I am still learning where his favouirite spots are and where to best place perches and toys in his cage to make it awesome and completely safe for him. So please, if anyone has any tips on perch placement and the like, that would be greatly appreciated!! I just want to make sure he is happy and healthy.

I also saw the arguments about Snuggle/Happy Huts and how they can be dangerous. He doesn't use it anyway, so I may just take it out. Also, this morning he was playing with his favourite toy (the one pictured in the original post) and pulled a string off of it. I think I am going to remove it as well because I would not want him to ingest it, like you said Wolf.

[marie83]

Hi there,
Nice to "meet" you and Jade.
My conure slept on the bars like that the first two nights when he wasn't familiar with his cage/us so I was just wondering how long you have had him? After that he slept in his happy hut every single night.
I would agree with pajarita that he is feeling uncomfortable/insecure in that picture.

I do watch mine very closely to ensure he isn't chewing at his hut and I examine it every day too. Never had a problem, its 2 years old now and not showing any sign of wear and tear, the one we had previously was replaced (alongside a lot of other things) after my birds fell sick.
I've lost a bird before to unsafe cage furnishings (a bell in this case) so I'm very careful, but I am a firm believer in nothing is 100% safe so weigh up the risks and make a decision on how you feel. The rope perches I personally wouldn't have in the cage but I would be happy with my birds having them on their play gym because it means I'm there to help if anything goes wrong. I feel they are very dangerous when birds are unattended with them.

**EDIT** Just to add you are feeding far too much egg if your letting him have that amount every morning. I don't tend to feed egg much but if I did it would be one or 2 conure sized mouthfuls once or twice a week.

[Wolf]

Oh thank you for the picture of the cage it looks so much better in this picture and I am glad that I was incorrect about the sizes that I was questioning. Again thank you for showing me that I was wrong.
I still don't like the perches in the cage. I can't tell anything about the one that he is on in this picture but the two long ones appear to be wooden dowel rods. If they are then they should be replaced as well, because a smooth, straight perch of a single constant diameter can cause a condition in parrots called bumble foot. This is due to the fact that the foot always rests on the same points without relief and causes swelling as well as sensitivity and progresses to deformity.
truly the best perches are natural tree branches made from bird safe trees which have a little roughness to the bark, but not too rough. If you find a small branch that divides into two running in the same general direction and clip off the fork that is the same size as the larger end then the remaining piece will have at least two sizes that taper and make excellent perches and are free to boot.
While I do put perches down low in my cages, my birds seem to prefer to remain in the upper half of their cages.

[Megnutt]

Not a problem wolf! I understand that you care very much! I'd prefer to have someone question me and tell me if I am doing something wrong than not to say anything and put my Jade at risk. Like the rope perches for example. Thank you so much for that bit of advice!

Can I find those kind of perches at a pet store? Unfortunately the only ones I can find are the dowel ones and plastic/ceramic ones that tend to chip (the one I bought broke and there was no way I was putting that in his cage!) I will research what types of tree branches are safe for birds.