Parakeets will sleep with their eyes closed unless, they’re extremely relaxed where their eyes remains slightly open. With that being said, as a result of their environment, wild parakeets will intermittently have their eyes open throughout the night to watch out for danger where their brain remains half awake. This is referred to as ‘peeking’ 

Therefore, even if these little parrots may occasionally their eyes open for the sake of their own safety, they won’t have their eyes open throughout when sleeping.

When Would A Parakeet Sleep With Their Eyes Open?

In most cases their eyes would be closed when sleeping, much like any other being that sleeps but, in environments when they need be aware, where predators may be on the prowl or if they’re looking out for their newborns, they will have their eyes open to remain half awake as opposed to completely docile when asleep.

At the same time their brain will remain active periodically throughout the night too. This is also referred to as peeking and what this does is allow parakeets among other avian lifeforms to be vigilant throughout the night whilst resting as much as they can.

So, in short they’ll generally only sleep with their eyes open, and even in then only 1 eye at a time, particularly those that stay in the wild.

Domesticated parakeets don’t have much of a need for this as they aren’t in danger as often but, they may still peek if say they are accustomed to it based on their past experience.

Why Would A Parakeet Sleep With Their Eyes Open?

Parakeets will only keep their eyes open when sleeping, in a peeking like state, to remain vigilant in more dangerous terrain, or when looking out for their own fledglings.

As mentioned above they will only have one eye open at a time intermittently throughout the night, with half of their brain active to minimise the energy needed to maintain the activity for as many days as they need.

Do Parakeets Need Darkness To Sleep?

When the sun goes down, as parakeets are not nocturnal birds, they will begin prepping themselves for their daily slumber therefore, darkness is a clear sign for any given parakeet that it’s time now to get some shut eye to prepare for the upcoming day.

In theory it is possible for parakeets to sleep when the Sun is up or when light is projecting on them through a open window however, in order for a parakeet to get a great nights rest, darkness will help with that. Parakeets require in the region of 10 -12 hours of sleep per day to wake up in their best physical state.

Wild parakeets will often spend their time in tropical environments, which is a habitat that generally splits the days into equal 12 hour day and night cycles so.

Domesticated parakeets will obviously adapt to your sleep timings too, for example if you leave the lights on or if there are loud noises being played around their typical sleeping periods, sleeping will be more difficult.

If you need to keep the lights in your home, you could always cover their cage with a thick blanket, which should produce enough artificial darkness allowing the bird to get some good shut eye and minimise any form of stress and behavioral changes developed due to the lack of sleep.

Do Parakeets Like Being Covered When Sleeping?

It’s less so about them liking being covered but, more a useful addition in helping these birds maintain a routine sleep pattern, whether the days are longer and the nights shorter.

Just like closing the curtains and turning off the light helps us get into the right headspace for sleep, covering a parakeets cage with a blanket signals the same thing for them and allows for a more fulfilling sleep.

Can Parakeets Sleep With The Lights On?

Theoretically it is possible as the odd few who have terrible vision for example could fall asleep even if the lights are on however, most will struggle shut off as their instincts makes it so they stay awake in these environments, possibly to forage for food or be wary of predators.

Now if the lights were on but, you decided to place a blanket over their cage to simulate darkness, only in this situation would it realistically be possible for parakeets despite the lights being on in their surroundings.

Summary

To conclude, most parakeets will need to close their eyes throughout the night when sleeping although, some may implement peeking into their routine in order to be more vigilant in environments that are more fraught with danger in the form of predators, dangerous weather and so on.

Keeping half awake with one eye open throughout the night is the safest option for these birds so, it makes sense that parakeets among other parrots have adapted to doing this.