Night Frights??

[Lynjupiter]

Boy last night was one long night. It started at 2am I heard one of the birds banging around it's cage. I ran out to the living room to find Duke BCC on the bottom of his cage panting. I turned on the light and checked to see if he was OK. He stayed in the corner and would not come to me, he acted scared and I was getting really scared something was seriously wrong here. Every time I reached for him he would scream and try to bite me. By this time we had all the birds in the house up so I turned on a small light in the kitchen so we could see some and let the other birds settle. Duke climbed back up to his sleeping perch and when I saw he could perch I went back to bed. 2:38 I hear a scream and again banging around the cage . I run out to again find Duke on the bottom of the cage. Again he would not come to me but let out a little giggle and kissing noise when I sang him his song softly to try and calm him.

This same thing happened 3 more times last night ending at 4 am. One thing i noticed is even when I turned on all the lights his pupils were huge. I searched the living room to make sure no one left anything out that would have some kind of poison or drug reaction and found nothing. I was in the living room at 3:00 in the morning with a mag light searching for some reason this bird would not calm down and found nothing.

This morning He is fine and back to the same Duke he always is, eating, perching well. But I am worried. He really scared me last night, I thought for sure something was terribly wrong,
In the four and a half years he has been here he has never had night frights. I don't know if I should be dismissing this as night frights or calling my vet.

Lynda

[BirdzRmylife]

I'm very sorry to here about your night Lyn. I deffinitly know what you mean by a long night. Night frights in my flock too are extremely rare, and when they do happen in a night they often happen again and again.

My birds have had nightfrights when all 5 birds were sleeping in my room, to where only three were sleeping in my room. And scares the poop out of me, because one sets of all of them, and I am awaken by the squaking/screaming/banging of the cage.

The cause I have absolutely no clue? For all I know in those nights one bird may have seen a bug, or maybe a sudden movement while I was sleeping starled them...

I really do not think a visit to the vet is needed, unless these nightfrights now become continuous.

Best of Luck,
Steven

[Lynjupiter]

Thanks Steven,
My tiels and cockatoo get night frights, but my conures never have before. Even last night when the blue crown Duke was thrashing around screaming the other conures were just as calm as could be.

Duke is one that will turn himself inside out at my request. To have him screaming and biting at me was what scared me most. It was VERY unusal behavior for my sweet boy. He is also the bravest bird in the house who will investigate strange noises ( like the vacuum or dremel) instead of running.
I am hoping we have a quiet night tonight. I am tired LOL

Lynda

[The Outlaw]

Is there any chance that you may have a mouse or worse at large? After all, with bird seed and other foods in abundance, there is plenty to draw a rodent. Just a thought.

[Joel]

Lynda,

I'm thinking possible mouse or rat myself. I would purchase a "have-a-heart" trap from H.D. and put in room where the cage is located and bait it of course.......Then take the little caught "bugger" out to the woods & release.....May be a roach also or gecko lizard or similar but usually IME it is something more dangerous that usually sets them off, like the rat. Also I suggest to leave on a 7 watt night light in the room, not too close to the cage though IMO.

[BirdzRmylife]

Lynda,
IMO you still don't have to worry about anything. But, I guess on the safe side you should put up some mouse/rat traps. Night Frights can happen for the bizzarest reasons, some as simple as falling off a perch(Happened to my budgie once, lol...and started every bird up).

Like I said, unless these nightfrights are continuous you shouldn't have to be worried. Check your drawers for mouse poop, chewed treats, etc.
-----

LOL Joel a ghecko lizard! Hahahaha for future reference you can just call them a gecko(proper spelling). And the ones you most likely are seeing in your house are the common AFRICAN(thats right) house gecko, or if its green then its most likely a LIZARD, called a green anole.

STeven

[Lynjupiter]

No mice here but we get anole lizards and geckos that could have been the culprit. I have also been checking under the furniture and under cages for snakes. Those are the two biggest intruders in our house other than palmetto bugs and the like. I know the more I think on I see how silly I was for worrying.

I lost my quaker parrot in December and have not gotten over it yet. It happened suddenly and I kind of panic if I think something is wrong with any of my parrots. My worst fear is walking in and finding another one of my precious babies dead. Seizures, strokes, poison all sorts of things come to mind in the wee hours of the morning with no sleep LOL
Thanks for your answers,
Lynda

[Joel]

LOL , hey Steven, my mis-spelling woke ya up, huh (Eh) :) ? I was going to look up the correct spelling before hitting the post button (as I was in doubt) but honestly thought you would be along (lizard or reptile "freak" - in a good way - that you are ) to correct me if ya had the chance and I thank ya btw. Will go back now and edit like I always try to do when I see or am informed of a mistake I made. Helps me to learn faster that way & not repeat the same mistake again .......I specifically used the word lizard in that post to give some members here an idea of what creature I was referring to in case they did not know what a Gecko was.....

Btw, when you told Lynda to check her "drawers" for mouse poop etc. what exactly did you mean by "drawers"....... :shock:

I can understand the chewed treats comment though :) ...........It's ok censors, I understand if you must......

[BirdzRmylife]

Only you Joel,.......Only you LOL.....
You know what drawers I was talking about. Ya know the silk lining, frills ontop.......ahahaha NO I was talking about wooden drawers lol/cupboards.

lol, and your welcome on the reptile correcting,lol

Steven