Hello everyone!
My sun conure for the past few months has developed a new sleeping habit that I can't get him out of! He has snuggled up all cozy at the bottom of his cage and is loving it! Now I completely understand that this is a symptom of an ill bird and normally I would treat it as such, however everything about his demeanor is normal and healthy! He gets weighed weekly, normal weight fluctuation. Poops, normal. Been to the avian vet? Yup, twice in the past year in fact! He also perches and forages and plays all day in his daytime cage no problem.
This past year and a half has been new for my boyfriend and I because my 8 year old sun conure has developed crazy hormonal behaviors that come and "tone down" but never completely simmer down. (Hence the two trips to the vet this last year.) I'm going to say that this new sleeping behavior probably has something to do with this because it goes as follows: I keep a paper box with some all natural toy pieces at the bottom of his cage to keep him engaged if he doesn't fall asleep right away. Underneath that is newsprint to keep him from the bars at the bottom of his cage. He gets SUPER excited to go to bed, scrambling around quacking and mumbling while making loving clicks and purrs to this box and newsprint while I say goodnight to him. He'll stay awake for a half an hour, regurgitate for a little bit, make a form of paper tent or just pick a spot, and either just fall asleep or snuggled up against this box.
Up until a few months ago he as always perched while he sleeps, but once this hormonal behavior started, he has progressed from a perch sleeper, to perch snuggler (I made him a paper towel foraging toy to forage from, to only have him sleep against it), then finally a bottom dweller sleeper. He was sleeping with that paper towel foraging toy perched for a while, but I had to replace it and it took half a week to do so, and during that time he decoded he liked the bottom better.
Has anyone else either had this level of hormonal behavior happen and/or have conure's that just prefer the bottom of their cage to sleep?
My sun conure for the past few months has developed a new sleeping habit that I can't get him out of! He has snuggled up all cozy at the bottom of his cage and is loving it! Now I completely understand that this is a symptom of an ill bird and normally I would treat it as such, however everything about his demeanor is normal and healthy! He gets weighed weekly, normal weight fluctuation. Poops, normal. Been to the avian vet? Yup, twice in the past year in fact! He also perches and forages and plays all day in his daytime cage no problem.
This past year and a half has been new for my boyfriend and I because my 8 year old sun conure has developed crazy hormonal behaviors that come and "tone down" but never completely simmer down. (Hence the two trips to the vet this last year.) I'm going to say that this new sleeping behavior probably has something to do with this because it goes as follows: I keep a paper box with some all natural toy pieces at the bottom of his cage to keep him engaged if he doesn't fall asleep right away. Underneath that is newsprint to keep him from the bars at the bottom of his cage. He gets SUPER excited to go to bed, scrambling around quacking and mumbling while making loving clicks and purrs to this box and newsprint while I say goodnight to him. He'll stay awake for a half an hour, regurgitate for a little bit, make a form of paper tent or just pick a spot, and either just fall asleep or snuggled up against this box.
Up until a few months ago he as always perched while he sleeps, but once this hormonal behavior started, he has progressed from a perch sleeper, to perch snuggler (I made him a paper towel foraging toy to forage from, to only have him sleep against it), then finally a bottom dweller sleeper. He was sleeping with that paper towel foraging toy perched for a while, but I had to replace it and it took half a week to do so, and during that time he decoded he liked the bottom better.
Has anyone else either had this level of hormonal behavior happen and/or have conure's that just prefer the bottom of their cage to sleep?
But I know my boy is healthy and it was driving me bananas! He's just recently started rolling onto his back when he plays too! We've had him for almost five years and he didn't start having this kind of behavior until this past year as the sexual overdrive kicked in! 
He is constantly surprising us and is truly an amazing animal companion. I greatly appreciate the reassurance lol! And the wooden platform is an excellent idea! I would go with the Cozy Corner if he wasn't such a chewer lol!
Cracks me up every time my baby does it.