Sleeping Habits?

Wingnut

Member
Feb 25, 2016
85
9
South Carolina, USA
Parrots
Kiwi The Lovebird
Hey everyone! I just wanted to ask a quick question here...Does anyone’s bird sleep on the bottom of the cage at night???

I have a 1 year old Lovebird who has been doing this consistently now for about a month. Literally the instant I grab her blankie to cover the cage she drops to the bottom corner of her cage. She was at the vet a few months ago on an antibiotic treatment for elevated white blood cell count which did come down after time. I’ve just never seen this behavior in birds and I’m hoping she’s not hiding “weakness” or “illness” to sleep on her perch.
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Is she actually sleeping down there?
Generally, truly sleeping on the bottom of the cage is a bad sign/major red flag. You need to take her back to the vet ASAP if she is sleeping on her cage bottom as an adult bird.
Have you been monitoring her weight etc? How is her behavior?


They may need to do some more tests.
Good luck.

PS:My cockatoo was climbing down to the corner of her cage bottom briefly (once when covered in the PM and then again right before I uncovered her in the AM) In her case, it was hormonal, but she wasn't actually sleeping down there, and she was on her perch for like 12 hours.
I removed the paper towels that she had been fishing up from under the grate, and when that didn't stop the behavior, I put two of her full water dishes down there overnight (in that same location) and removed them each morning. This seemed to dissuade her from hanging out there and broke the habit.
 
Last edited:

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 would also recommend getting her back to your CAV for another round of Blood Work and a Fecal...Usually when they choose to specifically sleep on the bottom of the cage, it's because they aren't able to balance on a perch and rest, or they are too weak to do so. It's possible that she got into the habit of sleeping down there when she was sick and now it's just a habit, but typically that isn't the case...
 

clark_conure

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2017
3,924
Media
21
2,224
Minnesota
Parrots
A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
I've read a lot and learned a lot since my new go a parronthood, and actually sleeping on the bottom of the cage is common... sometimes conures (not mine) will even sleep on their back on the floor of a cage. (I've read about anyways) but conures are insane so what do they know.

If your bird is normally content while awake and active I'd see it as endearing...if not I'd see a CAV.
 

Most Reactions

Top