Night frights?

[Spacey'sMom]

Hello all,

I have a pair of budgies. One has been with us since this past summer and the other we got a little over a month ago I think? Teerie had the occasional scare when we uncovered the cage in the beginning but has been doing fine with that for a while and rarely has a scare. Until now.

The last 3 nights she's woken up terrified and crying running into the sides of her cage. (Luckily the cage isn't big enough for her to get any kind of momentum going) the first night I'd left their cover off as I was putting them to bed early since we were cooking. When I came upstairs and opened the door to go to bed it spooked her awake. Yesterday she spooked awake 3 times. I was careful to cover the cage but it didn't seem to help. And it just happened again tonight. Hence why I am writing this at 1 AM.

Each time we uncover the cage and turn the light on low for a while. We talk to her to try and calm her down. I'm concerned that she will hurt herself. Any tips?

We have a fan going pretty much at all times so there's generally plenty of white noise. I use a very light weight scarf/shawl to cover the cage so maybe she's seeing shadows through the cover? Unfortunately we have a light that shines in our window every night (neighbors) but we have black out curtains for that.

Will this pass or should we try to figure something else out. She's been especially concerned of any type of blanket or fabric since we got her. I have a perch for her in my bathroom when I shower. She hates it but I'm hoping eventually she'll be less suspicious of it. I figure the fine mist that comes off the shower will do her feathers so good. I have to be very slow and deliberate about taking down my towel. Every single time. She will spook and start flying over my head until either finding somewhere to land or running out of energy and landing on something. I can even set her on the towel and even have practiced step up on the towel.

Could it be the light weight material shifting from us moving around that's spooking her now???

 

[LaManuka]

My two cockatiels are prone to night frights - like budgies, cockatiels can also be quite prone to them unfortunately, I'm not really sure why. I cannot cover them up completely or leave them in total darkness or my guys will be pretty much guaranteed to freak out just about every other night, and they could injure themselves in the panic though thankfully they have not done so as yet. I never cover their cages up fully but always leave the front about three quarters open, and I leave a night light on for them too. Several of their toys incorporate stainless steel bells, which are not only entertaining for them during the day, but also a good warning system for me if they start thrashing about in their cages at night. For better or worse I'm a light sleeper, so I always hear their bells ringing in the night if they do start to panic. These measures have taken their night frights down from several per week to maybe once every two or three months, maybe even less.

You are definitely not alone in experiencing this phenomenon, I wish I knew why they did so we could put a stop to it for their safety.

I hope this helps you and your little ones! 🙏

 

[SailBoat]

All Parrots have some level of night frights as it is a base defense mechanism (fight or flight). Their developing a high level of comfort is about the only tool we really have. Each Parrot will be different with some never relaxing to a point of rarely or never having night frights. As a result, night cages should be Spartan (bare minimum) to limit things that they can crash into, especially sharp objects.

There is a 'belief' that Companion Parrots maybe more prone to them as a result of their becoming overly comfortable and lighten their grip and falling from the perch. Treating for that is near impossible.

I have long used soft contact calls when I am entering or around a napping or sleeping Amazon and find that I do get a very soft return call.

Time is the most common tool found to work with young or new arrivals.

 

[HeatherG]

I used nightlights with my cockatiels.
Budgies would be roosting in big flocks. So maybe being alone or in a small group is scary for them?

I also answer my birds’ contact calls from another room so they know I’m around and aware of them. It seems to help.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hello all,

I have a pair of budgies. One has been with us since this past summer and the other we got a little over a month ago I think? Teerie had the occasional scare when we uncovered the cage in the beginning but has been doing fine with that for a while and rarely has a scare. Until now.

The last 3 nights she's woken up terrified and crying running into the sides of her cage. (Luckily the cage isn't big enough for her to get any kind of momentum going) the first night I'd left their cover off as I was putting them to bed early since we were cooking. When I came upstairs and opened the door to go to bed it spooked her awake. Yesterday she spooked awake 3 times. I was careful to cover the cage but it didn't seem to help. And it just happened again tonight. Hence why I am writing this at 1 AM.

Each time we uncover the cage and turn the light on low for a while. We talk to her to try and calm her down. I'm concerned that she will hurt herself. Any tips?

We have a fan going pretty much at all times so there's generally plenty of white noise. I use a very light weight scarf/shawl to cover the cage so maybe she's seeing shadows through the cover? Unfortunately we have a light that shines in our window every night (neighbors) but we have black out curtains for that.

Will this pass or should we try to figure something else out. She's been especially concerned of any type of blanket or fabric since we got her. I have a perch for her in my bathroom when I shower. She hates it but I'm hoping eventually she'll be less suspicious of it. I figure the fine mist that comes off the shower will do her feathers so good. I have to be very slow and deliberate about taking down my towel. Every single time. She will spook and start flying over my head until either finding somewhere to land or running out of energy and landing on something. I can even set her on the towel and even have practiced step up on the towel.

Could it be the light weight material shifting from us moving around that's spooking her now???

Budgies have poor night vision and tend to have night frights if they wake up and its very dark and they can't orient themselves in their cage. If one Budgie in a cage with others gets panicked in the dark and starts trashing around it often triggers its cage mates to do the same and they can easily get hurt trashing around in the dark. I always use dim nightlights and only cover the top half of each cage with a lightweight cloth to allow enough ambient light in so they can orient themselves. They certainly don't need total darkness to get a good night's sleep- very dim lighting and quiet is ideal. There's a noise at night that wakes them up they are far more comfortable if they can see what's making the noise (like a person rummaging around) rather than being scared of what they can't see. If I need to move around near their cage at night I always talk softly the whole time to reassure them that it's just me.