Bath Time!

[Kiwibird]

Kiwi takes showers with my hubby daily, but he doesn't get really wet (he more enjoys playing in the water). Yesterday I decided to crank up the heat and give my buddy a good soaking. He was literally dancing with joy!

(I always knew he was a big goose at heart, just look at that water bead up:09

Time to dance!!!

Annnnnnd..... saving the best pic for last:

Pure joy!

 

[labell]

What a beautiful baby!!

 

[MomtoPercy]

Kiwi is GORGEOUS! And that last pic should be captioned simply : Joy! Beautiful.

His yellow face areas are much brighter and sunnier yellow than my Percy's! Percy has a larger blue area than Kiwi's (and also paler than Kiwi's) and his yellow is a pale primrose colour. Is that just differences from one bird to another? Do you feed Kiwi special colour enhancing magic? JK!

 

[thekarens]

That last pic is great!

 

[KimKim]

Great shots!

 

[Anne]

Great pictures. So beautiful always when amazones taking a bath. I always think that is something different from the other species who take a bath.

 

[Terry57]

Great pictures! That last one brought a huge smile to my face

 

[Kiwibird]

@Percy- whenever he starts to look a little dull and worn, I just slap a fresh coat of paint on him:09: J/K And yes, it is just differences in individual birds. Another thing, there are 2 "subspecies" of the blue front amazon, a larger one with more yellow and a smaller one with more blue-http://www.parrothouse.com/bluefronts.html.

@Anne- I think zons' are different when they take baths because they enjoy them *SO* much.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Thanks for that informative link, Kiwi! My baby is a : Amazona aestiva aestiva* (Brazilian Blue Front), apparenlty the smaller kind. Don't let HIM find that out though - he thinks he's as big and bad as any Scarybird

 

[Kiwibird]

Percy is more of what I think of when I think of a "blue front". He actually has some blue on his front! I was convinced Kiwi was some kind of "hybrid" between a DYH and a BFA for a long time because he is rather large and has so much yellow (and almost no blue). Then we found out he is the Amazona aestivate xanthopteryx, and probably a "chaco" BFA.

I like to ask him "what would you be if mommy put you in a tortilla? A chaco taco!". He'll give a big whistle to that

 

[DanR]

Great pics!!! Just a quick question I kept meaning to ask and this thread reminded me... What are the guidelines in terms of water termperature and is it preferable to do bathtime in the morning or at night? My routine is a shower in the morning to wake myself up (This is my version of drinking a coffee in the AM... my system is on autopilot until I get my morning shower) and then at night before bed. My WBC will be arriving in less than 2 weeks and I was wondering if there is a preference (I would prefer morning) and is regular warm shower water that I use OK for him?

Thanks
Dan

 

[TessieB]

The first photo cracked me up! "Ack that's COLD water!" Beautiful photos.

 

[Kiwibird]

Great pics!!! Just a quick question I kept meaning to ask and this thread reminded me... What are the guidelines in terms of water termperature and is it preferable to do bathtime in the morning or at night? My routine is a shower in the morning to wake myself up (This is my version of drinking a coffee in the AM... my system is on autopilot until I get my morning shower) and then at night before bed. My WBC will be arriving in less than 2 weeks and I was wondering if there is a preference (I would prefer morning) and is regular warm shower water that I use OK for him?

Thanks
Dan

Time of day is up to you, though morning would probably be preferable so they have all day to preen and don't go to bed wet. Kiwi sits on top of the shower door, and my hubby will bring him in the shower on his arm for a few minutes and let him run back and forth through the water. He turns the temp down to "warm", kind of like how warm you'd have a baby's bathwater (so probably not as hot as you would shower under). Also, while he gets to play and splash around everyday, we don't soak him down like in these photos every day. We used a spray bottle to really bathe him yesterday, and used warm water in it. One more thing, in the winter you MUST keep your bird in a warm room until they dry off, so they won't catch a chill. We run a little space heater in the bathroom for Kiwi. Most days he dries off in like 10 minutes, but when he gets soaked (like yesterday), he took about an hour to dry off. Frequent bathing is a god habit to get into with your bird. Most love baths (they do come from the rainforest after all), it keeps them clean and their feathers in good condition (how would you like to go months without a shower) and it encourages preening, which keeps them busy for a few hours each day and makes them look nice and healthy and shiny.

 

[DanR]

Perfect, thank you so much for this info

 

[Kiwibird]

This is why they need at least a light bath pretty much every day (cleanliness doesn't last long)-

 

[Girl4Jesus83]

Awe I miss doing that with my zon. What fun for both