Sleeping arrangements

[Metalchef1]

While I'm certain this has been discussed multiple times I can't seem to find a thread? Too many to search. So if someone can point a newbie in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated.

Alex is about 2.5 years old. And she is more destructive than she was when she was a baby.

I'm having difficulty finding a suitable sleeping tent, hut, etc for her. If it's fluffy.... She eats it... If it's not fluffy... She eats it...

I tried one of the cardboard tubes but she doesn't seem to like that. Any ideas would be great.. I'm looking to maximize comfort and a feeling of security, but find something that she won't so readily eat as I'm worried about safety.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Laurasea]

You can zip tie some of those parrot seagrass mats, make you in safe chewable hut....

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, you need to be careful about this, because not only can any type of "Hut" or "Tent" cause hormonal activity/behavior, especially in Conures, but most of them that are made out of any type of fabric/cloth are well-known to kill pet birds, especially Conures...And the fact that you say she "ate" her Huts/Tents is scary in and of itself, as that is the #1 way that they kill birds, they eat the material and it causes a blockage either in their Crops or in their GI Tracts, as they cannot digest most fabric/cloth materials...Literally Thousands of pet parrots are killed by the Huts, Tents, etc. because they eat the material or they get a thread loose and hang themselves...So I would caution you to not EVER put another fabric Hut, Tent, or anything else in your bird's cage...

Using material like the Seagrass Mats suggested by Laura, or other hard but bird-safe materials is best, but honestly your bird doesn't really need a place to sleep in the first place...Again, it causes hormonal behavior, sometimes aggressive chewing/biting behavior, and in the wild they don't sleep in anything, they sleep sitting on the branch of a tree...

Just so you can see for yourself, check-out this link (one of hundreds of the like)...The packaging on these things now actually says "Not intended for use with Conures" because of how many Conures they have killed: Happy Hut Warning

 

[itzjbean]

Is there a reason she needs a sleeping hut or tent? Why can't she sleep on a perch like other bids?

No tents or huts here for years and my birds do just fine sleeping on their perches, they prefer the soft rope ones but have never had an issue needing a tent.

I will say tents in general with any kind of fabric or cotton material that can be chewed are generally is NOT good for our birds to have, they can also wrap the fabric around their feet or neck and hang themselves. It's happened many times before. The only really safe ones are the ones made out of wood/twine/grass.

 

[ChristaNL]

Since no-one has ever found tents in trees in the wild anywhere on the planet ... sleeping in tents is not natural to birds. They really, really do not need them.


If the cage is in a draughty spot you can use a cage cover (there are great tips about them around here) or nothing at all.

 

[Sandy19]

If you're set on getting one, the pet stores sell hideaway huts for rodents made out woven grass and wood that is safe to chew. I bought one for my rabbit, but she didnt like it. Ive never used it with the bird, however. If it can in fact cause hormonal behavoir then I'd definitely want to avoid that.

 

[Jen5200]

All of my conures have been prone to chewing and to hormonal behavior. They all came to me as adults that were used to sleeping in huts but I got rid of them shortly after they settled in. Everyone sleeps on perches comfortably now - there was a day or two after I got rid of the huts that there was a bit of grouchiness but that settled down after a few days. I tried the sea grass hut as well - and it lasted around 3 days before they ate the bottom out of it lol .

 

[EllenD]

All of my conures have been prone to chewing and to hormonal behavior. They all came to me as adults that were used to sleeping in huts but I got rid of them shortly after they settled in. Everyone sleeps on perches comfortably now - there was a day or two after I got rid of the huts that there was a bit of grouchiness but that settled down after a few days. I tried the sea grass hut as well - and it lasted around 3 days before they ate the bottom out of it lol .

Yeah, I think the consensus here is that pet birds not only don't need a special place to sleep, but that unfortunately pretty-much anything that you can use as a "sleeping place" is either extremely dangerous because they chew them/eat them, as you've admitted your Sun Conure does regularly, or they cause the bird to become extremely hormonal, or both...And you need to keep in-mind that hormonal-activity, specifically in Conures, can cause a ton of other behavioral issues that you'll have to deal with, and that are much harder to deal with for a bird's owner, such as chronic aggressiveness, nipping, biting and biting HARD, screaming, etc. Those are all problems that you really don't want to have to deal with, as they can really strain your relationship with your bird...

The best thing is to let your parrot be a parrot, and let him sleep in his cage on a perch or attached to the cage bars, whichever he prefers to do (my Green Cheek always sleeps attached to the inside of his cage bars in the same place every, single night...I have no idea how he does it, but he does it, lol)...Letting your bird sleep in his cage without any type of "bed" but rather just on a perch is natural, and more importantly it's safe and is not going to cause any hormonal behaviors...