Conure Sleeping Habitat Questions

[Sickaede]

Hello! I am new here so my apologies if this is in the wrong place!
I made an account here because this is my first bird, and despite the hours and hours of research, watching a video vs. actually caring for the bird can never compare.

My question for this particular thread is:
Is it necessary for a bird to have a separate sleeping cage?

Heres the situation:
I just adopted my beautiful little green cheek conure, Dahlia, two days ago. Shes 7 months old, hand reared, and currently molting (so shes a bit moody).

Day 1, just draping a dark cloth over the cage was fine, leaving the front exposed (If I completely cover the cage she screams her little head off). She slept on one leg, turned her head, went right to sleep around 10PM same as me.

Day 2 however, she just would not sleep. She kept grinding her beak, running around the cage, eating, drinking, you name it. I'm not even sure if she slept all night, because when I woke up at 4AM she was awake as well.


I've read that having a 'sleep cage' in a quieter room can help birds sleep easier, and if they don't get around 10-12 hours of sleep a day they can develop behavioral issues. Obviously I want my little girl to be healthy and happy, but the problem is the other animals in the apartment.

I have a one bedroom apartment, the bird stays in my room, the two cats get the rest. With that said, I'm also afraid to have the bird anywhere near the cats, for fear of stressing her out, or the off chance they could figure out how to get in the cage and hurt her. Hence, my room is really the only room where she will be safe in any cage unsupervised.

Any feedback at all about sleep cages, or possible ways to help her sleep better in her main cage would be much appreciated!

 

[CrazyKozmo]

My birds get covered up, with a black sheet, at night. I have 2 green cheek conures and 2 white bellied caiques. The caiques seem to settle down and go to sleep soon after being covered, and I don't hear from them until the next morning. Not so with the green cheeks! They usually go to the bottom of their cages (they're in separate cages), and shred up their papers and wood toys and squeak and squeal with delight!!! This is all after I cover them up! And it can go on for quite a while! I keep them in the living room....so if I'm watching tv after covering them, they can get really noisy! I just haven't found that a "sleep cage" is practical in my situation. One gcc is 16 years old (I've had him since 2 months old), the other is a rescue who I've had for 12 years (not sure how old she is otherwise). Safety and security is most important. It sounds like your new feathered baby (congratulations!) is still new to you and her surroundings....she should settle in before too long. You don't want the cats to have access to her. Gcc's are one of my favorite parrots!! Just so you know, they can go through a "nippy" stage (in my experience, it started around 8 months old and lasted for about one year). Learn to read her body language and you'll do okay. I have found that, once past this "nippy stage", it becomes 90% cuddles and 10% ornery!! This is a really good forum for advice. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks here....don't hesitate to post questions. Welcome to the forum!!

 

[tobias]

A separate sleep cage isn't necessary as long as the location of the regular cage gets 10-12 hours of darkness and quiet. I wouldn't worry about it too much, since you've only had her for 2 days it might just take a little while to establish a routine. I have my birds in my bedroom too (and have had it that way for 11 years). At 10pm I cover them and turn on just a dim light so I can still read or something if I'm not ready to go to sleep yet. As long as you don't watch TV in your bedroom or keep all the lights on late or something, I think your bird will sleep fine in there. Just establish a chunk of hours that is consistently quiet and dark and I'm sure she will start sleeping more thoroughly in a few days.

Also, you might already know this but just in case you don't, beak grinding means they are relaxed and getting ready for sleep mode. So hearing beak grinding at night is a good thing!

Congrats on your bird, GCCs are awesome. I love the name Dahlia!