Hello, I'm glad I found this forum! It is my first time with a Diamond dove & I am having a problem. My young (7 months, I believe) dove Dodo has not had a quiet night yet since moving to his new cage. He seems to fall from his nest or perch regularly (almost as if he dozes off and lets go). I've never seen this with a bird before. He is perfectly healthy and perches, flies, naps just fine during the day. I'm worried he is having some sort of 'night terrors' if that is even possible for birds.
The details: He was in a small cage for sleeping for the first few weeks while he acclimated. Free flying in my room during the day. As of a week ago he is housed in a large cage (4' × 3' × 3') with an elderly society finch. They get along well and snuggle up when sleeping. Dodo seems to 'fall' even when he is perched away from the finch though, so it seems unlikely it is the finch doing anything. The cage is in my bedroom next to a large window. I have not been covering it since there isn't much commotion or lights going on in there. (I intend to get a cover now though.)
I can hear him flapping around about every 30 min or so. He seems to fall out of the nest and in the dark, then tries to fly up perch by perch to get back to it. Sometimes he stops at a perch and sleeps there, but falls from there later. I have not seen him fall. I just see him trying to get back up to the nest after I check on him if he's flapping around for a while. It seems to happen all night long. I even put a deeper rim around the nest to try to make it impossible to passively fall out of it.
Has anyone encountered something like this? Since he seems healthy with a strong grip I am wondering if he is being startled awake. He still roams free during the day so he definitely doesn't know the cage well enough to navigate it in the dark, but this still seems over the top for that. It seems like every 30 min, all night long. It can't be good for him.
Thank you
The details: He was in a small cage for sleeping for the first few weeks while he acclimated. Free flying in my room during the day. As of a week ago he is housed in a large cage (4' × 3' × 3') with an elderly society finch. They get along well and snuggle up when sleeping. Dodo seems to 'fall' even when he is perched away from the finch though, so it seems unlikely it is the finch doing anything. The cage is in my bedroom next to a large window. I have not been covering it since there isn't much commotion or lights going on in there. (I intend to get a cover now though.)
I can hear him flapping around about every 30 min or so. He seems to fall out of the nest and in the dark, then tries to fly up perch by perch to get back to it. Sometimes he stops at a perch and sleeps there, but falls from there later. I have not seen him fall. I just see him trying to get back up to the nest after I check on him if he's flapping around for a while. It seems to happen all night long. I even put a deeper rim around the nest to try to make it impossible to passively fall out of it.
Has anyone encountered something like this? Since he seems healthy with a strong grip I am wondering if he is being startled awake. He still roams free during the day so he definitely doesn't know the cage well enough to navigate it in the dark, but this still seems over the top for that. It seems like every 30 min, all night long. It can't be good for him.
Thank you
