Do you think he would just let me drown him?

Tried a brand new thing a couple days ago, took Dusty into the shower with me. He'd been getting more and more uncooperative with the spray bottle showers so I figured why not? Surprisingly, he stayed right on my shoulder throughout the whole shower, I really couldn't believe it! But then after I turned the shower off, Dusty started sneezing/coughing up quite a bit of water! Today I tried again and was careful not to get him under the direct spray. But then he fell off my shoulder into ankle deep water in the tub =p. I expected him to instantly fly up from the bath, but nope. He just stood there looking up at me all helpless for about two seconds before I rescued him from the bath. He sure did get soaked! At least this time he wasn't coughing up water and he didn't seem traumatized but I'm wondering if the shower might be a bad idea for this birdy. Thoughts?

Both of ours love their showers. My Amazon prefers a mister bottle but he also allows me to
hold him under the shower head. Our B&G prefers the shower head. I place his stand in the tub and he just loves the water running over him.
My vet always makes sure I'm letting the water run over their face. She wants them to sqeeze, I guess it helps clear / clean their nares.

He might be a dish bather. For sure if he's coughing and sneezing out water, don't shower with him again. Try leaving a shallow dish of water on the bottom of his cage. Or you may just have to do the spray bottle. Is the tip of the sprayer red or blue? Read a book that said some birds are afraid of the colored tip on spray bottles. If yes, try covering with your hand or use white out to make it white. But don't drown the poor little guy.

Really? The vet said to get water in their nostrils and make them sneeze out water???? Hell, I don't like that, can't see how a bird would.

His sprayer is black, but I've also used a green one and he seems to dislike them equally. I had tried a dish before but he flew up to his cage top immediately whenever I got him to step into the water. But it's been several weeks since I tried it. He eating habits have changed since then so maybe he's ready to try the dish again.

Well Wade...I know Amy loves baths PERIOD...her fav of course,is sitting on a tree branch,me with mister in hand,squirtin' her silly...arms spread wayyyyyy out,head fluffed up going this way and that.
When the outside misting isn't possible, I take her into the shower with me,her on her perch stick,luke warm water,with a light spray.
There she will do the same thing,arms out...flapflapflap...toss head this way and that,,shake her booty,hang UPSIDE DOWN from her perch,untill she is soaked thru and thru.

Beebs on the other hand,does NOT groove on water in the least! He runs from the mister and if I put him in the tub,he trys to climb up!
The kitchen sink,however,has caught his attention. I have put him on the counter top while I was doing dishes by hand,and he peers over the edge watching the water. He has actually jumped into the sink while I was washing Luckily I didn't have the drain shut so no water was in the basin.
Only ONCE did he let me put water on my fingers and then let me shake the droplets onto him,where he actually opened his arms and flapped abit and shook himself.
I have tried him several times again and he scampers away,trying to get out of the basin.
My next attempt will be having him go in the shower with me,using Amys perch stick

Try the sink basin routine with the Dustmiester...he may like it.

Jim

Teils are desert birds so unlikely to love being drenched in the shower. Generally they prefer to bath in shallow water however I did own a few that prefered the mister. If your bird is comfortable on your shoulder in shower that's OK just make sure that the water flow is gentle.

I've been told water can get into their lungs and it can kill them. If your tiel starts snorting afterwards that means water is in his lungs...

My tiel LOVES to shower with me but I've noticed afterwards he will snort a bit here and there... I never let the shower hit him directly... I just let him sit on the shower window sill and the water that bounces of me very gently sprays him... but ever since I've been told this it makes me nervous.

Sometimes I spray him with a water bottle and he loves it.

wrench13 said:

Really? The vet said to get water in their nostrils and make them sneeze out water???? Hell, I don't like that, can't see how a bird would.

Click to expand...

Well, just to spray above their head so the water can run over enough to clean the nostrils. It's not like I spray the water directy into their nostrils. So yea, really that is what my vet tells me on every check up. :33:

I think Dusty could do with his very own shower perch and then you can find the ideal spot for him.

