# Sleep Environment for a Cockatiel



## rydiachan (Aug 27, 2013)

Hi all, I've been lurking this forum for quite some time now and am happy to see such an active, kind group of people who seem to all love their cockatiels as much as I do! 

I wanted to ask you guys for your opinion regarding our sleep environment for our two tiels. So, we live in a small condo (about 800 square feet) with two bedrooms (one master and another bedroom that is actually used as my home office since I work from home) and no space to put our cockatiels into their own separate "bird room." Now, this isn't a problem during the day because I have them hang out with me wherever I go, but when I put them to sleep at night, this poses a problem because I read that a cockatiel should get 10-12 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep per night, which I can't exactly give it.

This is our routine:

1) Get the tiels in bed with the cover on by 9:30 PM (in this time, we also make sure to let the dog out and do all our other chores, so we can leave the living room since this is where they sleep).
2) I wake up at 3:30, tip-toe to the computer room, close the door, and begin working. Around 4:30, I tip-toe back to the bedroom, leash up my dog, and let her out (I try to open the door as quietly as I can, but it does make some noise).
3) At 5:30, my boyfriend wakes up, goes to the kitchen (it's an open floor plan, so the kitchen/living room aren't divided), packs his lunch (it's not too loud - just the sound of him putting tupperware into a plastic bag), talks to me for a minute, and then leaves by 6 AM.
4) It's quiet now since I have the door closed, until 8 AM, when I wake them up and feed them their breakfast.
5) On a side note, putting them in the computer room won't work either since I start taking phone calls at 4 AM and will be talking the whole time, along with the phone ringing.

My question is, are these too many interruptions? I thought about letting them sleep in our bedroom, but the only problem with that would be my alarm going off at 3:30 and then my boyfriend's alarm going off at 5:30 (he hits snooze once or twice, as well). I figure, sleeping in the living room will be easier on them than sleeping in the bedroom with the alarm clocks going off at different intervals.

In an ideal world, I would have a bird room that I put them in when they sleep, but housing is just not that affordable in San Diego. So, what do you guys think? Sorry for the wall of text, but I could NOT find anything on Google regarding this. 

So, I guess my question is: should I leave them in their current setup, or should I move them over to the bedroom to sleep at night? Seems like fewer interruptions in the bedroom, but they'd be a lot louder. Thanks in advance!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Do they get any quiet time during the day when they can snooze? If so, they can catch up on missed sleep then.

You don't need to tiptoe around. Birds are light sleepers so it isn't possible for us to be quiet enough to not wake them up, and tiptoeing is actually a good way to set off a night fright. It sounds too much like a predator that's trying to sneak up on them.

They need at least 10-12 hours of uninterrupted DARKNESS to keep them from getting hormonal (actually 12-14 is the general rule), but that's not the same as 10-12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If it's dark enough to seem like night in the cage while all this wee-hours human activity is going on, they're not being sent the message that the nights are really short so the days must be long and it's time to make babies.


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## rydiachan (Aug 27, 2013)

Great, thanks so much for the advice!

Yes, they definitely get enough sleep during the day. With the exception of me talking on the phone with my customers, it's completely quiet. I also usually take a nap sometime after work for about two hours, so they sleep during that time, as well.

As for tip-toeing around, that may not have been the best choice of words - I don't technically tip-toe, but I do try to walk very, very quietly. However, knowing that that won't make a difference, I guess I'll walk with my "normal" footsteps now so I don't freak them out.  I have a nightlight near the cage to minimize night terrors, but I want to be as careful as possible.

Thanks sooo much for clarifying the 10-12 hours of uninterrupted darkness/sleep -- I was feeling like a pretty terrible owner for not letting them get an ideal amount of beauty rest, but now that I know, it makes me feel much better. (And yes, it definitely stays very dark the entire time that they're in the cage.)

Thanks again!


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