I had to move mine out of their cages for my last move. My veiled is extremely stressed by ANY handling at all so I waited until I was ready to actually get in the car, put him in a cardboard box with a towel on the bottom and a stick actually pushed through the sides so it was secure. He clung to that (the towel was padding in case he fell) and kept it mostly dark until I was ready to put him back in his cage at my new place. Pitch black would not have helped because then he just would have been scared not being able to see, but keeping it mostly dark made him not want to crawl around so he just stayed put the whole time. Same with my Jackson who is much friendlier. My social, outgoing panther actually got more stressed being put in a box so he just hung out on my shoulder and seemed to enjoy looking out the window for a while. Then he started cruising like he was on his tree outside.
I moved mine in the evening just an hour or so before lights out. I will do it earlier in the day next time because my Jacksons was still freaked out by the transport up until lights out that he hadn't moved from where I put him back in his cage. He was hiding on a plant near the bottom and slid down during the night, as they tend to do when not sleeping on a branch, and he was laying on the bottom by morning. Scared the crap out of me! But it was just from how he was sleeping, totally fine.
I would not attempt to pull one out of its cage at night if you can't move it in the cage - they are easily startled and very stressed if disturbed at night. Imagine being a prey animal - being vulnerable, half awake and unable to see clearly and something grabs you. I would be scared! Maybe if you move the whole cage, but personally I know mine were very unhappy when I've moved their cages after dark, even a few hours after they went to sleep. They got very dark colored, hunkered down on their branches and didn't go back to sleep again for a while. I would never attempt to pull one off his sleeping branch and move him around at night! For diurnal prey animals it can be very distressing to be disturbed at night.
Mu suggestion would be to move them during the day in a mostly dark box as I described so they don't see things moving around them in an unfamiliar environment and secure so they can't hurt themselves.
I moved mine in the evening just an hour or so before lights out. I will do it earlier in the day next time because my Jacksons was still freaked out by the transport up until lights out that he hadn't moved from where I put him back in his cage. He was hiding on a plant near the bottom and slid down during the night, as they tend to do when not sleeping on a branch, and he was laying on the bottom by morning. Scared the crap out of me! But it was just from how he was sleeping, totally fine.
I would not attempt to pull one out of its cage at night if you can't move it in the cage - they are easily startled and very stressed if disturbed at night. Imagine being a prey animal - being vulnerable, half awake and unable to see clearly and something grabs you. I would be scared! Maybe if you move the whole cage, but personally I know mine were very unhappy when I've moved their cages after dark, even a few hours after they went to sleep. They got very dark colored, hunkered down on their branches and didn't go back to sleep again for a while. I would never attempt to pull one off his sleeping branch and move him around at night! For diurnal prey animals it can be very distressing to be disturbed at night.
Mu suggestion would be to move them during the day in a mostly dark box as I described so they don't see things moving around them in an unfamiliar environment and secure so they can't hurt themselves.
