How much noise can I make at night to not disturb my parrot's sleep?

Chiriceanu

New member
Aug 9, 2019
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0
Parrots
A 3 month old male indian ringneck
Hi, I own an Indian ringneck and I've read online that they need about 12 hours of sleep per night. So I shut the lights off at 10pm and cover his cage with a drape. Problem is, I'm quite the night owl and tend to stay up very late. Will my parrot wake up if I talk? I'm not too loud but I am pretty close to his cage and I don't want to disturb his sleep. What about door opening/closing?
 

Flboy

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Dec 28, 2014
12,598
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Greater Orlando area, Florida
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JoJo, 'Special' GCC, Bongo, Cinnamon GCC(wife's)
Absolutely, you are keeping him awake! My JoJo, about 10 months ago appeared to be severely molting! Reality? Plucking! Cause? He sleeps in his night cage in my bedroom, I put him in before 9pm. I started watching movies on my iPad while in bed, till midnight or later! I could hear him grumbling the whole time! I realized it was plucking when I found a pile of chewed feathers in that cage! He never goes potty in it, so I never need to clean it!
My solution was to start using headphones! At the wife’s house, she has a sleeping cage in a large walk in closet for her Bongo! I swear by a separate sleep cage in a quiet area! When we hang together in the evening, my JoJo puts himself to bed! I change the water and shut the door!
A well rested parrot is so much sweeter!
 
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Chiriceanu

Chiriceanu

New member
Aug 9, 2019
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A 3 month old male indian ringneck
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What can I do then? At the very least he'll be hearing the sound of my keyboard clacking for a few more hours. He's been asleep for 2 hours now and he didn't seem to mind however
 

Alehner529

Member
Dec 6, 2018
111
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Northern Wisconsin
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Sun Conure
Some people have two cages for the birds, one being a sleep cage in a different part of the house, like on their bedroom. If you did this you could put your bird to bed in a separate room, and then be free to do what you need to do late into the night.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Kiwibird

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Jul 12, 2012
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1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
I dunno, our amazon is in the living room and we make no special arrangements after the covers go on to be extra quiet. He even puts himself to bed when he's ready for the covers, waddles in his house and closes the door behind himself then makes a few squawks. He sleeps fine. Birds are highly adaptable animals and get used to the environment they happen to live in. The jungle isn't silent at night, after all (nor pitch black, depending on the moon). As long as you aren't having a raging party or watching TV on a super loud volume, your bird will adapt and be fine. If you get him used to sleeping in pitch black and total silence though (such as being put in another room), then he'll struggle with ever sleeping in any less than perfect environment. I strongly disagree with sleep cages and moving birds to other rooms to sleep. A thick cage cover and consistent bedtime/bedtime routine is more effective and natural IMO.
 

Squeekmouse

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May 31, 2017
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Illinois
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Yoda, Green Cheek Conure - Trigger, Congo African Grey
I second what Kiwibird said. My birds are both in or near our living room and we watch TV and go about our business. They seem used to our noises. I say this because I have also seen them nap soundly while we are watching TV and doing our own things. I also know that for the short time we had Trigger's cage up in his own room for sleeping, he was miserable and would fight us putting him in there and cry when we left.
 

Aspie_Aviphile

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Jul 19, 2018
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England
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Biddy, budgie, departed 2nd Sept 2018; Bo, Indian Ringneck, 5th Feb 2020; </3
As prey animals that sleep in flocks for safety, some stir very easily and can warn the others of danger, and others don't, just like humans. And just like humans, factors like anxiety, diet, exercise, age and light cycle will change how an individual sleeps.

He might sleep more deeply knowing that you're very close and in the same room, because a parrot alone in the dark lacks the security alarm system of a flock, and he's still just a baby. You'll just have to find out by trial and error, using a faint light to check how deeply he's sleeping. In deep sleep both his eyes will be shut tight, his beak will be buried right into his back and he won't instantly wake up if you quietly move closer.
 

Jen5200

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Mar 27, 2017
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My flock sleeps in a room that is open to the main living area. Once I put covers on, they usually sleep fine. We’re not particularly loud people but the tv is often on and we talk and make normal living noise.
 

