GPL

Thanks for everyone's help. I do appreciate it. We had a much better night. His cage is next to a wall and I decided to cover the top of the cage but left the front and the side where he sleeps open because I did notice that when he first walked into the new cage he looked anxious everytime he looked up and he doesn't venture to the highest perch often, preferring the mid (where he sleeps) and lower ones so I reckoned that he felt safer and not so exposed having a cover 'roof' on the cage. Also, when I removed his fresh flood bowl out of the cage before putting him to bed he walked onto my hand - although he has held my finger through the bars on the odd occasions he has never ventured onto me so to speak and I gave him a hand hug which he took to and was a lot calmer afterwards. I woke up at 2am to discover that our electricity in the area had gone out during the night so there he was sleeping in the dark without any problems. I went off to sleep with one eye open in case he woke up and panicked as I wouldn't have been able to just turn on a light to get him to stop flapping but all was well. I will however continue with leaving the passage light on until such time as he is ready for me to leave it off. Thanks again.

Thanks Dave. Your information is very useful and it's helpful to be reminded that these things take time and I must just be patient.

South Africa ?

Thanks for your reply. Although I still check websites everyday to see if anyone has posted a lost AG, I have given up much hope of finding his family for him . I left my particulars with all vets and other community centres/pet shops where one may report a lost bird where I live and followed up on fliers and lost pet adverts I came across and nothing. TAG's aren't as common as CAG's where I stay and all leads related to a lost CAG, not TAG. Poor chap and poor family who is missing him !

Thanks for your response. I don't know if a night light will be enough at this point because it may not be light enough to ease him - the passage light I leave on lets in quite a bit of light where he is - maybe when he's feeling more comfortable I will go with the night light.

Hi there, Please can somebody help me. I found a lost TAG about 4 weeks ago and despite being tame and clearly bonded with a human somewhere down the line, nobody claimed him. Whilst I was waiting for him to be claimed I had him in a spare cockatiel cage I had. Unfortunately the cage only had one small perch in it so it wasn't very comfortable. On the weekend I put him into a larger parrot cage. He is fine in the cage during the day but the time it comes for me to put him to bed, he gets very anxious and is clearly not happy. If I turn the lights off he flaps around so I have resorted to leaving the passage or bathroom light on for him. Although this stops the flapping and panic, it doesn't stop him from being nervous and anxious. He still paces, squarks and just doesn't settle. I have owned birds for quite some time now and have never had this problem before. I presently have a cockatiel and a CAG of my own and they both delight in going to bed so this is all new to me and I'm at my witts end. I have tried covering him, not covering him, moving from the lounge when it gets dark so that I don't have to turn the light on and save him from the sudden turning it off when it's dark. Even in this case, if it gets dark naturally and I haven't left another light on he starts flapping around until I turn one on. I have tried talking gently to him, tried ignoring him, tried distracting him - nothing is working. I live in a flat where my bedroom and lounge are right next door and have placed his cage about 2 metres from where my bed is so he can see me and hear me. He also ends up going to sleep 'frozen' on his perch and stays like this for until morning. It's sad and I would love to help him feel peaceful in his cage. During the day he is as right as rain. Has anyone got any suggestions for me? It concerns me that he is not getting a good night's sleep. Regards Gillian