Looking for suggestions for my young Green Cheeked Conure

[Torre]

Hi, I have a 10 month old Green Cheek named Sammy who cannot settle down to go to bed without fear and distress. The way we are dealing with it is sitting next to her cage, but the process of waiting to leave her until she wont startle takes between 30 to 45 minutes. She sleeps under her paper even though she has a happy hut. So basically first she hangs out in the bottom corner of the cage watching me, and if I ignore her (by not putting my finger between the bars and touch her head so she knows I'm there) she screams. And once she gets under her paper, things like the light coming from my phone, or the sligntest sound will make her jump up from under her paper and then we have to start the whole process over again. We have another GCC who goes right to his happy hut (not the fuzzy kind that they can get stuck on) the moment we turn off the lights he goes right in for bed without issue, and he used to sleep covered, which helped with him (hes 5 y/o). But with Sammy, it terrified her when we tried, and it wasn't successful. And the cover had an open back, so no issues with smothering the birds or anything. Any suggestions?

 

[Jexnell]

My Sunny would always sleep right between these two toys. He would cuddle into them like they were leaves of a tree.

 

[Birb321]

off topic but plesase remove your happy hut, they are so dangerous for your bird and they dont really need them my can sleep on a perch perfectly fine it doesnt matter if its not the fuzzy ones or not. Anyways, back to sleeping, your bird my not be comfortable with there cage. send me a picture of your cage so i can help more
I hope this helps

 

[HeatherG]

It sounds to me like your baby conure Sammy is having a lot of anxiety in general. It would help her to be able to go to sleep if she was calmer. Does she have a winding-down time before she’s “put to bed”? That could help.

I am wondering if there is a quieter place that she could sleep so she isn’t alerted by any lights or such. Or if you could talk to her gently while she’s trying to get to sleep so she could calm down? Can she see your other conure and take relaxation cues from him? Or could she sleep in your bedroom in a sleep cage?

I’m just putting out some ideas for you. I haven’t encountered this problem, maybe because I’ve lived in close quarters with my birds. My first instinct would be to cover up Sammy at bedtime and go about my business, softly talking to her and telling her she is ok until she can be calm and quiet.

 

[LeeC]

I wonder if Sammy misses the comfort and security of a nest and a clutch, too, perhaps. @HeatherG, what do you think of trying a nestbox, to offer Sammy some security? I know people are hyper-sensitivity to a cavity quickly leading to eggs, but for an anxious young parrot, I thing that risk would be low, and the experiment would be quite telling.

@Torre, is Sammy a DNA-sexed female?

 

[HeatherG]

I wonder if Sammy misses the comfort and security of a nest and a clutch, too, perhaps. @HeatherG, what do you think of trying a nestbox, to offer Sammy some security? I know people are hyper-sensitivity to a cavity quickly leading to eggs, but for an anxious young parrot, I thing that risk would be low, and the experiment would be quite telling.

@Torre, is Sammy a DNA-sexed female?

I would probably try a hut first. Just because it would be a place to hide but maybe less stimulating or triggering of the nesting issue. You don’t need to trade anxiety atttacks for egg laying.

My birds were most secure when we lived in a studio and they slept 3-5 feet from me. I think your baby bird is anxious and maybe the screaming at night makes her get even more upset and less likely to sleep. Honestly it sounds like a little kid who gets scared about going to bed and must be sat with until he or she is sound asleep. Which isn’t saying that your bird (or child) is not really terrified. It’s just something to slowly phase out.