# Alarming nighttime behavior



## parulidae (Dec 31, 2014)

My ringneck dove's cage is in my bedroom. For the past 2 nights, she has awoken at 2 or 3 in the morning and confusedly flown down from her perch to the cage floor. The noise has scared and awakened me both times but more importantly I think it's scared the poor bird. I turn on the light because I can't imagine she would want to stay there on the wire floor and she looks very confused but soon hops/flies back up to her perch. This never happened before, she has always relaxed soundly on her perch until the sun rises and I open the curtains and we begin our morning. Has this happened to anyone else? What could be causing this behavior? I'm anxious to see if I can help my bird out in some way.


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

Ok so sounds like she is getting what we call a night fright in caged bird terms. If she has ever been outside, check for mites. Or simply treat for red mite, can hurt at alll. The way to check is to cover her cage at night with a white sheet, and put either white paper down on the floor and after the mites feed on birds at night, they will turn from a dull grey in the daytime to a nice red color in the am and will be all over the sheets but tiny specs, little red specks. If the sheet is clean and you see no red dots, then it may simply be a noise or a light flickering at night or even YOU snoring lol. You will have to figure it out if it is not red mites. Also if you ever see or here her tap dancing in the daytime, that is another sign of mites. Let me know if any of this is her case, good luck otherwise.


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## parulidae (Dec 31, 2014)

What an interesting answer. I'm curious about what you call "tap dancing." She does like to sort of dance and stomp her feet but I interpreted that as excitement. Is that what you mean by tap dancing?

About the mites: is the best way to tell if she has them with this white sheet test? Is it difficult to get the medicine to treat her? Thank you so much for responding, it is quite scary for both me and her to wake up in the middle of the night so suddenly!


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

Yes exactly that, yes they stomp their feet and shake them a bit, it is when the mites are biting them at night, it must be treated as this will weaken the bird sufficiently to kill her. Maybe pigeons are a bit tougher than caged birds but I have see 3 birds die from it. They get so weak from all the blood sucking and lack of rest, not unlike fleas on a dog. This causes secondary illness as well, such as ecoli to grow because they are too tired or bothered to eat. The treatment consists of spraying the cage and the bird. There are sprays on the market, or you can buy a weaker one at a farm supply and double the strength to make the same as the product called AIL which is avian insect liquidator. They are sold at farm supplies called permethrin that is the active ingredient in the AIL. Go ahead and google ways to get rid of red mites. You can also buy perch oil and or any product you can find that kills them. I dont think there is a natural way to get rid of them other than washing the cage and then pouring boiling water on the cage NOT with the bird in it, I know that it sounds stupid of me to say remove the bird, but I have read things. Also what may help is a vapona no pest strip type thing in her cage to kill the mites, or diatomatious earth as part of the solution on the cage floor. Give it a read and start the treatment. In one of my other posts, I mention how the cockatiel had red mites and she was so close to death from lack of sleep and hardly ate and scratched all the time, it was brutal. I spray all my in and outside birds once a month as a precaution.


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## parulidae (Dec 31, 2014)

Thank you so much for this information! I immediately went online and ordered a bottle of AIL rush shipped to me. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and will let you know how this works.


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

Wonderful, let me know how it goes. Note: I called Australia to find out the safety factor of the product. I wanted to spray the loft and birds daily for a week, and he said yes it was fine and then once a week for the next week and then again in one month as a maintenance. Feel free to email vetafarm for further instructions as well. They are very helpful.


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