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Post by biteybird on Sept 9, 2014 6:27:48 GMT -5
Hi all, this may seem like a silly question! We put water in Bonnie's large tray (on the window sill) when she is out of the cage every day. Most of the time she is not interested, so I would say that she bathes once a week on average. Is that OK? Is there a way we can encourage her to want to bathe more often? I have heard some people mention using spray bottles - any tips?
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Post by Sharyn and Mr P on Sept 9, 2014 7:15:12 GMT -5
Mr P will bathe in his water dish (comical as heck to see him trying to smush himself into it)if I don't take him outside and mist him. I have been unable to convince to use a bigger dish to bathe in.
If I don't mist him every 3 days or so, he gets in his water dish and tries to bathe himself.
When I take him outside to mist him (I put him on a playstand on my enclosed porch)I also have a food and water dish on the playstand. He will actually get into the water dish on his playstand as I'm misting him, apparently I don't do a good enough job.
If you are going to use a plant mister type water bottle, I would recommend allowing Bonnie to check out the bottle first so she is used to looking at it. When I first started misting Mr P, I kept the bottle below him (not hovering over his head) and did not spray the water directly on him, but rather I sprayed up so the water came down from above him, sorta like rain. I also put the nozzle on the lightest mist setting possible.
Now I can just spray the water on him directly and don't have to worry about where I hold the water bottle, as soon as he sees the water bottle he gets in his water dish and waits for me.
Remi, my foster tiel, is terrified of the mist. I don't think he has ever had a bath in his life. I have to spray just a few sprays at a time and I have to mist him while he is in his cage or else he tries to escape the water. It took me about an hour to spray him cause I had to stop every minute or so and let him settle. Normally I wouldnt force the issue but his feather dust is so bad I had to do something.
But to answer your original question, Mr P likes to bathe every 3 days or so.
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Post by siobhan on Sept 9, 2014 15:02:22 GMT -5
Clyde bathes when he wants to. I leave two community dishes in the birds' room for baths and/or drinking water to share (they each also have a bowl of water in their individual cages). My pigeon takes a bath just about every day and so does one tiel. The rest get a mist bath once a week and quite often Jade (also a Quaker, like Clyde) will insist I spray her until she's soaking wet and THEN she gets in one of the tubbies and takes a bath. LOL My budgie gets all excited when I mist him and dives headfirst into a dish and comes up spluttering and sneezing but he's done that for as long as I've had him and never seems to suffer any ill effects. Clyde hates being misted so I just let him decide if he wants a bath and then he can use one of the tubs. In really hot weather, I might offer a second misting session a week, but usually they're happy with one.
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Post by cnyguy on Sept 9, 2014 20:26:09 GMT -5
Ralph usually wants a bath once a week, but sometimes will ask for a second bath within a week. He loves being misted and also splashes in his water dish-- he won't bathe anywhere else. He usually tells me when he wants a bath by rattling his water dish.  |
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Post by benegesserit on Sept 13, 2014 19:39:09 GMT -5
Happy is terrified of spraying or misting, so we have a (plastic, untippable) dog water dish in her cage that we wash and refill daily. In the summer when it's hot and we put her cage partially in the sun, she'll bathe every day. In winter, when it's considerably colder, she will bathe once or twice a week.
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Post by biteybird on Sept 17, 2014 5:01:32 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, maybe Bonnie isn't as unhygienic as we thought! I haven't tried 'misting' her yet, so maybe that's worth a go. It's funny, I can actually smell the difference when she's had a flap in the bath tray water. Somehow she doesn't smell musty afterwards.
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Post by Sharyn and Mr P on Sept 17, 2014 7:20:14 GMT -5
I can definitely smell when Mr P needs a bath. He feels softer when I pet him afterwards too
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Post by biteybird on Sept 18, 2014 5:47:45 GMT -5
It's amazing how lovely they all are and how individual. Bonnie seems to go very sleepy for about 30mins right after she has a bath (which is, albeit, infrequently!). She looks like a drowned rat and puts on a cute act - she fluffs up and does little whistles and clucking noises like a chicken. It's so adorable & I almost forget she has no manners or sense of etiquette...until 'Her Rudeness' suddenly wakes up and lunges at my finger.  ) |
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