The bath secret is revealed

[Siobhan]

We have mostly hardwood floors (no point in carpet with all these critters!) except for an area rug in the living room. It's actually a patio rug, so it'll take the punishment. I haven't been able to convince Rocky to take a bath no matter what I offer. He doesn't like misting. He ignores the nice tub I bought for him. He's still too nervous about being out of sight of his cage for a shower with me, if he even likes that (I don't know, yet). I got the vacuum out today and went to work on that patio rug and he scurried over to his water dish and took a bath. So I stopped, got his tub, refilled it, put it on the floor of his cage and splashed in it to give him the idea, and went back to vacuuming. Nope. He doesn't want the tub. He wants his water dish, which is of course too small for a proper bath, but any bath is better than none, I guess. I don't normally vacuum too often because we use the broom on that rug and that works pretty well most of the time, and now I guess I need to vacuum every couple of days so he'll take a bath.

 

[Christinenc2000]

My Macaw tolerates being misted. I put a extra cage I had on the deck last weekend. Used a garden hose and right now he is drying in the sun. Seems I can't get him went enough with indoor misting. Out side he is soaked so that is a weekend adventure for us now.
He is not harness trained so this solves both issues I have had with him. Lack of sun and a good bath.
I have to admit he is a lot more mellow and happy now. That and he gets to yell at the other birds outside. The only ones that ignore him are the Humming birds. There feeder is close to his cage and they zoom in and out while he yells at them LOL

Oh and the hose does not scare him. We are 10 ft off the ground so shooting it up it really rains on him.

 

[Siobhan]

One Quaker, both tiels and my budgie like being misted. My budgie gets so excited that he flies over to the tub (which the other Quaker and the pigeon prefer) and dives in headfirst and comes up spluttering. LOL My starling likes a tub, too, and takes about six baths a day. My pigeon likes to just sit in the water and soak. But Rocky hasn't had any interest in any kind of bath until today. We've been calling him a "dirty bird."

 

[Christinenc2000]

LOL @ Dirty bird.

 

[Siobhan]

Apparently the bath also inspired him to be silly. He hung upside down from the roof of his cage and stuck his crest up and danced.

 

[Allee]

Just out of curiosity, did Rocky slap the water out of his bowl with his foot? That's one of Poppy's happy hobbies. She was not a regular bather when she came here, in fact she was highly offended when I suggested daily baths. Now she loves water, spray bottle, bowl, or bathtub.

 

[Siobhan]

No, he did not. He delicately dipped first one foot, and then the other, like a lady wading into a possibly cold pool. He tried to flip water on his back and underside with his beak, and he dunked his whole head, or as much as would fit, but when he was doing his feet, it was like he was afraid he'd spoil his pedi. LOL

 

[Allee]

LMBO at Rocky's method of getting wet. I wish Poppy would take lessons, she can make her room look like a water park. When she starts slapping water she doesn't stop until water is dripping from her cage and pooling in the floor, but she has so much fun, I don't have the heart to stop her.

 

[Siobhan]

So what was with the crazy 'too dance when I was leaving for work? He's never done that before.

 

[Allee]

My guess is Rocky was trying the crazy, adorable, Too Dance to convince his mom to stay home with him forever. Toos are not concerned with careers. My other guess is Rocky was just having a very happy moment and felt like dancing.

 

[Siobhan]

He's done it every time he knows we're leaving the house (as opposed to just going outside or leaving the room) since then. His latest thing is opening his cage, climbing down onto the floor and going over to the couch, where he holds court until somebody finds him. Two days he's done that. Poor Jack, who is left "in charge" when we leave, is beside himself. So now Rocky's cage has to be locked if we're not there to watch him. Sitting on the couch wouldn't be so bad, as long as he and Jack didn't have a difference of opinion on who was in charge. But Rocky also likes to gnaw on the couch, and that could be disastrous.