BoBo's bath situation

[Big_Squishy]

Ok so I have read through all of the post about baths/showers. I see that there are a good many ways in which people acclimate their beloved birds to a much needed daily or frequent event.

 

I have purchased one of those pvc pipe suction cup mounted shower perches. I have been bringing BoBo into the bath room on a regular basis. He watches me shower. I act the fool just to keep him interested. I have moved his perch a little closer to the shower head every day.

 

I can tell that BoBo does not like it the bathroom. I see it in his stance and the way he is constantly moving around looking for a way out. Even though not a popular idea with him ,BoBo gets his shower no matter what.

 

I have also tried filling the bottom of the bath tub with about 1/2 inch of luke warm water (sometimes cooler on hot days). this puts the depth to about 1 1/2 inches in the front of that tub. I move my suction cup perch down low so that BoBo's feet are just above the water. BoBo freaks out when I try to coax him into the water. I have tried the large punch bowl, one that is heavy enough where he can stand on the sides without tipping it over. BoBo just will not cooperate. So I add the spray bottle filled with warm water. ( this makes the mist not so cold but is still cool enough to be refreshing.). BoBo does not like to be misted from above or below. He will only allow me to spray a slow soft stream of water into his mouth where he will drink continuesly.

 

So with all of this I do not know where I am going wrong in getting him to even tolerate the showers or bath. I am sure patience and time will work it magic, but until that happens patience and time are not going to keep him healthy and clean.

 

After work today I am going to buy some of that fish tank air tube find a sink adapter of some sort and hook them up. I figure if I can keep the noise of the sink or shower away and use this little tube to softly wet him down it might be my only choice for now. I figure with this I can turn it down low enough to be able to brush back his feathers and get some of the watter directly on his skin.

 

If you have some other sugestions for me I would apreciate it. If this little tube setup works I will post what to get and where you can get it and for about how much.

 

Thank you all again and again for answeing my questions and chatting with me when we happen to be online at the same time.

 

JC

[Dave007]

""""I can tell that BoBo does not like it the bathroom. I see it in his stance and the way he is constantly moving around looking for a way out."""""

 

He may just think that the bathroom looks and smells too feminine. He may not like your choice of towels.

[bettyboop]

Hi JC,

You are not doing anything wrong.....BoBo along with other Greys just like to be dirty boys .LOL..My Sammy age 3 doesnt like them either .I spray him everyday in his cage with a gentle spray of water , knowing full well I am not reaching the skin as needed....But we keep trying .The home Sammy came from did not give him baths, she said he didnt like them ...DUH...One day I took him outside in his cage and used the mist on my sprayer and soaked him, he seemed to like it , I don't get much of a fuss outside . However this won't work in the winter. My first Grey had never had baths and it took about 7 months to get him used to it , so don't give up .Pick one method and stick to it , is all I can suggest.Sooner or later , he will give in .

Kind Regards,

Mary

[Big_Squishy]

Well if my bathroom smells too feminine then I must be walking into the wrong apartment. Never be accused of that but I will take that as a complement. lol. BoBo should like the color is all black grey and white. Will take him with me to a bed bath and beyond and have him help me re-decorate. Thanks for the heads up Dave

 

JC

[BMustee]

My Elmo HATES baths and will fight tooth and nail to get away from the sprayer. He loves to sit on the curtain rod and watch me take a shower but God forbid any water gets on him. What works for me is to fill the bath with cool water (greys seem to like it on the cold side) to a level that would be around the chest and just drop him in. When I do this with Elmo he will try everything to get out of the water but the more he moves the more water works it's way under the feathers. He will try to bite the water but by the time he is done he seems to know the water has won.

[bettyboop]

B, If I dropped Sammy in the bathtub with water he would freak out . What did Elmo do the first time you did this ? How do you get him out and how often per week do you do this ?Sorry about all the questions....

Mary

[BMustee]

The first time and every time I do it he hates it. He doesn't flip out as much as the sprayer though. He flaps his wings and tries to climb out but the edge of the tub is too high for him. I don't want to say he tuckers himself out but he starts to slow down and not fight as much by the time he is done...I think because he knows he's beat. I put my hand down in front of him and he jumps on. I do this about once a month for now but I'm going to start doing it a little more often.

[BMustee]

He doesn't seem to ever get to itchy or get really dry skin because we live in Southwest Florida and it is really humid here this time of year so the air doesn't dry him out as much as it would up north so thats why I don't do it once or twice a week. I'm working up to about once every two weeks in the summer time and maybe go to once a week in the winter when the air is dryer.

[bettyboop]

Well thats pretty neat , I think I am going to try this on Sammy . Thank you for sharing a new bath tip .

Mary

[poppyparrot]

hey, good topic.

I can relate to what your saying, my poppy sits on my curtain rail and watches me, but my poppy seems a bit more calmer than yours, but every parrots different.

Poppy will go to the shower head where the water comes out of and will put her beak in sometimes. Ive put her in the shower once by using a bit of force and she flew of onto the rail again after getting a little bit wet.

 

I have just this minute put poppy in her first ever bath, so i will tell you how it went.

 

Now i thought i had the worst parrot when it comes to shower time or bath time until i read some of these reply's on this page. It seems i am quite lucky that she finds water intresting.

 

So i put her in our kitchen sink with the water luke warm, at a depth of about 2 inchs at the most. I put some alovera type of liquid in the water aswell to make her smell nice.

i held her so that she couldnt fly away and placed her in the water, she was fine to my supprise, until i started putting water onto her with my hand. She tryed to fly away so each time i just brought her back. Then she sat on her stand and i got the sprayer out which she wasnt to fond of when i got it a few months ago, so i wasnt expecting her to love it. Anyway she didnt like it and tried to get into a corner as far away as possible.

 

But it wasn't as disasterus as i thought it would be, its great to see a parrot flapping there wings and using natural ability to dry them selfs as if in the wild.

 

Hope this may have helped a little?

 

 

thanks,

 

steven