# Covering cage or not?



## Deemac00 (Oct 18, 2021)

Hi I have a lot of questions I'm so sorry. For months now Everytime I cover my budgies cage he squaks at me and then gets spooked and scared when I uncover him in the morning even if I tell him good morning and peek under to let him know I'm taking it off. So last night I didn't cover him and at 3:30 am he was awake so I don't know either way if he's even getting a good amount of sleep. Also my house is open so I don't have a extra room to keep him and my kids do stay up late so he doesn't really get a lot of quiet time till after 10 pm but he does have quiet time in the day while their in school. Is the cover really necessary? What should I do?


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Some birds do fine without a cover. Did you cover the cage all around, if so you may want to try just bringing the cover down about 1/3 from the top of the cage and see if that makes him more accepting of it.


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Routine is also incredibly important. You can't just suddenly put your bird in a pitch black cage. I used to do it in stages:

6pm - an hour before their bedtime - I half cover the cage, to give it a sunset kind of feeling. It's still bright enough for them to play, eat, drink, etc, but it's an indication that "hey, it's getting to bedtime, so prepare!" They're also much calmer because they're outside of the cage when I'm putting the cover over the top which can freak them out if they're inside. I then put them near the entrance to the cage and they willingly hop in because they look forward to sleep.

6:30pm I cover their cage slightly more, it becomes slightly darker, this is when they race to the food bowls to eat, and then make their way up to their sleeping perches and begin preening

7pm I do what Cody said, the entire cage is covered except for the front, which I only cover 1/3rd of the way down, leaving the bottom 2/3rds exposed which gives enough light for them to navigate if they fall in the night

My birds would become very stressed and anxious if I'd just quickly cover the cage and they were suddenly finding themselves in darkness, and I'd usually set the cover up so each time I cover it more it makes as little noise / movement as possible. I eventually stopped covering because 1) one of my budgies became uncomfortable and would not like going to bed at night because she developed a phobia of the darkness and cover 2) new cages were too big to cover.

In the morning, you gotta let them know you're there and wake them up at the same time every day without fail. I'd lift the cover at the front soooooo slowly. Give them time to adjust to the morning brightness as well, so do the covering routine but in reverse. I'd be sitting with them in the morning and they'd realise "hey it's time to wake up lets gooooo" and start eating.

Some birds just don't like covers, so if you're able to, slowly dim the lights at bedtime. If you can't, you can get a little lamp that makes a nice sunset kind of lighting and use that. I'd turn the lamp on, turn the main lights off. It's slightly jarring but they quickly adjust, and then I let them sleep in the dimly lit room.


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## Deemac00 (Oct 18, 2021)

These are some really great ideas my cover isn't thick so it's not totally pitch black there's also a night light next to his cage stand I use a old cloth shower curtain NOT plastic I was afraid to use a towel or blanket Incase he would bite it and get the fuzz in his throat. I'm going to try putting it on tomorrow night while he's out of the cage I've been leaving the front side only 3/4 the way covered tomorrow I'll try just 1/3 thanks for the advise I'm really loving this website and it makes me feel really good to know I have somewhere to go for all my questions. Thank you for what your doing to help all of us. Have a great night


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