My bird hates baths!

[kcarly11]

As you can probably tell from the title, my caique doesn't like baths. I don't want to force him to take baths, but is there any way to get him to like baths? Sorry if this is a dumb question. I'm just wondering if there's any way to gradually coax him into taking/liking baths.

 

[Flboy]

How is the little bugger when you mist him?

 

[Terry57]

Running the vacuum or playing a thunderstorm video for my birds seems to trigger an "I want a bath!" response in most of my flock.

 

[kcarly11]

Diego is also scared of vacuums and gets really upset when he hears one unfortunately. But whenever he gets wet or misted he gets upset and try's to fly away or avoid the water.

 

[GaleriaGila]

My conure hates misting... ONLY wants shallow water in a gigantic wok I got for him. He MAY enjoy a falling trickle from the faucet.

Maybe your bird had bad experience(s) with water or baths. I'd experiment with a shallow bowl or such... that worked for me. He seemed nervous about the sink, but accepted the wok.

Also, experiment with some gentle trickles from your cupped hand when he is near the shallow water in a wok or similar, and see if he likes that, maybe.

If all else fails, you might just give him a spray now and then for feather/skin conditioning.

 

[jhsatx]

Neat trick.
Took less than a minute for the stinker to get busy.


Running the vacuum or playing a thunderstorm video for my birds seems to trigger an "I want a bath!" response in most of my flock.[/QUOTE]

 

[Scott]

Join the crowd, so many birds dislike bathing. I've had best success with a small mister, set to the finest spray possible. Start spraying a distance to let them observe, and gradually approach. With some, it is an eternal struggle to get them wet!

 

[jugoya]

Try taking him outside in a small cage
Sunshine triggers bathing behavior in my flock

 

[TexasWade]

My cockatiel doesn't like to get wet in any way! He did have about one or two good mist showers when I first got him but he hasn't enjoyed those for quite a while now. But he will tolerate being in the shower with me. He won't spread his wings or show any sign of enjoyment, but he'll endure any amount of showering if he can be on me. Thought I nearly drowned him once, he was sneezing out water for probably 10 minutes =/

After showering with him several times, and enduring the scratches on my shoulder, I've started leaving him on the shower curtain rod until I'm done washing. Then I'll sit in the tub with my back to the shower head and Dusty at the far end of the tub. He'll let me splash him and dribble water all over him, and he does get a good soaking. Never really participates but he doesn't try to get away either, he just closes his eyes and stands there until it's over, lol. I did try putting the stopper in so the water got deep enough in the tub to make him float once... ONCE! He made it really clear he wanted no part of that waterfowl activity. Left some nice scratches on me and a couple bird wing-prints on the steamy bathroom mirror. OK bud, no more floating. Got it.

Anyway, if your bird doesn't like to wash, maybe try letting him join you for a wash. Works for my Dusty bird anyway...

 

[DRB]

My advice is to stick with it, try misting, but don't NOT do it just b/c. My CAG hated getting misted at 4 mo, at 5 mo she loved it. She gets 3-5 baths a week. If it's really hot out she'll get two a day and up to 9 a week.

If you have a small cage keep the parrot in the cage, go outside, use a garden hose and use the mist nozzle. Start with a very fine mist from 10 feet away.

I can do it from two feet away now and even get with the shower nozzle once in awhile.

 

[Teddscau]

My budgies are butts. Only Ju, Ziggy, Lara, and Alice like getting bathed, and even then, I have to force them the first dozen or so squirts (mists). They like trying to bathe the in wet leafy greens, too. They also bathe in their water dish every now and then, too.

 

[wrench13]

Salty is a shower bird, but is not above getting a mist and then diving into his big water dish. In the shower, I made a perch out of pvc and some flanges, epoxied into the corner at shoulder height. He gets the bounce off spray from me. Covered in vet tape, it's very secure and he will almost go into Amazon jungle bath mode there. If we mist him in the living room on a chair back, something we X2 a day in the hot weather, sometimes he will head straight to his big 7 inch water bowl and take a real bath, bird style. My last parrot,Max, loved sink baths, you just have to try different things, and don't give up on something, it may work later in his life.

 

[Yazo]

I had same problem with my male eclectus he hated when I tried to give him a bath.

I tried everything with him.I tried giving him a bath in the shower,I tried putting him in the bathtub and filled up a little to to his legs see if play with the water. I also tried misting him outside and I even put him near a sink and sprinkled a bit water on him. He didn't like it at all.

The only solution that work with me was to put him a bowl of water inside his cage, and he loves it,he flaps his wings and screams. But once in a while I mist him just to make sure his getting cleaned.

One my other eclectus love getting misted with water ,while my other bird love having a bath in the sink.

Each bird love different ways to have a bath. Try different ways and maybe your bird will like one of them.Good luck