Duckling having night terrors...?

[Amykins]

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I don't know what else to call it! Bean has this thing where, in the middle of the night, she'll shriek and start flopping around her pen for a few moments before snapping to. It started when she was still sick, and to be honest, when it did I thought she was in her death throes...she really was that close to dying back then. :/ But it's been pretty continual even now that she's thriving, three weeks later.

Now, it's not a seizure, and it only happens at night, which is weird. She naps throughout the day, but I've never seen her do it then. And I've never seen it happen start to finish since I always get woken up by it and can only catch the last few seconds of frantic squawking! It's almost as if something scary or painful has snapped her out of sleep and she bumbles around scared and disoriented until she's fully awake. Then she just stands there and looks around all confused.

This is bizarre, and it's got me a little worried. Is she accidentally pulling on a sensitive bloodfeather? Does she have bad dreams? DO ducks even dream?!

 

[DucksAndGardens]

I had a 4 week old Cayuga that would do something like this. I gave them a night light and she hasn't done it since.

 

[Amykins]

I had a 4 week old Cayuga that would do something like this. I gave them a night light and she hasn't done it since.

She does have a night light, though. It's very strange and I wonder what could be going on. :/

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Is she on medications that could cause hallucinations? I had a dog that was on meds one time and he freaked out and the vet said it was because the side effect caused hallucinations.

 

[duckies1230]

My duck does this too but there's more, she throws her self on her back kicking until u flip her over then she's calm n quiet, I though it was seizures at first but no, not at all. She's done it once during the day where my husband witnessed the whole thing. She wasn't sleeping when it began. He thinks she just got scared by something. Its real strange, this is the same duck who got stuck upside down in a water jug, I thought she was gonna be badly hurt BT she was fine. Maybe she has something mentally wrong now, a chemical imbalance, or PTSD.

 

[Amykins]

My duck does this too but there's more, she throws her self on her back kicking until u flip her over then she's calm n quiet, I though it was seizures at first but no, not at all. She's done it once during the day where my husband witnessed the whole thing. She wasn't sleeping when it began. He thinks she just got scared by something. Its real strange, this is the same duck who got stuck upside down in a water jug, I thought she was gonna be badly hurt BT she was fine. Maybe she has something mentally wrong now, a chemical imbalance, or PTSD.

Yeah, she did the same thing! I hop it's nothing serious...we're probably going to get her checked out just in case, but it sounds like both our babies went through something awful traumatic, so I hope it's not some sort of emotional scarring. :/

 

[duckies1230]

Yeah, she did the same thing! I hop it's nothing serious...we're probably going to get her checked out just in case, but it sounds like both our babies went through something awful traumatic, so I hope it's not some sort of emotional scarring. :/

my husband would never let me take her to a vet so if u get her checked out please let me know what's going on!!!!

 

[duckies1230]

I've been trying to spend more time with them and I've been taking them swimming and letting them run around the basement all day. They love it and my darling duck hasn't had any more episodes since. Have you found anything out? I also completely turned off the heat lamp and so far all the changes have seem to have been working!

 

[Amiga]

Just a thought, but have any of you looked into Bach's Rescue Remedy?

 

[Amykins]

Just a thought, but have any of you looked into Bach's Rescue Remedy?

I really don't think it's a good idea to give that to a baby duck...even my 20-pound cat doesn't react that well to it sometimes. :/ As fr Bean, I think maybe it was a psychological thing, she's only had one episode this entire week! The vet gave her the all-clear, so that's the only explanation I can think of.