Help with possible night terrors

[Pamelak31]

I am new to the forum and sought it out because our 25 year old African Gray, Axl, has a new behavior that has me very concerned. Last week we heard a horrible screaming noise. We rushed in to the living room where Axl's cage is and he was sound asleep, eyes closed, leg up, but he was screaming. This lasted about 30 seconds. Not one continuous scream, but several long ones. When I called to him, he opened one eye and looked at me as if I had disturbed his sleep. He wasn't agitated, he was just giving me the side eye for waking him. He did it one more time that night. Then it didn't happen for a few nights. Now the last 3 nights it has happened several times in the night. Last night it happened 4 times. All episodes last about 30 seconds.

Nothing has changed in our household. His cage hasn't moved. We haven't changed food, toys or treats.

I am so upset. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Pam

 

[LordTriggs]

I can only offer 2 suggestions. One being a nightlight. the second being to play some low volume white noise to see if it calms him.

I'm sure others will have more suggestions for you

 

[texsize]

It doesn't sound like nite terrors to me.
More like bad dreams.
That said night light good idea.
Nite terrors usually come with flapping about and falling from perch.

 

[cnyguy]

It does seem more like Axl had a nightmare than a night fright. A nightlight would be a good idea-- both my parrots appreciate having a small amount of light during the night. One of the two nightlights I'm using has a battery backup in case of power failure, something I also recommend.

 

[SailBoat]

With the quiet and safety of our homes, our Parrots are able to sleep deeper and dreaming is very possible.

Excellent recommendations above. Please try and provide an update.

 

[GaleriaGila]

All good input above!

The Rb definitely has bad dreams, and wakes up apparently thinking they're real, thus inspiring him to be in a rank mood until he gets over it.

I have a nightlight that's diffuse and behind a screen, so that there are no shadows to frighten him.

 

[Pamelak31]

Thank you for all of the input. Axl normally won't settle if there is a light on, so I am hesitant to try that. And we don't normally cover him because once the lights are out, so is he. However, we did cover him last night, and no nightmares. We will continue to cover him and see how it goes.

After 25 years, I wouldn't have expected this, but here we are!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Just when you thought you could predict that bird...!

 

[GinaB]

I am a brand new member do I can’t start a thread yet, but I own two conures and I just wanted to get out there (for the benefit of people searching posts) that it’s important not to confuse night terrors, particularly what looks like night terrors during the day, with your parrot having a seizure. Our green cheek had this intermittently for months before we realised what it was. First of all it was at night, then during the day, maybe once every few months but in the end it was practically daily and then one day he was having them all the time! We were so sure it was a phobic behavioural issue and then once we realised we got him into a vet just in time and it turned out to be a calcium deficiency, which is very common. This is going to seem really obvious to some of you but to new parrot owners like me, it wasn’t and we were very lucky to save our little boys life. I would just say that in every case, regular screaming and erratic, panicked flapping of wings, often involving head twisting or falling off of perch or side of cage is worth checking out with a vet. Better to be safe than sorry and easily curable if it’s a calcium deficiency

 

[GinaB]

I should point out that by “flapping of wings” I mean very panicked, erratic, uncoordinated activity, often involving head twisting and falling over. I don’t want to worry people unnecessarily, just want to share info as i scanned these forums at the time without realising what was wrong!