Sleeping On Food Bowl

[mdg1109]

Good morning! I do not understand why Charlie is sleeping on his food bowl, I thought birds liked to perch up high at night? As you can see (hopefully) he has a perch that he was sleeping on when we got him from the breeder. I know he is sleeping on his food bowl because is where most of his droppings are in the morning when I uncover him. Any thoughts or suggestions? I apologize for the picture being sideways, I cannot figure out how to edit it when I take it from my phone and send it to my email to upload :(


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[Casper's 2nd best friend]

When Casper goes into his cage for the night he first of all has a hearty snack and then goes up to his sleeping perch where he will "alert" us to the fact that he needs covering up. However, as soon as his cage is covered he goes down and has more to eat, giggling and muttering like a naughty schoolkid.
Perhaps Charlie likes a midnight snack as well but hasn't yet got the hang of navigating around his cage in the dark properly, so he stays next to his dish.:)

[mdg1109]

Thank you Jean-Pierre I never thought of it that way, maybe a nightlight would help him!

[bill-e]

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I cant tell from the pic but is there no way for his butt to be hanging over that bowl when he sits on the top perch?

[kendrafitz]

I was wondering the same thing Bill.

[The Pinkertons]

It looks like bird poop on the perch above the food bowl , take off the yellow perch put a manzanita or other natural branch going from end to end fashioned (T) pattern, also the top perch is really not a good choice for the health of your birds feet over time dowel perches like that can create pressure sores( AKA Bumble foot), look for natural perches that are irregular, in nature if you look at tree branches they are not perfectly smooth, place the center (Top) perch between the food and water bowls so when perching up high the poop hits the cross perch instead of food bowl. I also notice that you have quite a few sand paper perches. Which could over time irritate your birds feet. I hope this helps :th_smile:
Like this=[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] their pretty common you can find natural perches at most bird supplys

[Mare]

Amigo and Sassy have natural perches in their cage, also rope perches. They seem to prefer their rope perch for sleeping. That's where I find them in the morning, anyways :)

[lolsavannahh]

Nash will sleep wherever he is when I cover him.. So if he's eating and I happen to cover him he will be in or right next to his food bowl in the morning as well. I always make sure to put him in his spot before covering, so maybe that could be it! He just may not know how to navigate back up there..

But it could be that he is just pooping into his food bowl from the top perch like those guys said

[mdg1109]

Thanks for all the help! His perch at the top moves so the poop could be landing there, I am hoping that is the case I never thought of that.

Thank you for the input about the perches, it makes sense about the tree branches. I am also going to check into a rope perch.

When I got to cover him up at night he tries to get me to take him out so I am going to try and put him on his top perch from now on when I cover him at night, thank you for that Savannah!

[spiritbird]

My birds love to eat. They eat from their food bowls and get so full they both fall asleep there. There is always poop in these bowls. I have been waking them up when I see them sleeping there. Both sleep high up at night.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

We sometimes wonder, because Casper is quite a good bomb aimer, whether the poop he occasionally does in one or both of his food bowls is a comment on the chef's menu for the day. :)

[mdg1109]

So I peeked at Charlie before I went to bed last night and he is sleeping on the food bowl. He had his face in the corner of the cage where the blankets come together. So I am thinking I need to get him a little tent (I do not know the technical name for it). So I will be ordering one of these today.

He was so cute and started crying for me to take him out and I really wanted to but alas it was bed time :(

Hopefully the tent thingy will solve this problem along with some new perches!

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Save money! Margaret just stitched a bit of ribbon onto a piece of fleece material and tied it next to Casper's sleeping perch for him to cuddle up to which he likes. I think she did two so that he can be using one whilst the other is in the laundry. :)

[The Pinkertons]

I have a fleece Throw that I cut 2x2 squares and tied onto the bars on one side of the cage where the highest perch is they like to snuggle next to that, at birdie bed time.

[mdg1109]

Thank you. I am little concerned after I did some reading about him ingesting the fibers so I have some cotton material that I am going to try and make Charlie proof (if there is such a thing) and put it next to his perch! I am going to post another picture of his cage. I went yesterday and got new perches, 1 rope one and 1 wood one so he does not develop problems with this feet. I also moved some stuff around. Hopefully this helps.

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[The Pinkertons]

Lookin good, :th_smile:

[spiritbird]

Charlie is well taken care of for sure.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

We tend to try things and monitor progress. Casper has never tried to chew his sleeptime cosy so no problems with fibres, If he did we would remove it. But he doesn't so we haven't. :)

[mdg1109]

Charlie is well taken care of for sure.

Thank you Dianne, he is very well loved and cared for and has stolen all of our hearts!

Jean-Pierre it is funny that we are talking about Charlie ingesting fibers, I saw him this morning trying to pull the fleece blanket I keep over his cage at night through the bars! Little turkey! Casper is beautiful, how old is he and how long have you had him?

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Casper is 28 and decided that Margaret was his best friend nearly four years ago now when we were trying to rehome him for my mother. We didn't see that one coming. :)

Casper did start to shred one of those multicolour cotton perches he had in his cage. He became ill at about that time so I did mention it to the vet so he could check his gut. Apparently he was fine and his illness was due to a virus or something. The perch was removed from his cage anyway, just to be sure. He has a couple of the natural fibre rope perches that he doesn't chew. He is very happy this afternoon because he has been given a nice new cardboard box to modify.

[mdg1109]

Jean-Pierre what an awesome story and 28 wow...I know they live a very long time especially when the are loved and well taken care of like our fids are.

I am going to make Charlie some foraging toys out of some egg cartons, he discovered a small cardboard box yesterday and needless to say it did not last long....at least it is being recycled (kinda).

:pinkgrin: