Donna Barstow Blog #2 Posts

My parakeet.

He dreads bedtime. He crouches forward, all narrow-eyed, or jumps around, looking for a way out when there isn’t one. A Lisa Shea says:

Parakeets need to sleep 10-12 hours every day. The vast majority of this is done at night. The cave should be covered with a cloth so it is dark and they feel safe. In nature, parakeets nest in hollows they gnaw out of Eucalyptus trees. You want your cage to sort of resemble that closed-in hollow so they feel safe and protected when they sleep.

Parakeet doesn’t mind the flash, though.

That’s what I had read many times, too, but my bird thinks I’m sealing him into a coffin every night. I do cover the cage partly, but one WHOLE side is left open for him. Okay, I turn out the lights, too. Am I so bad?

Here’s a pic of a nesting box from Petco. See what they’re supposed to enjoy? A nice cozy dark hole. Not this bird.

I put my canary to bed a few hours earlier than the parakeet. A canary needs his beauty sleep, like outdoor birds, which is quite a lot of hours sleeping. I’ve had canaries in the past who don’t like to be covered, and they open their big pink mouths wide, as if to hiss. (Which is a little scary, even without teeth.)