Bathing question

[Pilaf]

My 3 month old green cheek Echo, who's with my for 2 weeks now, loves to bath, and especially in his drinking bowl. I do have a very nice bird bath for him, that wider and more shallow. He has used it about there times and had fun with it, although he's still very hesitant to start using it. He often just baths in his drinking water. I was wondering how I can get him more interested in his bird bath.
(I do change his water about 5 times a day, because of his bathing in it, and also because he dips his pellets in it, and that can get quite a mess).
But does anybody have any idea about how to get him enthusiastic about his bird bath?

 

[SilverSage]

Try replacing his usual bird bath with one more similar to his regular water dish.


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[Pilaf]

Thank you. I tried that but he was afraid of it, while he's not afraid of his regular water dish.

 

[Sandy19]

Peanut has not had a proper bath yet, she will only bathe in her water bowl. She's scared of everything else too.

 

[clark_conure]

In my experience I believe the evolutionary ladder went from T-rexes, to Ducks, to Conures. They love water. My bird likes to take showers with me, which means I hold my arm out level and he catches the spray off my shoulders till he feels he got wet enough and then sits on a towel over the shower stall track. But he also bathes in his water dish right after I fill it. He also has crawled down my arm and played in the sink under the faucet when I was just rinsing off my hands.

He also dips his food in the water dish.

One thing I noticed is he only bathes in a dish if I just filled it, it's almost as if, if he's dipped his food in there, then he doesn't see it as a tub anymore until it's been rinsed out and refilled.

I would recommend getting one of those bubble covers for the water dish, that might help if he can't really get down into it. And maybe not refilling it quiet so often for maybe a week, see if he sees it more as a water dish and pellet gravy station instead of an endless clean bathtub.

Another option if he likes spray bottles maybe mist him once a day. My bird doesn't always want to shower on me, maybe every three days, if you get his hygiene routine done on your schedule maybe he will be less apt to jump in the water bowl.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pilaf]

In my experience I believe the evolutionary ladder went from T-rexes, to Ducks, to Conures. They love water. My bird likes to take showers with me, which means I hold my arm out level and he catches the spray off my shoulders till he feels he got wet enough and then sits on a towel over the shower stall track. But he also bathes in his water dish right after I fill it. He also has crawled down my arm and played in the sink under the faucet when I was just rinsing off my hands.

He also dips his food in the water dish.

One thing I noticed is he only bathes in a dish if I just filled it, it's almost as if, if he's dipped his food in there, then he doesn't see it as a tub anymore until it's been rinsed out and refilled.

I would recommend getting one of those bubble covers for the water dish, that might help if he can't really get down into it. And maybe not refilling it quiet so often for maybe a week, see if he sees it more as a water dish and pellet gravy station instead of an endless clean bathtub.

Another option if he likes spray bottles maybe mist him once a day. My bird doesn't always want to shower on me, maybe every three days, if you get his hygiene routine done on your schedule maybe he will be less apt to jump in the water bowl.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much. I do have to refill his water often, the vet told me to, because he has a minor infection in his crop, and when food stays in there too long, bacteria can grow fast and can make his infection worse when he drinks that water. i also have to give him a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar in his water to help with the infection.

I do also have a spray bottle for Echo, and tried it a few times. I'm not sure if he likes it all that much yet though. I don't think Echo even knows wether he likes it or not.

What do you mean with 'bubble covers' by the way?

 

[clark_conure]

something like this:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xhRDzQs-L._SX355_.jpg
or
https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/PETCO/2431066-left-1

they can get their head in but the can't climb in

 

[T00tsyd]

My GCC started out in his water bowl happily splashing but not getting too wet. After a while I managed to track down a large enough bath that fixed to his cage and just left it there each day. He studied it for a while then drank from it and then suddenly on about the third day plunged in. I thought it was job done.

Then he found the tap(faucet) in the kitchen. Now his bath is always in his cage, but when he is out I always offer him the running tap before he is due back in his cage. It took again about 3 days. He looked at it for a while, took a drink and then plunged in. It is now his first choice and he will often bath twice in a day.

It's very sweet as he takes a quick dip then sits on my wrist looking intently at me until I ask him if he's had enough. He will then go again or pace up my arm to my shoulder flapping the water off as he goes. It often takes up to 15 minutes for the complete performance. He is happy then to go into his cage with a treat and preen himself dry. Great fun - I love it.

 

[LordTriggs]

try having him join you for a shower. Rio bathed in the bathroom sink once but the rest of the time was in the shower. He would stand on the towel rack and let himself get steamed/observe me, I would then offer him a finger to which he would hop on and allow a light splashing before going back to the towel rack. sometimes he would get pretty excited and run into the full spray and get soaked

 

[T00tsyd]

try having him join you for a shower. Rio bathed in the bathroom sink once but the rest of the time was in the shower. He would stand on the towel rack and let himself get steamed/observe me, I would then offer him a finger to which he would hop on and allow a light splashing before going back to the towel rack. sometimes he would get pretty excited and run into the full spray and get soaked

He comes in the bathroom so far but has chosen the window sill as his perch for the moment. He did look a tad more interested in what I was doing today but waited til the towel was away before rejoining me.

