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[Curious Diode]

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[ParrotsForLife]

Its a sleep cage so it doesn't need to be very big as long as he can move about.

[Curious Diode]

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[ParrotsForLife]

Are there any cons to using one?

I wouldn't think so its just a sleeping cage

[Chantilly]

Every morning when I wake up my green cheek is at the very top corner of his cage holding onto the bars (it seems really uncomfortable). I have a loft bed so that is the closest he can get to me in his cage. He always makes a lot of noise and moves around after I turn the lights off, but he settles down after a minute or so. Should I put a sleep cage next to my bed? If so, how large should it be?

The reason they hang on like that to the bars when they sleep is so as if there is a predator they are ready to take flight, they do it in the wild too. I wouldnt be to concerned, hanging on like that is just natural and they probably feel safest that way.

[Wolf]

Very good answer, Chantilly, and accurate for as far as it goes. Allow me to expand on your answer with this thought and see what you think of it.

In addition to what Chantilly said, your bird is above all else a flock animal and as such it has an instinctive drive to be with its flock for protection and security so it is also choosing to get as close to you as it can to go to sleep.

It might be possible to raise the level of the cage enough that your bird can still see you from its highest sleep perch, without destabilizing the cage. It also might be possible to place a smaller sleep/ travel cage on top of the birds regular cage, again so that the bird can see you when it is on its normal sleep perch.

[Pajarita]

The other reason why she is doing this instead of roosting as she should is because you don't allow her the benefit of dusk so, when you turn off the light, she is still wide-awake. Birds that are exposed to dusk fall asleep in their roosting perch without a problem because they go there as they start feeling drowsy.

[Curious Diode]

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[Pajarita]

Ah, but you see? the thing is that it's not the lower intensity of the light that does the trick, it's the change in spectrum and that we cannot reproduce with artificial lights, it needs to be done with the actual sun getting low on the horizon and setting. The light of the sun changes its spectral distribution as the rays hit the atmosphere at different angles so, whereas the light at noon the rays are hitting it straight down, at sunrise and sunset, they hit it in a descending slant so the angle becomes more and more acute as the sun gets closer to the horizon, this, added to the interference with the atmosphere changes the distribution of the different wavelengths (colors) of the light itself so certain colors become more preponderant than others (the reds are more visible while the blues, including the ultraviolet are diminished).

[ParrotsForLife]

I never knew that very interesting.I let mine go asleep as soon as they go back in the cage and start sleeping.They usually do this awhile after the sun goes down also they are next to the window.