I am seeing this vet today:          All Bird Clinic of the Palm Beaches - Home

... I will ask her thoughts on this... to me it doesn't make sense that water would go into bird's lung? Because what about when it rains when they are out in the wild? I see birds bathing in rain before... curious what the vet will say...

Yah, we all are curious. Come to think of it, when Salty had his drippy nostril infection when I first got him, the avian vet took a syringe full of water and squirted it directly into his nostrils to clear out any buggers or mucus. Shoved it right into the snots and let it rip. She's a great vet and I trust her with Saltys life, so I am guessing that a parrots air passage plumbing is different then a humans is.

As far as bathing, I still have not hit on Salty's favorite, gimme all ya got, sooo good Dad way of bathing. He will sit on his shower perch and take the water bouncing off me, he will take the hand held shower head shooting straight at him or shooting up ( to simulate rain) and he will not go into full Amazon bathing mode. He does give himself baths in his water dish in his cage, which is why we switched to the largest diameter, bolt on water dish I could find ( 5 in dia). But a bigger dish, placed on the floor of his cage gets ignored. All my past parrots enjoyed misting, and do so want to see Salty in full, wing spread, jumping around enjoyment. I will keep experimenting , same as you.

I just got back form the vet visit.

The vet said to NOT worry about a bird getting water into their lungs... she said only time to worry about bird getting water into the lungs is if water is FORCED into them. Hopefully she is right. I asked her then why is it that Rascal snorts after he's had a bath/shower. She told me he snorts because he's clearing water out. Whatever that means.... clearing water out from here? His lungs? She said he's clearing water out to prevent it from going into the lungs...

I have heard contradictory thoughts on this one... so I still do not know what the correct answer is.

It sounds scary when Rascal is snorting and wheezing after a shower...

Chances are, it was saline that was put into Salty's nostrils, not water. The air passage goes directly from their nose, then down into their mouth and through their tongue. This is why there is a hole in the back of your bird's tongue.


Here's some ideas on bathing birds.

• Try luke-warm water
• Try cold water
• Try ice-cold water
• Try a spray bottle
• Try a plant mister
• Try in the sink with the water running or just some water in the bottom
• Try in the sink with the sprayer
• Try in the tub with some water in the bottom
• Try a casserole dish or similar with some water
• Try the dish with ice
• Try the dish with foot toys
• Try the dish with some small rocks or pebbles
• Try the dish with some leafy greens like endive or other types of lettuces that may create a "natural" bowl
• Try the dish with a vacuum cleaner running
• Try in the shower with you - watching you having a blast getting wet!
• Try dancing the bird into the shower with the water already going
• Try spritzing yourself, and have fun doing it! Then spritz the bird
• Try outside in an empty cage large enough to spread wings during a nice rain shower
• Try outside in an empty cage using the hose with a mist/shower attachment
• Try playing videos of other birds bathing

For a cockatiel, I would *at least* recommend a shallow, wide bowl (i.e. cake pan or casserole dish) of water, a mister (maybe try a plant mister instead?), and a vacuum. Ya, I know the vacuum idea sounds crazy! I've had people tell me that before! But they tried it! And it worked!


Maybe get the dish set up on top of the cage or table top (where-ever the bird is at), get the mister ready, turn on the vacuum, then try misting your bird? See what he takes to?


Otherwise, play videos of other cockatiels doing the rain dance? Or sounds of rain fall? (PLEASE NOTE: I do not recommend taking birds outside unrestrained!)



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0DegxI4sRg"]Cockatiel rain dance,natural instict of a happy bird, - YouTube[/ame]


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch620ILgfUA"]Cockatiel Shower Rain Dance - YouTube[/ame]


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5MsBZlv-Gk"]Catfood's Rain Dance - YouTube[/ame]

Awesome videos. I love watching them bathe... they really get into it! ... but considering they never really get a "real bath" tiels smell soooo good