Sleepy hut alternative?

Flboy

Well-known member
Dec 28, 2014
12,598
4,101
Greater Orlando area, Florida
Parrots
JoJo, 'Special' GCC, Bongo, Cinnamon GCC(wife's)
Was just thinking, danger! My JoJo, all male! Has anyone set up a standard nest box as a sleepie hut? Safe materials can be used, no danger of egg issues.
 

Skittys_Daddy

Well-known member
Jan 6, 2014
2,172
63
Lewiston, Maine
Parrots
Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
Well, with JoJo being a male, obviously no egg issues. lol.

I use tissues. Unscented ones. I just grab a bunch and put them in the bottom of Skittles sleep cage. He loves them. He tears them up, climbs under them and just has a grand old time. I suppose you could also use paper towels. I also took an old tissue box and removed the plastic and glued portions and put it in his cage for him to tear up.

I don't bother with trying to get him a sleepy hut alternative anymore. It's pointless at this point, no matter what I put in, he's gonna tear it up, so I just use tissues- a cheaper alternative.
 

ryusmum

New member
Dec 15, 2016
44
0
California
Parrots
Ryu, a green cheek conure pineapple . Age 2, fully flighted
I made a "hut" inside his cage with one large piece of fleece material threaded over the top bar of the cage and it droops over a perch. I noticed that the "hide away" huts are basically just cloth of some kind (fleece is bird safe) made into a little tube in a triangle shape. I created one. The only difference is that my parrot cannot lay down because it is standing on a perch. But he definitely goes inside his "hide" to get quiet, and warmth from the fleece.
 

plumsmum2005

New member
Nov 18, 2015
5,330
94
England, UK
Parrots
Lou, Ruby, and Sonu.
Fly free Plum, my gorgeous boy.
Two ideas for you and could replicate these reasonably easily IMO.
tinker_tunnel_-_side.jpg


343061_1.jpg
 
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Skittys_Daddy

Well-known member
Jan 6, 2014
2,172
63
Lewiston, Maine
Parrots
Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
I got one of those too from the same store. They ARE very nice- however, Skittles chewed up the floor board the first night and began chewing up the fabric.

He's just too much of a chewer to invest in anything that has fabric on it.

I've been using empty tissue boxes (cutting out the plastic part and 'glue' part) and making little tents with them and putting tissues inside. He seems to love them, I catch him going to hide under them in his sleep cage a lot.

Of course he chews up the tissues and the boxes in just a matter of days (sometimes just one day) but its a cheap way to provide him his hidey place.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I actually tried something with my green cheek, he loved it so much that I bought one for my Quaker and my Senegal, and they all love it...I went to Petco looking for something for the green cheek because Bowie loves to sleep in the hood of my sweatshirt. I read all of these bad reviews about the huts, but then also about everything else as well, so I guess you'll find negative stuff about every product, it's all in what works for your bird's. I did read about one of the huts coming apart and a bird actually hanging itself on the thread, so that was out. Other than that I was open to ideas.

I ended up buying Bowie a ferret hammock, I think it's the 17" one. They had really small, then 12", then 16" or 17", I forget, but that's the one I got him. They are a silky, plastic material on one side and the softest, cosiest fur on the other side. I hung it up in a top corner of his cage with the fur on the inside. He immediately jumped in it and stuck his little head out, looked at me, and I swear he smiled at me! So I bought another one for my Quaker, and I just got another for my baby Senegal.

Every night when I say "night night, sleep sleep time" they all fly upstairs to their sleep cages in my bedroom and climb right into their hammocks. Once in a while they actually sleep in a bit in the morning and it's hard to get them to leave their hammocks!

They work for us, they're easy to wash, just throw them in the washing machine and then the dryer, and I've had Bowie's the longest at about a year and it's still like new. No fraying, no holes, no fur coming off. They come in different designs on the fur part (they are the Petco brand hammocks, they are in the ferret/guinea pig/hamster supplies section of Petco next to the vitamin supplements and the grooming/bath stuff). The other nice thing is they are very deep if you hang the 4 hooks close together on the top of the bird's cage, and even my Senegal can snuggle down in and be out of sight completely, which they all seem to like. And none of them have ever pooped inside their hammocks, surprisingly. I'm not a big Petco person at all, in fact I do buy some of my bird pellets/food/treats there because it's the only pet store within 2 hours of where I live (actually there's 2 Petcos within 30 minutes of me, and the closest privately owned pet store is 2 hours away. No PetSmarts within almost 3 hours, though I don't know which is better), but I will endorse their brand of small animal hammocks. They have all different sizes and designs to choose from, and most impressively they hold up wonderfully and the birds like them...that never happens!


Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
 

Skittys_Daddy

Well-known member
Jan 6, 2014
2,172
63
Lewiston, Maine
Parrots
Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
I think for 'chewers', its best to go with a cardboard 'hidey hut'. Its just too much of a risk to give them anything with threading.
 

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