Sleep cage trouble

[TikiMyn]

hi everyone,

Henkie and Fëanor, my lovebirds, share a room with me. They are not caged in there, but because I sleep there also, I would like for them to sleep in my closet(it’s a big one, I can walk inside it and it’s build in the wall).
I have been trying to get Henkie to sleep in his travel cage for a pretty long while, I stopped trying when autumn came because they got 12-14 hours of sleep and I rarely woke them up. I have been trying to get them accustomed to sleeping cage again since a couple weeks.
First I tried to let them sleep cage free in the closet, there is nothing there except a shelf on the top and three shelves on the far right(it’s about 2 meters long, and 60 cm deep). I hung Some things from the top shelf for them to sleep on and left a light on. I fed them in the closet and spend time in there with them in the evening. They don’t fear the closet, but when I completly close the door the freak out. They are fine with the door almost completly closed, but that way they Will fly out.
I started training them to sleep in their travel cage instead. I fed them in there too, and Fëanor is fine if I close the door and he is eating. He is also fine if I close the door and we go for a walk, but not when I close the door and I feed him a treats. He Will look scared and tries to get out, even though I give him plenty of time to show me he is uncomfortable when I close the door. I try to give him a treat and wait a few seconds untill he sits still, and then I open the door completly, and offer my hand. He usually steps up and then he recieves a treat.
Henkie goed into the travel cage sometimes to get a free snack, and Will sit on my hand inside it, but doesn’t step on a perch yet. It was too cold to go outside in the winter, so he hasn’t been in a cage for a couple months. He hates cages a lot more them Fëanor does, he doesn’t like to be locked up. In a few weeks, Maybe even days, I’m sure he Will go into the travel cage again, but he won’t like being in there to sleep.

How Can I make it more attractive to them to sleep there? Should I just let them go in there every night, close the door for a minute and then let them out? That is what I am doing with Fëanor now, but I would love to hear other suggestions!

 

[Hjarta5]

When they are free flighted in your room, how/where do they sleep when its time for bed? Is there a particular branch or material they like? For me, I know Luna will put himself to bed by climbing to his "sleeping perch" while Wally never wants to go to bed, but when she does, its on the bottom of her cage (she has done this since we found her so its not unusual). Maybe you can recreate something similar in the sleep cage and, if possible, put it somewhere up high in your bedroom to start without closing the door at first so that they would always be free to go inside during the day and at night. Then as they get used to it, you can slowly move it towards your closet? Also, after they are comfortable with the sleep cage this way and before they are in the closet, maybe slowly start covering their sleep cages with a blanket or towel when its bedtime until the cages are completely covered so that it will be dark like the closet?

When we have gone on long car rides, I have noticed Wally will hold onto the side of her travel carrier for the first 30 minutes or hour but will relax and play with the toys in there after awhile. If we are driving at night, though, she will yell a lot and I think its because the passing lights scare her so I usually cover her travel cage. But both Wally and Luna are used to me covering their cages at bedtime, so that is not unusual to them.

 

[TikiMyn]

Thank you! They are now sleeping as far up high as they can. Both sleep on a rope today, but it can vary. I have one of their favorite swings in their cage, and a platform. Also three perches and a few toys. They only have one favorite toy they like to cuddle with, other favorites change from day to day. So far I haven’t out that one in there, because they love to cuddle with that in the afternoon. I just realized I could put that toy in there in the evening though!

Right now I have that cage on a normal table, not really high, but not low either. I leave the door open during the day and have Some snacks in there for them. I am planning to move it to the top of another closet once Henkie Will sit in the cage without a problem.

Thanks a lot for the other suggestions! I am defiantly going to slowly cover them up. Thankfully they are not very disturbed by me if I am still up, I use a flashlight and try to make as little noise as I can. The main problem is going to be when it’s summer and the night only lasts 6 hours! They know get 13 hours of sleep so I still have Some time to train them.

I never thought about the fact that they might need Some time to settle down! That could be of a lot of help too, I had to cage Henkie once for a day because of renovations. I was with him almost all the time, it took him a few hours to settle in but eventually he was fine! I had not trained him prior to that because I didn’t know I would have to cage him, so if I do train him, he might just need half an hour to settle in too. Thanks a lot!