Kiwibird

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Jul 12, 2012
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1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
He might sleep more deeply knowing that you're very close and in the same room, because a parrot alone in the dark lacks the security alarm system of a flock, and he's still just a baby.

Due to the only A/C unit being in our living room, I have been sleeping on the couch all summer long. As a result, Kiwi has been my roommate:green: I think he wakes me up more than the other way around. Even in the complete dark, no talking, no lights, dead of night he occasionally ruffles his feathers if a loud car goes by, shifts on his perch, grinds his beak, makes a giant poop that goes "splat"...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Once or twice I've even awoken to him crunching and cracking seed for a 2am snack. He's awful to sleep around! He's always perky and energetic during the day too. Takes an afternoon nap but he's rarely grumpy or seems overly tired.
 

charmedbyekkie

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May 24, 2018
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Cairo the Ekkie!
This is very dependent on the bird. We actually set up an infrared camera to keep on eye on Cairo as we had this same question. In pitch black darkness (we put a blanket over his cage), sudden suddens definitely wake him up, but videos/audio with a consistent level are ok - he doesn't stir. Now that all does change if there's light going into his cage, he stirs more easily to any sound if there's a little bit of light.

Thinking about it, in the wild, it isn't perfectly quiet at night either - the ambient sound of other creatures at night is there. And considering they sleep in the wild, I'd imagine they'd wake up periodically through the night as well.

The way we approached it was like a human baby. If you train a baby to sleep in pitch darkness with no sound, that's what they'll need as child in order to sleep well. If you condition a baby to sleep around other sounds, they'll likely be able to sleep through most sounds. So while we didn't make such a din at night, we also tried to balance the sound exposure around him.
 

CallumConure

New member
Apr 10, 2019
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Central Minnesota, USA
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Callum- GCC Hatchday: October 15th, 2016
(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
I'm a night owl as well. When it's time for Callum to go to bed, I turn out the lights and stay relatively quiet for him. I have rats in my bedroom, so my room is never completely silent, but he sleeps through it just fine.

I know Callum sleeps well because he wakes up in the morning, stares at me, then screams at me to get up. Then continues with that energy for the rest of the day.
 

CallumConure

New member
Apr 10, 2019
132
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Central Minnesota, USA
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Callum- GCC Hatchday: October 15th, 2016
(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
I'm a night owl as well. When it's time for Callum to go to bed, I turn out the lights and stay relatively quiet for him. I have rats in my bedroom, so my room is never completely silent, but he sleeps through it just fine.

I know Callum sleeps well because he wakes up in the morning, stares at me, then screams at me to get up. Then continues with that energy for the rest of the day.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post. Internet lagged and I guess I posted twice. Apologies!
 

buurd

Active member
May 11, 2018
295
37
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2 Rosy Bourke's parrots
I dunno, our amazon is in the living room and we make no special arrangements after the covers go on to be extra quiet. He even puts himself to bed when he's ready for the covers, waddles in his house and closes the door behind himself then makes a few squawks. He sleeps fine. Birds are highly adaptable animals and get used to the environment they happen to live in. The jungle isn't silent at night, after all (nor pitch black, depending on the moon). As long as you aren't having a raging party or watching TV on a super loud volume, your bird will adapt and be fine. If you get him used to sleeping in pitch black and total silence though (such as being put in another room), then he'll struggle with ever sleeping in any less than perfect environment. I strongly disagree with sleep cages and moving birds to other rooms to sleep. A thick cage cover and consistent bedtime/bedtime routine is more effective and natural IMO.

I pretty much agree with this. I would also say that, changes in volume, like if you're watching action adventure or playing games, or people yelling or screaming would probably bother a bird. I would guess that some birds vary in temperament, and in what they are used to, as well. Doing things out of the ordinary are going to upset them. Music can stimulate them. I've turned music on (low vol) before, and they have gotten up to sing softly with it.
You can also pretty much tell when your bird is bothered, because they will raise their voice and it will sound sharp, like they are 'barking' at you, like, 'Hey Idiot; Im tryna sleep!' :white1:
 

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