 

[LordTriggs]

towels can be scary at first. Not sure why

Even if there's just a bit of steam it's helping clean him. As he gets more comfortable around you and sees you more and more as the flock he'll join in, bathing is often yet another flock activity

 

[Pilaf]

Thanks everybody. I have thought about him showering with me. I have adjust my bathroom a bit because there's no place for him to sit anywhere. But I would love it if he likes it too.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

I had a similar experience with Skittles. He used to bathe in his drinking water too. What I did was replaced his water dish with a smaller one that he couldn't dip into and then got him used to a separate dish to bathe in. It's actually an 8x8 glass casserole dish. He likes to get basted. lol.

Watching him bathe is just hilarious, except for the fact he splashes water everywhere and by the time he's done I'm about as soaked as he is. lol.

Skittles does follow me in the shower, but he doesn't bathe in it. Instead, he sits atop the shower rod and 'keeps watch'. It's sorta creepy and funny at the same time. lol.

 

[clark_conure]

For the shower thing,.....I put him on a towel over hanging the sliding door of the shower then I turn it on and he knows what I'm going to do.. I leave the water medium lukewarm at first just in case, if he's interested he climbs down the towel to me if not then he's fine and I go ahead and turn up the hot water to how I like it.

If you shower with your bird keep your arm out and let him get as close or as far away from the splash as he likes....also don't start soaping up or shampooing yet...I wait till he's done and put him back on the towel on the top rail then I go ahead with my shower with the soaps and shampoos and stuff while he sits and waits.

Another option I've tried is leaving the stall door open a few inches and letting him hop in and wander around but usually he just ends up standing on my foot and and I don't want to use soaps and shampoos and conditioners on him so it's not as good.

Either way make sure it's voluntary, not forced....and more than likely, with a green cheek he will be chomping at the bit to get wet.

 

[Sandy19]

Sometimes I don't feel like taking a shower myself much less putting the damn bird in there with me lol. I would like it if Peanut would take a bath in the sink. She does seem interested when I run the water on low, but she's yet to jump in there and let it flow on her.

 

[clark_conure]

Sandy....... one word, WAIT!

LOL it won't be immediate, but yeah, it's kind of like the sun rising in the east.

 

[Kiwibird]

He often just baths in his drinking water. I was wondering how I can get him more interested in his bird bath.

Let me know when you figure this one out lol! Kiwi comes in the shower with either me or my husband almost daily and STILL takes dish baths several times a week He has been doing this the almost 9 years we've had him. He likes showers too, but I guess he just doesn't feel becoming sopping wet gets him clean enough (or perhaps just does it as an act of defiance):33: I've offered him shallow pans of water before figuring it would be more comfortable for a larger bird to bathe in a pan, but only his water dish will do, apparently And he's done this in multiple cages with various dish sizes and materials. Drives me nuts! Sometimes our birds just do baffling things, but part of bird ownership is knowing when to pick your battles and I choose to just look the other way with the dish baths I'm just not sure its worth the effort to stop something that is pretty harmless and makes him so happy.

 

[Pilaf]

This evening I tried something new. I took a bath and had Echo on a towel next to me on a chair. I had some snacks for him there and also his water bowl. I took a bath (without soap and shampoo) with echo next to the bathtub on a chair. Just to see if he liked being in the bathroom with me. But then he really wanted to be in the bathtub on me. He leaned forward like he wanted to jump in the tub, so I let him step on my hand and he sat there for a while. Then he climbed on my shoulder and started grooming my hair and snuggling against my neck. He made those relaxing beak grind sounds and took a little nap. That was really nice.

 

[clark_conure]

I haven't tried a bath, I have one, but I'm a shower person. for Kiwibird I'd recommend the water bowls I posted above, the bubble type so he can't just step into them/

 

[LordTriggs]

Sandy, be patient with him and also be aware he just may not like the idea of sitting in water. A misting bottle is another option, get a fresh one for him and just wash it out before use with some hot water then you can use it to spray him do it over him so it falls like rain, some birds go nuts for it.

Kiwibird, are you sure that ol' Kiwi isn't secretly a duck in an amazon outfit?

Pilaf, sounds like he enjoys a nice bath. Echo has really opened up to you, good to see he's being a nice feather doggo. Just keep an eye on him when having a bath, they're not exactly the best swimmers. Rio actually spoke for the first time when I had a bath with a "what you doing?" which blew me away as it was his first words in context as he never saw me in the bathtub before

Clark, Sounds like an excellent technique for his shower. I love the idea of having them sit on towels during bath time so they're secure, help dry themselves off when they rub on the towel and get them used to them so they aren't scared of towels.