Attempt at first bath ?????

[pattiB]

Tee hee! Was SO SO SO CUTE! This morning I saw Gracie trying to take a bath in her water dish. (I cleaned it immediately no worries) Mostly her head was soaked! Was so funny! Have pics!!!
Sooooo here's my question. I went out searching for something shallow that would make a good little bath for her while she's still a baby. What are you opinions on going about doing this. She's still a bit shy about stepping up on her own to where I could take her to the bathroom. I'd like to put the shallow tub in the big tub and let her splash away. I definitely want to get to where she goes into the shower and has a wonderful time. What should I do for now, so not to scare her for the future. She REALLY wanted to get wet! Thanks

[MissK]

Rocky has a large dog bowl in his cage, though it's not really big enough either. Was just now considering switching to a roasting pan.

[pattiB]

I actually picked up a large dog bowl! It has a rubber bottom to help keep it from moving. Should I start her out inside her cage. Then when she's more comfortable with being handled, move onto the shower with the same dog bowl. Then add a perch nearby the dog bowl inside the shower. Then dog bowl is history. Then just a perch. Sound right????

[MissK]

I would think since you want her to end up in the shower, it's not the location, but the fact water is falling from the "sky" that she will need to learn about. Some people shower their birds in the kitchen sink. I've never done it, so don't know how it goes.


If you want to offer her a bath she will figure it out all by herself. A bowl in the cage is fine, but I don't see it as a stepping stone towards the shower. Note, you will need to wash the dog bowl every day with soap. I put a perch overhanging the bowl and a rough rock in there to guard against slipping, but it is a known fact that I'm overprotective.

[ranechild]

I found that Fats would not go for misting with a spray bottle, would not tolerate a bath in a baking dish, but went directly for the shower. I use my hand to deflect some of the spray horizontally onto him. he LOVES it. Stretching out those wings and rubbing his beak on my hands. It is time consuming, and we do use a bit of water but he's just too cute to deny.

Do realize that little baby bird may not ever take to the shower. He might just prefer to bathe in the dog dish or other dish. If he doesn't like the shower after he's tried it a few times, you may have to give up on that dream.

Camo, although he likes to be in the bathroom when we are taking showers, will NOT tolerate shower spray. He only bathes in the baking dish.

[InTheAir]

Nila is half duck! On a hot day he will use his bathtub and want misting afterwards. On cooler days he usually can't resist the shower. We also do the water deflection technique Ranechild mentioned.
He spent a few weeks watching us shower before he decided to join in though.

[pattiB]

Thank you guys. Is there a certain time of day you let the birds bathe? Is it best in the morn? Or does it really matter? Also, I'm concerned about air conditioning. During the day I crank the air up a bit. Bathing then should'nt be an issue. But when hubby comes home the air is cranked down! Brrr! Thank you again for your help! I've got SOOOOOO many questions!!!!

[ranechild]

i have heard that birds generally don't like to bathe too close to bedtime. I usually go for the morning or afternoon.

[JoeysMom]

I have tried to get Joey to bathe in something else other than her water dish. But so far I have had no success. I have even tried having Sammy model the behavior for her. Every time it rains, Joey takes a bath in her water dish. It is currently raining right now, bet you can't guess what Joey is doing...

[MissK]

When I got Rocky the family told me he would try to bathe in the water dish. It was true. I gave him a big dog bowl with water and the first time I saw him successfully drink from it I stopped offering the small water dish. The rest is history.

[pattiB]

No dibs on the big dog water bowl today. Will try again tomorrow. When I put it in her cage, she loooooked at it. I splashed around it in for her to see. But she chose to go without a bath today.

[Donovan]

First time I saw my bird trying to bathe in his water bowl, which was about 2 or 3 days after I got him, I went and bought a bird bath. It was also far too small so I bought something fairly large. It's a rubber pan.. about 18 inches long 10 inches wide and about 3 inches deep. I guess it's for storing papers or pens or something but it's good.

Afterward I modified something to actually put him in the shower. For a while he loved the shower. Now though for some reason he wants nothing to do with the shower. I give him the bath once or twice a week.

I think he stopped liking the shower because he would sit in it and get completely saturated and I learned later that's not good. So it probably made him feel bad afterward. Also I would leave him alone in the bathroom. He could get out of the shower when he wanted, but now for some reason he just refuses to shower. I hate that too because in the shower he would get wet. When he takes a bath it's only his feet, belly, and bottom side of his neck that get -sorta- wet.

I think his back and wings aren't getting wet.

Should I mist him with a spray bottle? Even though he -hates- it?

[pattiB]

Gracie has learned to love the misting. I make a HUGE deal when I shake the misting bottle. Like REALLY big deal. I think she saw that as a treat in a way for accepting the misting. lol It kinda sets her off and she starts pacing and then heads to her water bowl. While she dunks her head, I shake, act all happy and mist over her so the water falls onto her back. She's seeming to be happy with that. I do want to get her into a bigger bowl though. Guess I should take out the water bowl? I've thought about that but haven't yet. I'm on it.

[InTheAir]

Donovan, can you give him a perch in the shower where he can make the choice to get wet if he wants to? Everyone appreciates making a choice about whether they get wet or not.

Nila use to sit on top of the screen, we would redirect some spray to the other end of the screen and he would come to the spray when he wanted a shower. If he didn't want to get wet he wouldn't. As soon as he realised this he would start hanging upside down from the area that gets wet before we started spraying it, if he felt like showering.
Then my boyfriend got sick of me getting the whole bathroom wet when showering the bird and we made a suction cup perch at head height. Now he jumps onto it if he wants a shower and sits on the screen if he doesn't.

We did a similar thing with the spray bottle, on a stinking hot day when he was bathing in his too small bathtub we sprayed next to him. He soon stepped into the spray and got throughly wet. We always spray next to him as an invitation, not at him and he moves into it if he wants to.

Joeys mum, that's so cute!

Regards,
Claire

[Donovan]

Donovan, can you give him a perch in the shower where he can make the choice to get wet if he wants to? Everyone appreciates making a choice about whether they get wet or not.

The shower perch i rigged up did allow the option of moving in and out of the water which he start making a point of doing. He just eventually got to the point that he wouldn't even go into the shower at all despite seeming to enjoy it previously.

He has a very large outdoor cage about half the size of a bedroom. I've rigged up the water hose to shower an area in there on hot days but he still avoids it. Either way he's happy enough to get a regular bath. I guess every bird has their own bathing preferences. I've heard of some who want nothing to do with a bath and prefer showers or misting.

[InTheAir]

If he's happy with a bath, I can't see any harm in that. Many birds are kept with less than that and still do ok. You are giving him options, it's his call now. He may warm up to misting and showers again when he is moulting too, or when it's really hot... you never know, tastes do change.

[sanjays mummi]

sanjay loves a shower after his palace has had a good clean

[AJPeter]

These post are very interesting as l have reach the stage where Billy wants to have a bath in her drinking bowl so out comes the spray gun l tend to follow her around spraying from different angles so letting her move in or our as she wants is a novel experience for her and me, are there elctrical sprays on can buy? My fingers get worn out on spray day.
AJPeter