Shower/bath hater

[DexMom]

My Eclectus, Dexter, is not bathing himself. I put a dish of warm water in the bottom of his cage, he won't go near it. Even if I perch him on my hand and try to lead him to it he runs/climbs away immediately. I tried the dish of water outside the cage on the floor where he usually toddles around - again, no go.

So, I tried misting him with a sprayer. He HATES it, squawking and lashing out, trying to bite the sprayer. He's new to our household and has not entirely bonded to us, yet. He's coming around slowly and I can see progress in his trust building. I don't want to mess that up by misting him when I know he hates it.

I'm not ready to try taking him in the shower. I slowly take him from room to room in my house to explore, but he clearly gets very agitated whenever I even step into the bathroom with him. I'm thinking taking him into the shower would be even more traumatic than misting.

What's an unclean, smelly bird owner to do?

 

[Weezerj]

When I first brought Loki home, he didn't want anything to do with a shower either....but after he settled in, I repeated the misting and now I believe that he enjoys the misting.

I mist him outside in the sunshine....not sure if that makes it more enjoyable

 

[Mimsy01]

Foo only baths in very cold water. If you offer warm she thinks you are nuts and is not getting in it. Ice cold water from the tap and she flys over trying to get under it, or i fill her bath with cold water.

 

[EdgesofTwilight]

Cosmo was like that too. Took him a month or so and he started bathing in his water dish. Just recently he started to enjoy going the the shower. Seems room temperature water is what he prefers.