Sleeping with your bird.

[magdalena]

I hope this is the right place for this. I KNOW sleeping with a bird is imminently dangerous, I know this, I do I do. I just got my 6 month baby U2 today and as I have MS I tend to take a nap at least once a day to keep it in check. He started vocalizing in the other room while I napped today and being a light sleeper I woke up so I took him and his blankie into the bedroom where I figured he could explore and not do too much damage (there's literally a bed, a chest for linens and a mirror in the room (and I've given up on having unchewed furniture ages ago). I will say I sleep like a rock and will wake up in the exact position I went to sleep in.

I napped, he played I assumed (and quietly) and when I woke up I just about had a heart attack, he was nowhere to be seen! Frantically I decided I must have smashed him flat on the first occassion I ever moved in my sleep. While I slept he snuck in and nuzzled under the blankets on the other side of me and poked his head out as I was making a ruckus looking for him looking at me like I was nuts (which I obviously was!).

Now I KNOW (see above, really I KNOW) we shouldn't sleep with our birds due to the hazards of rolling on them but do any of you think in my particular case (non moving while sleeping) it is a real hazard? I would love to have him in the room while I nap (since it is a daily routine for me) and if he decides he wants a nap too other than the obvious hazards of crushing him are there other behavioral issues I should avoid and not allow for (nesting, reproductive, hormonal, dominant, etc?). I know he is way too young for a lot of the things I mentioned but will I be setting him up for bad habits in the future?

My CAG has no interest in being with me when I nap and uses the time to take a nap in her cage herself (for which I am grateful, having birds you realize how golden silence really is). And obviously even if she did the new bird is quarantined from her for the next two months.

I'm not sure I guess what my question is, maybe I just need a slap down and a talking to of DON'T DO IT! But it's so preciously cute...I know I know....

[mmr]

Don't DO it! There are too many things that could happen. Plus you need to teach him to play independantly and feel okay on his own at times. If you really need him in the room with you I suggest getting a perch and putting him on that instead. That way he can see you and know you are there.

[pippy]

I think I'd be more concerned for your safety to be honest! A U2 beak while you're asleep.........

I look after several people with MS and some of them have quite powerful muscular spasms over which they have no control (as you'll know) so maybe you need to consider that too in case you should go into spasm while sleeping.

[Izzy]

I think the most important reason is that he HAS to learn to play on his own. By going and getting him while he was vocalizing you were reinforcing that behavior, and he's going to learn that by vocalizing he'll get attention.

Your nap time should be time for him to learn to play in his cage and entertain himself.

[donnanorman]

Hi my african grey will come and take a nap with me. He keeps an eye on me and me him and then i pretend i'm asleep and then he closes his eyes and copys me. I spend as much time with my grey as i can. I only have one bird and he does have alot of freedom and is not caged alot.

[sweetpeaches]

I ditto "mmr". Good advice.

[Jonergin]

I have an idea. What if you set up a travel cage in your room? It would be safer than just a perch.

When its nap time take him in there (before he starts making a rucus). See what he does - if he sits quietly or naps too then good, if he prefers to play then maybe staying in his own regular cage would be best.

[magdalena]

Thanks for all the advice. He wasn't really vocalizing loudly just gurgling and cooing as he played but it woke me up and as a new mom I want to spend as much time as I can with him. His sleep cage is in the bedroom (mainly because he' in quarantine from my CAG whose sleep cage is in the bathroom) and he naps a lot in his (or rather on his) cage and playstands during the day too. I will try keeping his sleep cage uncovered and seeing if he wants nappies with me in the room, if not I'll let him do his thing inside his cage, he's good at keeping himself entertained, I think I'm more of a velcro bird than he is right now as he's still settling in though each day he gets more and more show offy with wings flapping and silliness to get my attention (which I like, since he will always have as much of it as he wants).

He wasn't actually in bed with me just bundled up in his lap blanket next to the bed (between the mattress and the wall) but as pippy mentioned probably not a good idea to wake up to a cockatoo beak or possibly worse, a giant poo dripping into your ear. It's just so HARD to leave them alone, I can still barely put my CAG to bed (her sleep cage) after 2 years with her because she's so fun to watch but now she tells me NIGHT NIGHT! and makes a snapping noise with her beak as she lifts her toes and imitates us snapping our fingers. The U2 is a lot easier because he seems to get sleepy after his screamathon around 7 and slowly nibbles a bit of food and then beak grinds and conks out on whatever perch he happens to be on an hour later.

[Squacker]

Yeah, definitely a no on the sleeping with birds-- I work at a Petsmart, and these people bought our darling jenday conure whom we had all gotten to know and love. We were very protective of her and made sure the people who bought her had all the information they needed (or so we thought) and made them promise to take great care of her, give her lots of attention and bring her to visit every once in a while.
A couple of months later she took the bird to bed with her and her boyfriend and the bird was asphyxiated. We were all so upset and it was a death that could easily have been prevented.