# OMG. Night Fright.



## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Pip had his first night fright last night. So scary to see. 

He lost so many feathers. There doesn't seem to be any blood on feathers or perches, and he is preening himself a lot and is a little more subdued than he normally is this time of morning.

I've been so careful, too, trying to prevent a night fright. He has a soft fan going near his cage for white noise, is not covered and there is a soft hall light that bleeds into his room so the room is dark enough for relaxation but light enough to see.

Could have been caused by the fact that there is a strange dog in our house (dogsitting) and there was a thunderstorm before bedtime (but not during the hours of the night fright.)

Feel so bad for him, and I hope he is OK. Any advice in how to further prevent a fright, and the best way to react? I just sat next to his cage as he thrashed about and spoke to him softly.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

When it happens, you gotta turn on all the lights so he can see. That usually helped mine to calm down, once I had the lights on they were fine. Is there a window in that room? Does it have curtains? I would get a night light and close the door to that room when he's sleeping, any shadows that pass in front of that door if its open could set him off.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Turn on the light immediately when a night fright begins. A very young bird might keep thrashing for a while, but a more experienced bird will settle down as soon as it can see that the surroundings are normal.

The strange dog in the house could very well have been a factor, especially if it made some kind of noise during the night. It's thought that night frights are an instinctive attempt to escape from nocturnal predators, and you literally have a predator on the premises right now. The thunderstorm could have contributed too by giving Pip a reason to feel nervous earlier in the day. I suspect that birds might have bad dreams sometimes that set off night frights, and if he's extra nervous in the daytime that could lead to bad dreams.

Some birds feel safer with a cover and others feel safer without. If Pip was having frequent night frights for no apparent reason, I'd say experiment with using a cover to see if that helps. But there were some apparent reasons this time so there's no reason to think the lack of a cover might be a factor.

It might possibly be helpful to put the night light close to the cage instead of out in the hall. The further away the light is, the more likely it is that someone passing nearby will throw a shadow on the cage, and shadows are scary.


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

Wow, that's amazing, nightmares causing night frights has never crossed my mind. It makes sense. Sometimes my female, Iris, will go crazy during the night, but there is nothing to set her off. There's the light on in the living room, I'm reading a book, the dogs are asleep, her cage is covered, it's a quiet night...


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Thanks all. I've brightened his room a bit and he seems to be ok. No subsequent frights ... yet.


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## lonnieD14 (Sep 22, 2013)

Its so scary when this happens. when our birds have night frights we uncover them and cuddle & comfort them for a bit then they go right back to sleep. alot of people also suggest blue night lights.


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## Jeannepp (Aug 24, 2013)

I read in a book on cockatiels to cover them in a material that light can not filter in because if they can see a shadow in their cage it can trigger night frights as well as uncovered movemenents can startle them in the dark. My Charlie had a couple of night frights and lost most of his tail feathers so I tried this and he has not had a night fright since then.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Sigh. Another fright.

Interestingly, both frights happened on nights after a thunderstorm. Not during, but long after. 

This time, once he settled down, and I turned off the light, he would get anxious again: not super anxious, but the crest would go up and he'd start darting his head about, looking for a mysterious something, and squeezing himself upwards in to the very top corner of his perch. 

Is it possible for Cockatiels to be afraid of the dark?

I turned on a lower level directional lamp (desk type), and pointed it away from the bird, and he seems to like that better. He seems ready for a snooze, but have no idea if he'll actually sleep.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Aaaaaaaand while sitting with him, I saw a mouse.

Great.

I have a feeling that the mouse is a contributing factor to the frights.


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## Lulu-Tiel (Jun 3, 2012)

Could the mouse have gotten into his cage. Lulu has a spare cage upstairs and once I saw a mouse in her cage. Thank God she wasn't in there. We set traps and got the little bugger that day. Mice like the seed. It's an easy meal.


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

When one of my little people had a fright it was most likely caused by moving shadows. 
I either didn't put the shutters up or their door was open with light in the hallway and someone walking and projecting movement on the walls. 

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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

It's doubtful that the mouse got into the cage , as it is very elevated. A decent sized cage on a large-ish wooden dresser. If it did get in there, it's a mightily talented rodent...










I might try partially covering his cage tonight.


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

Mareeder, you'd be amazed at their skills... That setup is no match for a determined little rodent :-D 

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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

Wait... really?? The dresser is slickly finished and three foot off the ground. I can't imagine how they'd climb it! Also the base of the cage itself is flared out and is 10 inches of smooth plastic, so even if they did get up on the dresser, how would they get to the bars?

Yech. I don't want to imagine a rodent that can manage all that.

I assumed it was just coming in for the discarded seed on the floor ...

Is it awful to remove the seed tray at night?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Whether the mouse actually got into the cage or not, just having it moving around in the room would be enough to spook a cockatiel.


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## mareeder (Jul 31, 2013)

tielfan said:


> Whether the mouse actually got into the cage or not, just having it moving around in the room would be enough to spook a cockatiel.


Yeah, this is what I thought, too. Regardless of its cage-scaling prowess, the sucker is officially uninvited.

Time to tell my wife, Exterminator Extraordinaire.

I'll be standing on a chair.


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## WhiskeyBird (Apr 6, 2013)

mareeder said:


> Aaaaaaaand while sitting with him, I saw a mouse.
> 
> Great.
> 
> I have a feeling that the mouse is a contributing factor to the frights.


That very well could be. Whiskey has had a couple set off by cockroaches... one of which when the roach was INSIDE his cage. Killing a huge roach in the middle of the night with a terrified bird on your shoulder is NOT fun, and I'd imagine catching a mouse wouldn't be either.


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## Lulu-Tiel (Jun 3, 2012)

My upstairs cage is three feet off the ground on an ironing board. Thats where the mouse got into her cage. They are clever!!


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## BabyPanda (Aug 26, 2013)

I've seen quite a few people use lava lamps as night lights, maybe give that a try to cut down on the night frights?


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