Potty problems.

[YNAMomma]

So i have these two wonderful amazonz but the female has this weird habit an i was wondering if anyone else had heard of it or has any suggestions on makeing her stop, its annoying! Well, my male like any birdy when nature calls will basically drop it whereever he is not really careing. But my female prefers to use her water dish as a toilet. I was prepared for the 3-5 times a day changing their water because she also likes to dip all her food in the water. (Which is nasty when it has poo in it) But thier changing the water 12-15 times a day after everytime she potties is annoying. Is this something that is common in birds? I have done research on it and found little info on it. I would rather clean her cage everyday like normal and have her poo like her mate onto the bottom of the cage then in her little makeshift toilet. I even tried putting 2 water dishes in their so she can drink from one and use the other as a potty, but she is not picky she will potty in either one. HELP its driving me crazy!

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

My female clue front amazon does the same thing.... what I've noticed is that she sits with her breast dipped in the water. I did discover that if I move the bowl to the back of the cage and run a humidifier, that she hardly ever does it. For breeding purposes amazons seem to like about 60% humidity, and a temp around 62 degrees. I honestly think that the female amazons do this for comfort purposes. Try running a humidifier and moving the bowl a bit. Honestly I'll bet no one could answer this question better than Henpecked, so you may want to message him and ask. Good luck

 

[Riio]

I havent heard of this before, the only thing I can think of is maybe get her a water bottle to drink from and once she knows how to drink from that, take her water dish out for a while. Maybe it will break the "habit" Good luck, please keep us updated if you figure something out!

 

[JensFlock]

I agree with Riio. My boys all drink from water bottles.
They get their moisture from showers and misting.
If I put water bowls in there, I think I would lose my everlovin' mind. They don't have the best table manners....

 

[oled]

Dont take offence but my opinion is that water butle not are save do to that the mechanical part can stop working and now water comes out. I would try as all ready surgested to mowe the bowl

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Water bottles have their places in aviculture, but I never use a water bottle without a bowl. If a bird needs to bathe it should be able to do so when it wishes. But honestly asked Henpecked, the man is like the resident amazon expert (in my opinion...lol)

 

[henpecked]

YNAmomma PMed me about this and i did respond, but thought i might add that many breeder hens will wet their "belly" area to help with fertilization when breeding.Sperm is deposited on not in the cloaca and wet feathers will help the sperm to travel to where it needs to get to. Hope that wasn't too graphic. LOL PS this is more common with parent raised birds than hand raised pets.